Venezuela, Libya lose UN vote for 3rd time in 3 consecutive years for not paying dues

New York, February 14: The United Nations suspended Venezuela and Libya from voting in the U.N. General Assembly for the third consecutive time in three years due to unpaid dues to the world body. Notably, Venezuela and Libya have not paid its dues to remain as the member of United Nations.

 

Earlier, in late January this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed the General Assembly that 14 countries including Venezuela and Libya were in arrears and now Assembly spokesman Brenden Varma confirmed on Tuesday that Venezuela and Libya lost its vote in the 193-member global organization.

Guterres in a letter to the Assembly president said that Venezuela must pay a minimum of $25,200,296 and Libya must pay at least $6,594,842 to restore its voting rights. Importantly, Venezuela is surrounded by the economic and political crisis while Libya is facing a civil war as it has two rival governments, each backed by an array of militias.

However, the other countries that lost their voting rights are Central African Republic, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Surinam and Yemen. Equatorial Guinea, which is on the Security Council, also lost its vote. Interestingly, passing a resolution, the United Nations General Assembly decided that Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia would be permitted to vote despite being in arrears.