United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned UN employees the entity could run out of money by the end of the month.
The UN has a $230 million deficit.
CBS News reported Guterres wrote in a letter that they may have to postpone “conferences and meetings and reducing services.” They may have to restrict “official travel to only essential activities and taking measures to save energy.”
Guterres said member states of the UN have paid “70 percent of the total amount needed” to meet the 2019 budget. Therefore the UN has a shortage of $230 million. From The Washington Examiner:
Out of the 193 member states, 129 have paid their annual dues. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said at a briefing in New York that the member states who haven’t paid need to do so “urgently and in full.”“This is the only way to avoid a default that could risk disrupting operations globally,” he said.The total U.N. operating budget is about $5.4 billion. The United States shoulders the largest burden of that, contributing about 22%.
This is not the first time the UN has begged for money. Back in March, Michael Rubin wrote in an op-ed at The Washington Examiner that Guterres should first answer questions.
In the 1990s, the UN gave the late Kofi Annan the position of peacekeeping operations. They completely ignored the fact that “his craveness directly contributed to the 1994 genocide in Rawanda.” Then Annan became secretary-general!
The UN had the Oil-for-Food scandal in Iraq in the early 2000s. The UN ultimately fired the man who tried to blow the whistle on the scandal. He tried to tell them that Saddam Hussein “infiltrated and manipulated the $65 billion” program with help from the UN staff. This included the head of the program Benon Sevan, who allegedly took bribes to help friends secure oil deals. Overall, the program helped Hussein sidestep sanctions and bring in billions of dollars.
Also, why does the UN allow countries who obviously do not respect basic human rights to sit on important panels? Iran joined a UN group specifically to fight for female equality. A female cannot enjoy the outside in Iran without wearing a scarf. Iran just recently allowed females into soccer stadiums to watch games. But even then they sit away from males.
We must not forget the UN peacekeepers accused of child sex abuse around the world.
So excuse me if I do not feel sorry for the United Nations.
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