Global Policy Forum

By Mark Turner

More than 100 countries have made no payments this year for the international criminal tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the United Nations has warned, a situation which threatens to leave them with a shortfall of close to $30m by the end of the year.

Countries that had failed to pay included several from the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Serbia and Montenegro. It also included countries close to Rwanda, such as Burundi, Uganda and Kenya. As of the end of last month, the UN said, the tribunals were owed almost $100m, with Japan alone $41m in arrears. The US and Brazil each owed $12m, Russia $11m and Spain $5m. Ninety eight countries had made no payments for the tribunals the previous year.

The tribunals have since July had to borrow money from the UN peacekeeping account to keep afloat, making it more difficult for the UN to reimburse troop and equipment contributing countries. The UN owes $565m for peacekeeping contributions.

Catherine Bertini, the UN's management chief, warned that the tribunals were in a "very fragile financial position". She said the fact that "so many countries have not paid raises the question 'why?' This I don't know. It's absolutely critical we have payments from the member states."

One UN diplomat suggested the non-payment could reflect either a loss of interest or loss of confidence, and noted that the Sierra Leone tribunal also faced financial difficulties. Richard Dicker, the director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, was unsettled by the news. "It is irresponsible for countries to create these institutions and not follow through on their financial contributions," he said.

The tribunals' plight reflected difficulties in the UN's overall finances. While there had been improvements in recent years, Ms Bertini says only two-thirds of its members had paid in full. The US owed $280m, after a payment of $181m this week, while Brazil owed $61m and Japan $19m.

At the end of October, countries owed more than $1bn to UN peacekeeping, including $480m from the US. The majority of countries had not paid up for the "capital master plan" to refurbish UN headquarters. But the tribunals appeared the most problematic. The New York Times this week reported the Yugoslav tribunal was "rushing through its backlog of cases", under pressure to complete trials by 2008. The Rwanda tribunal has also faced criticism, both from the government in Kigali, and from those who suggest its approach has been one-sided.

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