Lebanon regains UN voting rights

LEBANON regained its voting rights at the United Nations after paying outstanding dues it owed the international body, a UN spokesman said Monday.

“Lebanon has just made a payment. With this payment Lebanon’s voting rights have been fully restored,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

According to a diplomatic source, Lebanon paid $1.3 million.

“Lebanon paid its dues that were delayed (a) few days because of the current situation in Lebanon,” Amal Mudallali, the country’s ambassador to the UN, wrote on Twitter Monday.

“Lebanon is not under article 19 anymore,” she added, referring to a UN provision that allows the body to strip a member state of voting privileges if they have fallen behind on financial contributions.

The UN on Friday said that crisis-hit Lebanon was among seven countries that would lose the right to vote in the General Assembly because of a failure to pay dues.

The UN’s operating budget is about $3 billion annually, with a separate peacekeeping budget of about $6 billion. Facing serious cashflow problems, the UN adopted various savings measures at the end of 2019.