CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

STATEMENT BY FIRST SECRETARY JORGE CUMBERBATCH, REPRESENTATIVE OF CUBA TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, FIFTH COMMITTEE, MAIN PART OF THE 65TH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. TEMA 133: SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS FOR THE APPORTIONMENT OF THE EXPENSES OF THE UNITED NATIONS. NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4, 2010.

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to congratulate you and the rest of the Bureau of the Fifth Committee in the General Assembly 65th session.

We are confident you will be able to lead the work of the Committee in a transparent way and with the participation of all, at a singular moment of the work of this body.

Likewise, we wish to thank Mr. Bernardo Greiver, Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, for the presentation of the report on the outcomes of the 70th Session of the Committee, document A/65/11, as well as Mr. Lionelito Berridge, Chief of the UN Contributions Service, for the presentation of the Report of the Secretary-General on multi-year payment plans, contained in document A/65/65.

Our delegation wishes to express its endorsement of the statement by the distinguished representative of Yemen on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Nevertheless, we would like to make some considerations in our national capacity.

Mr. Chairman,

Through the scale of assessments, the commitment of the delegations to enforce the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations in the daily performance of the Organization is fulfilled. Therefore, the scale constitutes one of the main elements to ensure the equitable participation of all Member States in the activities of the Organization.

The existing methodology is the result of a long evolutionary process, and includes essential and most universally accepted data, so that the capacity to pay of Member States can be assessed in a rather balanced way, which is the principle governing the distribution of percentages of every member of the Organization.

In such a complex context for global governance, in which we have been imposed parallel decision-making mechanisms affecting us all, we have witnessed continuous attempts to undermine the principle of the sovereign equality, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, in all working fields of the Organization. The scale of assessments and scale methodology do not escape this phenomenon.
All variants presented to us on this matter point out to make relative the principle of capacity to pay, under the supposed argument that it is necessary to “improve” the current methodology. To do so, developing countries are tried to be transferred financial burdens that have nothing to do with the nature of the development of national economies in the current circumstances.

It is surprising that amidst the whole process, those who favor the alleged improvement do not plan on seriously addressing the main cause of the distortion of the scale of assessments: the ceiling imposed on the 55th Session of the General Assembly. 

Any change in the methodology that does not seriously tackle the removal of the ceiling of the scale of assessments, does not make any sense.

Excluding the element of the ceiling, the effectiveness of the current methodology has been proved over time, and so is endorsed by the data for the triennium 2010-2012. Those who saw their macroeconomic data grow in the base period, assumed greater percentages in the scale. Among them, there are a significant number of developing countries, including ours.

On the other hand, important world economies had their percentages considerably reduced, according to available information. As it happens, a group of these countries are the same that promote unjust changes in the scale methodology.

In the current session, which does not entail any decision from the General Assembly on the matter we are dealing with, we will be follow closely the arguments on the scale methodology.

Mr. Chairman,

In the existing conditions of the global economy, developing countries make huge efforts to make their financial contributions to our Organization.

That is why our delegation supports the recommendations by the Committee on Contributions, that a small group of nations be exempted from the implementation of Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Group of Experts has unanimously concluded that the nations evaluated in this section have not been able to settle their arrears due to circumstances beyond their control.

Our delegation will work for the requested exemptions to be promptly adopted, so that the Member States involved can effectively contribute to the work of the Organization.

In this context, our delegation reiterates its support to the multi-year payments mechanism, as a valid option to help those Member States facing multiple difficulties to meet their obligations to the budget of the Organization.

Mr. Chairman,

Cuba reaffirms its willingness to continue to honor its financial obligations to the Organization, despite it suffers the consequences of a unilateral blockade contrary to the international law, which constantly obstructs its contributions to the budget of the United Nations.

However, we will do it in the framework of a methodology for the scale of assessments that best reflects the reality of our countries and that is not subject of manipulations.

Thank you.

(Cubaminrex – Misión Permanente ONU)

 

 

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