Bahrain clears $8m debt, restores UN voting rights

Bahrain paid $8 million to restore its right to vote at the United Nations (UN), sources confirmed.

Quoting a senior official at Foreign Affairs Ministry, Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Parliamentary Committee Deputy Chairman MP Jamal Buhassan told DT News that “the Kingdom of Bahrain paid its arrears to the UN on the same day Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that Bahrain’s right to vote at the council had been revoked due to arrears.”

“The matter was settled on the same day of the announcement made by the UN, and these amounts are annually paid by all members to support the UN Peacekeepers that are deployed in different parts of the world,” Buhassan informed.

The MP affirmed that “Bahrain’s privileges at the council were not at all affected by these arrears.”

In his reply to DT News queries about the matter, Minister of Parliament and Information Affairs and the Official Government Spokesperson Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi said during the post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, “The Kingdom of Bahrain is an active member of the council and has a permanent representative there. The Kingdom is committed to all the required obligations of member countries.”

However, the minister didn’t really explain the arrears Bahrain owe to the UN, but assured that “more clarifications would be announced after obtaining the necessary information from Foreign Affairs Ministry.”

The UN announced Saturday that 15 countries including Bahrain, oil producer Venezuela and Iran are in arrears in paying their annual contribution to the UN regular budget, which means they can’t vote in the 193-member world body unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The secretary-general’s letter dated January 18 notes that the General Assembly can permit member states to vote “if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member.”

The assembly did pass a resolution giving five poor and conflict-torn countries on the list the right to vote during the current session which ends in September, including Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia and Yemen.

The UN announced that arrears for Venezuela were under $3m, $2.1m for the Dominican Republic, $2,155 for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and $1,360 for Burundi.

Other countries with arrears included Libya, Mali, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu.