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| - Investigation: Is US close to losing its voting rights at the UN?
On Jan. 6, Chris Wat Wing-yin, a prominent talk show host and political commentator in Hong Kong, claimed that the United States is significantly behind in its payment to the United Nations, nearing the threshold that would result in the loss of its voting rights at the General Assembly.
In her commentary, Wat referenced a question posed by CCTV journalist Xu Dezhi during a press briefing on Dec. 30, 2024, regarding the extent of U.S. arrears and whether they exceeded the permissible limits set by the U.N.
In response, the international organization’s spokesperson, Florencia Soto Nino, said the U.S. has made a partial payment. She did not say exactly how much the country owed to the U.N. at the end of 2024.
According to Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations, if a member state’s arrears equal or exceed its assessed contributions for the preceding two full years, that member “shall have no vote in the General Assembly.”
In her video blog published by the conservative online news outlet Speak Out HK, Wat began her commentary by highlighting China’s timely payment of $480 million to the U.N. at the end of the year first.
She then discussed the U.S. and alleged the country exploits the U.N. Charter by “never paying the full fee.” She claimed that the country “pays a little each year, just enough to avoid losing its voting rights.” She went on to say the U.S. is the largest debtor to the U.N., with over one billion dollars in dues — “just under the total amount assessed in the previous two years.”
The topic of U.S. arrears to the U.N. is not new on Chinese social media. Similar claims surfaced on Facebook in April 2024 and again in October on QQ.com, alleging that the U.S. deliberately controls its unpaid contributions to maintain its voting status.
Similar narratives on platforms like X, Douyin and NetEase also suggested that U.S. arrears might be sufficient to trigger a suspension of its voting rights.
While Annie Lab cannot independently verify whether the U.S. intentionally manages its level of arrears, it is inaccurate to say that the country pays just enough to avoid suspension of its voting rights.
The U.N. spokesperson told Annie Lab that the U.S. “paid more than its actual assessment” in 2024.
U.N. records indicate that overall, U.S. arrears have decreased since 2019. We also reached out to Chris Wat through Speak Out HK, but she did not respond to our request for clarification regarding her statements.
Status of US arrears to the UN
The General Assembly determines the financial obligations of member states to the U.N. that include contributions to the regular budgets and assessments for peacekeeping operations and international tribunals.
It is accurate that from 2022 to 2024, the U.S. was assessed the largest portions of regular (22%) and peacekeeping (about 27%) budgets while simultaneously holding the highest level of arrears compared to other countries.
According to a recent U.N. report published in October 2024, as of Sept. 30, 2024, the U.S. owed $995 million for unpaid regular budget contributions, over $883 million for peacekeeping operations, and $21 million for international tribunals.
U.N. associate spokesperson Soto Nino told Annie Lab via email that the U.S. “made several partial payments in 2024 and paid more than its actual assessment,” indicating that the country was “not in danger of losing its vote.”
Annie Lab looked into the organization’s financial records between 2018 and 2024, which suggest that the U.S. has made sufficient payments in recent years to reduce its debt.
By the second half of 2019, records indicated that the U.S. owed $3.5 billion in unpaid assessments—$2.4 billion attributed to peacekeeping missions—but this figure showed a downward trend over subsequent years; by mid-2024, total arrears had decreased to $1.9 billion.
To evaluate whether the largest contributor to the U.N. is nearing limits set by Article 19 and at risk of losing voting rights at the General Assembly, we examined gross contributions in 2022 and 2023, the two full years preceding 2024.
According to letters from the Secretary-General listing member states violating Article 19 (such as one issued in January 2025) limits are calculated based on each state’s “gross amount assessed” for regular budgets, peacekeeping operations, and international tribunals.
Using official documents detailing gross budgets and assessment rates for these years, we found that the total assessed contributions for the U.S. amounted to approximately $4.9 billion over 2022 and 2023 combined. As of September 2024, accumulated arrears were about 39% of the set limit.
Wat’s assertion that the U.S. “never pays full fees, but rather a small amount each year” to keep its voting rights is unsubstantiated.
China’s payments are regularly delayed
Meanwhile, Annie Lab also discovered that, contrary to Wat’s comment about China’s timely payment of $480 million dues, records indicate the country’s full payment of its regular budget was delayed for months in 2024.
According to Regulation 3.5 of the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, contributions are due within 30 days following notifications of assessed amounts. The regular budget assessments for 2024 were due on Feb. 8, according to the Committee of Contributions.
While about one-fourth of the member states met their regular budget assessments before deadlines, China did not appear on honor rolls provided by the U.N.’s website as having done so promptly. Its payment was made on Dec. 27, 2024, the last of 151 member states that paid in full within the year.
In addition to regular budget contributions, member states are also responsible for expenses related to peacekeeping operations and international tribunals; as of September 2024, China had paid all assessed contributions for tribunals but still owed $407 million for peacekeeping fees.
Background of US arrearage
Since 2018, ongoing liquidity crises at the U.N. have been attributed largely to late or outstanding payments from member states.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concerns over an “accelerating liquidity crisis” affecting regular budget operations in a letter dated Jan. 25, 2024; while he did not name specific countries responsible for this situation, many observers have pointed towards the United States as both a top contributor and largest debtor.
Klaus Hüfner, a retired professor specializing in U.N. research at the Free University of Berlin, noted in a book chapter titled, “Financing The United Nations: The Role of the United States,” in 2002 that this financial turmoil “is mainly due to the non-payment of its membership dues by the United States—a Member State that, although having the ability to pay, has demonstrated its unwillingness to pay.”
Hüfner highlighted instances between the 1980s and 2000s where, in his view, political factors influenced decisions regarding contributions.
For example, the U.S. Congress withheld funding for U.N. programs that lacked U.S. political support after the U.N. significantly increased its budget plan for 1982 to 1983 and the General Assembly approved it.
The accumulation of peacekeeping arrears can also be attributed to discrepancies between assessment rates set by both entities. The U.N.’s assessment rate has exceeded U.S. Congress’s cap limiting contributions, which was established at 25% in 1995. Because the U.N. rate of 26% is over this cap, the differences have led directly toward accruing debts over the years.
While temporary adjustments were made by the U.S. Congress between fiscal years from 2001 and mid-2016, allowing higher contribution levels matching those assessed by international bodies—this practice was discontinued in mid-2017 onward.
Late payments are also caused by differing timelines. The U.N. regular budget begins in January while peacekeeping assessments commence in July each year, while an American fiscal calendar starts in October annually. This misalignment has historically resulted in late payments being made consistently.
Eugene Chen, a Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, explained in an article that these patterns emerged under the Reagan administration. Since the U.S. pays after October, the gap is “essentially guaranteeing the late payment of contributions to the regular budget.”
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