CANZ 5C Statement – Financial Situation

16 May 2019

Thank you Madam Chair,

I have the honour to speak today on behalf of Australia, New Zealand and my own country, Canada.

We thank Under-Secretary-General Beagle for her presentation last week on the financial situation of the United Nations. 

Full, on time, payments of contributions by all Member States is critical for ensuring the stability of the United Nations, and ensuring this Organisation is resourced to achieve our collective goals.

Madam Chair,

CANZ is deeply concerned by the flow-on effects of unpaid assessed contributions.

The Organization’s cash situation is deteriorating thanks to unpaid dues of 1.7 billion to the Regular Budget, over 2 billion to the Peacekeeping Budget and $90 million to the tribunals at the time of the briefing.

The UN’s managers are having to divert attention from the optimal delivery of mandates to cash management. 

This is a drag on efficiency and effectiveness, imposed by some Member States but with a cost paid by all Member States as well as by the UN’s beneficiaries.

Most worrying are indications that field managers are having to delay procurement related to the safety and security of personnel. 

This Committee has been warned repeatedly that late payments of peacekeeping assessments and rigidities in the use of peacekeeping cash balances translate into late reimbursements to troop- and police-contributing countries as well as to those contributing specialised equipment and other resources.

We are seeing cases where this has impacted upon troop rotations and the willingness of states to continue providing the personnel upon which the UN depends.

Madam Chair,

The Secretary-General and Under-Secretary-General Beagle have both pointed to the trend by which the UN is facing cash shortages earlier and earlier in each year.

This needs concern us all, and highlights the difficulties being created by both a wider swath of late-paying Member States as well as the usual debtors.

We commend the fifth of the UN’s membership that has fully paid all obligations to UN budgets.  They hail from all regional groups and stages of development, with a wide range of fiscal year calendars. 

The composition of this subset of the membership reflects the effects of the “capacity-to-pay” principle, which ensures that only the rarest of cases have justification for late payments.  We urge those member states to use the United Nations mechanisms in place to aid in their repayments.

We join the Under-Secretary-General in urging all Member States with outstanding assessed contributions to pay immediately.

CANZ remains committed to paying our assessed contributions on time, in full, and without conditions, in line with our treaty obligations. 

Finally Madam Chair,

Opening statements for this Second Resumed Session placed a justified emphasis on the importance of ensuring the proper functioning of peacekeeping missions and their ability to deliver on their full mandates.

The Secretary-General’s report on “Improving the financial situation of the United Nations” expressly shares that intent, and it is thus essential that Fifth Committee consider his proposals in this Resumed Session.

As the General Assembly addresses the UN’s liquidity crisis, CANZ will continue to focus also on ensuring that all funds entrusted to the UN are spent well, transparently and with full accountability as authority is devolved to delegated managers.

Together we can make the UN work better, for the benefit of all.

Thank you.