Brazil at Risk of Losing Right to Vote in U.N. Due to Debt

Brazil has faced multiple disasters in 2019 and has grabbed the attention of the global media for the wrong reasons-the recent Amazon fires as well as President Jair Bolsonaro's accusations against Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and now, its U.N. debt.

The country is on the brink of losing its right to vote at the United Nations if it does not pay some of the $400 million it owes the organization by the end of 2019. The country owes $143 million to the U.N. in 2019 alone, according to U.N. and Brazilian officials, and $415.8 in total.

"There is considerable risk that Brazil, for the first time ever, will lose its right to vote at the U.N. as of January 1, 2020," said Erivaldo Gomes, Economy Ministry's secretary for international relations, adding that Brazil is the second-largest U.N. debtor, with United States as the first, and must return to the organization at least $126.6 million by the end of the year to avoid losing its right to vote.

Moreover, the Economy Ministry said that it asked the Congress on Tuesday to approve the 549 million reais ($130 million) to cover Brazil's U.N. debt

In a report by Reuters, U.N. which is now short on funds, has an existing rule that a country can lose its General Assembly vote once it fails to return the amount owed which equals or exceeds its contributions for the previous two years, unless the country can prove that its inability to pay is beyond its control.

Currently, the countries Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia are also subject to this rule but the General Assembly consist of 193 members voted in October to allow them to continue their participation.

In a data released by United Nations in October, that total countries have a total debt of $1.385 billion from the organization, 97% of which are owed by seven countries namely United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Iran, Israel and Venezuela, while the remaining 3% are owed by 58 other countries.

Out of the $1.385 billion, $860 million is for the $2.85 billion regular budget for 2019, which pays for political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs and communications of the organization.

The same report shows that Washington is responsible for 22% of the regular budget and in October owed $381 million for prior regular budgets and $674 million for the 2019 regular budget.

In an interview on Tuesday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the United States has already paid $500 million to the world body and has an existing debt of $491 million.

The U.N. spokesperson added that out of 193 U.N. member states, 138 have already paid their regular budget dues but has still an existing $772 million debt for 2019.

Aside from the need to pay back its debt to U.N., it can be recalled that Brazil previously announced that it needs more funding to pursue its environmental efforts, according to a report by Latin Post.

Environment Minister Ricardo Salles previously announced his plans of bringing more environmental development in the country such as economic zoning and strengthening its implementation of environmental laws to the Amazon rainforest region, which has recently recorded the highest rate of deforestation in 11 years.