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Vol 67 No 3

Published 6th February 2026


Bankruptcy beckons for the international system

Washington is withholding the funds it owes the UN to force reform but it is losing credibility and influence – even if no country wants to take over its role

António Guterres has sounded alarms before, but his 28 January warning that the United Nations faces ‘imminent financial collapse’ marked the organisation’s gravest moment since 1945. The Secretary-General’s stark message to the 193 member states came as United States President Donald Trump’s administration made explicit what had been implicit for months: Washington will not make its outstanding mandatory payments to either the UN’s administrative or peacekeeping budgets, and will withhold some voluntary payments too.

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