United Nations Funding
United Nations Un Funding
Introduction to United Nations Funding
The UN is funded by dues paid by each of its members. Each country’s dues are based upon its wealth and ability to pay. The UN also requires countries to make financial contributions to its peacekeeping efforts. In addition, many countries make voluntary contributions to support various UN programs. The United States is the largest contributor to the UN.
The UN cannot force member nations to pay their dues. Many nations have failed to pay their full dues and have cut their voluntary contributions, causing the organization to fall into considerable debt.
The financial crisis began in the 1980s when countries started falling behind in their payments. Yet as financial support declined, the UN’s expenses grew. In 1996 the UN came perilously close to bankruptcy. After Kofi Annan became UN secretary general in 1997, he pushed through reforms to consolidate some major UN offices, in part to encourage the United States to pay its back dues. In 1999 the U.S. Congress agreed to pay nearly $1 billion of back dues, but only on the condition that the UN decrease the U.S. share of the administrative budget from 25 to 22 percent and its share of the peacekeeping budget from 31 to 25 percent.
In 2000 the General Assembly responded to these terms by overhauling its system of financing. It set a ceiling of 22 percent as the maximum amount any country would pay toward the administrative budget. It also replaced its ad hoc system of funding peacekeeping operations with a sliding scale of dues based on a country’s per capita income. As a result, the U.S. contribution to peacekeeping operations declined to about 27 percent by 2004, and more than two dozen countries accepted increases in their peacekeeping contributions.
The UN also receives money from private citizens. Individuals may donate to various UN programs, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP). In 1997 American business executive Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to UN programs, the largest single gift to the UN in its history.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about United Nations Funding in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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