UN chief Antonio Guterres calls on member states to deal with unpaid dues and overhaul world physique’s monetary guidelines.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the United Nations faces “imminent monetary collapse” amid unpaid annual dues and different points.
Al Jazeera on Friday reviewed a letter Guterres despatched to all UN member states earlier this week, warning them that the worldwide physique confronted a grave monetary disaster.
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The letter urged member states to comply with overhaul the UN’s monetary guidelines or settle for “the very actual prospect of the monetary collapse of our Group” and known as on them to pay their annual dues.
Requested concerning the letter throughout a information briefing on Friday afternoon, a UN spokesperson mentioned that, “in terms of paying, it’s now or by no means”.
“We shouldn’t have the type of money reserves and the type of liquidity to maintain functioning as we’ve finished in earlier years – and that is one thing that the secretary-general has warned with growing energy every year,” Farhan Haq advised reporters.
Whereas Guterres didn’t blame a particular nation for the UN’s monetary troubles, his enchantment comes as United States President Donald Trump has moved to slash Washington’s funding for multilateral establishments.
Trump, whose administration announced plans this month to withdraw from a number of UN businesses, additionally just lately launched his so-called “Board of Peace” initiative, which some consultants have mentioned goals to sideline the UN.
“Trump’s board seems to be a sort of pay-to-play, international membership, judging from the $1 billion payment for everlasting membership,” Louis Charbonneau, the UN director at Human Rights Watch, recently warned.
“As a substitute of handing Trump $1 billion checks, governments ought to work collectively to guard the UN and different establishments established to uphold worldwide human rights and humanitarian legislation, the worldwide rule of legislation, and accountability,” Charbonneau mentioned.
The annual dues UN member states should pay are set in line with every nation’s gross home product (GDP), debt and different components.
The US accounts for 22 % of the core funds, adopted by China with 20 %.
However by the top of 2025 there was a report $1.57bn in excellent dues, Guterres mentioned, with out naming the international locations that had not paid.
“Both all Member States honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or Member States should essentially overhaul our monetary guidelines to stop an imminent monetary collapse,” he mentioned.
In early January, the UN approved a $3.45bn budget for 2026 – down 7 % from final yr, as the worldwide physique regarded to scale back prices amid its monetary challenges.
Nonetheless, Guterres warned within the letter that the organisation may run out of money by July.
One of many issues is a rule now seen as antiquated, whereby the worldwide physique has to credit score again lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in unspent dues to states every year.
“In different phrases, we’re trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle anticipated to present again money that doesn’t exist,” Guterres mentioned within the letter.
As of Thursday, solely 36 of the 193 UN member states had absolutely paid their common 2026 contributions, the UN says on its website.
