FIFTH COMMITTEE TAKES UP SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS

Press Release
GA/AB/3314

FIFTH COMMITTEE TAKES UP SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS

Delegations Stress Transparency, Importance of Capacity-to-Pay, Need for Scale To Be Re-evaluated

The method of determining how much each Member State had to pay for the upkeep and activities of the United Nations had become something of a Gordian knot that needed to be cut, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this afternoon, as it commenced its discussion of that method -- the scale of assessments.

The challenge confronting Member States over the scale was political -- it involved differing interests and perceptions of interests, the representative of Norway said. To be, and to be seen to be, fair, the scale must be transparent, he stressed. The scale’s transparency had been lost with the introduction of complications over the years.

The representative of the United States said the ceiling of the regular scale -– the fixed maximum that any Member State is required to pay -- had last been reduced 25 years ago. The world had been a different place then, and meaningful reform of the scale was now needed. His country acknowledged the need to pay its debts to the United Nations, and understood the serious position in which its non-payment placed the Organization. He would convey to Washington what was said by delegates in direct or indirect reference to the United States.

The representative of Uganda, speaking also on behalf of Kenya and Tanzania, said that unless Member States overcame their conflicting positions on what constituted capacity to pay, consensus on the scale would remain difficult to achieve. Their efforts might prove counter- productive, time-consuming and costly, with no tangible results.

Capacity-to-pay must be the key to the scale, he added. Because of the ceiling on assessments, the United States was being subsidized by the entire United Nations membership. If the Assembly decided to reduce the ceiling, the additional burden should be distributed among major developed countries. Developing countries should not be asked to bear additional financial responsibility.

Fifth Committee - 1a - GA/AB/3314 8th Meeting (PM) 18 October 1999

The various aspects of the formula used to make the scale fair and equitable to developing countries, such as the low per-capita income adjustment and the debt burden adjustment, should be retained, the representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said.

The representative of China said it was regrettable that some Member States were proposing that permanent Security Council members be excluded from the low per-capita income adjustment. China was opposed to the idea of a floor for permanent Council members. It was also opposed to any reduction in the ceiling of the scale, he added. The current ceiling was lower than some Member States’ reasonable share and disproportionate to their economic power.

The representatives of Finland, on behalf of the European Union and associated States, South Africa on behalf of the non-aligned movement, Pakistan, India, Belarus, Brazil, Mexico, on behalf of the Rio Group, Republic of Korea and Cuba also spoke on the scale of assessments, and David Etuket, Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, introduced that body’s report.

The Committee also commenced consideration of the pattern of United Nations conferences this afternoon. The representatives of Finland, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, Cyprus, and the United States spoke on that item. The report of the Committee on Conferences was introduced by its Chairman, Peter van de Velde, and the Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services, Yongjian Jin, also addressed the Committee.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a. m. tomorrow to begin consideration of agenda item 123 (Joint Inspection Unit).

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this afternoon to discuss the pattern of United Nations conferences and the scale of assessments.

[The scale of assessments is the formula by which the amount each Member State must pay towards the regular budget of the Organization is determined. According to the formula, which is based on capacity to pay, each Member States becomes liable for a percentage of the United Nations' expenses. The scale for the regular assessment applies to all matters except peacekeeping and the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. A slightly different scale applies for peacekeeping and Tribunal expenses.]

Pattern of Conferences

The report of the Committee on Conferences for 1999 (document A/54/32) contains conclusions and recommendations on the many subjects that the Committee considered during its most recent session.

According to the report, the Committee on Conferences recommends that the General Assembly adopt the draft biennial calendar of conferences and meetings for 2000-2001 and authorize it to make any necessary adjustments. It also recommends that every effort should be made to avoid simultaneous peak periods at the various duty stations. Appended to the report is the draft calendar of conferences.

On the improved use of conference-servicing resources, the Committee on Conferences expresses concern that in 1998 only 56 per cent of the bodies in the sample used 80 per cent or more of their available conference-servicing resources. It suggests that the Assembly ask the Secretariat to prepare detailed proposals on the use of the conference facilities at the United Nations Office at Nairobi.

The report also recommends that the General Assembly explicitly authorize the following bodies to meet in New York during the main part of its fifty-fourth session: Committee on Relations with the Host Country; Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; Working Group on the Financing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); and the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

It also recommends the adoption of a provisional calendar of conferences and meetings of the subsidiary bodies of the Economic and Social Council for 2000-2001.

By another recommendation, the General Assembly would reaffirm that the reasons for late submission should be included in a footnote to documents submitted late to conference services.

The Committee on Conferences requests the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services to continue efforts to use new technologies.

The report also asks the Secretary-General to finalize concrete proposals on a system of managed assignments based on career incentives in language stations, and aimed at reducing the excessive vacancy rates by the end of the main part of the Assembly's fifty-fourth session.

The Committee also had before it a report of the Secretary-General on the provision of interpretation services to other locations from permanent interpretation structures in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi (document A/54/176), which concludes that continuous remote interpretation during a typical session of an intergovernmental body is a viable alternative to onsite servicing, provided that certain technical, financial and human resources conditions are met. Based on an experimental use of remote translation conducted early in 1999, the Secretary-General concludes that technical requirements have been sufficiently defined, but the financial viability of remote interpretation and its human resource implications have not yet been fully established. Further research is needed, and he suggests another experiment should be conducted as early as possible in 2000 to gather missing information on relevant technical, financial and human resources issues.

The Committee also had before it the report of the Secretary-General on the provision of interpretation services to meetings of regional and other major groupings of Member States (document A/54/208).

The report, covering three one-year periods between July 1996 and June 1999, states that the percentage of meetings of these bodies that were provided with interpretation services rose from 68 per cent in the first year to 83 per cent in the third year. Further improvement could be realized, however, if work programmes were planned well in advance, thereby allowing scarce resources to be juggled. More flexibility on the part of regional groupings in rescheduling meetings would also help.

Also before the Committee was a Secretary-General's report on improved use of conference facilities at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (document A/54/221). This report found that while the use of conference services has increased in recent years, meeting-room capacity at Nairobi remains under-used, chiefly because only two calendar bodies, both with a relatively light meetings programme, have Nairobi as their headquarters.

Efforts have been made to attract other meetings, and some success was achieved in persuading environment-related treaty bodies to hold their sessions at Nairobi, the Secretary-General reports. But he notes that these efforts are in competition not only with other headquarters, but with States parties’ offers to host meetings.

He also notes the suggestion that a lack of a permanent interpretation capacity at Nairobi, which increases the cost of holding meetings there, was an impediment to its greater utilization. The primary reason for reducing interpretation costs has been to make Nairobi a more attractive venue for non- United Nations meetings which are serviced on a reimbursable basis, which invites a policy question on whether satisfactory use of a United Nations conference centre should be contingent upon use by non-United Nations entities.

The Committee also had before it a report by the Secretary-General on the possibility of establishing a permanent interpretation service at the United Nations Office in Nairobi (document A/54/262) -- a possibility he reports would not be immediately cost-effective.

Twenty professional posts would have to be provided to establish such a permanent service at Nairobi, according to the report. He estimates the salaries and common staff costs for these posts at some $3.9 million per biennium, at 1998- 1999 rates. Existing arrangements, where interpretation is provided by staff deployed from New York, Geneva or Vienna, or by freelance staff, cost approximately $235,000 per two-week session. Measured against current usage (for the biennial sessions of the Commission on Human Settlements and the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and one additional special session per biennium -- three two-week sessions), the total net additional requirements he thus estimates is at $3.2 million per biennium.

Furthermore, the experience of the United Nations Office at Vienna, which has an interpretation service, had indicated that supply does not necessarily create demand, according to the report. It was also proving to be difficult to find staff willing to take up assignments at duty stations where, because of the small size of the units in question, career prospects are less favourable than in other places.

The Committee had before it a Secretary-General's report on the impact of economy measures on the delivery of mandated conference services (document A/53/833). According to the report, 1996-1997 constraints only impacted on service for unscheduled meetings, mainly those of regional and other major groupings of Member States. Lower demand kept the number of those not met at levels similar to previous years, but, in many cases, services could not be provided on requested dates. Delay in the purchase of computers for translators meant reduced text-processing workloads were not as anticipated. The late-1996 cash-flow crisis meant curtailing temporary assistance, overtime and contractual translation services. Priority is given to pre-session documents, which continued to be issued as normal, but delays occurred in issuing meeting records. Planned reductions in the rate of self-revision had to be postponed, and overtime could not be used to improve timeliness.

Essential reproduction and distribution services continued due to reductions in document print runs. Improvements in productivity and a decline in the demand for services, particularly in translation, allowed conference services to cope with the 1996-1997 workload, but with costs in quality and timeliness.

Managerial and technological improvements, and the expectation that demand for meetings and documents would not return to record 1992-1995 levels, allowed conference services to propose, at the end of 1997, the abolition of 203 posts. Most had been vacant through the biennium in compliance with mandatory vacancy rates. A large number of the Professional posts were language services P-2s, which were of limited use, and the 148 General Service posts reflected decreased resource requirements for text-processing as a result of technological advances, increased electronic document movement and reduced workloads. In general, posts were relinquished where mandated functions could be performed more cost-efficiently with temporary assistance or contractual arrangements.

Efficiency gains have been achieved through organizational adjustments and technological innovations, such as having teams on call, rather than on duty on weekends, and keeping document print runs under tight control, according to the report. Off-site reporting with electronic information transfers is being introduced in the production of verbatim records to compensate for staffing reductions in that area in New York.

Some inadequacies remain, the report states. Insufficient excess interpretation capacity exists to allow attendance at regional and other Member State group meetings. Ironically, the Secretariat's improved service planning and allocation and better use of resources by calendar bodies, which resulted in decreased meeting cancellations, have contributed to this. Compensation cannot be made to overcome late submission of documents by using overtime and additional resources. Recent extensive delays in summary records have largely been corrected, but almost all had to be translated contractually, which made ensuring consistency and quality harder. Verbatim records still become backlogged during peak periods, and delays mean simultaneous circulation in all languages cannot be strictly implemented. Conference services hopes to address these situations through further use of technology and adjustments to resource allocations.

The Committee also had before it a report by the Secretary-General on career development in language services (document A/53/919) on ways of improving career prospects for language staff. A comprehensive review of the grading of language posts at all duty stations in the context of the preparation of the 2002-2003 budget, starting in the year 2000, is proposed, with a view to determining where a clear case for upgrading could be made.

In the area of non-budgetary measures, the Secretary-General reports further efforts will be made to facilitate increased mobility of language staff between functions and duty stations. This will entail organizing common examinations for recruitment of English and French editors, translators and verbatim reporters in 2000.

Because motivation of staff is one important factor in the provision of quality services, and as satisfactory career development prospects are essential as incentive for superior staff performance, the Secretary-General advises increased attention will continue to be paid to career development.

The Committee also had before it an addendum to the above report on the post of reviser (document A/53/919/Add.1). This report states that, although the function of reviser has not been abolished, increased self-revision in recent years has caused concern on the part of delegations. All translation staffing tables provide for a revision capacity, and it is the policy of the Secretariat to maintain that capacity intact.

The general practice was that, whenever deadlines, workload and availability of senior staff allow it, documents should be translated and then revised, rather than self-revised, according to the report. That policy has made it possible to bring the rate of self-revision in all services closer to the desirable range of 45 per cent.

The Committee also had before it a second addendum to the above report on reducing excessive vacancy rates at some duty stations: the possibility of introducing a system of managed assignments (document A/53/919/Add.2). A recent review of all duty stations showed that language services at the United Nations Office at Vienna and in the regional commissions experienced excessive vacancy rates. Direct assignment of newly recruited staff and calls for experienced staff to volunteer for assignments in the field had not resolved this problem, but radical measures, like establishing a system of managed assignments, may not be well-suited to the nature and the magnitude of the issue.

One alternative currently under review is making assignments away from Headquarters more attractive, essentially through enhanced career prospects, the report adds.

Also before the Committee was the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) on the programme budget for 2000- 2001 (document A/54/7), which, among other matters, takes note of, summarizes and comments on previous Secretary-General’s reports on many of the matters dealt with in the above reports, including use of conference facilities at Nairobi, the impact of economy measures on mandated conference services, and the provision of interpretation services to meetings of regional and other major Member State groups.

Included in this report is a response to the Secretary-General’s report on career prospects in language services (document A/53/919), in which the ACABQ suggests that the compilers of the report had not noted previous changes mandated by the Assembly aimed at addressing career-development problems in language services. The Advisory Committee requests that a comprehensive review of grading levels of language posts at all duty stations, that is similar in form to the previous review, be undertaken. It also states that, as the grade structure within language services has already been changed to improve career prospects, it is incumbent on the Secretary-General to justify why further changes should be made.

Scale of Assessments

The Committee had before it the current report of the Committee on Contributions (document A/54/11), in which a number of elements of the methodology for the preparation of future scales of assessment are reviewed.

The report recalled an earlier conclusion that overall differences in the reliability of data for gross national product (GNP), compared with data for gross domestic product (GDP), would not significantly affect the reliability of assessment rates. Views differed as to the merits of reducing the base period to three years or retaining it at six years; lengthening it to nine years was also proposed.

The Contributions Committee considered World Bank Atlas rates as a possible alternative to the current methodology for conversion rates to be used in preparing future scales of assessment, but was not convinced that they would be an improvement. Doubts were expressed about the rationale for inclusion of the debt- burden adjustment in the scale methodology, but there was also support for the view that it was a necessary step in determining Member States' capacity to pay. It reaffirmed its earlier recommendations that, should the General Assembly decide to retain debt-burden adjustments in calculations for the scale of assessments, it should be based on debt flow-data. It also reaffirmed the continuing relevance and importance of the principle of an adjustment for low per capita income, which has been a basic element of the scale methodology from the beginning.

The report recommends that the minimum assessment rate for the scale of assessments for the period 2001-2003 should be maintained at 0.001 per cent. The current scale methodology provides for a maximum assessment rate (ceiling) of 25 per cent and a maximum assessment rate for the least developed countries of 0.01 per cent. The Committee on Conferences intends to further consider annual recalculations of the scale of assessments at a future session.

It also considered procedural aspects of the consideration of requests for exemption under Article 19, and identified several timing problems.

[Article 19 is the section of the United Nations Charter which establishes, among other things, that should a Member State fall behind in its payments by an amount equal to its assessments for the two most recent years, it will lose its entitlement to vote in the General Assembly, unless the Assembly decides its failure is a consequence of factors beyond its control.]

Currently, Article 19 sanctions are applied on 1 January of a year based on data available at the end of the previous year, the report explains. Regular sessions of the Committee on Contributions are usually held in June. Accordingly, even if the Contributions Committee recommends an exemption under Article 19 and this is approved by the General Assembly, the Member State concerned will be without a vote between 1 January and whenever the Assembly acts.

Another problem, according to the report, was the gap between the Contributions Committee's adoption of recommendations on exemptions and action on those recommendations by the General Assembly. The Contributions Committee decided to remit such recommendations to the current session of the Assembly so as to permit the earliest possible action.

A third problem the report identifies relates to requests for exemption that are received after the Committee on Contributions’ regular session. If such requests are deferred to the regular session, final action could be delayed for over one year.

The report also recommends that, should the Assembly decide to tighten the application of Article 19, new measures should not be implemented before 2001.

Under measures to encourage the timely, full and unconditional payment of assessed contributions, the members of the Contributions Committee had differing views on a proposal to withhold budgetary surpluses from Member States in arrears, but agreed that retention of surpluses would improve the financial situation of the United Nations. It emphasized that Member States contributing troops and equipment to peacekeeping missions should be fully reimbursed as soon as possible. While some Members were prepared to consider giving priority in such payments to Member States current in their obligations to the Organization, others strongly disagreed. The Committee noted that a number of organizations of the United Nations system have implemented incentive measures and credits, but the effectiveness of such measures in promoting more timely payment were not clear. It also noted that the idea of granting discounts to encourage early payment would increase the cost of peacekeeping to other Member States.

The Committee on Contributions expressed differing views on a proposal for interest on, or indexation of, arrears, according to the report. Supporters of such a charge preferred indexation of arrears to compensate the Organization for its loss of purchasing power. On a proposal to institute ineligibility for election to various bodies, some Members noted that matters of interpretation of the Charter were the sole prerogative of the General Assembly.

On a proposal to consider the possibility of restricting access to recruitment and procurement opportunities for the citizens and companies of Member States in arrears, the report notes some Members had serious reservations. Regarding a proposed multi-year payment plan, the Contributions Committee agreed that the Assembly could consider such plans as tools for the improvement of the Organization's financial situation. Most Members, however, felt that linking multi-year payment plans to the application of Article 19 was inconsistent with the Charter and would tend to weaken its disincentive effect.

Statements

PETER VAN DE VELDE (Belgium), Chairman of the Committee on Conferences, introduced that body’s report. All the conclusions and recommendations of that report had been adopted by the members by consensus, he said.

JIN YONGJIAN, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services, pointed out, regarding the draft calendar of conferences and meetings for 2000-2001, that, based on available data, he did not forecast a level of meetings much different from the current one. However, there was still considerable uncertainty about a number of events planned for the next two years, including the Millenium Summit.

He expressed appreciation to the Fifth Committee and the Committee on Conferences for their efforts to improve the use of conference services, and added that while flexibility was a daily endeavour, there was no efficient alternative to advance planning by the bodies his Department served, and their disciplined adherence to agreed work schedules.

In 1998, he said, there had been over 160 meetings at United Nations Headquarters after 6 p.m. or on weekends, and there had been 125 such meetings, thus far, in 1999. That practice did not have a serious financial impact, but it did have a cost in terms of organizational problems for services, and it also created difficulties for delegations. Perhaps, it was time to look into the causes of this development and seek ways to contain them.

Regarding attempts to improve the use of conference services in Nairobi, he reiterated the Committee on Conferences’ call for all bodies to make better use of that conference centre. Responding to its request that an additional report be prepared on the establishment of a permanent translation capacity at Nairobi, he cautioned that much of such a report would be speculative -- based on expectations, rather than projections.

He explained that the Secretary-General’s report on remote interpretation had found that, in some instances, that would be viable option, while, in others, it would not. New and additional stress on interpreters would need to be resolved and the availability of high-quality sound via satellite link would affect the ability to use that method.

Regarding late issuance of documents, he said some improvements had been made, but only 27 per cent of documents announced had been submitted to his Department by the due date. In a large number of cases, for a variety of reasons, it was simply not possible to submit documents for processing 10 weeks before the opening of the sessions for which they were intended.

In addition to off-site translation, he was exploring off-site verbatim reporting, he said. This year, computer-assisted translation had also been introduced, and training was currently being undertaken. On vacancy rates, he was working closely with the Office of Human Resources Management.

He assured the Committee that his budget submissions for 2000-2001 were aimed at striking a careful balance between the two imperatives of ensuring capacity and quality commensurate with intergovernmental demands, while maximizing cost- efficiency in the face of fluctuating and unpredictable workloads.

ELIAS LAHDESMAKI (Finland), speaking on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Norway, said there was a clear need for a study on the possible use by non-United Nations entities from the private sector and other international organizations of the conference facilities at Nairobi. He also supported the request for a cost-benefit analysis on the establishment of a full permanent interpretation service at the United Nations Office at Vienna.

The Union was concerned that the rate of self-revision of translations had significantly exceeded the established benchmark figure of 45 per cent, he said. Any increase in the use of temporary assistance and contract translation services could increase the need for revision at senior levels.

The Union was also concerned about current deficiencies in the mobility of language staff. The continued high rate of vacancies at small duty stations was an indication that the current system of voluntary acceptance of assignments away from Headquarters was not working. He requested the Secretary-General to finalize, by the end of the main part of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly, concrete proposals on a system of managed assignments based on career incentives.

DEMETRIOS THEOPHYLACTOU (Cyprus) said the application of new technologies necessitated more –- not fewer –- resources, as well as the training of personnel. More had to be invested in order to achieve savings in the future, and the needs of all States –- small and big, rich and poor -– had to be addressed.

Cyprus welcomed the efforts of the Department of Public Information (DPI) to use new technology to target new audiences. The DPI was improving its use of traditional media, and, at the same time, there had been explosive growth of the United Nations Web site. Internet users from 145 countries accessed the site in one or another of the six official languages.

However, he said, Cyprus also wished to refer to the abuse by the delegation of Turkey of the circulation process of United Nations documents. The Turkish delegation, under the cover of its own insignia, systematically circulated letters from the self-declared “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. That was a tactical manoeuvre aimed at promoting the entity’s statehood.

BENTLEY ANDERSON (United States) said the collaborative approach adopted by the Committee on Conferences was to be commended. The establishment of impartial, universally applicable standards made possible effective evaluation of service delivery. The United States looked forward to the comprehensive report on conference services in Nairobi.

The United States had reluctantly agreed to observer participation in the Committee on Conferences’ deliberations, and she hoped that would not slow down that Committee’s work. The progress made this year towards establishment of measurable standards was an important aspect of the Conferences Committee’s work.

DAVID ETUKET (Uganda), Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, introduced that body’s report. Noting that his Committee had recalled its earlier conclusion that GNP was conceptually superior as a first approximation of the capacity to pay, he said he had been informed that a significant number of Member States had not yet replied to the 1997 questionnaire, which was the source of that information. He urged them to return the 1998 questionnaire as soon as possible.

While the Committee was not in a position to make recommendations on all elements of the methodology of the scale of assessments, the outstanding areas were fairly limited and well-defined, he said. They included the appropriate level for the base period, whether to reduce the low per-capita income adjustment and how to address discontinuity, the debt-burden adjustment and whether the ceilings should be retained. The Fifth Committee might wish to concentrate on those areas with a view to finding an agreed set of recommendations to the Assembly.

Regarding Article 19, on sanctions and exemptions, he said none of the proposals for addressing timing problems were considered ideal. Special sessions, as proposed, had financial and other implications and might not always be appropriate; however, only special sessions were deemed to be a preferred option.

He explained that further study of complex measures to encourage timely, full and unconditional payment of assessed contributions was required. The Contributions Committee felt such study should only be undertaken if the Assembly mandated it.

Regarding exemption requests directed to the Contributions Committee, he emphasized the need for full information to accompany such a request, and for the strict application of Article 19 requirements.

He noted that the applications for membership of Kiribati and Nauru had not been completed at the end of the Contributions Committee session. Subsequently, Tonga had applied for United Nations membership. The Contributions Committee had analysed data provided by the Secretariat on those three new Member States in the context of its review of assessments on non-Member States. The Fifth Committee might want to recommend to the Assembly that the assessment of those three new Member States be on at the rate already approved for them as non-Member States.

At the conclusion of the Committees fifty-ninth session, he noted that 24 Member States had fallen under the provisions of Article 19. Subsequently, Cambodia paid the requisite amount to avoid Article 19, and the Republic of Moldova had been granted permission to vote. Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea, Mongolia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan had also made the necessary payments, leaving 13 Member States without an Assembly vote, and a further eight exempted from sanctions.

RICHARD HOLBROOKE (United States) said a comprehensive round of budget reform was needed to make it more equitable. The United States acknowledged the need to pay its debts to the United Nations and understood the serious position the non- payment by the United States placed the Organization in. He would convey to Washington what was said by delegates in direct or indirect reference to the United States.

The ceiling of the regular scale had last been reduced 25 years ago, when the world had been a different place. There was now a need for meaningful scale reform. This was not a scale year, but the current work would shape the parameters for a new scale of assessments at the fifty-fifth General Assembly. Those parameters should include a reduction in the ceiling rate to 22 per cent. It was unwise to depend disproportionately on one country or one small group of countries.

The lack of formal status for the peacekeeping scale of assessments was extraordinary, he said. The United States believed there should be an official and permanent scale for United Nations peacekeeping operations, but it had an open mind on exactly how this could be done. SAMUEL INSANALLY (Guyana), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said he regretted that the Committee on Contributions had not been able to make concrete recommendations on the elements of scale of assessments methodology, and the procedural aspects of the application of Article 19 of the Charter. The Group was of the view that the Committee on Contributions should continue consideration of those elements and make recommendations to facilitate the work of the Fifth Committee.

The low per capita income adjustment should remain an integral part of the scale methodology in order to provide relief to developing countries, he said. The gradient should also be revised from 80 per cent to the highest possible level in order to make the scale of assessments fair and equitable.

In addition, he said, the debt-burden adjustment should be maintained as an integral element in the scale methodology, and the income measure should be on the basis of GNP. The Group agreed that market exchange rates should be used for the scale of assessments, except in certain cases, and that the floor should remain at 0.001 per cent.

On the question of a ceiling, there should be a review, he said. The current rate of 25 per cent already represented a departure from the principle of capacity to pay. The Group believed that a new element on the floor for permanent members of the Security Council in the scale of assessments should not be included. The Group also believed that the General Assembly should continue examining ways in which requests from Member States from exemption under Article 19 due to conditions beyond their control could be considered in a timely manner.

JARMO SAREVA (Finland), speaking on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and Iceland, restated the Union’s position on various elements of the scale methodology. He said GNP was conceptually superior to GDP as the first approximation of capacity to pay; a base period of three years would best ensure the needed correlation between current capacity to pay and the assessment rates; market exchange rates should continue to be used to the extent possible; the use of GNP adequately reflected the actual cost of debt servicing for Member States and no further adjustment for external debt was needed; the principle of an adjustment for low per capita income should not excessively distort the principle of capacity to pay; and the current 25 per cent ceiling on contributions should be retained.

The Union reiterated its position in favour of the most stringent application of Article 19 and recalled its previous proposals on measures to tighten the application of the Article, he said. Such measures could include the semi-annual calculation and application of Article 19, as well as the comparison of arrears with the amount actually assessed and payable for the preceding two full years –- a net, rather than gross, approach.

He said the Union appreciated the Committee’s discussion on measures to encourage the timely, full and unconditional payment of assessed contributions. He recalled the proposed set of incentives and disincentives, such as those with regard to recruitment and procurement, in the Union’s package to put the United Nations back on a sound financial basis.

PIETER ANDRIES VERMEULEN (South Africa), speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, supported the statement by the Group of 77 and China, and reaffirmed the support of the Non-Aligned Movement for the principle of capacity to pay as the fundamental criterion in the apportionment of the Organization's expenses. Any unilateral attempt at modifying the scale of assessment, through conditions contrary to the principles of the United Nations, would be unacceptable to the Non- Alignment Movement. That would include a reduction in the scale's ceiling.

INAM UL-HAQUE (Pakistan) said the Committee should take into account the difficulties of the developing countries when seeking to make the scale methodology more equitable and objective. The fundamental criterion for apportionment should continue to be capacity to pay. He noted that the Committee could not maintain its tentative agreement on the base period of six years. That was a matter for some regret. Since the capacity to pay did not fluctuate wildly from year to year, the adoption of a constant base period would be the ideal course.

He said the element of debt-burden adjustment should be maintained in the scale methodology -- that issue most affected the capacity of the developing countries to pay. The Committee on Contributions should bear in mind the problems of developing countries in earning foreign exchange. He did not agree with the proposal for annual recalculation of scale -- that was neither practical nor advisable.

Pakistan endorsed the recommendation that future adjustments of the scale should be based on States’ estimates of GNP. Market exchange rates should be used for the purposes of the scale, except where that would cause excessive fluctuations or distortions.

TRYGGVE GJESDAL (Norway) said the challenge confronting Member States over the scale was political. The main problem was differing interests and perceptions of interests. There were also differences over whether to take the short- or long- term view. The principle of capacity to pay must remain, and the scale must be seen to be fair. That required transparency, which had been lost due to complications introduced over the years. The numerous criteria determining the capacity to pay and the distortions that appeared had turned it into something of a Gordian knot that needed to be cut.

Norway had previously proposed a “clean slate” approach to the scale, he said. Such an approach should include strong, fair relief mechanisms for low average per capita income countries. That approach had not been adopted, but the last two scales had seen incremental change that had made the burden-sharing slightly fairer. Nonetheless, the scale remained opaque. Recent economic developments made parts of the Union package of proposals -– like the three-year base -- even more attractive.

In discussing the scale of assessments, Member States should remind themselves of the benefits Member States enjoyed and deliberations should be guided by a sense of generosity. Guidance must be given to the Committee on Contributions, which should not be asked to draft different scales representing various preferences. It would be easier to achieve consensus on one draft.

Norway believed that time-honoured practices, such as levying interest on arrears and pacing limitations on eligibility of Member States -- as employed by other international organizations -- should be introduced, he said. Whatever its views on the current scale, Norway saw payment as a treaty obligation.

AGGREY S. AWORI (Uganda), speaking also on behalf of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania, said it would be most unfortunate if the Committee on Contributions were to fail to make concrete recommendations on issues before it, due to political and technical reasons. Therefore, he hoped that it would be able to complete its work for its next report, due before the end of this Assembly session. The Committee members must endeavour to ensure that they maintain their status as independent experts.

Unless Member States overcame their conflicting positions on what constituted capacity to pay, consensus on the scale would remain difficult to achieve, he said. Debate would continue to be a reiteration of already-known positions, with little or no guidance given to the Contributions Committee. He urged Member States to refrain from discussions that attempted to link non-payment to scale methodology.

Member States were periodically told of the importance of avoiding over- dependence on one State for its financial underpinning, he said, and suggestions had been made to lower the current ceiling. However, capacity to pay must be the key, and the major contributor’s current assessed rate was, because of the ceiling, already below its capacity to pay. Thus, it was being subsidized by the entire United Nations membership. This subsidy should be taken into account. Lowering the ceiling more would further distort the principle of capacity to pay. If the Assembly decided to reduce the ceiling, however, the points arising from this should be distributed only among major developed countries, and developing countries should not bear any part of the additional financial responsibility.

He supported the stricter application of Article 19 sanctions, he said. Similarly, the proposed flat-rate assessment for non-Member States would be simpler and efficient. He also supported initiatives to address the problems of the scale and to make it more transparent and simple. However, without political commitment from all Member States, such efforts might prove counter-productive, time-consuming and costly, with no tangible results.

A.V.S. RAMESH CHANDRA (India) said that as long as Member States did not abide by their Charter obligations to pay in full and did not pledge to pay their arrears according to a time schedule, the Organization would not be able to do any financial planning. The Committee was responsible for the institutional health of the United Nations, but it could do little to cure this cancer which continued to eat away at the system from within. Despite difficulties, India had always paid its contributions promptly and in full.

In the process of refining the scale’s methodology, however, there was a need for a consensus approach. India’s views on the observations made by the Committee on Contributions included the following: GNP should be the basis for income measurement; a consensus on the base period should be established; India shared the views of the Committee on conversion rates; it agreed with the Group of 77 and China on an upward revision of the gradient from the present 80 per cent; and, on the procedure for the application of Article 19, India was ready to consider any suggestion that would encourage timely, full and unconditional payments.

In conclusion, he said the parameters of scale methodology needed to be taken as a package. A piecemeal approach would not do.

ALYAKSANDR SYCHOV (Belarus) said that, since its emergence, the scale had been subject to Member States’ scrutiny, which was understandable, as the successful functioning and stability of the United Nations depended on how fairly its expenses were distributed. However, numerous changes had made the scale neither fairer nor simpler, and some changes, adopted for political reasons, had driven the scale in the opposite direction.

Explicit injustice in the scale predetermined the inability of some Member States to pay in full and on time and exacerbated the financial crisis of the Organization, he said. Belarus had suffered from this following increases in its assessment at the forty-seventh Assembly. From 1992, as peacekeeping operations increased, its debt had gone beyond reasonable limits. Even though the Assembly had decided that Belarus’ pre-1996 peacekeeping arrears would not result in Article 19 sanctions, adequate steps had not been taken to resolve unjustly accrued arrears. He called on Member States to discuss the reasons for the accrual of arrears and to take appropriate measures for settlement of arrears beyond Member States’ control.

Capacity to pay should remain the basis of the scale, he said, and Belarus agreed with the Committee on Contributions that GNP should remain the income determinant. The duration of the base period should reflect changes in economic development and ensure a stable scale. He supported the six-year base proposal, but was ready to discuss a three-year base. He also supported the use of market conversion rates. The debt-burden adjustment should be retained, and based on total debt stocks. The maximum assessment rate -- cause of many questions -- should be kept in focus at this session.

Low per capita income adjustment was also an important element, he said, and should be retained. Belarus would discuss the application of a sliding gradient. It also had no objection to the floor and the complete phasing out of the scheme of limits. But proposals to apply index arrangements to arrears and to restrict debtor States’ access to United Nations procurement opportunities were unacceptable unless the reasons for arrears were taken into account.

GELSON FONSECA (Brazil) said the basic principle of the scale -– capacity to pay -– was an ideal principle, but difficult to achieve. The scale had been refined over the years, but Brazil believed the main objective that should be pursued was greater predictability. Predictability in the long run would be achieved by a simple, transparent and stable scale. As a matter of principle, thus, he was opposed to ceilings, which distorted the capacity-to-pay principle.

The six-year base should be maintained, he said, because the proposed three- year base would too closely reflect the effects of economic volatility, whereas six years cushioned against excessive fluctuations. Gross national product should be kept as the key indicator, but the important low-income per-capita adjustment should be raised from 80 per cent to 85 per cent. Any attempt to reduce it would aggravate the scale’s unfairness. Consideration of a raise in the low per-capita adjustment threshold should be referred to the Contributions Committee, as middle- income countries were rapidly losing the benefits of that adjustment. Such a change in the threshold would allow the scale to represent the growing distance between affluent countries and poor countries.

He said the effects of “discontinuity”, which followed when a Member State lost the benefits of the low per capita adjustment and, at the same time, had to contribute to the adjustment of those still below the threshold, must be mitigated. Thus, a double increase in that States’ assessment occurred that did not merely reflect changed circumstances. Debt-stock data, as a basis for the adjustment, rather than the current debt-flow data the Contributions Committee endorsed, was a more faithful expression of the persistent structural constraints on capacity to pay. Brazil had not been able to pay its contributions in full and on time, as a consequence of the international financial crisis, he said, but it was making its best efforts to make good on its arrears.

ERNESTO HERRERA (Mexico), speaking on behalf of the Rio Group, supported the principle of capacity to pay as the fundamental element in the judging of the scale of assessments, and believed it should be possible to maintain a constant statistical base period. The Rio Group believed that the debt-stock position should be taken into account and that the gradient could be raised.

The time had come for the General Assembly to agree on a scale methodology which eliminated the effects of discontinuity, he said. It would be desirable to take into account the experience of the World Bank in establishing income thresholds. The situation of countries suffering the after-effects of serious natural disasters should to be taken into account, he added.

SHEN GUOFANG (China) said the principle of capacity to pay had been the cornerstone for assessments of contributions to the Organization since its founding, and should be maintained. Any deviation from it would be unfair and unacceptable to Member States. The low per capita income adjustment was the best expression of the principle of capacity to pay in assessing contributions; it was, therefore, regrettable that some Member States were insisting that permanent members of the Security Council be excluded from the low per capita income adjustment. China was also opposed to the idea of a floor for permanent Council members.

Like an overwhelming majority of Member States, China also opposed any reduction in the ceiling of the scale, he said. It felt that the current ceiling was lower than some Member States’ reasonable share and disproportionate to their economic power. Attributing the financial crisis of the United Nations to the methodology for the scale of assessment was just an excuse for not honouring financial obligations. China joined others in calling for all Member States to pay their contributions in full.

PARK HAE-YUN (Republic of Korea) said the current scale was the result of long and intense debate at the fifty-second session of the General Assembly. It was not perfect, but was a hard-earned compromise achieved through rigorous protracted negotiations, and future discussion should build on the hard-earned consensus. He accepted the Contributions Committee statement that the difference in reliability and availability of GNP data, against GDP data, would not significantly effect the rate of the scale. As GNP was conceptually superior, he endorsed it as the basis for determining the capacity to pay.

Regarding the base period for the scale, it should be kept constant for successive scales, he said. Six years was reasonable, but he looked forward to constructive deliberations on the matter. The importance of realistic conversion rates in determining capacity to pay must be recognized. He supported an analysis by the Committee on Contributions of ways to use market rates without risking distortion.

Regarding the floor rate and other elements to account for low income per capita, he supported their continuance despite the fact that they were contrary to the principle of capacity to pay, he said. On debt-burden adjustment, he agreed that repayments -– the debt floor approach –- was the correct basis. The minimum assessment for the scale for 2001-2003 should be retained.However, lowering the current ceiling would aggravate an already serious deviation from capacity to pay, he said. He was concerned about annual calculations, which had technical, legal and financial consequences, and could result in annual scale renegotiations. The matter should be approached delicately. He also believed the application of Article 19 should be tightened.

BRUNO RODRIGUEZ PARRILLA (Cuba) said his delegation wished to reaffirm the full validity and relevance of the principle of capacity to pay as the main criterion for the scale of assessments. In Cuba’s view, that should also include consideration of exchange rates, the debt and low per capita income adjustment, other factors influencing the situation of a State, and the elimination of the ceiling and a statistical base period of six years.

Cuba also argued that any consideration of the issue of Article 19 of the Charter should take into account the serious economic situation of some developing countries and the fact that, due to factors beyond their control, they simply could not pay. There was no more compelling issue than the payment crisis that the United Nations was now facing. The main cause of that crisis was the arrears of the major contributor. Cuba hoped that wisdom would prevail and that the Government of the United States would make a complete and timely payment of its contributions.

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