BUDGET COMMITTEE ALLOCATES ADDITIONAL MEETINGS TO HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AGENDA ITEM

Fifty-eighth General Assembly                              

Fifth Committee                                            

36^th Meeting (AM)

BUDGET COMMITTEE ALLOCATES ADDITIONAL MEETINGS TO HUMAN

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AGENDA ITEM

Following a heated discussion on its programme of work, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning decided to allocate additional meeting time to its human resources management agenda item and re-schedule the conclusion of its first resumed session to the middle of next week.

The proposal to hold additional meetings on human resources management was made during Friday’s meeting of the Committee, when sharply divergent views were expressed in connection with a staff bulletin issued by the Secretary-General in January to clarify the family status of staff for the purpose of United Nations entitlements (see Press Release GA/AB/3608 of 19 March.)

Prior to the decision, serious misgivings were expressed by several delegations, including Egypt, Algeria, Syria and Iran, regarding the procedure that the Bureau was following.  Expressing disappointment over the outcome of the Bureau’s meeting last Friday, when it could not reach agreement on the proposal to allocate additional meetings to human resources management issues, speakers said that the Bureau should not deny requests by numerous delegations regarding the allocation of time on the work programme.  Such a denial represented a serious precedent, it was said.

The representative of Saudi Arabia said that some 76 countries had requested an extension of the consideration of the item and it was important to take their wishes into account.  India’s representative said that he could not recall a single instance when a Bureau would have failed to grant the wish of that many delegations.  The function of the Bureau was to facilitate the work of the Committee and not to decide whether meetings should be held on a particular agenda item.

Following a suspension to allow for additional consultations, Committee Chairman Hynek Kmonicek (Czech Republic) presented the proposed programme of work to the Committee, stressing that some $5,000 had been spent on the morning discussion, which could have been avoided had the delegates allowed for a suspension at the opening of the meeting. 

Prior to the suspension, he explained to the delegates that the Bureau had no intention of stripping them of their right to speak.  The role of the Bureau was just to make suggestions to the Committee on the time slot for meetings, without going into the substance of the discussion.

According to the revised programme of work, on which Committee Secretary Movses Abelian elaborated, the Committee is going to hold a formal human resources meeting on Thursday morning, followed by informal consultations in the afternoon.  Another informal session would be held on Friday morning, if needed.  Before concluding its work next week, the Committee is also going to hold consultations on the Joint Inspection Unit, closed peacekeeping missions, the capital master plan and reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Also participating in the discussion were representatives of Australia, Ireland, Morocco, Qatar (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China) and Pakistan.

The Committee will continue its work at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 23 March, when it is scheduled to take up the financing of the Sierra Leone court.

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