FIFTH COMMITTEE APPROVES DRAFT TEXTS ON FINANCING AND SUPPORT STAFF FOR PEACEKEEPING, FORWARDS TEXTS TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Press Release
GA/AB/3235
FIFTH COMMITTEE APPROVES DRAFT TEXTS ON FINANCING AND SUPPORT STAFF FOR PEACEKEEPING, FORWARDS TEXTS TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
19980626 The General Assembly would approve $34.4 million for the support account for peacekeeping operations from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, according to one of two draft decisions approved this morning by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). The Committee took that action as it resumed a meeting that had been suspended on 29 May, and thus concluded the second part of its resumed fifty-second session.By other terms of the text, the Assembly would approve 400 support account-funded temporary posts for the upcoming 12 months, and also the Secretary-General's proposal for conversion of 106 posts in replacement of gratis personnel, subject to those 400 posts. It would request the Secretary-General to undertake functions currently carried out by type II gratis personnel within the level of approved posts, through recruitment, redeployment and changes in work distribution.
The support account is used to fund variable "backstopping" activities at Headquarters for the planning, implementation and liquidation of peacekeeping operations.
By the terms of a draft resolution on the use of gratis personnel loaned to the United Nations without charge, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General to complete the recruitment process to replace gratis personnel by the end of February 1999.
By other terms, it would decide to amend a paragraph in his report concerning restrictions on the functions of loaned staff. According to the revision, gratis personnel may not supervise United Nations staff or be involved in decisions affecting the status, rights and entitlement of staff, except in cases where gratis personnel might have managerial responsibility for staff members who provide support directly to them.
Also this morning, the Committee took note of amounts to be apportioned in respect of each peacekeeping mission, annexed to a note from the Secretary- General.
Fifth Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/AB/3235 Resumed 68th Meeting (AM) 26 June 1998
The Chairman announced that the third part of the resumed session will be held from 17-21 August and thanked those who had helped the Committee complete its work.
Speaking for the Group of 77 developing countries and China, the representative of Indonesia also made concluding comments.
Statements were made this morning by the representatives of Australia, Pakistan, Cuba, Canada, United Kingdom (for the European Union and associated States), Bahamas, United States and Japan.
Committee Work Programme
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to take action on two draft texts, thereby completing the second part of its resumed fifty-second session.
Support Account for Peacekeeping Operations
A draft resolution on administrative and budgetary aspects of peacekeeping financing (document A/C.5/52/L.54) concerns the support account for peacekeeping operations, which is used to fund variable backstopping activities at Headquarters to assist peacekeeping operations in the field. Backstopping is the overall direction, assistance and guidance given by offices at Headquarters for planning, implementation and liquidation of operations.
By the terms of the draft, the Assembly would approve the support account post and non-post requirements for the period from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999 in the amount of $34.4 million, maintaining the current funding mechanism. It would decide to apply an unencumbered balance of almost $2.5 million for the period from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997 to the resources required for the upcoming 12-month period, and to appropriate the balance of some $31.9 million, to be prorated among the individual budgets of active peacekeeping operations.
Through other provisions, it would approve 400 support account-funded temporary posts for the upcoming period, and also the Secretary-General's proposal for conversion of 106 posts in replacement of gratis personnel, subject to those 400 posts. It would request the Secretary-General to undertake functions currently carried out by type II gratis personnel within the level of approved posts, through recruitment, redeployment and changes in work distribution.
Noting that the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) intends to report in September 1998, after having completed its post-by-post consideration, the Assembly would welcome the advice of that body, as well as of the Secretary-General, on the structure of those departments dealing with backstopping of peacekeeping operations, including issues of cooperation and overlap. It would decide to consider the ACABQ's report as a basis for making a decision on the support account posts and funding by 15 October 1998.
By other terms of the draft, the Assembly would concur with the ACABQ that future reports on the use of support account resources should be analytical and explain important administrative issues that impact on the implementation of the approved budget under the support account. It would affirm the need for adequate funding for the backstopping of peacekeeping operations, and reaffirm that the expenses of the Organization, including such backstopping, shall be borne by Member States and, to that effect, the
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Secretary-General should request adequate funding to maintain the capacity of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
The Committee also had before it two reports of the Secretary-General on the support account (documents A/C.5/52/54 and A/C.5/52/55). In the former, he says that accelerated procedures have been initiated to ensure the speedy recruitment of staff to replace gratis personnel. The recruitment and placement processes are expected to be completed by the end of February 1999, which would enable the phasing out of all gratis personnel currently serving in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations by 28 February 1999. The second report asks the Committee to take note of an annex to the text, which contains the amounts to be apportioned in respect of each peacekeeping operation, including the prorated share of the support account for peacekeeping operations.
Gratis Personnel
A second draft resolution, on review of the United Nations administrative and financial efficiency, concerns gratis personnel loaned to the Organization free of charge (document A/C.5/52/L.55). By its terms, the Assembly would decide that gratis personnel shall not be considered staff members of the United Nations, and that they should not be sought for positions kept vacant solely for financial reasons. It would note with concern that functions which should be carried out by United Nations staff are being performed by gratis personnel, and request the Secretary-General to ensure that core functions are performed by United Nations personnel.
Also by the text, the Assembly would approve the revised guidelines on gratis personnel as contained in his report of 21 November 1997 (document A/52/698), while deciding to amend paragraph 9 of the text to read as follows:
"Gratis personnel may not supervise staff members in the exercise of their official duties or be involved in decisions affecting the status, rights and entitlements of staff members. The only exception to this rule would be in those cases where the gratis personnel might have managerial responsibility for staff members who provide direct support to them."
The Assembly would request the Secretary-General to complete, as a matter of priority, the recruitment process to replace type II personnel by the end of February 1999, through means, including the redeployment of staff, recruitment of civilians, civilian police and military officers of Member States, as well as through changing working methods and distribution, to ensure that handover arrangements provide the continuity of expertise and the efficient functioning of all departments concerned. Further, it would request that he ensure that future quarterly reports on the acceptance of type II gratis personnel are issued in a timely fashion and contain more accurate and comprehensive information.
Fifth Committee - 4 - Press Release GA/AB/3235 Resumed 68th Meeting (AM) 26 June 1998
[Type I gratis personnel are those who serve as associate experts, technical cooperation experts and interns, while type II refers to all other loaned staff.]
Action on Support Account Draft Text
ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh), Committee Chairman, drew the Committee's attention to a note by the Secretary-General on the support account for peacekeeping operations (document A/C.5/52/55).
The Committee took note of the note by the Secretary-General.
MILES ARMITAGE (Australia), introducing the draft resolution on the support account, said the text reflected the various concerns of Member States. What was important was that an agreement had been achieved. Commenting on the problems encountered in the negotiating process, he said all participants must reflect on their performance on the issue. Delegates had a responsibility to the Organization to do better.
The representative of Pakistan said that operative paragraph 17 should have a footnote after the word "report" on line 2.
The representative of Cuba stressed the importance of operative paragraphs 16 and 17 and asked if the Secretariat would be providing a technical specification for them. [Paragraphs 16 and 17 relate to support account-funded posts.]
JEAN-PIERRE HALBWACHS, Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Controller, said the ACABQ had recommended the amounts in the resolution and that they were adequate to cover the 400 support account-funded temporary posts.
JOHANNES WORTEL, Director, Operational Services Division, Office of Human Resources Management, said that the resolution was intended to cover the entire Secretariat, including the two International Criminal Tribunals.
The Committee approved the draft resolution on the support account, without a vote.
Speaking after the action, the representatives of Indonesia, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, stressed that the Secretariat should strive to provide timely and reliable information in future.
The representative of Canada said her delegation would express its position during the plenary of the General Assembly.
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Action on Draft Text on Gratis Personnel
SHARON BRENNEN-HAYLOCK (Bahamas), introducing the draft resolution on gratis personnel, said that it enjoyed the wide support. The Secretariat was supportive, but the work of the delegations was frustrated by the inconsistent information provided on gratis personnel. If clear information had been provided, discussions would have been facilitated, and decisions could have been taken at an earlier date. Operative paragraph 10 should begin with "takes note of" rather than "note".
The Committee approved the draft text on gratis personnel, as orally amended, without a vote.
Speaking after the action, the representative of Indonesia, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said the resolution incorporated the spirit of compromise and flexibility and was a true reflection of the commitment of all Member States. He regretted that the current session of the General Assembly could not make a timely decision.
The representative of the United Kingdom, on behalf of the European Union and the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Iceland, said both draft resolutions were of great importance and would affect the way the United Nations planned and conducted peacekeeping operations. As many members of the European Union were major troop contributors, they were concerned that the Secretariat should be properly resourced and structured to ensure the welfare and safe keeping of forces in the field.
He said the major concerns of the Union in addressing the phase-out of gratis personnel and subsequent reallocation of functions were: to ensure that operational effectiveness should be maintained; that the welfare of troops deployed in the field should be safeguarded; and that the expertise gained over the last year through the provision of such gratis personnel should be retained to the greatest extent possible. The Union believed that the resolutions just approved met those concerns. Operative paragraph 9 of the draft resolution on gratis personnel asked the Secretary-General to complete the process of recruiting or deploying staff to replace gratis personnel by February 1999. Such expertise was essential for the proper functioning of departments that supported peacekeeping operations in the Secretariat, particularly the Rapidly Deployable Mission Headquarters.
He said the Union had paid much attention to the inclusion of the formula which requested the Secretary-General to ensure adequate handover arrangements in order to provide continuity of expertise and the proper and efficient functioning of all departments concerned. The draft resolution on support account provided for 400 temporary posts, including 54 new positions. The Union believed that in recruiting for those new posts, priority should be
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given to the selection of seconded serving military and police officers. It remained unconvinced that the departments concerned were properly structured to meet current levels of peacekeeping activity. It urged the Secretariat to look again at its original support account bid, in time to put properly thought out proposals on departmental structure through the ACABQ, and in time to properly inform the debate in October.
The representative of the United States said he accepted the removal of gratis personnel that were not within the exceptions granted by Assembly resolution 51/243. All functions of peacekeeping operations at Headquarters must be reviewed. The draft put the number of posts to be established at 400, the funding level for the support account at $34.4 million, and made provision for an orderly transition in functions performed by the departing military officers. The issue was not whether gratis personnel would leave; it was how they would do so. The United States placed utmost priority on the recruitment of military and civilian police officers to fill posts, since military technology and doctrine evolved quickly. The Secretariat should not repackage its previous submissions on resource levels for peacekeeping operations, but rather take into account all the views expressed during the negotiations.
The United States accepted that gratis personnel -- except for those covered under the exemptions of paragraph 4 of resolution 51/243 -- would no longer be in the Organization, he said. While his delegation believed the decision to be short-sighted, it accepted the will of the membership and supported the Secretary-General's efforts to ensure that functions performed by gratis personnel would be met through a variety of means. [Paragraph 4 specifies the circumstances under which the Secretary-General could accept type II gratis personnel.]
The representative of Cuba stressed the importance her delegation attached to the two drafts, in particular, to paragraph 9 of the draft on gratis personnel [on recruitment to replace type II gratis personnel] and paragraph 17 of the draft on the support account, which highlighted the General Assembly's request concerning the elimination of gratis personnel by February 1999. It was important that,in transferring posts, the work to be performed was done with consistency and effectively, in line with the relevant provisions of the Organization's rules and regulations and its guidelines on equitable geographical representation, among others.
The representative of Japan said the Committee's failure to reach consensus had prevented the closing of the resumed session according to schedule. In addition to creating additional work for the Committee, it affected the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC). The Committee's review of its working methods should be taken seriously. The procedural irregularity should not set a precedent.
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