December 24: The UN General Assembly agreed on a two-year budget, but with a $950 million spending cap for the first six months of 2006. Major donors, including the US and some EU countries stated that they would only approve funding for the second term if the organization adopts enough management reforms during its first term.
November 23: The US ambassador to the UN John Bolton threatens to block the two-year UN budget if the organization does not approve all "management reforms" of the Secretariat. Bolton also threatens to withhold US dues to the organization if those reforms demands are not met by the end of 2005. Instead of approving the two-year UN budget, ambassador Bolton proposed that the UN adopt a three-month interim budget to allow for additional management reform negotiations. However, this proposal angered member states, especially the Group of 77 and other poor countries, who are fed up with Washington's bullying at the UN.
October 24: The lack of funding for UN humanitarian initiatives undermines the organization's operations in response to natural disasters. The US, Belgium, Italy, France, Canada and Australia have not pledged a single cent to the UN Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF), which aims at responding to humanitarian emergencies.
October 19: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn express their concerns on the lack of sufficient funding for UN agencies. Natural disasters such as the tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in the US and the earthquake in Pakistan reiterated the urgency of this lack of funding.
October 17: Ordinary US citizens have donated $2.7 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), while the Bush administration has refused to release a $34 million payout approved by Congress. The UNFPA supports the UN's reproductive health work in the world's poorest countries. Washington claims that the Fund supports abortions and "coercive family planning" in China, but a State Department fact-finding team has disproved this claim.
September 30: Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi argues that Japanese citizens have pressured his government to scale back its UN dues. Prime Minister Koizumi relates this argument to the Japanese people's belief that the country is not getting its money's worth. However, critics relate Japan's signs of displeasure with the UN to its failure of getting a permanent seat on the Security Council. Japan, the second largest donor to the UN after the US, pays 19.5 percent of the $1.8 billion UN budget annually.
September 29: The US never pays its dues to the UN on time or in full. This Pambazuka editorial compares US dues to the UN to Washington's military expenses. The cost of the war in Iraq alone would be enough to operate all the UN programs for at least 14 years. Washington's refusal to pay its full dues to the organization seriously undermines its capacity to protect and promote human rights.
September 14-16, The Millenium+5 Summit: The Millenium+5 Summit Outcome Document has some weaknesses in areas regarding financing the UN and its operations. The final document is quite vague and only reaffirmes past commitments, without adding anything new or substantial in financing the world body. It only reiterates the need for member states to provide the organization with adequate resources as needed but it excludes any further mention of this issue or suggestions on how to finance UN operations worldwide.
