Sixty-first General Assembly

Fifth Committee

27^th Meeting (AM)

BUDGET COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS ADJUSTMENTS TO FINANCING FOR MISSIONS

IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE, ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA

Reflecting recent changes in the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping missions in Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning approved additional funding for the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and reduced the appropriation for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).  It also addressed programme budget implications arising from United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board decisions and foreseen meetings of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Approving, without a vote, a draft resolution on the financing of UNOCI (document A/C.5/61/L.9), the Committee recommended that the Assembly appropriate some $52.71 million for the Mission for the period from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007, in addition to the amount of $438.37 million already appropriated, as UNOCI’s force had been strengthened with 1,500 additional military and police personnel.

The representatives of Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa and Nigeria made short statements in explanation of position on the draft. 

The Committee also approved, by consensus, a draft resolution on the financing of UNMEE (document A/C.5/61/L.10), by which the Assembly, in connection with the recent reconfiguration and reduction of the Mission, would reduce the Mission’s appropriation of some $174.68 million authorized for the period from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007 by the amount of $37.29 million.  In view of the Mission’s reconfiguration, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General to re-justify all posts within UNMEE.

Sharon Van Buerle, Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division, introduced a Secretary-General’s report on the administrative and financial implications arising from the decisions of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board (document A/61/577), estimating that additional requirements would amount to $111,500, of which $69,400 would be attributable to the regular budget of the United Nations, and $42,100 would be reimbursed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).  She stressed that every effort would be made to meet the requirements from within the current budget and that actual expenditures would be reported in the context of the second performance report for the current biennium.

She also introduced a note of the Secretary-General (document A/C.5/61/10) concerning the Third Committee’s draft resolution on “Strengthening the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme and the role of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice as its governing body”.  Should the Assembly adopt the draft, making a decision to hold a reconvened session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2007 and every second year thereafter, additional requirements under the programme budget for 2006-2007 would total $144,300.  However, it was envisaged that the additional requirements would be accommodated from within the existing appropriation and no additional appropriation was sought at this time. 

Rajat Saha, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), reported orally on the two proposals, noting that in both instances, additional requirements would be accommodated from within existing resources. 

Speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, South Africa’s representative, noting that the two proposals probably would be accepted, recalled that a proposal had been received on how to increase the level of the Development Account by $5 million, but that no progress had been made towards reaching a consensus.  That Development Account had been established, she said, with the intention that its maintenance base would be increased by transferring funds to it as a result of savings and efficiencies.  Since its establishment, however, “not a single cent had been transmitted”, as, according to the Secretary-General, continuing requests by the Assembly for new mandates funded from within existing resources prevented transferral from savings.  The mechanism for funding the Development Account was clearly not working.

The representative of Japan underlined her expectation that the estimated costs of the proposals would be absorbed within approved appropriation.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. Monday, 11 December, to consider the programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 and the financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

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For information media • not an official record