UN General Assembly Approves Reforms Associated Press/The Jerusalem Post July 8, 2006 The General Assembly unanimously approved a series of reforms which the United States called a long overdue but positive first step toward greater efficiency and accountability in the United Nations. Read more Some Relief Over UN Reform Vote By Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Forbes July 8, 2006
When the General Assembly unanimously agreed on a modest package of management reforms on Friday, there were smiles of relief that a dark cloud hovering over the United Nations was starting to dissipate. Read more
UN Lifts Cap on Budget Spending Reuters June 30, 2006
The U.N. General Assembly late on Friday lifted the cap on U.N. spending but put off a resolution on management reform that U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said was not strong enough. Read more
General Assembly Committee Lifts Cap on UN Spending By Warren Hoge The New York Times June 29 , 2006
The General Assembly budget Committee lifted a cap on United Nations spending Wednesday night, thus averting a showdown that once threatened to shut down the organization's activities by the end of June. Read more.
UN Budget Cap Lifted, Crisis Averted
By Nick Wadhams Associated Press/Forbes June 29, 2006
U.N. member states lifted a $950 million spending cap on the United Nations budget Wednesday, averting a financial crisis for now but dealing a blow to the U.S. which had pushed for the limits as a lever to pressure for reforms. Read more.
U.S. Drops Insistence on UN Budget Cap for 2006
By Evelyn Leopold Reuters June 29, 2006
The United States will drop its insistence that rich nations withhold funds from the U.N. budget next month unless management reforms are enacted, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Friday. Read more.
UN Closer to Ending Impasse Over Reforms Reuters/Scotsman News June 28, 2006
Rich and poor nations moved closer on Tuesday towards ending an impasse over U.N. management reforms that threatened to leave the world body without a budget at the end of the month, diplomats said. The main U.N. bloc of developing nations and envoys from wealthy countries reached an agreement in principle on a long-stalled resolution on development strategy that diplomats said would help consolidate support for the reforms. Read more.
Partnership for a Secure America Supports UN Funding and Reform June 23, 2006
The Partnership for a Secure America, a bi-partisan group of former high ranking foreign policy officials, ran an advertisement in The New York Times calling for strong U.S. leadership at the UN to build consensus on reforms and for continued funding of the organization at this critical time. The group of 21 signatories also addressed the vital role the UN is playing in confronting global problems and in fostering peace through peacekeeping operations.
Annan Alerts General Assembly of July Crisis if Spending Cap Not Lifted UN News Center June 21, 2006
Presenting the General Assembly’s budgetary committee with a request from Secretary-General Kofi Annan to lift the spending cap on the remainder of the United Nations’ two-year fiscal period, the Organization’s comptroller has warned that under the current restraints the “last dollar available” will be spent before mid-July. UN Controller Warren Sach told the Asembly’s Fifth Committee yesterday that some UN programmes might have to be cut back even earlier due to the situation. Read more.
Enough Reform at UN to Avert a Funding Crisis? By Howard LaFranchi Christian Science Monitor
June 19, 2006
It's an active time at the United Nations: The United States is counting on it to take over peacekeeping operations in Sudan's Darfur region by fall. African countries are looking to the UN to redouble efforts to combat AIDS, in the wake of a recent policy review. And the UN's new Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission - both outgrowths of reforms following the oil-for-food scandal - convene this week for the first time.
It might seem like a curious time for a funding cutoff that would, in effect, shut down the UN. But that's what could happen by the end of June - the result of a tug of war over UN reform between developing countries and the organization's largest bankrollers, chief among them the US. Read more.
Annan Optimistic on Removal of UN Budget Cap Reuters June 18, 2006
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Sunday he was optimistic the United Nations would avert a looming budget crisis over delayed U.N. reforms and remove a spending cap that has hampered the body this year. Read more.
UN Given Reprieve on Spending Cap by EU and U.S. By Betsy Pisik The Washington Times June 16, 2006
The United Nations appears to have postponed a financial crisis that threatened
to dim the lights at the end of June, as the United States and other key
governments have agreed to extend its spending authority. Read more.
At the UN, Bluster Backfires By Sebastian Mallaby The Washington Post June 12, 2006
Not many reformers at the United Nations believe that the budget threat achieved
anything. To the contrary, Bolton has so poisoned the atmosphere that the cause
of management renewal is viewed by many developing countries as an American
plot. And if Bolton carries through on his threat to cut off money for the
United Nations, the United States will be more isolated than ever. Refusing to
fund U.N. officials who are planning for a peacekeeping mission in Darfur is not
a winning strategy. Read more
A Moment of Truth for the United Nations By Kofi Annan Financial Times June 11, 2006
The UN faces a moment of truth. Last December, member states adopted a budget for the current "biennium" (2006-2007), but gave us authority to spend only enough to carry us through the first six months. The main contributors, led by the US, insisted that this spending cap should be lifted only when there is significant progress on UN reform. We are now perilously near the deadline and it is far from clear that enough reform to satisfy them has been achieved. Neither side has found a way of engaging with the other to agree on further reforms. Read more.
New War of Words in UN's North-South Battle By Thalif Deen
Inter Press New Service Agency June 8, 2006
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has remained supportive of his deputy Mark Malloch Brown for his critical remarks about the United States and Western powers, told reporters Thursday that the United Nations is suffering from a shortage of democracy in its own backyard. Read more
UN risks shutdown Reuters
June 6, 2006
The UN faces a potential shutdown if the United States and
Japan carry out a threat to withhold funds, a top UN official
said on Tuesday. This could result in the Security Council
not being able to meet and peacekeepers around the world would
be left adrift. Read
More
Rich vs Poor in Power Struggle,
Says Top UN Official By Thalif Deen
Inter Press News Agency
May 31, 2006
A new North-South divide between rich and poor nations --
over budgetary control and management reforms -- may be heading
for a political showdown at the United Nations. "It's
numbers versus pocketbooks," says Deputy Secretary-General
Mark Malloch Brown, who is hoping that the North-South deadlock
will not continue. Asked if the sharp division between developed
and developing nations would result in a possible shutdown
of the United Nations in the absence of an agreement on the
budget, he told IPS: "I definitely hope not. I hope peace
and trust is going to break out. If not, it's a defeat for
both sides." Read
MoreU.N. likely to runout of funds
early By Betsy Pisik The Washington Times
May 25, 2006
The United Nations, long accustomed to late paying of dues
by its richest members, is on a pace to run out of funds months
earlier than usual this year. The organization has regularly
dipped into peacekeeping reserves to pay its operating budget
for a month or two late in the year, while waiting for the
United States to transmit the money it usually pays when its
own fiscal year begins in October. But this year, a $950 million
spending cap largely imposed by the Bush administration will
have the organization run out of money as early as July, according
to U.N. officials familiar with the organization's budget.
Read
MoreUK tries to stave off UN budget
battle By Mark Turner Financial Times
May 25, 2006
Britain has launched last-ditch efforts to avoid a debilitating
crisis that could starve the United Nations of cash as the
developed and developing worlds prepare to battle for control
over the world body. Current budgetary arrangements expire
next month and the UN's rich-world financiers, led by the
US and Japan, have tied future funding to poorer countries'
agreement to reforms that would inject more efficiency and
transparency into the way the UN is managed. Read
More
