Less than three weeks before handing over the reins to Joe Biden's team, the Trump administration launched a final volley against the United Nations by voting against their budget, due to disagreements over Israel and Iran, however finding little international support.
When the General Assembly closed, the United States was the only country with Israel to vote against the UN's $ 3.231 billion budget for 2021, while 167 states approved it.
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US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft protested the budgeting of funding for an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 2001 United Nations Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
The United States had slammed the door to this conference because of what it believed to be an anti-Israel obsession among majority Muslim countries.
“Twenty years later, there is nothing left to endorse or celebrate in the Durban Declaration.
It is infected with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel prejudices
,
”
Ms. Craft told the General Assembly.
Member States separately approved a resolution supporting the follow-up to the Durban conference efforts.
The resolution passed with 106 votes in favor, 44 abstentions and 14 votes against, including the United States and Israel, but also Western powers such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
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The American ambassador also complained that her country had received no support from the international organization in September, when the United States decreed the return of UN sanctions against Iran, in because of alleged violations by Tehran of the nuclear deal negotiated under the Obama presidency.
“The United States doesn't need applause to validate its moral sense
,
”
said Kelly Craft.
The ambassador stressed that the United States would not change its contribution to the United Nations budget, comprising 25% of the budget for peacekeeping operations, and nearly $ 9 billion per year in humanitarian aid channeled by the United Nations. UN organizations.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to adopt a more cooperative approach towards the UN, in particular with the end of the process of leaving the World Health Organization, sharply criticized by Donald Trump for his management of the pandemic of Covid-19.