The Islamic Republic of Iran and seven other countries lost their voting rights at the United Nations due to long delays in paying their debts. The volume of Iran's debts to the United Nations exceeds $18 million.
In a letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations published on Wednesday, January 12, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran and several other countries have lost their voting rights in the United Nations because they have not paid their debts for a long time.
According to him, a total of 11 countries are in arrears in paying their debts, and eight of these countries, including Iran, have currently lost their voting rights.
The other seven countries are Venezuela, Sudan, Somalia, Antigua and Barbuda, Congo, Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Comoros, and Sao Tome and Principe.
The Islamic Republic of Iran must pay 16.1 million euros ($18 million) in debt settlement to restore its voting rights. Venezuela's debt amounts to 34.8 million euros. Sudan's debt is only about 260,000 euros.
The other countries mentioned must pay less than $65,000 to the United Nations to restore their voting rights.
According to the UN Charter, if a member state's outstanding debts exceed the total amount of its membership fees for two years, its voting rights are suspended.
A recurring issue
In June of last year, Iran's voting rights were suspended due to non-payment of debts.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, the then Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, wrote a letter of protest to Guterres, blaming Iran's non-payment of debts as a result of "US sanctions" and calling the suspension of Iran's voting rights in the United Nations "incorrect and illogical."
The Islamic Republic of Iran was eventually able to restore its voting rights by paying off some of these debts; a right that has now been suspended once again.
The UN budget for this year, approved in December 2021, is more than 2.6 billion euros.
To this amount must be added an independent budget for peacekeeping missions. This part of the budget, which amounts to 5.7 billion euros, was approved in June last year.
