Amid warnings that UN funding may run out by mid-summer, a member state finance committee has the option to change an outdated rule that has made the organisation\u2019s budget crisis a lot worse.<\/p>\n
As alarmist as it was, a press release from the United Nations General Assembly finance committee \u2013 saying the UN would face imminent financial collapse by August if membership dues are not paid \u2014 barely triggered a perceptible global reaction. It was as if the world had gotten used to the UN\u2019s existential crisis. <\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Catherine Pollard, under secretary general for management strategy, policy and compliance, pressed the Fifth Committee, as it\u2019s called, to urge member states to pay on time and in full, or change rules that have allowed the crisis to snowball out of control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current cash balance (at the UN) is only sufficient to meet legal obligations through mid-August,\u201d she said, explaining that \u201ccash conservation measures will remain in effect\u201d until there is certainty that contributions may meet financial needs until the end of the year.<\/p>\n
It was not the first time the committee had been given such a warning, but with little time to spare, the announcement should raise deafening alarms. \u201cThe situation is as dire as the UN secretary general already announced at the start of this year,\u201d says Ronny Patz, a UN finance analyst and researcher with the German Institute of Development and Sustainability. \u201cEvery month that the United States doesn\u2019t pay, it\u2019s only getting worse, and every month that the new financial rules are not in place, the risk of bankruptcy gets higher.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On top of a massive drop in UN funding due to the Trump administration\u2019s withholding of mandatory fees, a rule requiring cash paybacks to members when budgeted funds are not spent due to late payments has had catastrophic effects, contracting funding to the UN every year quite a bit more.<\/p>\n
Crisis math<\/p>\n
Pollard detailed how the UN\u2019s secretariat had started the year with no cash reserves, after being hit with a $400 million liquidity deficit due to unpaid contributions and having to dip into its Working Capital Fund and Special Account to cover bills. Fifty-five of the UN\u2019s 194 member states paid in full within the required 30-day period after the organisation\u2019s $3.45bn budget was announced, allowing its numbers to return to the black and to reimburse the funds.<\/p>\n
But by the end of April, despite the number of countries that paid their dues in full rising to 106, outstanding payments stood at $2.8bn due to arrears, sharply up from last year. At the top of the list<\/a> of late and non-payers this year are the US, with roughly $2bn due, including $827m in arrears for 2025, followed by China, which owes $429m to the organisation.<\/p>\n But many other states have failed to pay as well. By the end of December, only 151 member states paid their contributions in full, with a few making token payments to maintain voting rights.<\/p>\n Read more: Behind the UN liquidity crunch, a multilateral system in crisis?<\/a><\/p>\n Peacekeeping operations, conducted through a separate budget, also face mounting budget shortfalls, as fewer and fewer states pay their dues on time or at all, forcing deep cuts in troops deployed globally, including in South Sudan<\/a> and the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a>. The Trump administration, which says it opposes endless peacekeeping missions in favour of finding political solutions to conflicts, has sharply cut back on its contributions, adding to Washington\u2019s mounting arrears to the operations, estimated at over $2.2bn.<\/p>\n