General Assembly Restores Voting Rights to Four Member States in Arrears

The General Assembly today decided to allow four nations in arrears — Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia and Sao Tome and Principe — to vote in the 193‑member body until the end of its seventy-first session, recognizing that their failure to pay the minimum amount was caused by conditions beyond their control. 

The Assembly, acting upon the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), adopted a draft resolution to that effect entitled “scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations” and contained in the Committee’s eponymous report (document A/71/414).  

The resolution also urged all Member States requesting exemption under Article 19 of the United Nations Charter to submit as much information as possible in support of their requests to defer payments. 

Before concluding, Peter Thomson (Fiji), President of the General Assembly, also informed Member States that the Fifth Committee had elected Inga Rhonda King (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) on 29 September as its Chairperson for the seventy-first session.