Tonga loses UN voting right [1]
Sunday, January 12, 2020 - 11:23. Updated on Sunday, January 12, 2020 - 14:26.
Tonga has lost its voting right in the United Nations General Assembly, one of seven countries that are too far behind in paying dues, a UN spokesperson announced on Friday.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on 10 January announced that the seven countries that are losing their voting privileges in the 193-member General Assembly are Venezuela, Lebanon, Central African Republic, Gambia, Lesotho, Tonga and Yemen.
Tonga must pay a minimum of USD$16,444 to reduce the amount it owes on its overdue contributions, in order to remain below the gross amount assessed for the preceding two full years (2018 and 2019).
The full amount of arrears that Tonga owes to the United Nations was not stated. Since 2001 Tonga has been expected to contribute .001 percent of the UN budget. Other Pacific Island countries contributing the same percentage paid USD$27,883 each in 2019 for their annual contributions.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres on 7 January advised the President of the General Assembly that 11 members were in arrears under the terms of Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Article 19 states that a member of UN which is in arrears shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years.
Three of those countries: Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia, are in arrears but the assembly decided in October that they can retain their vote until September, the end of the UN's 74th session.
Dujarric stated that only 146 Member States had paid their dues in full for the 2019 budget. Most of the countries owing money to the UN had remained within the overdue limits and retained their votes.
The UN Committee on Contributions will hold its 80th session from June 1-19, 2020.
The UN General Assembly has adopted a budget of $3,073,830,500 (USD$3.07 billion) to cover the year 2020.
Delegation
Tonga sent a large delegation, led by the then Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Semisi Sika, to present its country progress report at the High Level Political Forum at UN Headquarters on 17 July 2019 in New York. The Government delegation included officials from the Ministries of Education, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Health, Statistics Department and the Ministry of Justice. The delegation was also supported by Tonga’s Permanent Representative of Tonga to the United Nations, Mahe Tupuniua, and the staff of Tonga's UN Mission in New York.