NEW YORK, May 22 (Hina) - The joint attitude of all the countries of the former Yugoslavia is that the debt to the United Nations incurred in the period from 1992-2000 should be written off, Croatia's permanent representative to the
UN, Ivan Simonovic, told Hina on Wednesday.
NEW YORK, May 22 (Hina) - The joint attitude of all the countries of
the former Yugoslavia is that the debt to the United Nations
incurred in the period from 1992-2000 should be written off,
Croatia's permanent representative to the UN, Ivan Simonovic, told
Hina on Wednesday. #L#
The successor countries are in agreement that the debt should be
written off, particularly because it was incurred through no fault
of their own, in unclear circumstances of continuity to the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Simonovic said.
During the past ten years as a member of the UN, Croatia has
regularly settled its obligations, he added.
The Yugoslav debt was the topic of discussion these days in the
Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. The prevalent opinion is
that a solution should be found in agreement with the UN secretariat
and the countries that emerged in the region of the former
Yugoslavia.
The total debt to the UN exceeds US$16.2 million, of which almost
US$4.8 million for peace operations. This also includes about 1.5
million for peace missions that were active in the region of the
former Yugoslavia.
The debt in fact arose in two periods. The smaller amount was
incurred prior to May 22, 1992, when Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Slovenia, and then later, on April 8, 1993,
Macedonia, became members of the UN. The second debt arose between
then and the FRY's admission in 2000.
While the former of the two debts does not appear contentious, this
second debt arose during a period of indecision on the UN's part to
resolve the question of the status of the non-existent SFRY in the
UN. A diplomatic game was waged to keep this country on the list of
member countries, partly out of nostalgia towards one of the
founding countries of the organisation, but also to enable the FRY
government to remain present in diplomacy in New York.
Belgrade does not accept responsibility for the debt, claiming the
FRY was not a UN member until 2000. However, it "forgets" that since
1992 it has constantly referred to its "right to assume SFRY's
membership through succession," as well as the fact that the entire
time there was a "Yugoslav ambassador" in New York who actually
participated in the work of the UN.
(hina) sp sb