BY FIFTH COMMITTEE TEXT RELATED TO ARTICLE 19, SEVEN STATES WOULD RETAIN ASSEMBLY VOTING RIGHTS DESPITE LEVEL OF UNPAID CONTRIBUTIONS

23 March 1999

Press Release
GA/AB/3290

BY FIFTH COMMITTEE TEXT RELATED TO ARTICLE 19, SEVEN STATES WOULD RETAIN ASSEMBLY VOTING RIGHTS DESPITE LEVEL OF UNPAID CONTRIBUTIONS

19990323 Committee Also Approves Decision Related to Pattern Of Conferences; Discusses United Nations Security Arrangements

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning approved a draft decision by which the General Assembly would allow seven States to retain voting rights despite their level of accumulated unpaid assessed contributions.

By the terms of the draft, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia and Georgia would retain their voting rights through 30 June 1999; and the Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras and Nicaragua would be able to vote through 30 June 2000.

The decision was based on recommendations from a special session of the Committee on Contributions, the body that considers requests for exemption to Article 19 of the United Nations Charter, by which Member States are stripped of their voting rights when the level of their arrears equals or exceeds two years' assessed contributions. It recommends approval of such requests when it determines that failure to pay is beyond a State's control. Iraq's request was denied.

Iraq's representative said that since 1995, his country had been prevented from avoiding Article 19 sanctions by an opposition that did not want his country to vote or have a voice at the United Nations. The situation was deplorable; it contradicted the principles of human rights those very same States preached and the principles of the Charter.

Iraq's non-payment resulted from circumstances beyond its control, he stressed. The sanctions being imposed by the United States were resulting in the deaths of 10 children an hour in his country. Those sanctions were the reason Iraq was unable to pay.

The Committee also approved a draft decision by which the Assembly would take note of two reports on United Nations pattern of conferences: one on

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interpretation services to groups of Member States and the other on utilization of conference facilities at the United Nations Office in Nairobi. By the same text, it would transmit a report on the impact of economy measures on mandated conference services to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions to consider in the context of the proposed budget for 2000-2001.

When the Committee turned to what its Chairman described as its "favourite agenda item", other matters, Toshiyuki Niwa, Assistant Secretary- General for Central Support Services, spoke about a number of issues raised previously, including the use of a dog-and-handler team for bomb detection.

The Explosive Detection Canine Team had been established following the receipt of four letter bombs at United Nations Headquarters and a number of security incidents elsewhere, he said. For a cost of $153,000 per year, a trained dog and an expert handler provided coverage for ten hours every weekday.

Ensuring the security of the United Nations was within the purview of the Secretary-General, he said, and warned that providing details of security could itself diminish that security.

The representative of Costa Rica said she was not satisfied with Mr. Niwa's answers. She had asked for a breakdown of security programmes, but still did not know what programmes existed, nor why she had not been told.

Some Committee members said the matter should be pursued in a bilateral setting so the Committee's time could be spent on its scheduled agenda, while others said that option had not proven satisfactory, and that the issue was related to the United Nations budget.

Statements were also made by the representatives of the Republic of Korea, Costa Rica, Portugal, Syria, Cuba, and Poland and the Chairman of the Contributions Committee, David Etucket.

The Committee is scheduled to meet again on Friday, 26 March, to take action on all outstanding matters.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to continue its consideration of the scale of assessments -- the system whereby the financial responsibility for the Organization is divided among its Member States -- and the Organization's pattern of conferences.

(For background on the scale of assessments and on the pattern of conferences, see Press Release GA/AB/3289 of 22 March.)

Pattern of Conferences

MOVSES ABELIAN (Armenia), Chairman of the Fifth Committee, proposed a draft decision on the agenda item on the United Nations pattern of conferences. That draft read;

"The General Assembly,

"Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the provision of interpretation services to meetings of the regional and other major groupings of Member States (document A/53/826) and the report of the Secretary-General on improved utilization of conference facilities at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (document A/53/827);

"Decides to transmit the report of the Secretary-General on the impact of economy measures on the delivery of mandated conference services (document A/53/833) to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions for consideration in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001, taking into account the views of Member States."

The Committee approved the draft without a vote.

Scale of Assessments

MOWAFAK MAHMOUD AYOUB (Iraq) said the role and recommendations of the Committee on Contributions were technical. The Committee was not mandated to address political issues. It had approved seven requests for exemption to Article 19 of the United Nations Charter; Iraq was the only exception. It seemed that the situation was dictated by one or two members of the Contributions Committee, which was deplorable.

Iraq's request had been clear: the non-payment of its contribution resulted from a situation beyond its control, he said. Article 19 recognized that non-payment could be exempted if it was a matter of force majeure. Certain quarters had invoked their political will at the expense of Charter principles, affecting the Committee's deliberations on Iraq. Certain members of the Contributions Committee had expressed strong reservations about whether

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Iraq's failure to pay was beyond its control. He commended those who had adopted a just position about the difficulties stemming from the United States sanctions on Iraq, which today resulted in the deaths of 10 children an hour. Those were the precise circumstances that prevented Iraq from paying its contributions.

Since 1995, Iraq had tried all legal and legitimate means to avoid Article 19 sanctions, he said. Each year, those attempts encountered the same opposition, who did not want Iraq to vote, express its views or have a voice in the United Nations. Such conduct ran counter to the principles of human rights those States preached, as well as the principles of the Charter.

CHO CHANG-BEOM (Republic of Korea) endorsed the recommendations of the Committee on Contributions. The special session had been particularly significant because the Committee had recommended exemptions to seven countries, but also because its consideration of requests for exemptions had restored the proper procedure, as laid down in rule 160 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly.

He said his delegation supported the waiver clause of Article 19 for those unable to pay due to conditions beyond their control. But in light of the perennial financial difficulties the United Nations faced, which was related to Member States non-payment, the procedural aspects of considering requests for waivers should be strictly observed. Exemptions to Article 19 should be of a limited nature, and requests for extension reviewed. He also expressed concern that many Member States paid only enough to retain their vote. That practice did not accord with the Charter obligations of Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions.

The Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, DAVID ETUCKET, then responded to concerns raised previously on the Contributions Committee's recommendations. He wished to assure Member States that the request for exemption from Cambodia, like each of the other requests considered in the resumed Contributions Committee session, had been considered on its own merits. The decision had been derived from the information provided by the Government of Cambodia and the departments of the Secretariat. Information from Cambodia included the express determination of the Government of Cambodia to pay its dues by June 1999. Thus, when the request had been considered, the Contributions Committee had concluded that the waiver should run up to June 1999.

A number of delegations that had participated in the debate in the Fifth Committee had highlighted certain aspects of Article 19 that required further review and advice from the Contributions Committee. The Committee would review those and other relevant issues at its fifty-ninth session and submit its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly.

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The Fifth Committee CHAIRMAN then proposed a draft decision.

By the terms of that draft, the Assembly would decide that the failure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Georgia to pay the amount necessary to avoid application of Article 19 of the Charter was due to conditions beyond their control and that, accordingly, they should be permitted to vote until 30 June 1999.

Deciding also that the failure of the Republic of the Congo, Guinea- Bissau, Honduras and Nicaragua to pay amounts sufficient to avoid application of Article 19 was beyond the control of those States, the Assembly would decide that they should be allowed to vote until 30 June 2000.

The decision was approved without a vote.

The CHAIRMAN asked all delegations to attend the informal consultations with their delegation's bottom-line on their positions. Consensus must be reached and there were only three days remaining in this resumed session.

Other matters

The CHAIRMAN then advised the Committee it would now turn to its "favourite agenda item -- Other Matters".

TOSHIYUKI NIWA, Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, responded to questions raised last week by Member States. In response to questions raised about the state of the telephones in the hallways of United Nations Headquarters, his staff had checked all corridor phones. Thus far, two had been found that had been labelled "out of order", although they were in fact in working order, and two were missing handsets. His staff would continue checking, and the telephones would also be checked twice a month by technicians. Signs would be put on the telephones advising of a number to call if they were found to be damaged.

Regarding questions asked about parking areas, he advised that for the past two months the garage had been undergoing repairs. As a consequence, several additional areas previously used by staff had been designated for diplomatic parking. This had confused people in the habit of parking in those areas. Violation tickets were being issued and wrongly-parked cars were being moved as quickly as possible. The repair project should be completed by September.

In addition, he pointed out that certain cars belonging to missions did not have diplomatic plates. However, as they were mission vehicles they had been issued with official diplomatic parking permits. This meant it might not always be clear whether cars parked in diplomatic areas were diplomatic cars or not.

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Responding to questions raised about the escalators, he advised that the escalators were in fact the originals installed 51 years ago. They were maintained by a company called Montgomery Cone, and had been for a long time. There were no new escalators. In 1996 New York City had changed its regulations about escalators, and, as a consequence, in 1998 all escalators had been upgraded to meet the new standards. That had required each escalator to be out of service for three to four weeks. Information concerning this had been circulated in an official document. However, all fifty-one-year-old equipment needed servicing and occasional repairs.

Regarding security for the archive section, the permanent guard was no longer posted because of reduced resources and competing demands, he said. Suitable alternative security had been put in place.

Currently, the Security Service had 3 Professional category staff, nine General Service staff and 171 Security officers, funded from the regular budget, he said. Regarding a related question asked about General Assembly resolution 52/220, he had checked and could find no mention of security staffing or of twenty seven security officers' posts in that resolution. Printing expenses for the Security Service included the costs of tags for fire extinguishers, targets used for fire-arms training and so forth.

The operating hours for the garage exit at 42nd Street had been reduced from 12 to two hours per day in 1997 as part of cost reductions, he explained in response to another question.

In response to questions raised about the "Headquarters' dog", the Explosive Detection Canine Team had been established following the receipt of four letter bombs at United Nations Headquarters and a number of security incidents elsewhere. The teams had been employed as part of a pilot project commencing in September 1998. The cost, as had been mentioned, was $153,000 per year. Coverage was for ten hours per day from Monday to Friday and was provided by two rotating teams, each including a trained dog and handler with expertise in explosive devices.

The costs of providing such a service in-house, including purchasing two trained dogs and employing two handlers trained in explosives detection, would be considerably higher -- up to $250,000 per year, he said. The other alternative, whereby every time any suspicious object was found a call would have to be placed to the New York Police Department, would mean a response time of between 45 minutes and two hours. There would be a significant negative impact on the ability of both the Secretariat and Member State bodies to continue their work during that time. With the introduction of the Explosive Detection Canine Inspection Team, responses took a few minutes and involved minimum interference with other United Nations work. Areas regularly inspected by the teams included the hallways, conference and meeting rooms, and the truck and vehicle docks.

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Only one provider had been approached for the pilot project, he said, but that was in accordance with United Nations Financial Rule 110.19 (h). Retention of the service had been recommended by the Office of Internal Oversight Services. A provider would now be sought for the ongoing provision of the service, and the competitive bidding process would be implemented in the near future. The dog was an essential security measure and additionally minimized, rather than increased, the need for the New York Police Department to be on United Nations premises.

He had been concerned to ensure that the information he provided in response to these questions did not compromise security, and had been advised that the information he had just given would not do so, he said. In order to protect the very security that was under discussion, it was very difficult to provide detailed responses. United Nations security was within the authority of the Secretary-General, and Mr. Niwa was delegated to ensure it.

NAZARETH INCERA (Costa Rica) said that while she was grateful that answers had been given to the questions she had previously raised, she was not satisfied with those answers, because she did not believe the information they contained was accurate. Mr. Niwa had said that the dog had been used since 1998 and was being tested. She recalled seeing the dog and its handler around the premises for years. She asked how long the tests would last. She had been told the cost of providing the service in-house was $150,000, but she was confident that while costs would be high at the start, they would not remain that high. They should decrease once the teams had been fully-trained. She wished to be informed as to why the service would cost so much.

Regarding the escalators, incorrect information had been provided, she said. She had been told last year that new escalators had been installed. Either she had been given incorrect information last year or the information being provided now was wrong.

No matter what question she asked she got the same answers, she said. She agreed with the need for the security of United Nations Headquarters and the safety of all here, but she had asked for a breakdown on the provision of that security and she had not received that. She had not been told what security programmes existed, and she did not know why she had not been told. At the appropriate time she would follow up on those matters, as she was not satisfied with the answers that had been given.

REGINA EMERSON (Portugal) said she shared the concern of other delegations about how little time was available for the Committee to deal with sensitive and important issues. She was aware that the questions currently being discussed were important, and more important to some delegations than to others. She hoped that the discussions could be continued on a bilateral basis to save the Committee's time.

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TAMMAM SULAIMAN (Syria) said he appreciated efforts to address the situation and he hoped there would be follow-up.

DULCE BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said the debate was interesting and relevant for the entire Committee. The issue was a substantive one relating to the budget. Mr. Niwa had referred to alternative demands, but what were those? she asked. Her delegation noted that the dog teams had begun as an experimental project in 1988. After 11 years, the project was not complete. That should be noted along with the information that savings had been achieved. Since her delegation had been unable to note all the details, the information should be provided in writing.

Ms. INCERA (Costa Rica) said she felt compelled to take the floor to respond to a comment. If satisfactory information had been provided on the bilateral level, she would have been satisfied. She would continue to press the questions, but not now, so as to not take up the Committee's time. But she would not resort to the bilateral channel, since it had not been satisfactory. She asked that the answers be given in writing.

Mr. NIWA said there was perhaps a misunderstanding relating to the year. The use of the dog had begun in September 1998, not 1988. Also, the project was not being tested; it was, rather, a pilot exercise. It had been implemented experimentally to see how it worked. The effort had proven cost- effective and useful, and in light of the risks the Organization faced, the project was continuing. Regarding the escalators, they were old, about fifty years old. On follow-up, he said he would be happy to provide additional information as necessary on a bilateral basis.

JAN JAREMCZUK (Poland) extended his delegation's appreciation and support to Mr. Niwa and his staff for their constant efforts to improve security.

The CHAIRMAN appealed to Member States not to return to those issues during the resumed session, in light of the limited time. He asked Mr. Niwa to distribute his answers in writing and reminded the Committee that Member States and the Secretariat were working together. Delegates should not open just any issue during formal meetings. It was best if issues could be resolved on a bilateral basis.

Three years ago, the Fifth Committee had cut the budget for the Headquarters building by $12 million, he reminded delegates. If the Fifth Committee was going to cut the funds in that manner, the building would eventually collapse. Related issues should be grouped together, he stressed.

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Ms. BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said Mr. Abelian had been a delegate to the Fifth Committee and it would be useful to keep in mind that official sessions and formal meetings were the main forum for delegations to express their views on any subject.

The CHAIRMAN said he was still a delegate to the Fifth Committee. Committee members should group related issues together and discuss them in that fashion.

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