By Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The United States has pledged tens of millions of dollars to UN organisations in Geneva, sources said - a move diplomats said showed Washington still wanted to maintain some engagement with the global body that it has repeatedly criticised.
Two diplomats and a UN source told Reuters the US had sent pledge letters to several UN organisations, including the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization and the CITES body overseeing trade in wildlife.
The US State Department confirmed it had made a payment to the UN without giving details on the amounts.
“This payment should not be mistaken for satisfaction with the status quo. It reflects recognition of reforms achieved — and an expectation of many more to come,” a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters.
PLEDGES COINCIDE WITH NEW US AMBASSADOR
The Trump administration had slashed funding to the UN and left many commitments unpaid, as it accused the UN of waste, inefficiency and failing to fulfil its potential to broker peace deals.
But it has been making moves this year to pay off a significant proportion of its debt, in a bid to maintain influence and also to keep up its voting rights at a time when a new Secretary-General is being chosen and when China’s influence is rising.
Under Article 19 of the UN Charter, a member state can lose its vote in the General Assembly if its arrears exceed the amount due for the preceding two full years.
The new US pledges also coincide with the September arrival in Geneva of US ambassador Todd Steggerda, a lawyer and former Navy pilot.
The payments could help stabilise UN agencies that have implemented severe cutbacks in Geneva.
Delayed or unpaid US contributions can be crippling for UN bodies that have long relied on Washington as their top funder, prompting some to reassess their priorities.
The World Meteorological Organization, set up in 1951 to coordinate global weather data, confirmed it had received a 15.1 million CHF ($18.18 million), covering what the US owed to the agency for 2024. That payment maintained US voting rights in that body.
Washington also pledged an extra 2.2 million CHF to the WMO, the body said, although 2025 and 2026 fees are outstanding, a spokesperson said.
CITES confirmed it received a funding pledge from the US on September 24, without giving the amount.
A spokesperson for the International Labour Organization, owed more than 250 million CHF ($300.88 million) by Washington, said it has not received a pledge.
Diplomats welcomed the pledges, saying that it indicated some level of UN commitment and to topics such as weather and wildlife not typically seen as US priorities.
“It shows at least they have a political interest in keeping the system going,” said one diplomat.
It was unclear what portion of the overall debt to UN agencies the payments represented.
For the UN general budget, a payment of $725 million this month represented less than 20% of the more than $4 billion that the UN said in May the United States owed - though Washington has said that total figure is much lower.
($1 = 0.8307 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
