Ukraine Must Cut Back Its Membership in International Organizations

Ukraine’s debt to the United Nations of $15 million will be paid and this will make it possible to restore its voting rights in the UN General Assembly in the immediate future, Foreign Ministry deputy press service head Serhiy Borodenkov announced. The main reason for stripping Ukraine of this right as of January 1, 2000, he added, was the General Assembly’s “unfair” decision made in 1992, whereby Ukraine’s debt was for a number of years increased by accruing “unjustifiably high membership dues payable to both the UN regular budget and to finance peacekeeping missions that did not tally with this country’s actual solvency.” Mr. Borodenkov believes that the said decision was made proceeding from Ukraine’s unreal GDP indices borrowed from Soviet-period statistics, reports Interfax Ukraine. Later, after the General Assembly resolved to restructure Ukraine’s peacekeeping debts ($121 million) and reduce its contribution to finance UN activities almost tenfold, “a real opportunity appeared to finally settle the problem of Ukraine’s indebtedness,” the diplomat pointed out.

Yuri IVANENKO, head of the banking and intergovernmental financial operations department, Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, had this to say on the current situation when interviewed by The Day :

“It is great pity that the UN sanctions were levied precisely as the Ukrainian government was embarking on complicated talks with foreign creditors to restructure its public debt; losing the right to vote at the UN dealt a heavy blow to Ukraine’s prestige and credit rating. And this could have been avoided, had the Accounting Chamber’s findings been timely considered and acted upon. The chamber warned that the outstanding debts threatened Ukraine with losing its vote in the UN. Unfortunately, neither the Cabinet nor the Ministry of Foreign Economic Contacts and Trade responded adequately, except Verkhovna Rada which made proper adjustments in the 2000 budget resolution. The result was a situation humiliating for Ukraine both politically and economically. And this considering that Ukraine is among the UN founding members and that last year it was granted the status of UN Security Council non-permanent member. However, I do believe that the situation can be improved. To do so, we must take stock of Ukraine’s participation in international organizations and determine its expediency. Ukraine’s financial situation is such that we cannot afford the unaffordable. The new Cabinet must learn from past mistakes to avoid a repetition of the current situation.

“According to the Accounting Chamber, Ukraine is a member of 107 international organizations, meaning cooperation on the part of 50 ministries and agencies. In 1999, arrears on membership dues amounted to some $940 million. Chamber inspections carried out that same year showed that planning membership disbursements were unjustified, and that part of the budget allocations were used ineffectively and for purposes other than the designated ones. The 1999 budget program stipulated UAH 200 million for such expenses, while only UAH 29 million was actually financed in 11 months.”