FIFTH COMMITTEE CONSIDERS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S PROPOSALS CONCERNING LESSONS LEARNED UNIT
Press Release
GA/AB/3159
FIFTH COMMITTEE CONSIDERS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S PROPOSALS CONCERNING LESSONS LEARNED UNIT
19970910 Draft Text on Gratis Personnel Introduced by Group of 77The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this afternoon discussed the Secretary-General's proposal to create three new posts for the Lessons Learned Unit, to be financed through the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 January to 30 June 1998.
After listening to a recommendation by the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), Conrad Mselle, that the post requirements be met through redeployment, some members of the Committee said the matter should be discussed further in informal consultations.
The decision to hold informal consultations followed statements by the United States' representative, who expressed opposition to the ACABQ's recommendation. Rather, she argued, the Fifth Committee should approve the Secretary-General's proposal to create three posts in the Unit.
Zimbabwe's representative expressed hope that the Unit would be provided with the resources it required. The work of the Lessons Learned Unit was of great concern to Africa because it had experienced some of the most horrendous consequences of the Organization's peacekeeping failures.
The Officer-in-Charge of the Peacekeeping Financing Division in the Department of Administration and Management, Bock Yeo, introduced the Secretary-General's report.
Also this afternoon, a draft resolution on gratis personnel loaned to the Organization was introduced by the representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. The Committee will discuss that draft and other matters in its informal consultations on the question.
The representatives of Belgium, on behalf of the European Union, and of Mexico spoke.
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Turning to other matters, the Committee heard a statement in response to questions raised at its last meeting on security measures for the General Assembly's special session to review implementation of Agenda 21. The Chief of Security and Safety Service, Michael McCann, told the Committee that efforts were under way to prevent a recurrence of the problem of lack of access faced by delegates to that session.
The Committee is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 11 September, to hear the introduction of a draft resolution to be submitted by the Group of 77 on the construction of additional conference facilities for the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa.
Committee Work Programme
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this afternoon to consider the Lessons Learned Unit of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, under the agenda item on administrative and budgetary aspects of peacekeeping financing. It was also scheduled to hear the introduction of a draft resolution on gratis personnel provided by governments and other entities, under the agenda item on the review of United Nations administrative and financial efficiency.
Administrative and Budgetary Aspects of Peacekeeping
In a report on the Lessons Learned Unit (document A/51/965), the Secretary-General asks the Assembly to create three posts (one P-4, one P-2/1 and one General Service level), to be funded from the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 January to 30 June 1998. Since their $132,250 costs could be met from the resources the Assembly approved for the support account for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, no additional appropriation is sought.
When it was set up in April 1995, the Secretary-General says, the Unit was provided with two posts (one D-1 post as Chief of Unit and one General Service post for a research assistant), which are funded from the regular budget. A trust fund, set up in December 1995 to support the lessons learned mechanism, pays for four posts (two P-4, one P-2/1 and one General Service level). However, under the current arrangement with the fund's donors, financing for those posts will cease on 31 December; hence the request for posts for the period from 1 January to 30 June 1998.
The posts would help carry out the Unit's programme of work for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, which includes studies on the three United Nations Angola Verification Missions (UNAVEM I, II and III); the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and the United Nations Peace Forces (UNPF), both of which were deployed in the former Yugoslavia; as well as the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH). On the recommendation of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, the Unit will also study mine clearance and the lessons of cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations in peacekeeping missions.
To ensure the development of institutional memory on peacekeeping, the Unit has established a Resource Centre where relevant data is systematically stored, according to the report.
The Lessons Learned Unit was created in response to recommendations from the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Its objective is to extract lessons from peacekeeping operations and recommend their application to improve the planning,
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management, conduct and support of ongoing and future operations. It is also to develop institutional memory on peacekeeping.
Review of UN Administrative and Financial Efficiency
The Committee has before it a draft resolution on gratis personnel provided by governments and other entities (document A/C.5/51/L.83), sponsored by the United Republic of Tanzania, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. By the terms of the draft, the General Assembly would decide that gratis personnel should not be sought for positions kept vacant for financial reasons. The Secretary-General would be requested once again to prepare relevant budgets on a full-cost basis, fully reflecting all positions, and to not incur expenditure from the regular budget on gratis personnel in disregard of the Organization's financial regulations and without the Assembly's approval.
Further by the text, the Assembly would decide that gratis personnel should be accepted only in very rare occasions and for a limited time, as described in paragraphs 13 and 14 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on gratis personnel. (In those paragraphs, the ACABQ recommends that use of gratis personnel in mandated operations should be limited to two situations. The first is in cases of urgency, prior to the preparation or approval of a budget, such as in the start-up of operations or to meet a sudden expansion in operational requirements. The second is in the provision of expertise for very specialized functions, after the approval of a budget, as identified by the Secretary-General.)
Under other provisions of the draft, the Assembly would decide that in cases where it approved the use of gratis personnel under the conditions stated above, the need for such staff should be circulated among all Member States to ensure the transparency of the process. The Secretary-General would be requested to phase out gratis personnel that fall outside the scope of the above two criteria, and to report on the matter to the Assembly's next session.
The draft also would have the Assembly decide that the use of gratis personnel should be subject to Articles 100 and 101 of the Charter. (The two articles stipulate, among other things, that in performing their duties, the Organization's staff should not receive instructions from any outside authority and that staff should be recruited on the widest possible geographical basis.)
Also by the text, Member States would be invited to make voluntary contributions to enable the Secretary-General to correct the geographical imbalance in the use of gratis personnel. In addition, the Secretary-General would be requested to redraft the guidelines on the use of gratis personnel,
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taking into account the principles of geographic distribution and accountability, and submit them through the ACABQ to the Assembly at its next session.
Statements on Lessons Learned Unit
BOCK YEO, Officer-in-Charge, Peacekeeping Financing Division, Department of Administration and Management, introduced the report of the Secretary- General, requesting resources for three posts to carry out the Unit's functions.
C.S.M. MSELLE, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), said his Committee believed that all organizational units involved in backstopping peacekeeping operations should have lessons learned functions as their permanent responsibility. Such functions were an integral part of the Organization's operations and should be an ongoing, Secretariat-wide practice.
Regarding the Lessons Learned Unit particularly, he recalled that four posts catered for through a trust fund would continue until 31 December. He also recalled that the report of the Secretary-General had said that the three posts requested for the period beyond that date could be funded from the support account. As of 31 August, the ACABQ had been told, there was a vacancy of 12.8 per cent for Professional staff and 5.4 per cent for General Service positions in relation to support account posts in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The savings accrued from the vacancy rates were expected to be redeployed to cover the costs of the three posts sought by the Secretary-General. Given the high vacancy rate, the largely coordinating nature of the Unit and the experience and expertise available from returning mission personnel, the functional requirements for the Unit of one P-4, one P- 2/1 and one General Service should be met by redeploying staff from within the complement of posts funded through the support account, rather than by establishing new posts.
LINDA SHENWICK (United States) said she had questions on the method used to fill positions. She was concerned about the logic of the recommendation that those posts be filled through redeployment of existing resources. The United States felt such a practice was useful, providing that mandates were not adversely affected. Earlier recommendations by the United States for such use of redeployment had been met with concern expressed by others. While redeployment was at times a reasonable approach to filling positions, there seemed to be no technical consistency in the ACABQ's current recommendations on application of that practice.
LOVEMORE MAZEMO (Zimbabwe) said that while peacekeeping operations were being scaled down globally, they remained keenly relevant in his region, which had experienced some of the most horrendous consequences of the Organization's
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failures in that area. To date, he had not seen any new approach to peacekeeping operations in Africa. The work of the Lessons Learned Unit was therefore of great concern. He hoped the Assembly would strengthen the Unit by giving it the appropriate resources. How would the Secretary-General proceed and what problems might be incurred if the Assembly agreed to the recommendations of the ACABQ? he asked.
Mr. MSELLE said that the ACABQ had made previous recommendations on the support account on the basis of particular reports placed before it on those occasions by the Secretary-General and had not accepted all of the Secretary- General's proposals at all times. Regarding the Lessons Learned Unit, the ACABQ believed that the posts requested by the Secretary-General should be met by redeploying them from other parts of the Organization. Such a procedure had been used in the past and had been encouraged by some Member States, who had called for the use of redeployment whenever possible, before recourse to creating posts.
Mr. YEO said that there were vacancies in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and in the support account and if the recommendation of the ACABQ on redeployment was accepted, the Department might be able to finance the three positions for, for example, six months, but to deploy posts to the Unit on a long-term basis would require a review by the relevant Secretariat sections.
SYED RAFIQUL ALOM (Bangladesh), Acting Chairman, asked whether the Committee was ready to approve the recommendations of the ACABQ on the posts.
Ms. SHENWICK (United States) said her delegation was not in a position to endorse the ACABQ's recommendations. She could accept those of the Secretary-General, though. The United States opposed the redeployment of posts to the Unit, and the ACABQ report had not addressed all of her delegation's concerns. She asked about the ability of the Secretariat to draw on a gratis personnel that had been used by the Unit.
Mr. YEO said the gratis personnel's tenure of work had expired earlier in the year.
Ms. SHENWICK (United States) expressed support for the Secretary- General's recommendation to establish the three posts. She was ready for informal consultations on the matter also. The United States would endorse the Secretary-General's proposal to establish three posts for the Unit.
Mr. ALOM (Bangladesh), Acting Chairman, submitted the matter for informal consultations, starting today.
AMJAD HUSSAIN SIAL (Pakistan) said he was not ready for immediate informal consultations on the matter since he had not received instructions on the issue of the Lessons Learned Unit.
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Review of Efficiency: Gratis Personnel
MUHAMMAD YUSSUF (United Republic of Tanzania), on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, introduced the draft resolution on gratis personnel provided by governments and other entities. Encouraged by progress made in the past days, he said he hoped that consensus would be reached before the end of the resumed session.
PETER MADDENS (Belgium), on behalf of the European Union, recalled the importance of decision-making procedures. The Union was ready to take part in informal consultations which could result in a draft satisfactory to all delegations.
MARTA PENA (Mexico) said she respected delegations' rights to indicate which projects they deemed inappropriate. As the coordinator of informal consultations, however, she appealed to delegations to reach a consensus text before the current session concluded at the end of the week. A revised text would be available shortly reflecting informal discussions held earlier in the day.
Other Matters
MICHAEL MCCANN, Chief, Security and Safety Service, said it was unfortunate that delegates had faced problems entering Headquarters buildings during the last special session of the General Assembly. Efforts were under way to prevent a recurrence. Meetings were being planned to discuss security arrangements, which delegates were invited attend. Any questions they raised would be addressed to ensure access for the fifty-second Assembly session.
Mr. YUSSUF (United Republic of Tanzania) asked the Committee to consider scheduling a formal meeting tomorrow to enable the Group of 77 to introduce a draft resolution on the construction of additional conferences facilities for the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa.
Mr. ALOM (Bangladesh), Acting Chairman, said the request would be granted and that the Committee would meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. to consider the Group of 77 draft text on those facilities.
DULCE MARIA BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) asked when the Committee would receive the Secretariat's response to the letter dated 28 July addressed by the United Republic of Tanzania to the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 51/226, on human resources management questions.
Mr. ALOM (Bangladesh) assured her that efforts were being made by the Secretariat to respond to the questions raised by Friday.
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