 Against strong opposition from rich nations, developing countries adopted a divisive resolution that could delay crucial UN management reforms and spawn a crippling budget crisis. The resolution, which called for several new reports on the reforms and insisted on prior review by the General Assembly of any changes to budget practices, was passed in a key budget committee with 108 in favour, 50 against and three abstentions. The resolution was presented by South Africa on behalf of 132 developing nations - the so-called Group of 77 - and China, and was strongly opposed by the main contributors to the UN budget, including the United States, Japan, European countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Israel.
| I can remember when South Africa was a developed nation... |
The outcome broke a 20-year tradition in the General Assembly's 5th committee of reaching decisions by consensus rather than by a vote. At issue is what developing nations perceive as a bid by the US-led main contributors to transfer some of the oversight and budgetary powers from the 191-member General Assembly to the 15-member Security Council and the UN Secretariat. |