UNGA approves $3.4 billion budget for war crimes investigation

The United Nations General Assembly has acquired a $3.07 billion budget for the first time which includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar. The budget has been increased slightly to $2.9 billion as compared to 2019. The UN has taken initiative to increase the budget because according to the diplomats there are a lot of missions added to the UN Secretariat which includes inflation and exchange rate adjustments.The missions include an observer mission in Yemen, a political mission in Haiti, an investigation into the crimes committed in Syria since the civil war began in 2011 and in Myanmar after the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.

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193 member nations to contribute

The funds for the Syria and Myanmar investigations for the first time will be transferred to the UN secretariat's budget which was earlier financed by voluntary contributions. It is expected to receive mandatory contributions from the 193 member nations.
Russia has presented several amendments during the negotiations in the Committee on budgetary questions meeting and in the General Assembly plenary session. Russia, Syria, Myanmar and their supporters which includes North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, were outvoted at each vote. All the above nations stated that they are not interested to associate themselves with references to investigative mechanisms in the adopted resolutions.

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Myanmar rejects investigation

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay, at a news conference on November 15, said that the investigation over its alleged crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is not in accordance with international law. The spokesman said that the country's own committees would investigate any abuses and ensure accountability if needed. The ICC on November 13 approved a full probe into Myanmar's bloody 2017 military crackdown against the minority Muslim group. Though the government stands against the probe, rights groups have welcomed it. The operating budget allocated for the UN is separate from the annual budget for peacekeeping operations of some $6 billion that is adopted in June.

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