§ Lady Tweedsmuirasked the Lord Privy Seal how many member States of the United Nations have failed to contribute the equivalent of two years' regular assessments, thus making them eligible to be deprived of their vote under Article 19 of the Charter.
§ Mr. GodberMy latest information is that only Bolivia and Haiti are more than two years in arrears with their assessed contributions to the Regular Budget but that both countries have given assurances of early payment which will reduce their arrears to a level at which Article 19 would not apply.
According to the figures most recently available (United Nations Statement of Contributions, as at 31st of December, 90W 1961) ten countries owed more than two years' worth of their assessed contributions, including their arrears to the costs of the Middle East and Congo operations. The question of whether the costs of these operations are "expenses of the Organisation" (and thus by implication whether there is a legal obligation on members to pay them) has been referred by resolution of the General Assembly to the International Court of Justice for an Advisory Opinion.
Of course, a larger number of countries was behindhand in contributions, in some cases to quite a small extent, to the various accounts. On 31st December, 1961, we calculated that 79 countries were defaulting to some extent on the Congo account, 65 on the United Nations Emergency Force account, and 52 on the Regular Budget account.