Becoming a member of the United Nations is supposedly “open to all peace loving States which accept the obligations contained within the United Nations Charter”. But as I’ve found out, it’s not that easy. In fact, it’s quite hard. Apparently, it’s a bit like joining a posh golf club.
First you have to send in an application stating that you are happy to accept the obligations of the UN Charter (http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/). This application is then considered by the Security Council. If they think it’s up to scratch, it has to get 9 out of the 15 members to vote for it, which is fine as long as none of its five permanent – and more powerful - members – the Russian Federation, China, France, the UK and the United States of America – don’t decide to veto the application.
After all that, the application is voted on by the General Assembly, currently composed of 191 member states, where a two thirds majority vote is required. If you manage to achieve all of this, no, you don’t get a medal although personally I think you deserve one, no, it’s time to get out your wallet… Like most exclusive clubs, you have to pay for the privilege.
The UN is funded in several ways. The first is through donations from member
States. The Swiss were so pleased when they became members of the UN in September 2002 that they redecorated a waiting room at the UN’s New York offices.
The second method of funding is through an assessment of each member’s wealth. As I discovered for a small country like ours this assessment would probably mean we would have to pay about 0.001% of our total national budget. Given the rather small size of our economy this is really good value for money particularly if you think about what you get for your money - our flag flying outside the UN’s New York HQ, a really posh desk and five chairs in the General Assembly. Oh and of course some nice new friends to be diplomatic with. For some countries though the price of membership is much higher, making payment more difficult. Would you believe that the U.S. are currently $1.3 billion in arrears!
Although the UN have so far turned down our application for membership, I think they may have made a mistake. You can join my petition to Kofi Annan, the General Secretary, by visiting my petition.
