Foreign Policy reports:
Last June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon issued a far-reaching administrative ruling that offered marital
benefits for the first time to all of the United Nations’ lesbian and
gay employees, as well as to other U.N. workers who had entered legally
recognized domestic partnerships. On Monday, March 2, Russia gave the
plan a resounding nyet.
Speaking Monday morning at a meeting
of the U.N.’s main budget committee, a Russian diplomat demanded that
Ban reverse his decision on the matter, saying the U.N. chief’s action
violated a U.N. General Assembly resolution that left it to U.N.
employees’ governments to determine whether are eligible for spousal
benefits. Moscow has been weighing whether to force a vote in the budget
committee, known as the Fifth Committee, to halt funding such benefits,
a vote that it likely could win. Unlike the U.N. Security Council, the
United States and other big powers don’t have the power to veto votes in
the Fifth Committee. While its decisions are generally made by
consensus, states can call for a vote.
“We will insist that the
secretary-general urgently revoke the administrative bulletin” expanding
benefits to same-sex couples, the Russian diplomat told the committee.
Russia’s critics characterized the gambit as a cynical political
maneuver aimed at checking the authority of a U.N. leader who has
clashed with Moscow over its policies from Syria to Ukraine. Russia has
transformed what is by all accounts a low-priority administrative
dispute into a high-profile power struggle with the U.N. leader.
Russia's move is being opposed by the United States and the European Union.
(Tipped by JMG reader Zhera)
Reposted from Joe Jervis
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