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UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16 (IPS) – The United Nations is heading in direction of a extreme money disaster forcing the world physique “to implement aggressive money conservation measures to avert a default in assembly the authorized obligations of the Group”.
Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres has drawn consideration to “the unlucky deteriorating monetary scenario of our common funds operations”.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq informed IPS that as a way to guarantee liquidity for paying employees salaries, sure troublesome steps shall be vital. Hiring restrictions will must be maintained throughout 2024, he mentioned.
Restrictions in non-post spending will even be important to bridge the liquidity hole. In consequence, till the scenario improves, official journey will must be restricted to essentially the most important actions, he mentioned.
“Purchases of products and providers shall be postponed, except completely important. Hiring of consultants and consultants shall be minimized to the extent possible”.
And most development and upkeep initiatives shall be suspended, besides the place the slowing down of main development initiatives would lead to important future further bills.
“We are going to implement energy-saving and different measures to cut back utility payments and curtail bills on managing amenities. Non-essential safety bills will even be curtailed, so long as they don’t influence the security of our premises, property and of our personnel and delegates,” mentioned Haq.
The disaster is blamed on most member states who’ve both delayed or absconded on their annual dues – referred to as assessed contributions— to the world physique.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric informed reporters, as of February 15, solely 58 out of 193 Member States have paid in full.
The principle reason behind the liquidity disaster: not all Member States pay their assessments in full. In 2023, the UN collected 82.3 per cent of the 12 months’s evaluation, the bottom within the final 5 years. Solely 142 Member States paid their dues in full – once more, the bottom within the final 5 years. In consequence, year-end arrears climbed to $859 million, up from $330 million in 2022.
A secondary reason behind the liquidity disaster pertains to a shift within the fee patterns of Member States, together with the unpredictability of each the timing and the quantities of anticipated collections. In 2023, collections trailed estimates all through many of the 12 months. The UN ended the 12 months $529 million in need of anticipated collections.
The money crunch can also be having a unfavorable influence on Geneva, house to a number of UN companies.
In response to the UN, Geneva homes round 40 worldwide organizations, 180 everlasting missions and greater than 400 NGOs. Along with the UN entities headquartered there, most UN funds, programmes and companies keep regional workplaces or liaison workplaces there.
Ian Richards, an economist on the Geneva-based UN Convention on Commerce and Growth (UNCTAD) and former President of the Coordinating Committee of Worldwide Workers Unions and Associations, informed IPS the UN needed to shut its Geneva campus for 3 weeks over Christmas and “we’re informed that additional closures are possible”.
“In the meantime some translation employees have been informed they’ll’t take any depart in any respect till August, which we consider is extra a symptom of poor administration. Of nice concern is that employees, primarily younger, with momentary contracts, are being let go,” mentioned Richards.
In his letter to staffers, Guterres mentioned: “We count on the common funds liquidity scenario to be far more difficult in 2024, as we’re beginning with little or no money. As a way to keep away from a fee default all year long, whereas coping with the unpredictability of intra-year collections, our preliminary estimates are that we might want to preserve round $350 million in money by slowing down and lowering spending till we have now certainty that we have now sufficient money to fulfill our obligations every month.”
This implies, “ we should introduce spending restrictions instantly or threat working out of money by August, together with the liquidity reserves and the excess money of closed tribunals.”
“Defending employees from the liquidity disaster to the utmost extent is a precedence for me. I’ve repeatedly made each effort to take action through the years and I can’t relent in doing every little thing attainable to mitigate any strain on you”.
Nonetheless, the fact is that personnel prices account for greater than 70 per cent of the common funds. As a way to guarantee liquidity for paying employees salaries, sure troublesome steps shall be vital. Hiring restrictions will must be maintained throughout 2024.
“I’m keenly conscious that this can have a knock-on impact. Excessive vacancies put an added burden on employees – particularly those that work in entities with excessive emptiness charges. This step is important if we’re to have any hope of guaranteeing adequate money inflows,” declared Guterres.
In the meantime, in a joint assertion launched early this week, Louis Charbonneau, United Nations Director, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Widad Franco, UN Advocacy Officer, HRW, warned {that a} money crunch and hiring freeze on the United Nations threaten to hinder UN human rights investigations in locations like Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria.
Delegations from China, Russia, Cuba, and others have been attempting for years to defund UN human rights work within the Normal Meeting’s Fifth Committee, which oversees the funds.
Their makes an attempt in December to dam funding for investigations into grave human rights abuses in Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Nicaragua and elsewhere failed.
The UN management and member nations, HRW mentioned, ought to be sure that the UN’s human rights groups have funding and employees to meet their mandates. And governments that haven’t paid their assessed contributions ought to pay up.
Guterres has additionally written to Member States to tell them of the scenario and to alert them that the UN shall be compelled to implement aggressive money conservation measures to avert a default in assembly the authorized obligations of the Group.
He additionally reminded them that the final word accountability for our monetary well being rests with Member States, and he inspired them to pay in full and on time.
“I’ve requested related senior managers to have interaction with Member States and description the potential influence on our potential ship on our mandates, together with help to intergovernmental conferences throughout obligation stations. The Division of Administration Technique, Coverage and Compliance will work with senior managers to assist take care of the influence of those measures. We are going to monitor the money flows fastidiously and adapt to the evolving liquidity scenario”.
“Member States have been very supportive of my proposals concerning the funds for 2024 and have made constructive selections on initiatives, reminiscent of establishing two new workplaces for Anti-Racism and for Knowledge Safety, rising funding for core actions of UNRWA, rising sources for growth and human rights actions and strengthening the Peacebuilding Fund with assessed contributions from 2025”.
Nonetheless, budgets authorised with out sufficient money to execute them undermine the essence of the method, declared Guterres.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedAuthentic supply: Inter Press Service
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