Occupied Jerusalem: Israel announced on Wednesday it is reducing its required payment to the United Nations by $2 million following what it views as “anti-Israel” votes.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the decision to reduce the annual payment was taken following votes critical of Israel at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
The General Assembly requires all 193 UN member states to pay a percentage of the United Nations’ regular budget, based on their GDP.
According to the UN Secretariat, Israel is expected to pay about $11 million this year, or 0.43 per cent of the regular budget.
Under Article 19 of the UN Charter, any country in arrears of its dues payments in an amount that equals or exceeds the contributions due for two preceding years can lose its vote in the General Assembly. As of March 15, three countries were banned from voting because of arrears — Libya, Sudan and Venezuela.
Israel’s refusal to pay $2 million of its dues will put the country in arrears, but it won’t immediately lose its vote in the world body.
The highest percentage that a country can pay to the UN regular budget was cut from 25 per cent to 22 per cent in response to demands by the United States, the world organisation’s largest contributor. It pays 22 per cent of the $2.6 billion regular budget, with Japan second at about 9.7 per cent.
The United States is seeking unspecified cuts in payments to the United Nations, especially for the 16 far-flung UN peacekeeping operations that are financed through a separate budget.
