UN strips South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon of rights to vote over arrears

The United Nations has repealed rights to vote of six countries including South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon over arrears on dues to operating budget of the global organization.

The three African countries, in addition to Dominica, Venezuela and Lebanon, have lost their rights to vote per charter of the organization. Members whose arrears equal or exceed the amount of their contributions for the preceding two full years lose their voting rights. But it also gives the General Assembly the authority to decide “that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member,” and in that case a country can continue to vote, the charter states.

The three African countries owe respectively $61,686 (Gabon), $196,130 (South Sudan) and $619,103 (Equatorial Guinea).

Gabon however will not lose its voting rights at the Security Council where it is serving a two-year term.

Venezuela’s dues on the other hand amount to $76,244,991, Lebanon’s $1,835,303 and Dominica’s $20,580.

The circular only indicated that the General Assembly decided that three African countries on the list of nations in arrears — Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia — would be able to keep their voting rights.