Seven countries including Iran have lost their right to vote in the UN General Assembly due to upaid dues, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Monday.
The UN charter calls for such a voting rights suspension for countries whose arrears equal or surpass the amount of the contributions due from them to UN coffers within the previous two years.
The other six countries are Niger, Libya, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, Guterres said during a letter to the president of the overall Assembly, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.
The letter spells out an amount each country pays , short of their total debt, to recover their right to vote.
Iran, as an example , must pay a minimum of $16.2 million.
The UN’s budget is around $3.2 billion per annum . The budget for peacekeeping operations is separate and totals around $6.5 billion.
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