UN Secretary-General António Guterres has told member states that the organisation faced “imminent financial collapse” amid unpaid annual dues and other issues.
Guterres, in a letter he sent to UN member states, called on them to address unpaid dues and overhaul global body’s financial rules.
Due to unpaid annual dues and other problems, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned member states that the organization faced “imminent financial collapse.”
In a letter to UN members, Guterres urged them to change the organization’s financial regulations and deal with outstanding debts.
The situation is getting worse, endangering the execution of programs and raising the possibility of financial catastrophe.
In the letter to UN ambassadors, Guterres stated, “And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future.”
He notably cautioned member states to either agree to alter the UN’s financial policies or accept “the very real prospect of the financial collapse of our Organisation”.
The head of the UN listed two primary issues: unpaid dues and an outdated law requiring the international organization to reimburse member governments for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid dues annually.
“To put it another way, we are caught in a Kafkaesque cycle where we are expected to return money that doesn’t exist,” Guterres stated.
The term “Kafkaesque” alludes to Franz Kafka, a writer who discussed repressive bureaucratic procedures.
“Decisions not to honor assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced,” Guterres wrote in his letter.
“To prevent an impending financial collapse, either all Member States fulfill their obligations to pay in full and on time, or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial regulations.”
The annual dues that UN members are required to pay are determined by a number of factors, including each nation’s debt and gross domestic output.
According to the regulations, the United States contributes 22% of the UN’s regular budget, which funds the organization’s main initiatives and daily operations.
Additionally, about 26% of the UN peacekeeping budget is funded by the United States.
Nonetheless, the United States has reduced its voluntary contributions to UN organizations and declined to make required payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.
With 193 member states, the UN was established in 1945 with the goals of upholding global peace and security, advancing human rights, encouraging social and economic growth, and coordinating humanitarian relief.
But lately, U.S. President Donald Trump established a Board of Peace, which some worry could threaten the existing international organization.
However, Trump claimed that the UN is not living up to its “great potential.”
In 2025, Guterres established UN80, a reform task force that aims to reduce expenses and boost productivity in order to get over the financial crisis.
States decided to reduce the 2026 budget by about 7% to $3.45 billion after the idea was introduced.
In spite of his cost-cutting measures, Guterres cautioned in the letter that the UN could run out of funding by July.
According to the UN’s website, as of Friday, only 36 of the 193 member states had completed their regular 2026 contributions.
