Changes in Problems and Principles

Abstract

A fundamental question to be addressed is whether the nature of the UN’s financing and funding problem has changed; or indeed whether this is a new phenomenon for an international body such as the UN. On the face of it, the crisis has been around as long as the UN itself. The auditors of UN budgets have passed consistently gloomy views: ‘During 1957, the cash position the United Nations in respect of its regular budget operations again reached very unsatisfactory levels during the recurrently difficult months of May and June…’; ‘The cash position… continues to be a matter of deep concern…’ in 1958; the situation was ‘increasingly critical’ the following year; ‘remained precarious…’ in 1970 and so on. For 1992–3, the auditors’ talk was of the ‘extremely high levels of outstanding assessed contributions’ for peace-keeping operations. Each secretary-general has had his own excoriating say.