Global Policy Forum

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed that the Special Court for Sierra Leone's funding shortfall should be covered by assessed rather than voluntary contributions by United Nations Member States. In a letter to the Security Council President that was released yesterday, Mr. Annan said the Court faces an estimated budget gap of $20 million to $22 million for its third year of operations - July this year to June 2005. He said that while the Security Council had always expressed a preference for voluntary rather than assessed contributions, the level of voluntary contributions provided so far is only enough to take the Court through until June this year. He said the compulsory approach is "the only viable and sustainable financial mechanism to afford secure and continuous funding." Mr. Annan added that the Security Council may want him to bring the issue before the General Assembly "with a view to seeking the appropriation of funds for the Court, while preserving the independence of the Court." Speaking to reporters today on his arrival at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said, "I think they have the possibility to take the decision before we run out of money." The Court was set up through an agreement between the UN and Sierra Leone - the first of its kind - to try those people who bear "the greatest responsibility" for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's civil war in the late 1990s.