U.S. may lose voting rights at UN General Assembly at certain point: UN spokesperson

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United States may lose its voting rights at the UN General Assembly at some point if it does not pay its dues to the United Nations for a certain number of years, a UN spokesperson said Thursday.

"Well, the (UN) Charter is clear ... about what happens when a country doesn't pay its dues for a certain number of years," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, in response to questions about the implications if a UN member state does not pay its dues to the United Nations.

"It's Article 19. So, it's not a decision of the Secretary-General. It's in the Charter, and it implies that at some point a country may lose its vote in the General Assembly," he said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the United States did not pay its dues to the United Nations in 2025.

"A Member of the United Nations which is in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization shall have no vote in the General Assembly if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years. The General Assembly may, nevertheless, permit such a Member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member," Article 19 of the UN Charter stipulates.

The United States is to withdraw from 66 international organizations, according to a presidential memorandum signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday. ■