BEIRUT — Lebanon’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it “regretted” the revoking of the country’s voting rights at the U.N. General Assembly after falling behind on membership dues, saying the state’s “reputation and prestige” would be impacted. Under U.N. rules, a country can lose its General Assembly vote if is in arrears by any amount that equals or exceeds the contributions due for the previous two years, unless it shows evidence of an inability to pay that is beyond its control. The 193-member world body has been faced with a cash crisis due to a lack of payments by countries. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres introduced extraordinary measures late last year to cope with the cash shortfall, including banning non-essential travel and canceling or deferring some meetings. (Reporting by Nadine Awadalla in Beirut and Michelle Nichols in New York; editing by Mike Harrison)

Source: National Post January 11, 2020 19:30 UTC