By Adedapo Adesanya
The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on Friday, December 27, adopted a budget of $3.07 billion for the global organisation in 2020.
The budget approval means this will be the first annual budget of the organization being implemented, putting an end to the norm of a two-year budget cycle that has been in operation for 46 years, since 1973.
After the consideration of the report presented by the Assembly’s Fifth Committee tasked with administrative and budgetary matters earlier on Friday, the Assembly moved further to consider and adopt it.
Speaking on the decision, General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande stated that the budget adoption and other major decisions by the committee would be critical to the good functioning of the United Nations.
“The proposed programme budget for 2020 provides necessary resources to the UN Secretariat to implement its various tasks.
“It also prepares us well for entry into the Decade of Action for SDG implementation,” he said.
The 2020 figure – $3,073,830,500 is $23 million higher than the $2.849 billion budgeted by the organisation in 2019, and is also an increase of eight million dollars over the $3.06 billion proposal requested by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
The increase was the result of additional missions assigned to the UN Secretariat, inflation and exchange rate adjustments, according to the organisation. These include the observer mission in Yemen, a political mission established in Haiti, the investigation of crimes committed in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, and in Myanmar after the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.
With the budget, all UN Member States are expected during the coming year to step up efforts towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are designed to bring about a better world for all people while also protecting the natural environment.
The 17 goals include ending poverty and hunger, achieving gender equality, and taking urgent action to combat the effects of climate change. The SDGs were put in motion by world leaders in 2015 with a deadline of 2030 to achieve them.
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Dipo Olowookere