Saudi threatens to cut UN funding over blacklisting: Sources

Saudi Arabia and its allies have threatened to cut off funding to UN programs if United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon doesn't drop the kingdom from a blacklist of violators of children rights, diplomatic sources say.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said Tuesday that Ban's office was bombarded with calls from the foreign ministers of the Persian Gulf littoral states, as well as ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), after the blacklisting was announced last week.

On Monday, the UN temporarily removed the Saudi kingdom from the blacklist of states and armed groups that openly flout the rights of children, pending a review. But Saudi envoy to the UN said the removal was “irreversible and unconditional.”

One UN official said Saudi Arabia is organizing a “full-court press” over the blacklisting.

“Bullying, threats, pressure,” an anonymous diplomatic source told Reuters on the nature of the contacts, adding that it was “real blackmail.”

The source said that Saudi clerics have also threatened to issue a fatwa (religious decree) "against the UN, declaring it anti-Muslim, which would mean no contacts of OIC members, no relations, contributions, support, to any UN projects, programs.”

SS