Government non-payment of agreed financial contributions to international organizations

Imbalance between disbursements of multilateral agencies and official contributions
Withholding of membership payments to intergovernmental organizations
Overdue payments by governments to international organizations
Non-payment of United Nations membership dues
Government arrears in contributions to UN

Incidence

In 1993, 77% (140 out of 181) of the member states had not met their financial obligations in time. In addition to the USA, members with significant arrears on regular dues included South Africa ($40 million), Brazil ($17 million), Iran ($12 million) and Argentina ($10 million).

At the end of 1990 the UN had a budgetary deficit of $750 million because only 86 out of 159 member governments had fully met their commitments, leaving about $395 million dollars in arrears in the regular budget and $355 million on the peacekeeping budget.

Following the USA payment in 1993, there remained at total of $1.7 billion outstanding from all member countries, of which $536 million was for the regular budget and $1.2 billion In 1990 the USA owed $520 million in regular assessments to the UN, plus $150 million for peacekeeping costs. In 1993 the USA paid $533 million to meet more than half of its accumulated arrears, leaving $472 million to pay. By 1998 the back dues had grown to $1.3-billion.

Claim

The UN, for all practical purposes, remains in a state of bankruptcy. Our doors are kept open only because other countries in essence provide interest-free loans 'to cover largely American-created shortfalls - not only NATO allies such as Britain, France, Italy and Canada, but also developing countries such as Pakistan and even Fiji. The United States has not paid its UN dues in full and on time for some years. In 1995, it paid less than half its total assessment. These gaps have never been closed (Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, 1998).