U.S. to start payments towards billions owed to UN ‘within weeks’: envoy

The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building, Feb. 28, 2022, at United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Washington will begin making initial payments towards the billions of dollars it owes the United Nations “within weeks”, while continuing to push for reforms, the U.S. ambassador to the UN said Wednesday.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned late last month that countries’ failure to pay their dues had left the world body on the brink of financial collapse.

The UN faces chronic budget problems because some member states do not pay their mandatory contributions in full, while others do not pay on time, forcing it into hiring freezes and cutbacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has in recent months reduced its funding to some UN agencies and has rejected or delayed some mandatory contributions.

In all, Washington reportedly owes the the UN more than US$2 billion in unpaid membership fees towards the its regular operating budget -- and nearly the same amount for the separate budget for UN peacekeeping operations.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, told Reuters at the weekend that Washington would soon begin paying its overdue membership fees.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to Geneva, he said the focus was on Washington’s “amassed dues”.

“We’re going to pay those dues,” he said, adding that the money would begin “coming within weeks”, but provided no details on how much Washington was preparing to dish out.

A UN spokesman said earlier this week that the world body was “waiting to see exactly when payments will be made and in what amount”.

Do more with less

Waltz stressed Wednesday that Washington had no plans to let up on its demands for sweeping UN reforms.

“You have to drive reform, and so we’re going to continue sustained pressure on demanding efficiency,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to ask these agencies to do at least the same amount, if not more, with less.”

He said the Trump administration was very supportive of the reform agenda launched by Guterres last year, but said he wished the UN secretary-general “had started the initiative sooner than year nine of his term.”

Since Trump’s return to the White House just over a year ago, the United States has withdrawn from several UN agencies including the World Health Organization.

There have been widespread concerns that Washington is seeking to undermine multilateralism.

And critics have charged that Trump’s “Board of Peace,” launched last month, is intended to become a rival to the UN.

“It is not intended to replace the UN, it is intended to compliment it,” Waltz insisted.

Speaking in Geneva, which is home to the UN’s European headquarters and dozens of UN agencies and has been reeling from the dramatic cuts, Waltz suggested more could come.

“One of the other questions I get asked is, why do most of UN ... key areas seem to be in some most expensive cities in the world,” he said.

“I think in a modern, interconnected world, the physical location of every single employee is... less relevant.”

He also dismissed calls from some for the UN to reevaluate its headquarters in New York after several leaders were denied visas to attend last year’s General Assembly.

“You need one place in the world where everyone can talk,” Waltz said.

“And of course, that place will always be New York.”