PRESS CONFERENCE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS TAKEN AT 2005 WORLD SUMMIT

PRESS CONFERENCE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS TAKEN AT 2005 WORLD SUMMIT

Seeing whether or not the outcomes of the 2005 World Summit would be implemented had become a popular “parlour game” in certain circles, said Robert Orr, Assistant-Secretary General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.  He added that he would rather they resisted the tendency to label the glass as half-empty or half-full, saying, “I would characterize it as a job half done, with the half that was done as being well done.”

Speaking on the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of decisions taken at the 2005 World Summit released today, Mr. Orr said that the Summit outcomes were undergoing different stages of decision-making and implementation.  They were divided into four clusters:  institutional innovations and policy decisions, matters of oversight and audit arrangements, review of financial and human resource policy, and establishing system-wide coherence.

On the creation of a Peacebuilding Commission, which fell under the category of institutional innovations and policy decisions, Mr. Orr said that initial steps were being taken to form a peacebuilding support office, as well as a peacebuilding fund to be established by the end of November.  He also told correspondents that there had been across-the-board agreement that the Commission should be based in the Secretary-General’s office.

In contrast, work on the Human Rights Council would have to wait until the General Assembly’s discussion on the matter was concluded, said Mr. Orr.  Only then would details be made known, such as how often it would meet; whether it would be a standing body or would meet intermittently throughout the year; and whether it would be a subsidiary of the General Assembly or a stand-alone agency.  In the meantime, however, his office has already begun examining ways to double the budget of the Human Rights Commissioner over a five-year period, as well as examining other ways to support the new Council through the budget process.

Turning to the United Nations Democracy Fund, Mr. Orr reported that 15 countries already had contributed $42 million, and the Fund would hold its first meeting at the end of November 2005.  This particular project had proceeded at record-breaking pace, considering that the Fund only had been announced in July.

In terms of a United Nations counter-terrorism strategy raised at a March 2005 meeting in Madrid, Spain, he said ways were being found to facilitate the discussion of Member States on an intergovernmental agreement that would take place in the spring of 2006. 

However, in his eyes, the largest and most daunting task facing the United Nations policy coordination and strategic planning team was the request of Member States to facilitate the review of 55 United Nations agencies’ mandates older than five years.  Mr. Orr said that his office had been given only a few months to accomplish the task and would lean on both internal and external experts for support.  He told correspondents that the ball would return to General Assembly’s court in the first quarter of 2006.

Asked whether the review was meant to give the Secretary-General the power to recommend the end of certain agencies, Mr. Orr replied that the purpose of any organizational review was to identify the relative value of different activities being undertaken by the organization in question.  He said the current review’s findings would help to establish a common basis of understanding and give direction to the General Assembly in its decision-making process.  A secondary goal was to adapt staff to new priorities, but individual agencies must first figure out what those priorities were in order to take appropriate action.

Turning to the second cluster of issues, those of oversight and audit arrangements, Mr. Orr saidplans to create an ethics office were well advanced, and further news would be released at the end of October.  The issue came about after Member States called for the strengthening the existing Office of Internal Oversight Services, particularly with regard to its whistle-blower policy.

Mr. Orr stressed that he could not release many details regarding the new ethics office, only saying that it would be headed by an official at the Assistant-Secretary-General level and that it would be located in the Secretariat.

Asked whether, given his experience in Government, he was surprised by the United Nations whistle-blower policy and its state of “disarray”, Mr. Orr replied that the United Nations had had to learn many lessons, one of which was that such a policy was only as good as its buy-in.  “If people don’t believe in the mechanism to implement it, it won’t work”, he said.  This explained why his office had embarked on such a painstaking consultation process involving discussion with staff at all levels, Member States and experts.

In addition, proposals for a new independent oversight advisory committee to enhance oversight structures would be submitted to the General Assembly before the end of 2005.

In terms of the third cluster of issues -- the review of existing financial regulations and human resource rules and policy -- Mr. Orr said a broad consultative process was being undertaken, involving experts within and outside the United Nations.  Concrete proposals would be submitted to the General Assembly by 2006.

The fourth cluster of issues under consideration, establishing a system-wide coherence across United Nations agencies, was simply a way to bring the “dramatic progress” of the last eight years one step forward.  Mr. Orr told correspondents that the Secretary-General would meet with the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) in New York next week to discuss the matter.

Other CEB business also included the question of strengthening the role of Special Representatives at the country level, an issue that would be examined by the United Nations Development Group by the end of 2006 for subsequent review by the CEB.

Responding to a question regarding the cost of implementing the World Summit outcomes, Mr. Orr said his office was currently calculating the figure to present to the General Assembly in early November 2005.

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