UN owes India $85 mn for contribution towards peacekeeping

United Nations: The UN owes India an amount of USD 85 million for its contribution towards peacekeeping operations including troops, police and equipment, a senior management official has said.

The organisation owed a total of USD 1.03 billion to 86 Member States which contributed troops, police and equipment as of October 2 this year.

The largest amount owed was to Pakistan at USD 97 million; followed by Ethiopia at USD 87 million; India at USD 85 million; Bangladesh at USD 84 million; Rwanda at USD 55 million; and Nepal at USD 44 million, Under-Secretary- General for Management Yukio Takasu told the the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) in the General Assembly yesterday.

India is the largest cumulative troop contributor to UN peace operations, with over 185,000 troops having served in 48 of the 69 missions mandated so far.

The country has repeatedly called for the Security Council to consult troop contributing countries before drawing up peacekeeping mandates given that troops now have to function is increasingly difficult and hostile conflict situations across the world's hot-spots.

He said the organisation's financial indicators for 2015 were "generally sound and positive", except for the cash position of the regular budget, whose funds had been depleted.

Urging member states to make their full payments as soon as possible, he said a few nations accounted for the bulk of the outstanding amount, with the US owing USD 813 million, Brazil USD 124 million and Venezuela USD 35 million.

Additionally, 99 Member States had not paid their assessed contribution in full to the International Tribunals and the United States led the list with an obligation of USD 29 million, followed by Russia with USD 11 million in unpaid assessments; Brazil at USD 9 million; Indonesia at USD 4 million; Venezuela with USD 4 million; and 94 other States owing USD 12 million.

He said India had fully paid up its contribution as of October 2.

Briefing on the status of the organisation's four major financial categories of regular budget, peacekeeping operations, tribunals and the Capital Master Plan, Takasu as of October 2, unpaid assessments stood at USD 1.053 billion, up 16 million from a year earlier.

The total cash available for peacekeeping as of October 2 was about USD 4.3 billion, including the Peacekeeping Reserve account, he said.

As of October 2, USD 314 million was owed to Member States for troops and formed police units; and for contingent- owned equipment claims, USD 638 million was owed to active missions and USD 86 million for closed missions.