<\/p>\n
The decision, adopted by the General Assembly on Tuesday following recommendations from its Fifth Committee, comes as the organisation faces a severe liquidity crisis driven by delayed payments of mandatory contributions from Member States.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the previous system, the UN was obliged to credit back unspent funds against future assessments regardless of whether the funds had been paid, a practice described as outdated and detrimental to financial stability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres welcomed the reform, saying the old framework had placed the organisation at risk. \u201cBy its vote, the Assembly has agreed to introduce, for a four-year trial period, a new methodology to ensure that unspent funds are returned to Member States only when they are backed by cash,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He added that the change would allow for more predictable and responsible resource management, particularly for the UN\u2019s regular and peacekeeping budgets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The reform is seen as critical to maintaining operational continuity, especially for peacekeeping missions, which have faced increasing strain due to funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN ended 2025 with a record $1.6 billion in unpaid contributions, while total arrears across its budgets exceed $6.5 billion. In response, the organisation introduced strict cost-control measures at the start of 2026, including cuts affecting hiring and operations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres previously warned that Member States must either meet their financial obligations or support structural reforms to prevent a potential financial collapse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock also backed the change, describing the old rule as a longstanding weakness. \u201cWith this landmark resolution, the General Assembly avoided the imminent financial collapse of the UN,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She added that the decision modernises outdated financial practices and demonstrates that Member States can act collectively even amid global divisions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37873,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-38530","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The United Nations (UN) has overhauled a decades-old financial rule that required it to return unspent funds to Member States, even in cases where those funds had not actually been received.","published_date":"","news_description":"The United Nations (UN) has overhauled a decades-old financial rule that required it to return unspent funds to Member States, even in cases where those funds had not actually been received.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38531,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38530\/revisions\/38531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}