DISCUSSION OF MEDIUM-TERM PLAN IS OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE SECRETARY-GENERAL WITH STRATEGIC DIRECTION TO GUIDE UN INTO NEW MILLENNIUM

23 October 1996

Press Release
GA/AB/3098

DISCUSSION OF MEDIUM-TERM PLAN IS OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE SECRETARY-GENERAL WITH STRATEGIC DIRECTION TO GUIDE UN INTO NEW MILLENNIUM

19961023 Fifth Committee Told as Debate on Programme Planning Begins; UNAMIR'S Financing and Proposals for Budget Cuts also Considered

The consideration of the medium-term plan for 1998-2001 gives the General Assembly an opportunity to provide the Secretary-General with the strategic direction he needed to guide the United Nations into the new millennium, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this morning as it began debating programme planning and also continued discussing the Secretary-General's proposal to save $154 million from the United Nations regular budget.

Making the statement on the medium-term plan on behalf of the European Union and associated States, Ireland's representative said that the process of approving the plan would enable the Assembly to review the Organization's priorities and programmes. In the Union's view, the maintenance of international peace and security, sustainable development, human rights, development of Africa, effective response to humanitarian emergencies and the promotion of justice and international law were key objectives for the United Nations.

Speaking on the proposals to make savings from the current budget, Cuba's Vice Minister for External Affairs said the Assembly should analyse the validity of its resolution 41/213 -- which sets the principles that should guide the budget process -- to ensure that the Organization served all interests and to deal with the problem of having the United Nations unduly affected by the internal politics of one Member State.

China's representative said that the $2.608 billion budget level should be seen as a reference for the Secretary-General to formulate the budget, but not taken as an insurmountable barrier. The United Nations should do its best to meet the reasonable requests of developing countries in their efforts to achieve economic development. Its budget levels should be in line with the reasonable resource requirements.

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The Secretary-General had proposed disproportionate cuts from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Iran's representative said. In contrast, he said, it was surprising that the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) had endured little sacrifice.

Also this morning, the reports of the Secretary-General and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the financing of United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) were introduced by the United Nations Controller, Yukio Takasu.

Statements were subsequently made by the representatives of India, United Kingdom, United States and Mexico.

Documents on the review of efficiency of the United Nations, some of which had been deferred from the last session, were introduced by the Committee Chairman, Ngoni Francis Sengwe (Zimbabwe).

The Committee is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 24 October, to continue discussing the Secretary-General's budget-cutting proposals, pattern of conferences and review of the United Nations administrative and financial efficiency.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to take up the financing of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and to continue its consideration of the 1996-1997 programme budget, human resources management and the Organization's medium-term plan for the period 1998-2001. It was also scheduled to hear the introduction of the item on review of efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations.

Regarding the 1996-1997 programme budget, the Committee will continue consideration of the Secretary-General's interim reports on measures to save $154 million from the biennium's budget as well as the reports of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the savings proposed by the Secretary-General. (For background on the reports on the 1996-1997 programme budget, see Press Release GA/AB/3093 of 15 October.)

On human resources management, the Committee had before it a number of reports of the Secretary-General. On the reform of the Secretariat's internal justice system, the Committee is considering two reports and two notes from the Secretary-General, as well as the ACABQ report on the system. The Committee is also taking up reports by the Secretary-General on the following: two on the costs of staff representation activities; another on reasonable time for such activities; and one on costs and modalities of staff representational activities.

Also under human resources management, the Committee is considering the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of the Secretary-General's strategy for the management of the Organization's human resources and other human resource management issues and another on the employment of retirees. It is also considering an ACABQ report on the employment of retirees, in addition to three Secretary-General reports on the following issues: the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat; privileges and immunities of United Nations officials, issued on behalf of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC); composition of the Secretariat; and amendments to the staff rules. (For background on the reports on human resources management, see Press Release GA/AB/3093 of 15 October).

For its consideration of the United Nations proposed medium-term plan for 1998-2001, the Committee has before it two introductory documents -- a "perspective", prepared by the Secretariat, and a note by the Secretary- General -- as well as the outlines of the 25 programmes of the proposed medium-term plan which are in the form of fascicles (documents A/51/6- perspective, note and fascicles). Also before the Committee is the two-part report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC), which includes

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the outcome of its consideration of the perspective and its review of the medium-term plan (document A/51/16 Part I and II).

The medium-term plan is the principal policy directive of the United Nations which provides the framework for the biennial programme budgets. It draws together the multiplicity of mandates adopted by Member States to guide the work of the Organization and distils from them a set of concrete objectives and strategies over the four-year period. (For background on the proposed medium-term plan, see Press Release GA/AB/3096 of 21 October)

The programmes in the medium-term plan, contained in fascicles (document A/51/6-programmes 1-25), cover a period of four years and are presented along sectoral lines. Each programme consists of a short narrative which identifies the mandates that provide overall direction for the programme and therefore govern the overall work of the department/office responsible for the programme. It describes the broad approach of the department/office in carrying out the work and the results that are expected to be achieved in pursuance of the mandates. Each programme contains subprogrammes covering an area of activity entrusted to a major organizational unit within a department or office. The objectives and expected results to be achieved at the end of four years are identified.

The 25 programmes of the medium-term plan are: programme 1: political affairs; programme 2: peace-keeping operations; programme 3: outer space affairs; programme 4: legal affairs; programme 5: policy coordination and sustainable development; programme 6: Africa: new agenda for development; programme 7: economic and social information and policy analysis; programme 8: development support and management services; programme 9: trade and development; programme 10: environment; programme 11: human settlements; programme 12: crime prevention and criminal justice; programme 13: international drug control; programme 14: economic and social development in Africa; programme 15: economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific; programme 16: economic development in Europe; programme 17: economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean; programme 18: economic and social development in Western Asia; programme 19: human rights; programme 20: humanitarian assistance; programme 21: protection and assistance to refugees; programme 22: Palestine refugees; programme 23: public information; programme 24: administrative services; and programme 25: internal oversight.

Under the item of review of efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, the Committee has before it a report of the Secretary-General on jurisdictional and procedural mechanisms for the proper management of the United Nations resources and funds (document A/49/98 and Corr.1 and Add.1-2) and another from the ad hoc intergovernmental working group on the jurisdictional and procedural mechanisms for the proper management of the United Nations resources and funds (document A/49/418); a

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note by the Secretary-General transmitting the views of the Panel of External Auditors and the Board of Auditors on how oversight functions could be improved (document A/49/471 and Corr.1); another note transmitting the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) report on management of buildings in the United Nations system (document A/49/560); and a report of the Secretary-General on the review of efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations (document A/46/633).

The Committee also has before it two notes by the Secretary-General transmitting a JIU report on management in the United Nations: work in progress (document A/50/507 and Add.1) and another one transmitting his comments on the JIU report on management of the buildings in the United Nations system (document A/50/753). The two-part report of the CPC (document A/51/16) will also be taken up under that item. In addition, the Committee will consider a note by the Secretary-General transmitting the comments of the ACC on the JIU report on the United Nations system common premises and services in the field (document A/51/124-E/1996/44); and a report of the Secretary-General on the performance of the United Nations for the 1994-1995 biennium and its addendum (document A/51/128 and Add.1). (Background information on those documents will be contained in the next press release on the deliberations of the Fifth Committee, scheduled to be continued tomorrow.

Financing of UNAMIR

The Secretary-General's report on UNAMIR (document A/50/712/Add.3) contains the financial performance report of UNAMIR for the period from 10 June to 31 December 1995. The Assembly is asked to decide on the treatment of the unencumbered balance of $4.6 million gross ($4.4 million net) remaining from the amount assessed for the period from 10 June to 8 December 1995. It is also asked to extend, through 31 December 1995, the financial period from 10 June to 8 December 1995, for which the amount of $99.6 million gross ($97.5 million net) had been previously assessed.

Expenditures for the period in question amounted to $95 million gross ($93.1 million net), which resulted in an unencumbered balance of $1.7 million gross ($1.8 million net) as compared with the revised cost estimates contained in an earlier report of the Secretary-General on the financing of UNAMIR of 1 November 1995 (document A/50/712). The total unencumbered balance representing the difference between the amount of $99.6 million gross ($97.5 million net) assessed for the period from 10 June to 8 December 1995 and the expenditures for the reporting period amounts to $4.6 million gross ($4.4 million net).

The report of the ACABQ on the Mission's financing (document A/51/474) recommends that the Assembly credit the Mission's unencumbered balance of $4.6 million gross ($4.4 million net) to Member States.

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The report states that, as at 25 September, the amount of $518.2 million gross ($510.7 million net) had been appropriated for the maintenance of the United Nations Observer Mission Uganda-Rwanda (UNOMUR) and UNAMIR from the date of inception until 30 September. Also at 25 September, a total amount of $495.3 million had been assessed on Member States from the date of inception until 30 September, the total contributions received for the same period amounted to $458.3 million, leaving a total outstanding assessment of $37 million. In addition, also as at 25 September, total unliquidated obligations for the period from the date of inception to 31 December 1995 amounted to $75.2 million, including the amount of $19.2 million of unliquidated obligations for the period from 10 June to 31 December 1995.

Regarding reimbursement to troop-contributing governments, the report states that reimbursements totalling $84.3 million had been made from the date of inception to 30 November 1995. The balance of payments due is estimated at $6.6 million. An unencumbered balance of $1.7 million gross ($1.7 million net) for the period 10 June to 31 December 1995 had resulted primarily from savings for military contingents; premises and accommodation; transport operations; air operations; and air and surface freight. The savings were partly offset by additional requirements for military and civilian personnel costs; communication; other equipment; and supplies and services.

The report also makes reference to additional requirements of the Mission, including $166,800 under welfare for contingent personnel; $317,700 for a meal allowance paid to military police and to the personnel of the Engineer Company; and $71,800 which resulted from payments made to crew of fixed-wing aircraft for which no provision had been made in the budget. The Advisory Committee also indicated that expenditures of $344,500 and $231,000 were incurred for storage charges at the Dar es Salaam seaport and for the rental of cranes and fork-lifts, respectively.

Statements on Financing of UNAMIR and Other Missions

YUKIO TAKASU, United Nations Controller, introduced the Secretary- General's reports, reviewing some of its contents. He enumerated some of the developments that had led to the underspending of about $4.6 million by the mission. The Secretary-General's report had asked the Assembly to take action on how to dispose of an unencumbered balance in the mission's special account. It could either credit the amount to Member States or use it to help fund the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Citing a related report of the ACABQ, he said that it had recommended that the unencumbered balance be credited to Member States.

VIJAY GOKHALE (India) expressed concern about the rates at which reimbursements were being granted to troop-contributing States for their assistance to UNAMIR, since that mission had been closed. He asked the

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Secretariat to provide more information on reimbursements to a formal meeting of the Fifth Committee. Troop-contributing States had been reimbursed only up until November 1995. The Secretariat should explain what further actions it intended to take to pay some more reimbursements. He asked whether there were any cash balances left in UNAMIR's treasury. If that was the case, he asked why troop-contributing States were not being reimbursed beyond last November. The Controller should give a precise breakdown of the claims the Secretariat had received for contingent-owned equipment. Until the information he had sought was provided, his delegation would not able to support the ACABQ's recommendations.

Mr. TAKASU said about $6.6 million was due to Member States to compensate for troops costs, for the period starting from December 1995 and up to the end of the mission. An estimated $31 million was due to Member States as reimbursements for contingent-owned equipment, subject to certification. The most recent payment assessments made to UNAMIR was about $31 million. The outstanding reimbursements due to troop-contributing States was included in the mission's unliquidated obligations. Referring to the question as to when the Secretariat would clear those obligations, he said that would depend on the availability of cash. The Secretariat would try to maximize its reimbursements for troops and contingent-owned equipment.

Mr. GOKHALE (India) said that since there seemed to be some cash in the UNAMIR account, the Secretariat should be in position to reimburse troop- contributing States. India had been waiting patiently for reimbursements for other missions because it had been told that they were not being paid in relation to missions like the one that was sent to Somalia, as the accounts of those missions were short of funds. The Secretariat should provide a breakdown of UNAMIR's unliquidated obligations.

Mr. TAKASU said that UNAMIR's account was in a better picture than such missions as the one to Cambodia. The payment of reimbursements for UNAMIR would get priority. A breakdown of the unencumbered balance would be provided in an informal meeting of the Committee.

PAT HOLLAND (United Kingdom) asked for a confirmation that the payment of one set of reimbursements for troops and contingent-owned equipment would not be accorded priority at the expense of others.

Mr. TAKASU said that there was no need to worry about priorities. While the Secretariat faced many competing requirements -- such as reimbursements for contingent-owned equipment, troop costs and the claims from vendors or suppliers -- it would do its best to reimburse troop costs.

WILLIAM K. GRANT (United States) asked for more information on the level of civilian personnel still working for UNAMIR. Annex IV on the civilian

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staff of the mission, attached to the Secretary-General's latest report on UNAMIR, should be updated.

MARTA PENA (Mexico) said that some delegations had asked her when informal consultations on the draft resolutions on the funding of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) and the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH) would be held. Since some delegations had sought more time for further consultations with the Secretariat, the informal consultations of Committee members had not been held at the beginning of this week, as expected. She expressed hope that the Committee's consultations would be concluded in the near future in order to allow for submission of draft texts on the missions for the Committee's consideration.

Statements on Savings from Regular Budget

MARIA DE LOS ANGELES FLOREZ PRIDA, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, said her delegation supported the recommendations contained in the report of the ACABQ regarding the regular budget. It also associated itself with the statement made by the representative of Costa Rica on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. Assembly resolution 50/214, on the budget, had been the result of delicate negotiations among Member States. It had expressed the need to take into consideration the positions of several Member States regarding the budget, in particular it had stressed the need to ensure that the proposed savings from the budget did not affect the full implementation of the programmes mandated by the Assembly. The resolution had established a vacancy rate of 6.4 per cent, which should serve as a basic policy guideline for the Secretariat's efforts to prepare its budget-cutting proposals for consideration. Attempts should be made to eliminate the shortcomings that had been shown to exist in the Secretary-General's report on the budget cuts. She questioned why the Assembly had not been provided the information needed to take decisions on the issue of budget savings.

She said that the budget-saving issue had grown into a greater cause of concern to the Committee than its members could imagine when the budget resolutions were adopted last December. The Assembly should consider the situation, especially the one regarding its prerogatives, very cautiously. The Secretariat should provide the information that had been sought before, and then Cuba would make further detailed comments on the Secretary-General's proposals to make savings from the budget. She thanked the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, Denis Halliday, for the information he provided on the staff that could be affected by redeployment and other administrative actions.

In endorsing the ACABQ report on the budget-saving proposals, the Assembly, she said, must ask the Secretary-General to return staff who were subject to redeployment to their posts and original functions. One of the

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basic objectives of the Assembly's adoption of resolution 41/213 was to help provide a stable financial base for the Organization. It had been hoped that with the adoption of that text, the United Nations financial crises would disappear. However, the political mood that had allowed collaboration on and the adoption of that resolution had since disappeared.

The validity of resolution 41/213, on principles governing the planning, programming and budgetary processes, had recently been reaffirmed in two budget resolutions, 50/214 and 50/230, she continued. But since then, the political position of the main contributor to the Organization was such that its Congress had attached some conditionalities to the payment of its arrears. Such practices flouted the budgetary procedures that had been established in the forty-first session of the Assembly. Some delegates felt that, maybe, the Assembly should analyse the validity of resolution 41/213 as a way to ensure that the Organization served all interests and to root out the problem in which the Organization was affected by the internal politics of only one Member State.

CHEN YUE (China) said that the process of formulating the budget concretized the programmes approved by the Assembly which were established at the request of the broad membership of the Organization or in response to the international community's needs. Adequate resources should be guaranteed for such programmes. While the budgetary procedure should follow the principle, "programme precedes budget", the current process actually practised was "budget precedes programme". That was an irrational practice and the repeated reductions of the budget vis-a-vis real resource requirements had led to the dilemma in which the current budget found itself, as stated by the ACABQ, namely the need to achieve substantial savings without affecting the full implementation of mandated programmes. China held the view that the present upside-down procedure of budgeting must be corrected.

She said that the Secretary-General's report did not give the reasons behind his proposed cuts and did not explain their effect on the United Nations ability to implement its full mandates. China agreed with the ACABQ that it was not necessary for the Assembly to take action to revise appropriations presently. The Secretariat should provide more information to enable the Assembly to take decisions. Regarding specific costs-cutting proposals, she said that the Secretary-General's proposals to raise the vacancy rate above the 6.4 per cent approved by the Assembly exceeded his competence and was unacceptable. She expressed concern regarding the adverse effects that a too high vacancy rate in the Professional category would have on the Assembly-approved programmes. Like the ACABQ, the Secretariat should provided better explanations on the need to increase the Professional vacancy rates. Changes in programme delivery and services not only violated the principle that savings in the budget should not affect the full implementation of mandated programmes, but also ran counter to the principle of ensuring

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fair, equitable and non-selective treatment of all budget sections, as requested by the Assembly. She cited some examples to back her view. Adequate resources should be allocated for activities specifically relating to the least developed countries. She questioned whether the measures to increase efficiency could achieve savings and sought more clarification on the measures.

On additional mandates, she said the fact that $92 million for additional mandates was to be absorbed in the budget, which was already tight, without adversely affecting the implementation of other programmes, put the Secretary-General in the difficult situation of having to "cook a meal without materials". There should be sufficient resources, if programmes approved by the Assembly were to be implemented. Adding programmes without corresponding resources would be at the cost of other activities. It was unfair to ask the Secretary-General to resolve that contradiction or get out of the dilemma all by himself.

Speaking on the budget's overall level, she said China had consistently stated that the total biennial budgets should be maintained at levels that enabled mandates to be fully implemented. Citing the current budget level of $2.608 billion as an example, she said that figure should be regarded as a reference for the Secretary-General to formulate the budget, but not taken as an insurmountable barrier. The United Nations should do its best to meet the reasonable requests of the developing countries in their efforts to achieve economic development. The repeated cuts made to the United Nations budgets and their resultant effects on development activities was worrisome. The United Nations budget levels should be in line with the programme resource requirements and on a reasonable basis.

SEYED MORTEZA MIRMOHAMMAD (Iran) said he strongly supported the statement made by Costa Rica for the Group of 77 and China, and he looked forward to the detailed responses to the queries posed to the Secretariat on the savings made on the 1996-1997 budget. Those responses were of paramount importance for the Group to address the critical issue of possible savings and did not constitute micro-management of the Secretariat on the part of Member States, as was claimed in a statement in the Committee yesterday. While it was unquestionably the Secretary-General's prerogative to administer the Secretariat, it was equally Member States' prerogative to set priorities which must guide him in carrying out his responsibilities. That distinction must be clearly understood and borne in mind.

It was unjustifiable to put an arbitrary ceiling on the budget and to ask other Member States not to engage in the required process of scrutinizing the resultant programme and personnel reductions, he said. Member States expected to have a clear picture of the Secretariat's proposals for savings in the normal budgetary format. The Secretary-General's report did not

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adequately address major issues on programme changes and staff reductions resulting from the savings. Such information was expected to be provided in the context of the Secretary-General's first performance report to be submitted later this year. In the meantime, programme managers had made decisions to discontinue certain programme activities and delay others without weighing legislative mandates or consulting Member States about their requirements or interests.

It was of concern that mostly programmes of developing countries had been disproportionately cut, as had been the case of the savings imposed on the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), he said. On the other hand, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) had endured little sacrifice. Also of concern was the projected savings of $7.7 million for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and its impact on that body.

Equally alarming was the Secretariat's intention to maintain a high vacancy rate in the Professional category and to proceed with the dismissal of staff with permanent contracts, he continued. The Assembly should be apprised of the elimination of the targeted posts and their functions. The Secretary- General should not carry out involuntary separations of staff solely to achieve budgetary savings, since the Assembly had taken no such decision. The increasing use of consultants and short-term individuals in the Secretariat was hiding the substantial shifts in the equitable geographical representation of staff and was undermining the Organization's institutional memory. The relative representation of staff from developing countries in the Secretariat was deteriorating. He asked for updated information on the entire staff -- on contractual status, gender, titles, nationality, rank and length of service.

Statement on Programme Planning

PATRICK KELLY (Ireland), speaking also on behalf of the European Union and Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, welcomed the cooperative efforts of Member States and the Secretariat in reforming the format of the medium-term plan. Its value lay in its more concise statement of objectives to be achieved by the Organization and in the establishment of closer links between the plan and the programme budget. Such congruence between the programmatic and organizational structures was necessary to enhance accountability and responsibility within the Secretariat.

The perspective document represented a thoughtful and forward-looking and policy oriented document, he continued. It should not be criticized for not clearly setting future priorities for the Organization's work. The Secretary-General had interpreted the mandate assigned to him in an

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appropriate fashion in presenting both his analysis of the persistent problems, challenges and emerging trends and his vision of the Organization's role in responding to them. The perspective should therefore be included in the medium-term plan and should not be replaced by the note. A considerable part of the language of the note had been taken from the working texts of Assembly working groups which had not yet been endorsed by the relevant intergovernmental bodies. Therefore, they should not be included in the plan.

He said that, in considering the medium-term plan, the Assembly should use the opportunity to review the Organization's priorities and programmes and to set clear objectives on what it would like to see accomplished by the end of the next plan period. He was sure that the Fifth Committee would succeed in providing the Secretary-General with the strategic direction which he required to guide the Organization into the new millennium. The European Union would propose ways in which the medium-term plan could be more relevant, efficient and attuned to the needs of the international community.

To assist the Fifth Committee in its review of the proposed medium-term plan, he asked the Secretariat for a list of legislative mandates that were more than five years old so that their relevance could be assessed. The importance of overall priority-setting could not be over-emphasized. In addition to the perspective, he welcomed the priorities set out in the 1998- 1999 budget outline. The maintenance of peace and security, the promotion of sustainable development, human rights, the development of Africa, effective responses to humanitarian emergencies and the promotion of justice and international law were all key objectives for the United Nations, he added.

Introduction of Review of Efficiency

NGONI FRANCIS SENGWE (Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, introduced the reports on the review of the efficiency of the Organization's administrative and financial functioning. In response to a question from Pakistan, he told delegates that the agenda item would be debated in formal meetings of the Committee.

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