The United Nations General Assembly has approved an emergency change to its financial regulations, temporarily halting the year-end redistribution of unspent funds to member states that are in arrears. The measure, adopted on Tuesday, is designed to prevent what a May internal report had described as a “financial collapse”. According to UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan, the organisation would have exhausted its cash reserves by August and would have been unable to meet obligations beyond September without the rule change. The suspension, which will remain in force for four years, means that countries with outstanding debts—principally the United States and China—will no longer receive automatic refunds on unspent contributions, saving hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Viewed from Washington, the US arrears, which total approximately $4.3 billion across the regular budget, peacekeeping operations and international tribunals, reflect a sustained political hostility toward multilateral bodies under the Trump administration. Beijing, which owes more than $1.3 billion, has not publicly opposed the UN but, according to European diplomats, has used delayed payments as leverage to advance its priorities within the system. The financial strain extends beyond headquarters: Secretary-General António Guterres told a donor conference that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) faces a $100 million shortfall and is “on the verge of collapse”, with further cuts threatening to push operations past a breaking point. Guterres condemned what he called “disinformation, smear campaigns, legislative actions and operational restrictions” aimed at undermining the agency, which Israel has long accused of political bias and, since October 2023, of employing staff involved in the Hamas-led attack.

As the UN’s fiscal foundations were being shored up, Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday alleging that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during its 18-month siege and eventual capture of El Fasher in North Darfur. The rights group, which interviewed 247 survivors and witnesses, said the RSF systematically targeted non-Arab civilians, particularly from the Zaghawa ethnic group, and used dehumanising language including slurs translated as “slave”. The report names three RSF commanders as bearing responsibility for murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and the deliberate targeting of children. The UN Human Rights Council is due to hold an urgent debate on the situation in el-Obeid, North Kordofan, where the UN humanitarian chief has warned that around 500,000 civilians are at risk of large-scale atrocities as the RSF prepares a ground assault. A cholera outbreak declared this week in West Kordofan has already killed 120 people, the World Health Organization said, with the rainy season expected to accelerate transmission amid a decimated health system.

Analysts in London note that the conflict, now in its fourth year, is sustained by a multi-track war economy in which gold smuggling, external military supply routes and regional logistical networks have become as decisive as battlefield manoeuvres. United Nations panels of experts and open-source investigations have documented the delivery of Iranian Mohajer-6 combat drones to the Sudanese army and the use of Red Sea ports and neighbouring territories as transit points for matériel. The UN Human Rights Council debate, requested by Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, is expected to produce a draft resolution. Meanwhile, the temporary budget fix leaves the organisation dependent on member states honouring their commitments; the UNRWA funding gap remains unclosed; and no ceasefire is in sight in Sudan, where aid groups estimate the death toll may have surpassed 200,000.