In the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities on Monday, India pledged contributions of $13.36 million for the various UN agencies and development activities, PTI reported. It emphasized that the organisation should have the necessary resources to finance its activities in a balanced manner.
First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Mahesh Kumar said India has been a regular contributor to the UN since its founding and believes that the UN should have the necessary resources to finance its activities, in an appropriate and balanced manner.
India has pledged contributions of which include $4.5 million to the UN Development Programme, five million dollars to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Near East, $1.92 million to the World Food Programme, $790,000 to United Nations Children’s Fund, $500,000 to UN Population Fund, $150,000 to UN Commission on Human Settlements Programme and $100,000 each to UN Voluntary contribution for Financial and Technical Assistance for the implementation of Universal Periodic Review, UN Environment Programme and UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Kumar said the list is not exhaustive and India is separately processing contribution for Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Torture and UN Volunteers.
Upto 19 countries pledged a total of $425.69 million at the Pledging Conference, which reflected an increase from the 2017 amount of $398.98 million.
Chief of the Operational Activities Policy Branch in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs Zina Mounla said funding for humanitarian assistance has been increasing faster than funding for development-related activities.
Kumar said sustainable funding remains the key in achieving the 17 goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The ODA (Official Development Assistance) as a percentage of GNI (Gross national income) remains low; the commitment to the LDCs is far from being met by most DAC (Development Assistance Committee) members; and financing for small island developing states, and country programmable aid continues to decline. This is clearly in contrast to commitments made at various fora on issues of development financing.”
He said around $50 billion are channelised every year through the UN system, but around 65 per cent of these resources are earmarked.
