FIFTH COMMITTEE APPROVES TEXTS ON BUDGETS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAV AND RWANDA TRIBUNALS

Press Release
GA/AB/3354

FIFTH COMMITTEE APPROVES TEXTS ON BUDGETS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAV AND RWANDA TRIBUNALS

Committee Also Approves Drafts on United Nations Common System and Human Resources Management

The provisional budget for the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia would be some $106.15 million gross ($95.94 million net) for 2000, according to a draft resolution approved today by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), as it met to take action on a number of draft resolutions and decisions. By other terms of the text, which was introduced by the representative of Pakistan, Amjad Sial, the Assembly would note with concern that there had not been adequate time for consideration of this item, and that the allocation would be subject to a review at the Assembly’s resumed session.

The budget of the International Tribunal for Rwanda would be some $86.15 million for 2000, subject to a review at the resumed session, according to another draft resolution, also introduced by the representative of Pakistan and approved this morning. The Assembly would also state that late submission of the relevant reports was a cause for concern.

The Committee also approved a draft resolution on programme planning, by which the Assembly would, amongst other things, take note of the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. That text was also approved by the representative of Pakistan.

The Committee approved another draft resolution which would allow all payments made this year by Belarus and Ukraine to count in the determination of the applicability of Charter sanctions for unpaid assessments. This draft was introduced by the representative of Cuba, Dulce Buergo Rodriguez.

Among the terms of another draft resolution, on the United Nations common system, the Assembly would decide to effect a new staff assessment procedure as of 1 March 2000. The Assembly would also repeat its call for a comprehensive review of the post adjustment for Geneva. This draft was introduced by the representative of Cote D’Ivoire, Manlan Ahounou.

The representative of Pakistan also introduced a draft decision on human resources management, which would have the Assembly approve changes to the Staff Regulations (largely to make their terms gender-neutral) and note amendments to the Staff Rules.

Fifth Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/AB/3354 48th Meeting (AM) 17 December 1999

All the draft resolutions and the draft decision were approved without votes.

The Committee also discussed revised budget estimates arising from the changed role of the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Middle East, and the programme budget implications of aspects of the third Least Developed Countries Conference as recommended in a draft resolution before the Assembly.

The representatives of Ukraine, Belarus, Israel, Egypt, Guyana (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), and the observer for Palestine also spoke. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Administrative and Budgetary Questions, C.S.M. Mselle, introduced that body’s reports. The Director of the Budget Division, Warren Sach, answered questions from Member States.

The next meeting of the Fifth Committee will be announced in the United Nations Journal.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to take action on draft resolutions on programme planning, human resources management, financing the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and matters relating to the arrears of Belarus and Ukraine. It was also expected to consider revised estimates for United Nations activities in support of the Middle East peace process, and a statement of the programme budget implications of a draft resolution on the Least developed Countries conference.

By the terms of a draft resolution on programme planning (document A/C.5/54/L.23), the Assembly would take note with appreciation of the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. It would endorse the conclusions and recommendations contained in it on the review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, programme planning and the provisional agenda for the fortieth session of that Committee. It would also endorse those on coordination questions contained in paragraphs 560 to 565, 567 and 568, and 587 to 596 of the report (largely on the functions of the Administrative Committee on Coordination).

By other terms, the Assembly would note that that performance indicators, as asked for by the Committee for Programme and Coordination and used in the Secretary-General's Africa development report, have not been approved by the General Assembly. It would also note that the matter addressed in paragraph 566 (safety and security of staff and ratification of the relevant international Convention) of the report is being considered by the Assembly under a separate agenda item.

The Assembly would urge the Secretary-General to issue revised Regulations Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation adopted by the fifty-third Assembly, taking the Committee on Programme and Coordination's recommendations, in paragraph 47 of its report, into account.

It would also decide to continue considering this item during its resumed fifty-fourth session.

Another draft resolution before the Committee, on human resources management (document A/C.5/54/L.24) would have the Assembly approve amendments to the Staff Regulations proposed in the Secretary-General's report A/54/276 (by which the Regulations are rendered in gender-neutral terms and several minor technical changes are made). It would also take note of the amendments to the Staff Rules set out in the annex to his report A/54/272 (aimed at simplifying procedural aspects of the rules). It would decide to continue its consideration of this agenda item, as a matter of priority, at its resumed fifty-fourth session.

By the terms of a draft resolution on the financing of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (document A/C.5/54/L.25), the Assembly would decide to appropriate, on a provisional basis subject to a review at the resumed session, some $106.15 million gross ($95.94 million net) for the Tribunal for 2000. It would also decide to set off against that appropriation some $2.74 million in unencumbered balance in the Tribunal account from 1998, the estimated $8.2 million in unencumbered balance for 1999, and $5200 in expected income for 2000.

It would decide that responsibility for half the amount (about $47.6 million) would be divided among Member States according to the scale for peacekeeping assessments, and the other half would be divided according to the regular assessment. The Assembly would also welcome contributions to the voluntary fund to support Tribunal activities, and invite Member States and interested parties to make further contributions.

Deeply regretting the delay in submission of the Secretary-General’s report on financing the Tribunal, and the failure to submit the expert review group report on the Tribunal to it, the Assembly would note with concern that there had not been adequate time for the consideration of the financing proposal and decide to continue consideration of that financing at its resumed session.

It would ask that future reports on this matter be submitted by 1 October, ask for the expert review group report to be issued as a matter of priority, and further request that comments from the Tribunal on the expert report be presented to the ACABQ for the Assembly’s resumed fifty-fourth session.

By another term, the Secretary-General would be asked to improve workload indicators and use them to support his resource requests. The Assembly would approve the recommendations of the ACABQ on the Secretary-General’s report on the conditions of service of the Tribunal’s judges, as well as those contained in paragraph 77 of the ACABQ report, subject to this resolution.

By the terms of a draft resolution on the financing of the International Tribunal for Rwanda (document A/C.5/54/L.26), the Assembly would decide to appropriate, on a provisional basis subject to a review at the resumed session, some $86.15 million gross ($78.17 million net) for the Tribunal for 2000. It would also decide to set off against that appropriation some $2 million in unencumbered balance at the end of 1999, after absorption of the over-expenditure of 1998.

It would decide that responsibility for half the amount (about $42.07 million) would be divided among Member States according to the scale for peacekeeping assessments, and the other half would be divided according to the regular assessment. The Assembly would also welcome contributions to the voluntary fund to support Tribunal activities, and invite Member States and interested parties to make further contributions.

Deeply regretting the delay in submission of the Secretary-General’s report on financing the Tribunal, and the failure to submit the expert review group report on the Tribunal to it, the Assembly would note with concern that there had not been adequate time for proper consideration of the financing proposal and decide to continue consideration of that financing at its resumed session.

It would ask that future reports on this matter be submitted by 1 October, ask for the expert review group report to be issued as a matter of priority, and further request that comments from the Tribunal on the expert report be presented to the ACABQ for the Assembly’s resumed fifty-fourth session.

By another term, the Secretary-General would be asked to improve workload indicators and use them to support his resource requests. The Assembly would approve the recommendations of the ACABQ on the Secretary-General’s report on the conditions of service of the Tribunal’s judges, as well as those contained in paragraph 71 of the ACABQ report, subject to this resolution. By the terms of a draft resolution on the report of the International Civil Service Commission (document A/C.5/54/L.14), the Assembly would reaffirm the need to ensure the competitiveness of the conditions of service of the common system. The Assembly would decide that, with effect from 1 March 2000, the staff assessment amounts at various grades and steps for those receiving remuneration at the single rate would be determined according to a new procedure (annexed to the draft). It would repeat its call for the International Civil Service Commission to prepare a comprehensive review of the post adjustment for Geneva. Among other terms, it would ask the Commission to review the methodology for the education grant, and report to the fifty-fifth Assembly session.

It would also decide that a review of the International Civil Service Commission should be transparent and impartial, and that the Commission itself should be involved. It would decide to look again at the modalities of such a review at its fifty-fifth session, and ask the Secretary-General to advise it of concrete and specific reasons for such a review, problems the review should address, objectives it would achieve, possible impacts of the review on the common system, and information on progress from previous reviews of the Commission.

By the terms of another draft resolution regarding arrears owed to the United Nations by Belarus and Ukraine (document A/C.5/54/L.16), the Assembly would decide all financial contributions from Belarus and Ukraine would be counted against the minimum payments required to avoid Article 19 loss of voting rights.

[Article 19 of the United Nations Charter states that any Member States that fall two or more years behind in their financial obligations to the Organization shall lose their General Assembly voting rights.]

A second draft resolution on the same subject (document A/C.5/54/L.27) would have the Assembly decide, from the date of adoption of the resolution, that all financial contributions of Belarus and Ukraine to the United Nations, including those for which assessments were issued before 1996, would be taken into account when determining whether the amount of their arrears equaled or exceeded the amount due from them for the preceding two full years.

The Assembly would also emphasize that this decision would not exempt Belarus or Ukraine from their obligations to pay all outstanding contributions, and would call on those countries to make proposals for the treatment of their peacekeeping arrears.

The Committee had before it a Secretary-General's report on revised resource estimates for United Nations activities for peace in the Middle East (document A/C.5/54/40). The report notes that following the signing of the peace accord in the Middle East, the Secretary-General appointed Terje Roed-Larsen of Norway as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and his Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. This new post encompasses the functions of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories and acts as the focal point for United Nations assistance to the peace process. Subsequently, Mr. Roed-Larsen has been asked to reconfigure the existing Gaza office.

The Secretary-General reports that additional requirements for this new role are estimated at some $3.76 million. He also proposes that existing resources for activities of the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories (UNSCO) currently presented in section 5, Peacekeeping operations, of the programme budget be transferred to section 3, Political affairs.

If approved, the additional requirements would be charged against the $86.2 million proposed for special political missions of the proposed programme budget for 2000-2001.

Related comments from the ACABQ were also before the Committee (document A/54/7/Add.11). In this report, the ACABQ says it has no objection to the Secretary-General’s proposal that a provision of $3.76 million be charged against the provision proposed for special political missions under section 3 (Political affairs) of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001 (including the reclassification of a D-1 post to the D-2 level), and that the related provision for United Nations Special Coordinator already included in the proposed programme budget for 2000- 2001 be transferred from section 5 (Peacekeeping operations) to section 3 (Political affairs).

The Committee also had before it a statement submitted by the Secretary- General on the programme budget implications of a draft resolution on the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (document A/C.5/54/43).

The statement says that should the General Assembly adopt this resolution, additional provisions would be required over and above the resources included in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001, as follows: $616,400 under section 11A and $30,000 under section 26. These provisions would represent a charge against the contingency fund and as such would require a related additional appropriation.

Also before it was a related letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences (document A/C.5/54/44) advising that, as the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is in Geneva, and the draft resolution on the least developed countries conference envisages two preparatory meetings in New York, an exemption to Assembly resolution 40/243 is required.

Action on Texts before Committee

The Committee’s Vice-Chairman, AMJAD SIAL (Pakistan), introduced the draft resolution on programme planning (document A/C.5/54/L.23). He said several aspects of the Committee for Programme and Coordination report had not been considered, and it was envisaged they would be considered in the resumed session of the Assembly.

The draft resolution was then approved without a vote.

The representative of Finland, speaking on behalf of the European Union in explanation of position, said the European Union was pleased to join consensus on this matter. The promulgation and content of the rules in implementation of the Regulations Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation (PPBME) were the responsibility of the Secretary-General, and he looked forward to this promulgation as soon as possible.

The PPBME should be fully implemented, he said, and their implementation could be improved. In particular he urged improvements with an eye to the forthcoming proposed medium-term plan and to the forthcoming programme performance report.

The Committee then turned to consideration of human resources management.

Mr. SIAL (Pakistan) introduced a related draft decision (document A/C.5/54/L.24). He said a shortage of time had meant that many issues under this item could not be adequately considered during the current Assembly session, and it was envisaged they would be a priority at the next session.

The Committee approved the draft decision without a vote.

The representative of the Philippines said she regretted that insufficient time had been available to discuss this, and she continued to have reservations about aspects of existing resolutions. She asked the Bureau to ensure that this item was given adequate time at the start of the resumed session.

The Committee then turned to consider the financing of the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

Draft resolutions on each Tribunal were introduced by Mr. SIAL (Pakistan) (documents A/C.5/54/L.25 and A/C.5/54/L.26). The delay in submission of the Secretary-General’s reports, and the non-submission of the expert group report, had caused problems, he said.

The Committee approved both drafts without a vote.

The Committee then turned its attention to the United Nations Common System.

MANLAN AHOUNOU (Cote d’Ivoire) introduced the related draft resolution (document A/C.5/54/L.l4).

The draft resolution was proposed without a vote.

The Committee then resumed its consideration of the administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The related draft resolution (document A/C.5/54/L.27) was introduced by DULCE BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba).

VOLODYMYR YU. YEL’CHENKO (Ukraine), also on behalf of Belarus, said that he wished to announce the withdrawal of the draft decision contained in document A/C.5/54/L.16.

ULADZIMIR VANTSEVICH (Belarus) confirmed the withdrawal of that text.

Penny Wensley (Australia), Committee Chairman, said the draft was now withdrawn.

The draft resolution contained in document A/C.5/54/L.27 was then approved without a vote. The representative of Ukraine said on behalf of the delegation of Ukraine that he wished to express his gratitude for the draft resolution just approved. He said the approval of the resolution was followed logically from the General Assembly decision, and he wished the Committee a successful conclusion to all outstanding issues before it.

The representative of Belarus said on behalf of the delegation of Belarus that he wished to express his gratitude to all delegations in the Committee which had participated in the discussion of the draft, and to the coordinator.

The Committee then turned its attention to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001, Revised estimates under section 3, Political affairs and 5, Peacekeeping operations.

The Chairman of the Advisory Committee, C.S.M. MSELLE, then introduced that body’s report.

The representative of Israel said Israel welcomed the activities of the Special Coordinator and the United Nations agencies in the Middle East. He also expressed the hope that documents like the report on the revised estimates would be available in a timely manner. He said he wished to recall that, according to the terms of reference in the letter of invitation to the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, the only parties outside the region that were designated as co-sponsors of the peace process were the United States and the Russian Federation.

The representative of Egypt also supported the efforts of the Special Coordinator and hoped his efforts would be successful. There were some posts included which were to be financed from extra-budgetary resources, while some other posts would be financed from the regular budget –- he asked for an explanation of this from the Secretariat. He also asked why financing of some posts was to be transferred from section 5 to section 3. Egypt endorsed what the representative of Israel had said on the delay in the issue of documentation.

The observer for Palestine, welcomed the appointment of the Special Coordinator. He reaffirmed that any change of expansion in the functions of the Special Coordinator should first be submitted to the relevant competent bodies. He recognized the role of the United Nations in the Middle East and said his delegation would cooperate fully with its efforts.

The representative of Egypt said the report of the Secretary-General stated that activities would cover several countries and the Occupied Territories. He asked what was meant by “the Occupied Territories” in this context.

WARREN SACH, Director of the Budget Division, then answered Member States’ questions. He said, on the extrabudgetary contribution, that there had been such contributions since 1995. In 1998-1999, approximately $1 million in extrabudgetary resources was programmed for multilateral and bilateral technical cooperation, including the preparation of reports on the Palestinian economy. Similar reports on the countries now within the Special Coordinator’s mandate would be expected. These were to be funded by a contribution from Norway.

Regarding the D-1 post, this was a post provided as in-kind support by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It would be located in the United Nations affairs area. On the transfer of resources from section 5 to section 3, this was basically for the sake of tidiness, he said. It was meant to ensure that all special political missions were in one section of the budget.

On the lateness of documentation, he said that the Security Council had reviewed this matter on Wednesday, 8 December. Two days later a document had been produced, and it had been available in all official languages and given to the ACABQ on the 13th. The ACABQ report in all languages had been available on the 15th. Three bodies had been involved. He believed that the timing of the submission of the report was a credit to those who had worked on it.

Regarding the phrase “the Occupied Territories”, he said this had been used traditionally to mean the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and there had been no intention to move away from this traditional meaning.

The observer for Palestine said the explanation on terminology had been accurate until the last Assembly session, when the Assembly had decided to ask the Secretary-General and, expressly regarding the report of the Special Coordinator, to use the phrase “Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem”. Since then, all reports except this one had used this terminology. He asked that the terminology of this report be rectified.

Mr. SACH, Director of the Budget Division, thanked the observer for this explanation, and said a corrigendum would be issued.

The representative of Egypt said he supported the statement made by the observer for Palestine. He thanked the Budget Director for his clarification on the submission of the documents, and he thanked the Secretariat for the promptness of the submission of these documents.

The CHAIRMAN said that originally it had been intended that a draft decision would be put to the Committee today; however, in light of comments made, a new draft decision would be prepared for the Committee’s next formal meeting.

The Committee then turned its attention to the programme budget implications of a draft resolution on the Third Least Developed Countries conference.

The CHAIRMAN said that the Committee on Conferences had written to the Assembly advising it to give permission for an exemption from its previous decisions about locations of meetings to allow preparatory meetings of this body to take place in New York, despite the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretariat being in Geneva.

Mr. MSELLE, ACABQ Chairman, said the Advisory Committee was advising the General Assembly that it might wish to consider approving the use of savings from the programme budget for 1998-1999. Alternatively, it might wish to make provision in the proposed programme budget for 2000-2001.

The Advisory Committee recommended that the Committee inform the General Assembly that should it adopt the draft resolution contained in document A/C.2/54/L.23, additional provisions would be required over and above the resources included in the proposed programme budget for 2000-2001, as follows: $616,400 under section 11a, and $30,000 under section 26. These provisions would represent a charge against the contingency fund. The representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said he supported the broad objectives reflected in the draft resolution, but was concerned with certain modalities in it. He stressed that the Fifth Committee was the appropriate Committee entrusted by the General Assembly with budgetary and administrative matters. Also, budgetary cuts imposed on UNCTAD in the last biennium had not been taken into account.

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