Until recently, UN Secretary-General Guterres has done something very unusual – to all member states and UN staff sent an open letter, literally “sorry”: next year the United Nations regular budget will be cut by 15 percent more, calculated to save $500 million; followed by others, staff preparation will be reduced by 19 percent, thousands of people working at the United Nations, may lose their dishes.
The good United Nations, how did it live like this? Guterres didn't detour in his letter: it's because many countries haven't paid enough dues, and some even delay paying them. Even the three "top-class" countries, China, the United States and Russia, have not paid their dues this year.
Let's talk about the most "big head" America first. As the first payer of the United Nations, it has to bear 22% of its dues, but it has long been an old problem to default on dues. According to statistics at the end of January this year, the money owed by the United States to the United Nations has piled up to $1.5 billion, especially after Trump became president again, and he has never paid a penny. To make matters worse, the U.S. Congress also withdrew the previously approved funding in July. No one is sure whether the United Nations can get money from the United States next.
Look at China, which ranks second. In recent years, China's economy has gone up, and the membership fee of the United Nations has also increased, from only 1% around 2000 to 20% now. This is actually a matter of China's increasing contribution to the world economy. But why isn't it in the "paid-off list" this time? In fact, our country has to calculate the accounts for the whole year, and the domestic and foreign expenditures must be balanced, so we usually pay the membership fees of that year in one lump sum around October or at the end of the year. For so many years, China has never defaulted, which is really different from that of the United States.
Russia ranked 10th, paying 2,094% of the membership fee.With the influence of Western sanctions, Russia is tight, paying a little hard, but it is not entirely concerned, it is still trying to meet its obligations, and at the same time it is also saying to promote "de-dollarization", is to say in its own way.
If money is cut, people will be affected, and the work of the United Nations will not work, Guterres said, the three core things of the United Nations – peace and security, human rights and sustainable development – will be affected, but he also said that he will try to preserve the aid programs for the poorest countries as much as possible, not to leave those countries idle.
In order to save more money, the United Nations also intends to "nourish". such places as Geneva in Switzerland and New York in the United States, the cost of living and office costs are high, and some departments may move to low-spending cities such as Nairobi in Kenya.
In addition to the lack of money, Guterres also addressed a more crucial issue: the UN needs to be reformed, especially the Security Council. He felt that the Security Council is still the old rule of 1945, and has long been out of line with the world today, not only that some people think it is "untimely", but the efficiency is also affected.
The reforms he mentioned are mainly the "restricting veto power" proposal proposed by Britain and France: simply put, if such bad things as genocide and war crimes occur, the five permanent members of the Security Council (China, the United States, Russia, Britain and France) have to be conscious and don't use veto power; Moreover, as long as five users use the veto power, the UN General Assembly will have to meet within 10 days to discuss and review this matter. In addition, the Security Council has to expand its membership and add more permanent or non-permanent seats to Africa, Latin America and Asia, so that more countries can have a voice.
However, this plan, the country's ideas are not far away. The United States is very supportive, and also come together to be a joint proposal country, but the eyes can see, it is mainly aimed at Russia, and does not want to let Russia move and use the veto right to it. Russia directly opposed, saying it is wanting to "lock the lock" to the Five-Norm, undermining the "unity of the great powers" rules established at the time of the United Nations.
China's attitude is more realistic, and it feels that reform must first understand the core purpose - is to make the United Nations more fair, work more efficient, rather than to limit who. Five times as a big country, we must lead the rule, do not engage in hegemony. For the "UN General Assembly review veto" article, China has also concerns: fear that the UN General Assembly meeting on a daily basis to review, and the work of the Security Council crashed, one thing can be solved, the results are both departments, but the more slowly, the reform has not been done, adding new trouble. More importantly, China has always felt that reform must first solve the problems of developing countries "to speak out", such as giving more seats to Africa, if only in the end of the branch to argue, reform can not be
On the one hand, there is the "survival problem" of lay off employees without money, and on the other hand, there is the "development controversy" of whether to change and how to change it. The United Nations will have a hard time next. As for whether it can be carried over, it depends on whether countries can sit down and discuss it carefully, and don't just make their own small calculations.