Delegates Urge Careful Management of United Nations Resources amid Ongoing Financial Constraints, as Fifth Committee Begins Resumed Session
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) began the second part of its resumed session today to consider a proposed $5.7 billion budget for nearly a dozen peacekeeping missions around the globe from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, delegates stressed the need for careful management of the Organization’s resources during a period of ongoing financial constraint.
Secretariat officials detailed information from about 15 reports that included recommendations from the Board of Auditors; an annual report from the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) on peace operations; the Secretary-General’s proposal for a $385.8 million 2024/2025 budget for the peacekeeping support account; and specific financing proposals for nine peacekeeping missions.
Delegates first considered their upcoming programme of work and the representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, stressed the need to ensure that peacekeeping operations and their support functions are “well-financed, sufficiently staffed, and adequately equipped” to carry out their important mandates, warning against the impact of the United Nations liquidity crisis on payments to troop- and police-contributing countries and on personnel recruitment. In this regard, he called on all Member States to pay their contributions to all peacekeeping missions in full, on time and without conditions.
The delegate of the United States noted that the proposed 2024/2025 peacekeeping budget includes significant increases for the missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. This will need to be scrutinized. “When significant reductions are proposed for the military component, there should be a corresponding reduction in the civilian and operational components,” he said. It is also necessary to scrutinize a request for a $30 million increase in air operations given years of underutilizing flight hours.
Similarly, Japan’s representative said that Tokyo will “carefully examine how the missions utilize the resources and whether the proposed budgets are based on realistic assumptions”. China’s delegate spotlighted the importance of implementing the Board of Auditors’ recommendations to improve efficiency, strengthen supervision and accountability, and do everything to avoid mismanagement of the peacekeeping budget — the largest UN budgetary expenditure — and thus prevent major financial losses.
However, the speaker for Bangladesh, a major troop-contributing country, cautioned that efforts to strengthen budgetary performance, internal control and financial discipline should not result in a “mechanical” cost-cutting exercise. Rather, peacekeeping budget approval must be based on mandates, the situation on the ground and the consideration of unforeseen emergencies – a view echoed by his counterpart from Uruguay. The representative of Indonesia was among those who stressed the need to appoint officials of troop- and police-contributing countries to leadership positions in the field and at Headquarters. “The selection and appointment of leadership in peacekeeping missions should be based on merit and long-standing contribution,” she said.
Injecting a unique perspective, the speaker for the United Kingdom said that “peacekeeping is the highest contributor to climate change” within the UN system, urging greater progress on reducing climate impacts, including through continued progress on efficient professional, sustainable supply chain management, and climate-efficient local procurement and environmental cleanup.
The representative of Canada, also speaking for Australia and New Zealand, expressed disappointment that the Committee failed to reach a consensus on a cross-cutting resolution on the financing of peacekeeping operations last year, calling for its adoption this year. The Republic of Korea’s speaker joined this call.
Turning to the financing of the resident coordinator system, the representative of Mexico expressed regret that the Committee could not agree on that matter during the last session, highlighting his delegation’s readiness to discuss the Secretary-General’s proposal and other possible alternatives to address the deficit referred to in the Secretary-General’s report. His counterpart from the Russian Federation said that Moscow has many questions about this issue, stressing that progress towards a fair compromise will take some time.
The delegate of Ethiopia, speaking for the African Group, said that the financing of the resident coordinator system requires the Committee’s utmost attention, requesting the Bureau to enable sufficient time for the consideration of all agenda items.
On that, the representative of Uganda, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, emphasized that realistic and proportional time must be allotted for considering agenda items. “A case in point is the allocation of time for the introduction of reports this morning, with more than fifteen reports scheduled to be introduced and their general debate within three hours,” he said, adding: “We need to set realistic timelines that would enable us to meaningfully consider and conclude agenda items”.
Committee Chair Committee Chair Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud (Egypt) urged delegates to complete their important work on time and work in a spirit of compromise throughout the second resumed session, which is slated to end 31 May. The Organization’s cash liquidity crisis places more pressure on delegates to wrap their session in a timely manner rather than splitting heads and entering uncharted territories in June, he said.
As the Committee turned its attention to UN peacekeeping operations, Xuewen Hu, Chairman of the Audit Operations Committee — as well as China’s Director of External Audit — introduced the Board of Auditors’ report on the missions for 2022/2023 (document A/78/5 (Vol. II)). Noting the Board issued an unqualified opinion, he said 32 per cent of outstanding recommendations from that period have been implemented, compared with 46 per cent for 2021/22, and that the Board had issued 26 new recommendations.
Chandramouli Ramanathan, UN Controller and Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Finance and Budget in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, introduced the Secretary-General’s report on the Board’s recommendations (document A/78/773), while the Committee Chair drew attention to the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) (document A/78/804).
Uganda’s representative, speaking again for the Group of 77 and China, stressed the Board’s key part in making sure the Organization’s peacekeeping missions are transparent and effective, and said the Secretariat should bolster efforts to implement the outstanding recommendations.
Mr. Ramanathan also laid out the Secretary-General’s overview of financing peacekeeping operations (document A/78/726), including on the budgetary performance for 2022/23 — which totalled $6.5 billion — and budget proposals for 2024/25 — which, at $5.7 billion, were 10.1 per cent less than the previous period, due mainly to the Security Council’s decision not to extend the mandate for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The Chair drew the Committee’s attention to the Advisory Committee’s related report (document A/78/744).
Anne Marie van den Berg, Assistant Secretary-General for the Office of Supply Chain Management in the Department of Operational Support, then presented the Secretary-General’s letter (document A/78/87) containing the 2023 edition of the “Manual on Policies and Procedures concerning the Reimbursement and Control of Contingent-Owned Equipment of Troop/Police Contributors Participating in Field Missions”.
And Ben Swanson, Assistant Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, introduced its report on peace operations for the 12 months ending 31 December 2023 (documentA/78/301(Part II)).
The representative of Burundi, speaking on behalf of the African Group, emphasized that a “mission-by-mission approach” is the only logical budgetary practice when considering each mission’s resource requirements. He called for practical administrative and budgetary measures to ensure greater coordination with regional and subregional organizations. Noting the liquidity challenge facing missions, he said: “It is a source of concern that coping mechanisms such as cross-borrowing and transfer between post and non-post resources has become a routine undertaking due to nonpayment of Member States’ contribution.”
The Group of 77 and China, represented again by Uganda’s speaker, pointed out that there are 905 vacant posts in peacekeeping — 21 of them vacant for over two years — and expressed concern with the high vacancy levels in civilian staffing. He encouraged them to be filled with candidates from Member States that are unrepresented and underrepresented in peacekeeping, and based on equitable geographical representation.
Some delegates raised concerns about conditions in the field. Switzerland’s speaker said the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse in the missions must remain a priority and the number of cases reported in 2023 underscores this point. “This absolutely must change if we are to bring about a lasting change in the culture, behaviour and attitudes within the missions,” she said, underlining the importance of the Secretary-General’s zero-tolerance policy.
The representative of Israel called for greater attention to medical care in the field and encouraged the Secretary-General to continue efforts to explore the use of advanced technologies, including tele-medicine. She supported the new mental health strategies and the expansion of digital technologies that can help promote them. Also important is a gender perspective, she said.
Mr. Ramanathan then introduced the Secretariat reports on the peacekeeping operations support account, including on the budget performance for 2022/2023 (document A/78/638) — with a 99.1 per cent implementation rate of the approved $371.8 million — and proposed budget for the upcoming 2024/2025 cycle (document A/78/746) — $385.8 million, which is 0.5 per cent less than the funds approved for 2023/2024. The Committee Chair drew attention to the Independent Audit Advisory Committee report on OIOS’ proposed budget under the peacekeeping support account for 2024/2025 (document A/78/788) and the related ACABQ report (document A/78/820).
Next, Mr. Ramanathan presented the Secretariat’s report on closed peacekeeping missions as of 30 June (document A/78/689), which provides updates, as of 30 June 2023, on the financial position of 30 closed operations. He said 15 missions had net cash surpluses of $0.2 million and the other 15 missions had net cash deficits of $159.5 million. The Committee Chair drew attention to the Advisory Committee’s related report (document A/78/791).
The Committee also heard the introduction by the UN Controller of reports containing the Secretary-General’s proposed 2024/2025 budget for each mission in comparison to the 2023/2024 year, as well as the budget performance for 2022/2023. The Committee Chair also drew delegates’ attention to the ACABQ’s corresponding reports.
They included: $1.2 billion for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), up 4.5 per cent or $51.9 million (documentsA/78/631, A/78/760 and A/78/744/Add.10); $57.4 million for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), up 2.2 per cent or $1.2 million (documents A/78/592, A/78/719 and A/78/744/Add.2); $918.5 million for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), down 13.7 per cent or $145.9 million (documents A/78/640, A/78/741 and A/78/744/Add.9); and $43.8 million for the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), up 7.6 per cent or $3.1 million (documents A/78/581, A/78/721 and A/78/744/Add.7).
Also included were: $68.8 million for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), down 0.7 per cent or $0.5 million (documents A/78/582, A/78/720 and A/78/744/Add.1); $538.2 million for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), up 0.2 per cent or $0.9 million (documents A/78/596, A/78/725 and A/78/744/Add.3); $70.7 million for the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), up 9.5 per cent or $6.2 million (A/78/590, A/78/723 and A/78/744/Add.12); and $503.2 million for the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), down 8.8 per cent or $48.3 million (documents A/78/622, A/78/734 and A/78/744/Add.8).
As for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), a total capitalized/acquisition value of $660.8 million, corresponding to a net book value/operational value of $161.6 million, was disposed as at 30 June 2022 (documents A/78/702 and A/78/803).
When the floor opened for comments, the representative of Syria emphasized that the occupied Golan is a part of Syrian territory and the occupying Power holds responsibility for financing UNDOF pursuant to the relevant UN resolutions.