While the United Nations (UN) has implemented austerity measures to mitigate its liquidity crisis, and encourages diplomats not to work after 18 hours for the sake of economy, the negotiators of the Budget Committee , the "5C", they have obtained a derogation to be able to work evenings and weekends at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The stakes are high: to allow them to negotiate and validate the 2020 budget of the General Secretariat in time before Christmas, to prevent a budgetary crisis worsening the situation.
Always a little rushed at the end of the year, the 5C seems even more late this month of December. There was certainly a stir around this first annual budget, not a biennial one – a flagship measure of UN reform. But above all, Russia is at the helm, supported by some developing countries of the G77 group. "Russians try to use all the instruments at their disposal to slow down discussions", says a European diplomat.
"The delaying maneuvers began six months ago already"says a second European diplomat, noting an unusual delay of six months in another procedure. If the Russians are willing to threaten the budget of the organization, it is to oppose the registration of the International Mechanism, impartial and independent (the IIIM, nicknamed the "triple IM" in UN jargon). This is the commission of inquiry that must address war crimes committed in Syria since 2011. "They are ready for anything to derail triple IM", notes the first diplomat.
"If France wants to pay, free to her"
It is not so much the amount of 18 million dollars (16 million euros) that disturbs the ally of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, but the creation of 60 positions that result, and the fact that, from now on, all the Member States will have to contribute to it – whereas since its creation in 2016, its financing was supported by "voluntary" countries. "We refuse to have it funded automatically by all the Member States, confirmed at World Dmitry Chumakov, Deputy Ambassador to the Russian Mission to the United Nations. If France wants to pay, free to her! But it should not be financed by a UN mechanism. "
Russian representatives also point to procedural irregularities in the implementation of the triple IM, which are refuted by the UN. "We responded to their remarks, stressing that we had acted in the rules that govern the General Assembly"said a senior UN official, denying any maneuver.
