On 22 November the House of Lords held a debate on how to enhance the UK's role in the UN's specialized agencies.
Ahead of the debate, UNA-UK provided a briefing note to Peers on the UN All-Party Parliamentary Group (UN APPG), which focussed on agencies where strong UK support would be particularly beneficial at this time and included some general points about the UK's international development agenda.
Lord Judd, a member of UN APPG, argued that the UK must focus on pushing for collective international action on development and reaffirm its support for three UN agencies in particular. He urged the government to press the US over its stance on funding to UNESCO and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), to examine further ways in which the UK can support UN Women, and to use DFID's Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) findings to stimulate a wider discussion with UN Member States and donors.
Read the Hansard transcript of the Lords debate
Lord Judd used three ‘priority’ agencies as examples of where further UK support is imperative: UNESCO, UNFPA and UN Women. The UK is on the governing boards of all these agencies.
UNESCO is facing a serious funding shortfall following a decision by the United States, which normally contributes 22% of the agency's budget, to withhold its dues. The decision was taken after UNESCO's 194 member states voted to admit Palestine as a member. US law prohibits the funding of UN entities that admit Palestine.
The US move sets two dangerous precedents: penalising UN agencies for decisions taken not by their staff but by the states on their governing boards, and exacerbating the politicisation of funding for UN agencies. UNA-UK is calling on the UK government to press the US on its counter-productive position. Whilst welcoming the UK's decision not to cut funding to UNESCO, UNA-UK believes that the UK must now work with the international community to plug the funding gap and work with UNESCO to help improve the agency’s performance.
Read the question posed by Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Chair of the UN APPG, on UNESCO
UN Women, the new UN agency for gender equality and women's empowerment, is also severely underfunded. Only 1.4% of its budget comes from the UN’s regular budget and six months into operation, it had received just over a fifth of its budget from member state contributions.
UNA-UK welcomed DFID's decision to provide UN Women with £10m a year for the next two years but urges the UK to review whether there is more it can do, both financially and politically, to support this new agency.
Find out more about UNA-UK's campaign for DFID funding to UN Women
UNFPA – the UN's lead agency for population matters, reproductive rights and family planning - is also potentially under threat. This vital agency, which runs safe motherhood initiatives in 89 countries, could well see its funding reduced as 'pro-life' Republican Representatives are blocking the Senate Appropriations Bill containing the US’s voluntary contribution.
UNA-UK strongly believes that UNFPA's work has never been more needed. This year, the global population breached the seven billion mark; an estimated 215m women who wanted to delay or avoid pregnancy were unable to afford or access contraception; and half a million women and girls died from childbirth-related complications.
Aside from financial commitments to these and other UN agencies, Lord Judd called on the UK government to work closely with the agencies - particularly those placed under ‘special measures’ following the Multilateral Aid Review (MAR), in order to help improve their performance and strengthen inter-agency coordination. He also emphasised the importance of ensuring UK aid does not just support short-term projects, but focusses on longer-term goals too.
Resources
- Read the Hansard transcript of the Lords debate
- Read the question posed by Lord Hannay of Chiswick, Chair of the UN APPG, on UNESCO
- Read UNA-UK's briefing notes circulated to all UN APPG peers prior to the debate
- Find out more about UNA-UK's campaign for DFID funding to UN Women
