FIFTH COMMITTEE CONTINUES CONSIDERING PATTERN OF CONFERENCES, JOINT INSPECTION UNIT'S REPORTS; BEGINS DISCUSSING BUDGET SECTIONS

Press Release
GA/AB/3181

FIFTH COMMITTEE CONTINUES CONSIDERING PATTERN OF CONFERENCES, JOINT INSPECTION UNIT'S REPORTS; BEGINS DISCUSSING BUDGET SECTIONS

Utilization of meeting resources, development of technological capabilities and improved translations services were among the topics discussed this morning, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continued its discussion of the Organization's pattern of conferences.

The quality of interpretation and translation of the United Nations official languages must be improved, China's representative said. Errors in translation could be avoided if there were greater staff accountability.

Arabic speakers should not have to read reports in other languages to fully grasp their meaning, Syria's representative said. Consistent terminology used in translation into Arabic must be found, so that the spirit of the language could be upheld.

Despite hosting the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), the United Nations Centre in Nairobi had not received adequate conference facilities, Kenya's representative said. That was in sharp contrast to the United Nations Offices in Geneva and Vienna.

Also this morning, the Fifth Committee began its section-by-section discussion on the proposed programme budget for the 1998-1999 biennium. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), Conrad Mselle, introduced that body's report on the budget section dealing with overall policy-making, direction and coordination -- Part I, Section I. While the ACABQ would issue its concrete recommendations after the Assembly took up the Secretary-General's report on changes to his initial budget proposal to implement his reform package, the Fifth Committee should begin its section-by-section discussion.

The Committee also continued its consideration of the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). Statements were made by the representatives of United Republic of Tanzania, speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, Cuba and Japan.

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Statements on the pattern of conferences were also made by the representatives of Belgium, for the European Union and associated States, Bahamas, Indonesia, Russian Federation, Pakistan and Kuwait.

Statements on the proposed programme budget were made by the representatives of Thailand and the United States.

The Fifth Committee is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 3 November, to conclude its discussion on the reports of the JIU. It also expects to continue its section-by-section consideration of the proposed programme budget for the 1998-1999 biennium. It will continue with Section 1 and begin Section 2: Political affairs; Section 3: Peacekeeping operations; and Section 4: Peaceful uses of outer space.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to continue its discussion of the Organization's pattern of conferences and of the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU). (For background on the Organization's pattern of conferences, see Press Release GA/AB/3178 of 28 October; on JIU reports, see Press Release GA/AB/3172 of 22 October.)

The Committee was also scheduled to begin its first reading of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's first proposed budget of some $2.583 billion. Before the initial appropriation for 1998 and 1999 is adopted, the budget will also be put through a second reading.

The first reading involves a section-by-section look at the Secretary-General's budget proposals, along with the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC). The Fifth Committee also considers revised estimates of items not included in the proposals and statements of budget implications of, for instance, main Committee draft resolutions, for which nothing had been included in the proposed budget.

The second reading takes into account the results of the first reading and its changes, as well as adjustments that would be made to reflect inflation and foreign exchange changes, according to the paper. The amounts accepted on the first reading and the subsequent adjustments are approved in the second reading and become the initial appropriation for the rest of the century.

In starting the budget's first reading today, the Fifth Committee is scheduled to consider part I of the budget, which covers section 1, on overall policy-making, direction and coordination, on which there are reports from the Secretary-General and the ACABQ.

The Secretary-General's initial budget proposals are contained in two volumes of programme narratives, numbers and tables (document A/52/6/Rev.1, Vols. I and II).

The views of the ACABQ on individual expenditure sections of the Secretary-General's initial proposals are contained in separate parts of Chapter II of its first report on the proposed 1998-1999 budget (document A/52/7 Chapter II, Parts I-XII). Chapter II of the ACABQ report is organized around the budget's parts. They include: Part I, Overall policy-making, direction and coordination; II, Political affairs; III, International justice and law; IV, International cooperation for development; V, Regional cooperation for development; and VI, Human rights and humanitarian affairs. The others are: Part VII, Public information; VIII, Common support services;

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IX, Internal oversight; X, Jointly financed administrative activities and special expenses; XI, capital expenditures; and XII, Staff assessment.

Section 1: Overall Policy-Making, Direction and Coordination

The Secretary-General's initial budget proposal calls for $38.6 million for overall policy-making, direction and coordination. This section covers the overall executive direction and management of the Organization, including the requirements of the Secretary-General and his Executive Office, and the Offices of the Directors-General of the United Nations Offices at Geneva and Vienna. It provides for the direct costs of the sessions of the General Assembly, the ACABQ (including its secretariat), CPC, Committee on Contributions, United Nations Board of Auditors and the Organization's share of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.

For 1998-1999, additional provisions are proposed for the ACABQ because the number of its members stationed outside New York has been increasing. Provision is also made for reclassifying the post of Executive Secretary to the Board of Auditors from Professional level 5 (P-5) to the level of Principal Officer (D-1).

The Secretary-General's Executive Office contains provisions for reclassifying two D-1 posts to level of Director (D-2) and for creating a post for a speechwriter. One Assistant Secretary-General level is proposed for transfer to the former Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development for the post of Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Overall, the Secretary-General proposes a reduction of five posts, from 122 to 117, under this budget section.

Writing on section 1, on policy-making and direction, in Part I of its budget report (document A/52/7, Chap. II, Part I), the ACABQ, among other matters, discusses the resources provided its secretariat and the Board of Auditors. It recommends acceptance of the Secretary-General's proposal to reclassify the post of Executive Secretary of the Board to D-1. For the period 1 January 1996 to 31 May 1997, it says, 215 auditors examined United Nations bodies engaged in operations totalling $14.4 billion, comprising $9.2 billion for United Nations funds and programmes, $2.6 billion for peacekeeping missions and $2.6 billion for the regular budget.

Noting the Secretary-General's proposal to continue the current number of regular budget and extrabudgetary posts for the ACABQ secretariat, the Advisory Committee recommends that all of the posts be funded from the regular budget. It recalls that, as a subsidiary body of the Assembly, it performs core functions for the Organization.

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Statements on Joint Inspection Unit

MUHAMMAD YUSSUF (United Republic of Tanzania), speaking for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, reaffirmed his support for the work of the JIU, which was the only independent, system-wide inspection, evaluation and investigative body. The impact of the Unit's activities was the responsibility of the tripartite of Member States, the Unit and the secretariats of the participating organizations. He asked for further information on the Unit's concern about the mix of skills available to it.

The Unit should continue focusing its work on priority areas and take full advantage of its system-wide access, he said. New procedures had resulted in a proposed negative growth in its 1998-1999 budget. That decrease should not negatively affect the Unit's mandate. He welcomed the Unit's efforts to strengthen coordination with internal and external oversight bodies, to prevent duplication of efforts. The Secretariat must provide the Unit with the reports it required. The Unit's comments on the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) were welcomed and its efforts in that area should continue.

The General Assembly had, in resolution 50/233, encouraged the Unit to take steps to ensure follow-up to its recommendations as approved by its legislative organs of participating organizations, he said. The Unit's recommendations were binding only when adopted by the legislative bodies of participating organizations. The Unit had proposed a follow-up system, based on the principle of shared responsibility. That system, which was based on the tripartite committing to overcoming shortfalls in the preparation and implementation of the JIU's recommendations, should be carefully considered.

EVA SILOT BRAVO (Cuba) supported the statement made for the Group of 77 and China. When the Assembly set up the OIOS, it established a clear political commitment to strengthen oversight mechanisms. No attempt to weaken those mechanisms could be accepted. The extent of the impact of JIU work was dependent on Member States, the JIU and the secretariats of participating organizations. The JIU had been taking steps to fulfil its role as the sole oversight and investigative body of the Organization.

However, the Unit should eschew items and matters which had not yet been resolved, she said. It had not been created to legislate politically, but rather to see that Member States' decisions were implemented. She welcomed the adoption of new procedures to ensure that travel expenditures were used for the development of reports and other necessary efforts. The reduction of costs should not in any way affect the Unit's work. She also commended the Unit's attempts to coordinate with other oversight bodies and urged those bodies to do the same. No external or internal oversight bodies should initiate work that was being considered by another oversight body.

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The JIU's and Board of Auditors' had the right and the obligation to comment on the reports of the OIOS, she said. She regretted the criticism expressed for the Unit's work in that area. The impact of the Unit's recommendations could be gauged solely through their practical applications. The Unit's recommendations were binding only when legislative bodies adopted them. She favoured the follow-up of those recommendations that were concrete.

KOJI YAMAGIWA (Japan) said that he wished to comment on two points. The review of the United Nations University (UNU) included in the report of the Unit was welcome. It had been pointed out in that report that the University, hosted by Japan, had existed for more than 20 years, and that it was necessary for the UNU to strengthen its management if it was to continue to serve as a viable think tank.

The second point concerned the annual submission of JIU reports, he said. The Fifth Committee considered the reports of the JIU biennially. Japan therefore questioned the suitability of annual submissions and hoped the matter could be considered at a future date.

Statements on Patterns of Conferences

PETER MADDENS (Belgium), speaking on behalf of the European Union, as well as for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus and Norway, said that the appointment of an Under- Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services confirmed for them the operational authority of the Conference Services within the secretariat. The consolidation of services would help the Secretary- General to better coordinate tasks associated with organizing conferences, for maximum efficiency.

The number of meetings planned for 1998-1999 continued to grow compared to previous bienniums, he said. That trend did not make it any easier to plan conferences, and seriously impeded endeavours for a more effective use of resources. The European Union supported the recommendations of the Committee on Conferences that every effort be made to avoid simultaneous peak periods at more than one duty station. That also applied to waivers to the "headquarters rule" concerning meetings of subsidiary bodies away from their headquarters. The utilization factor should be taken into account when considering exceptions to that rule. The European Union appreciated the general improvement in the overall utilization factor for 1996, particularly in Geneva and Vienna, where the utilization factor well exceeded the benchmark of 80 per cent. The fact that some agencies continued to fall short of that threshold remained a cause for concern.

Only 60 per cent of the permanent missions had replied to the Secretary- General's request that they review their document requirements, he said. As

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the replies from those missions which took part in the exercise had already yielded fruit, the European Union encouraged the Secretary-General to pursue his endeavours in that regard. The JIU report on publications could provide a good basis for reforming the Organization's publications programme. Endorsing the recommendations contained in the Committee on Conferences, he urged the Secretary-General to pay greater attention to sales of publications, given the resources the United Nations allocated to publications.

ZHOU QIANGWU (China) welcomed the information provided by the Committee on Conferences that meeting resources had been utilized at a higher rate during the past year. He urged those bodies that had not utilized their meetings resources to increase their efforts. Special efforts should be made to ensure that regional meetings and meetings of other groupings of Sates received proper conference services.

The quality of interpretation and translation of the United Nations official languages must be improved, he said. The translation quality of documents was still far from being satisfactory. There should be greater accountability for errors in translation. Most of the problems could be avoided if there were greater personal responsibility. The Secretariat should tighten its management over the entire service and discover the causes hindering the improvement of translations.

SHARON BRENNEN-HAYLOCK (Bahamas) said she supported the draft calendar proposed for 1998-1999, and particularly welcomed the efforts to avoid overlapping of meetings during 1998. The problem of overlapping meetings might continue in 1999, and that should be considered. Utilization of conference services had been improved overall. She could attest to the usefulness of dialogues between the Chair of the Committee on Conferences and the Chairs of other organs. The reporting period used to provide information to the Committee did not always reflect improvements for a particular body.

She noted that while the optical disk system had helped control and limit documentation, the need for hard copies remained. In using outsourcing for translation, care should be exercised that the quality of translated material not be adversely affected. Familiarity of issues, nuances and terminology was of great importance in translation.

MARY DONDE ODINGA (Kenya) said her delegation had noted that the United Nations Headquarters and the three centres in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi differed widely in the scope of their activities in the hosting of major conferences and meetings. There was a significant imbalance in the utilization of their respective capacities. The overall utilizations factor of conference services in Nairobi was much lower than of those three places. Consequently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), which were centred in Nairobi,

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had experienced an increase in the dispersal of secretariats dealing with multilateral environmental conventions and the setting-up of various regional and subregional offices.

Another area of serious concern was the question of conference facilities, she said. Despite hosting the headquarters of UNEP and Habitat, the United Nations Centre in Nairobi was not adequately equipped with modern conference equipment. That was unlike the United Nations Offices in Geneva and Vienna. Kenya urged the Committee on Conferences, together with the Secretariat, to provide the Nairobi Centre with sufficient conference facilities.

TAMMAN SULAIMAN (Syria), underscoring the importance of multi-lingualism at the United Nations, said priority should be given to interpretation at meetings of regional groups. Full services in all languages were not always provided to regional groups. Further clarification on that matter was called for. Reports had recently been printed in almost unreadably small print, he said. Reducing the size of reports should not make them unreadable. Consistent terminology used in translation into Arabic must be found. Literal translations often forced Arabic readers to have to learn how to think in other languages. Further, the spirit of the language must be upheld. It should not be necessary to turn to other languages to fully grasp the meaning of reports. Greater care in general, when dealing with Arabic, should be taken.

The equipment in some meeting rooms was in poor condition, he said, adding that some was completely obsolete. He asked why the Secretariat did not update its equipment. Syria was willing to participate in resolving the problem in any way it could.

PRAYONO ATIYANTO (Indonesia) said conference services played a significant role in facilitating substantive intergovernmental deliberations. He welcomed the increased overall utilization of conference servicing resources. Requests for services by regional and other groupings of States should be accommodated, due to the importance of the work of such meetings. Those requests should be accommodated through such measures as better reassignment of unutilized conference service resources.

He said the proposed 16-page limit for document length should not reduce substantive content. Documentation must be issued in accordance with the six-week rule for distribution. When a report's issuance was delayed, the reasons for that delay should be indicated when it was introduced.

EVGUENI N. DEINEKO (Russian Federation) said he was pleased to note the increasing rationalization of the Organization's conferences and meetings, as well as the improved provision of conference services. He welcomed the

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introduction of technological innovations and new management systems in conference services. When planning the calendar of conferences and meetings, peak periods should be avoided. Expressing concern that some bodies did not fully utilize their meeting entitlements, he said the Committee on Conferences should continue holding consultations with the chairmen of bodies in the system

Some 32 per cent of the requests for interpretation services for meetings of regional and other major groupings of State had been denied, he noted. The Secretariat had encountered a number of difficulties in establishing its cost-accounting system. The development of an objective, transparent, cost-accounting system was important for developing long-term policies. The Secretariat's methods of preparing documents should be streamlined to respond with flexibility to the changing document requirements of Member States. Intergovernmental bodies should gradually reduce the length of their reports to the desired limit of 20 pages.

Technological innovations should be further developed, he said. The optical disk system did not provide timely and reliable information. The quality of translation must be improved through, in part, greater staff accountability. It was unacceptable that various organizations tried to assess charges for the provision of conference services. That practice did not comply with the Organization's financial rules and did not serve the interest of Member Sates. He hoped the United Nations conference services would be further streamlined, which would lead to greater efficiency of the Organization as a whole.

AMJAD HUSSAIN B. SIAL (Pakistan) said his delegation had noted with satisfaction that the overall utilization of conference-servicing resources had exceeded 80 per cent in 1996. It was hoped that this trend would continue in the future.

Pakistan had taken note of the Secretary-General's proposal to reduce the length of documents produced by the Secretariat, as well as the reports of intergovernmental bodies, he said. However, a suggestion on how those bodies could reduce the length of their reports from 32 to 20 pages was requested. It was important to stress that brevity should not come at the cost of clarity. Conference Services should consider recommending a standardized pattern for all departments to follow.

The United Nations could not keep itself aloof from the rapid technological innovations taking place around the globe, he said. Pakistan had noted with appreciation that all the permanent missions had been connected to the Internet. With the World Wide Web server in place, the missions and even capitals could have access to the optical disk system. Further expansion of the system, reported to be under progress, was welcome.

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ZIYAD MONAYAIR (Kuwait) said Kuwait had noted and welcomed the improvement in the utilization factor of conference services, which had resulted in greater efficiency and savings. Utilization of new technology had also produced some savings, such as in the area of document services.

Kuwait fully supported the statement that had been made by the representative of Syria regarding the Arabic interpretation and translation services, he said. Kuwait trusted that the Secretariat would give due consideration to the concerns that had been raised.

Statements on 1998-1999 Proposed Budget

CONRAD MSELLE, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced that body's report on Part I, Section I of the 1998-1999 proposed budget, on overall policy-making, direction and coordination. The Advisory Committee would report on its recommendations for overall resources when it commented on the Secretary-General's report on the financial and programmatic implications of his reform proposals. The Fifth Committee should proceed with its consideration of the section using the estimates contained in existing reports, particularly the Secretary-General's initial budget proposal. However, final decisions on costs and resources would first require consideration of recosting and of the information contained in the Secretary-General's report on changes arising from his reform proposals.

ANUSON CHINVANNO (Thailand) said that owing to the importance of the functions of the President of the General Assembly, his office should be provided with adequate, even increased, resources. The General Assembly should consider setting up a separate sub-section for this office.

SUSAN SHEAROUSE (United States) said that this section of the budget would be affected by discussions in the General Assembly of the Secretary- General's report on reform. She would, therefore, have preferred that discussion of the section be deferred.

Because it was frivolous, the provision for spousal travel should be eliminated from the budget, she said. Also, fuller justification needed to be provided for the proposed reclassification of the Executive Secretary of the Board of Auditors to D-1.

It was not clear why the CPC required six weeks of meeting time in 1998, she continued. That seemed excessive. Clarification was also called for on the total number of senior-level posts needed by the Secretary-General's office. An increase of over 29 per cent over the previous biennium for outside consultants and experts was called for in the budget. That also needed to be explained.

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