Sixty-second General Assembly

Fifth Committee

50^th Meeting (PM)

FIFTH COMMITTEE TAKES UP $300 MILLION BUDGET

 

FOR 2008/09 PEACEKEEPING SUPPORT ACCOUNT

 

As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up a budget proposal nearing $300 million for the peacekeeping support account for 2008/09, the representative of Japan, referring to the number of military and police personnel deployed in peacekeeping operations, asked: “Do we have, in fact, a surge this year?”

Pointing out that it was in the nature of peacekeeping to have ups and downs, he supported many of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), which had expressed concern over the increases in the peacekeeping support account year after year.  [The account was introduced in the 1990s to enhance the capacities of the United Nations Secretariat to conceive, plan, deploy and support peacekeeping operations in a coordinated manner.]

Introducing ACABQ’s report, that body’s Chair, Susan McLurg, said that the “surge” in peacekeeping had been used as rationale for increasing support account resources in the context of the restructuring proposal, which had been approved just 11 months ago.

[The General Assembly, in its resolution 61/279, approved the proposals to restructure the Department of Peacekeeping Operations into two Departments; create the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions; reconfigure the Africa Division in the Office of Operations into two divisions; establish integrated operational teams within the regional divisions of the Office of Operations; and create a Policy, Evaluation and Training Division.]

Ms. McLurg said that, in the budget proposal for 2008/09, the Secretary-General had again sought to justify many of the requests for additional resources in the context of the surge in peacekeeping and establishment of new missions, in particular those in Darfur, and the Central African Republic and Chad.  While peacekeeping activities had increased in recent years, there was no reason to assume that the growth in peacekeeping would continue indefinitely, or that the growth in the support account should directly correlate with that increase.  Those considerations underscored the need for a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the support account, as requested by the Assembly.

Japan’s representative added that he hoped such an analysis would make clear the division of labour between the field missions and backstopping capacity, and include a full examination of the combination of military, police and civilian components.  More complete information on the existing capacity should be presented, whenever new capacity was requested.  He also wanted to receive more concrete information on lessons learned and gains achieved through recent restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, how management challenges were being tackled, how coordination had improved and how accountability had been enhanced through the establishment of the Department of Field Support, as well as such entities as the integrated operational teams.

In responding to the Secretary-General’s restructuring request last year, the Assembly had approved 284 new posts, he said.  What, then, was the basis for the request for additional 256 new posts?  If one considered additional requirements for 92 posts in the Office of Military Affairs, which should have been incorporated in the support account, the total increase was actually 35 per cent.  Further, the piecemeal presentation of the budget hindered the ability of Member States to grasp the whole picture of the support account proposal.

The representative of Australia, also speaking on behalf of Canada and New Zealand, said that allowing for delayed recruitment, the real annual cost of the support account could exceed $330 million.  Taking into account the raft of other peacekeeping budgets, which could exceed $7 billion, it became necessary to consider those proposals very carefully, along with their relationships to the additional capacity approved just last year.

With increasingly difficult challenges placed in the lap of the Secretariat, however, -- including such complex missions as the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) -- she believed that there was merit in additional resources to strengthen the management of peacekeeping, including in the Office of Military Affairs, she continued.  However, she would need to be convinced that the present proposals would demonstrably improve the set-up, deployment and operations of peacekeeping missions; lead to systematic improvements in the strategic management, safety and security of operations; reduce the duplication of functions across the Secretariat, strengthen unity of command, and reduce the “silo effect” in the management of peacekeeping.

Also participating in the debate were representatives of Antigua and Barbuda (on behalf of the Group of 77), Slovenia (on behalf of the European Union), Angola (on behalf of the African Group) and Bangladesh.

The Secretary-General’s reports were introduced to the Committee by the new Under-Secretary-General for Management, Angela Kane.

The Committee’s next formal meeting will be announced.

Background

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this afternoon to consider a series of reports related to peacekeeping reform and financing.

The Committee had before it a report of the Secretary-General on the progress made in the restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (document A/62/741), including the establishment of the Department of Field Support, and the impact of initial achievements.

The Secretary-General recalls that, in response to the exponential growth in the number and complexity of peacekeeping operations, the General Assembly, in its resolution 61/279, approved the proposals to restructure the Department of Peacekeeping Operations into two Departments; create the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions; reconfigure the Africa Division in the Office of Operations into two divisions; establish integrated operational teams comprising political officers and military, police and support specialists within the regional divisions of the Office of Operations; and create a Policy, Evaluation and Training Division.

The report outlines the latest developments in the implementation of all those decisions, as well as other elements of the reform, which includes the creation of such new capacities as a Public Affairs Unit in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General; an integrated mission planning cell in the Office of Operations; security sector reform capacity in the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions; and evaluation and partnership units in the Policy, Evaluation and Training Division.

The Secretary-General concludes that the reforms have allowed the Secretariat to strengthen its capacity to plan, deploy, direct, support and transition out of peacekeeping operations.  Given the growth, dynamism and increasing complexity of peacekeeping, however, further reforms will undoubtedly be required.

Since the reform proposals were made in April 2007, the demand for United Nations peacekeeping continued to grow, with two new missions launched in Darfur, and Chad and the Central African Republic, respectively, the report states.  The former constitutes the largest, most complex and challenging mission undertaken to date.  Those challenges have tested the will of the international community to provide personnel, finances and other support required to successfully implement the mandates of the Security Council.  Some of the most notable challenges before the Organization relate to carrying out detailed planning before the launch of complex operations without prejudging the political decisions to be made by Member States; and working within the Organization’s rules and regulations, which are not designed to meet particular needs of peacekeeping operations.  The Secretariat will have to formulate further proposals in this regard, including enhancement of rapid-deployment capabilities.

The report further states that the conditions of service in the field pose critical obstacles to the recruitment of highly qualified civilian personnel, as demonstrated by the high vacancy and turnover rates.  The Assembly currently has before it the Secretary-General’s proposals on human resources reform, including streamlining of contractual arrangements for all categories of staff, harmonization of conditions of service of field staff with those offered by other organizations within the United Nations system, and the establishment of a cadre of 2,500 career staff to meet baseline staffing requirements for peacekeeping operations and special political missions.

The International Civil Service Commission supported the proposals of the Secretary-General to streamline contractual arrangements, harmonize conditions of service for staff in the field and create a career cadre of 2,500 civilian peacekeepers, the report states.  The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for its part, recommended approval of the proposal to harmonize the designation of missions on the basis of the security phase and the replacement of the occasional recuperation break with rest and recuperation travel.  It did not recommend the establishment of the proposed cadre of 2,500 civilian peacekeepers, given its view that the streamlining of contractual arrangements and the harmonization of conditions of service would address many of the concerns that had given rise to that proposal.

Another report before the Committee contains the findings of a recent comprehensive analysis of the Office of Military Affairs in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (document A/62/752), proposing additional restructuring of the Office, with a focus on increased strategic direction and oversight, the creation of specialist and crisis response capacities and a mission start-up capability.  The proposal is also building upon lessons learned from the establishment of the Strategic Military Cell for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to take strategic military command of the Mission during its expansion.

The report requests the General Assembly to include the amount of some $6.4 million for the Office of Military Affairs in the requirements for the peacekeeping support account for the financial period 2008/09.  The resources proposed would provide for 92 additional posts (3 D-1, 6 P-5, 61 P-4, 14 P-3 and 8 General Service posts).  Of those, 80 are for seconded military officers and 4 are for civilian professionals.

An addendum to the report on the budget for the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) under the peacekeeping support account for the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 (document A/62/814/Add.1) provides a clarification of the comments made by the Independent Audit Advisory Committee in document A/62/814 with respect to the proposed restructuring of the OIOS Investigations Division and related budgetary implications.

In particular, the Committee reiterates that the “hub and spoke” structure has strong conceptual merit for the Investigations Division and has obvious advantages over the current structure.  Under this approach, a limited presence would exist at selected field locations, while a larger number of persons would be based at hubs for deployment to various missions on the basis of need and risk.

The Audit Committee, therefore, suggests that OIOS consider a phased approach with respect to transferring investigator positions currently in the missions and re-establishing them as posts in the regional hubs.  Specifically, OIOS should request the establishment of posts only in the hubs where there is certainty, based on the caseload and other factors, that there will be a long-term need for those posts (at least five years).  Importantly, while OIOS should ensure the long-term need for any positions converted from general temporary assistance to posts, any related employment agreements should comply with applicable United Nations employment policies and practices.  Under this approach, some investigator positions funded under general temporary assistance should be retained in the budget for 2008/09 to meet the short-term needs in the missions.

The Audit Committee believes the Assembly should consider authorizing conversion and re-establishment of 52 posts in the hubs for 2008/09 on the basis of justification to be provided by OIOS.  It also recommends that OIOS provide in the next budget a more complete analysis of how many established posts and general temporary assistance positions it will need in future years.

Concerning its previous comments with regard to the absence of complete financial information on the proposed restructuring of the Investigations Division, the Audit Committee states that preparing such costing information will require OIOS to work in close cooperation with the Peacekeeping Financing Division, Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts.  Those offices should work together in a constructive and cooperative manner to complete the analysis in a timely manner.

According to the performance report on the budget of the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007 (document A/62/766), the Assembly would need to decide to not transfer some $2 million included in the $7 million previously authorized in its resolution 61/279, representing the excess of the authorized level of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund utilized to finance the requirements of the support account in respect of the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.

The report also suggests that the Assembly decide to apply the total amount of $13.79 million -- comprising the unencumbered balance of $5.49 million and other income of $1.76 million in respect of the financial period ended 30 June 2007, the support account fund balance from the periods 1996/97 to 1999/2000 in the amount of $2.14 million, and the excess of the authorized level of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund in the amount of $4.401 million -- to the support account requirements for the period from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.

In addition, the report would have the Assembly also decide to apply the excess of the authorized level of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund in respect of the financial period ended 30 June 2007 in the amount of some $2 million to the support account requirements for the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008 and to apply the amount of $469,600, representing the remaining balance of the excess of the authorized level of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund in respect of the financial period ended 30 June 2007, to the support account requirements for the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009.

A related report identifies the expected accomplishments with regard to eight Secretariat departments and offices and also reviews the status of achievement of the planned outputs.  The report covers the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the Office of Legal affairs, the Department of Public Information, the Department of Management and the Department of Safety and Security.

The budget for the support account for peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 (document A/62/783) amounts to $287.65 million and provides for a total of 1,278 posts (1,122 continuing posts, 78 new posts, including 15 posts transferred from the peacekeeping missions, and 78 general temporary assistance positions converted to posts).

According to the budget request, notwithstanding additional resources provided by the General Assembly to strengthen the capacity of the Secretariat to manage and sustain peacekeeping operations, the establishment by the Security Council of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) subsequent to the adoption by the Assembly of its resolution 61/279, resulted in a significant increase in the workload of all departments and offices funded through the support account, stretching beyond limit their capacity to provide effective and efficient substantive, administrative and logistical support to peacekeeping operations.  Accordingly, the proposed 2008/09 support account budget includes proposals for additional resources to address challenges of the continuing growth in the scale, scope and complexity of peacekeeping.

It adds that the resource requirements of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support for 2008/09 includes provisions related to the expansion of peacekeeping operations in connection with the establishment of UNAMID and MINURCAT, while requirements for OIOS reflects proposals contained in the report of the Secretary-General on strengthening investigations (document A/62/582) and included the transfer from UNAMID and MINURCAT of 15 resident auditor posts approved by the Assembly in the context of the two missions’ 2007/08 budgets.

Introduction of Reports

The newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Management, ANGELA KANE, introduced the Secretary-General’s reports on the support account and related issues (documents A/62/766 and Add.1, A/62/783 and Corr.1, A/62/752 and A/62/741).

Regarding the support account’s proposed budget, she said that, notwithstanding the additional resources provided by the Assembly to strengthen the capacity of the Secretariat to manage and sustain peacekeeping operations, the establishment of UNAMID and MINURCAT, subsequent to the adoption of resolution 61/279, had resulted in a significant increase in the workload.  Accordingly, the 2008/09 support account budget included proposals for additional resources to address continuing growth in the scale, scope and complexity of peacekeeping.  The increase was mainly attributable to the proposed establishment of 156 new temporary posts, including the conversion to posts of 78 general temporary assistance positions, combined with the increase in standard salary costs and the application of a 4.9 per cent vacancy rate to all continuing posts.

The increase under post requirements amounted to $34.9 million (23 per cent), she said.  The net increase with regard to non-post resources amounted to $22.3 million.

Introducing a related ACABQ report (to be issued as document A/62/855), the Chair of that body, SUSAN McLURG, said that, while the Advisory Committee recognized that the Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of 61/279 was an interim one, it was disappointed that it provided so little concrete information on lessons learned and efficiency gains realized through restructuring.  The situation continued to evolve, but ACABQ would have expected more transparency on the part of the Secretariat in describing both the progress achieved and the problems confronted so far.

She said the Advisory Committee’s observations included a number of comments on management challenges relating to the chain of command, accountability, coordination and maintenance of an adequate system of checks and balances, as well as the role and responsibilities of the Deputy Secretary-General with respect to the reform, the effectiveness of integrated operational teams and delegation of authority from the Department of Management to the Department of Field Support in the area of human resources management, as well as support for special political missions and coordination with the Department of Political Affairs.  Those issues should be addressed in the comprehensive report to be submitted to the Assembly at the second part of its sixty-third session.

ACABQ welcomed the progress made thus far in the recruitment of personnel to fill the new posts established in the context of restructuring, she continued, but noted with concern the delays in the selection and appointment of the senior Department of Field Support management.  The senior management of both the Department of Field Support and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations would consist almost entirely of new appointees, which was likely to have an impact on the performance of both Departments. It was essential that both Departments have some stability in their personnel structure. The Advisory Committee, therefore, urged the Secretary-General, in the future, to manage the sequence of staffing changes in a phased manner, especially for senior positions.

The Advisory Committee was concerned by the increases in the support account year after year, she said.  The “surge” in peacekeeping had been used as rationale for increasing support account resources in the context of the restructuring proposal, which had been approved just 11 months ago.  In the budget proposal for 2008/09, the Secretary-General had again sought to justify many of the requests for additional resources in the context of the surge in peacekeeping and establishment of new missions.  While peacekeeping activities had increased in recent years, there was no reason to assume that the growth in peacekeeping would continue indefinitely, nor that the growth in the support account should directly correlate with that increase.  Those considerations underscored the need for a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the support account, as requested by the Assembly.  The Advisory Committee, therefore, urged the Secretary-General to complete the comprehensive analysis in time for its consideration together with the next budget for the support account.

On the support account’s performance report, she noted that the incorrect application of excess balances available in the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund for the periods ended 30 June 2004 and 30 June 2005 had resulted in funding shortfalls of the support account for 2006/07 and 2007/08.  ACABQ recommended acceptance of the Secretary-General’s proposal to regularize the shortfall by utilizing the unencumbered balance and other income for 2006/07; the support account fund balance pertaining to the periods from 1996/97 to 1999/2000; and the excess of the authorized level of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund.  The remaining balance in respect of the period ended 30 June 2007 would therefore amount to $469,600.

The Advisory Committee based its recommendations on post and non-post resources on the analysis of what it considered to most directly support the requirements in the field, she added.  Of the 156 posts requested by the Secretary-General, it was recommending approval of 54 posts.  It was recommending against approval of 31 posts and recommending the continuation of 71 positions funded under general temporary assistance.  In view of performance in recent years, ACABQ recommended application for continuing posts of a vacancy rate of 8 per cent for Professional and 4.5 per cent for General Service and related posts.  The Advisory Committee also noted that the practice of seeking general temporary assistance on a continuing basis, from one budget period to the next, lacked budgetary transparency and complicated proper oversight.  General temporary assistance should not be used for functions of a continuing nature or for prolonged periods of time and should cover periods of less than 12 months.  Unless justified by special circumstances, the procedures for the use of general temporary assistance should be adhered to.

The Advisory Committee regretted that the proposals for strengthening the Office of Military Affairs had not been included in the support account submission, she said.  ACABQ’s consideration of the proposals would have benefited from the views of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on relevant substantive elements, and would have been facilitated by presenting the proposal in the results-based format.  The Secretary-General’s analysis of the major capacity constraints that had challenged the Office of Military Affairs had not been fully substantiated with relevant data.  Moreover, the analogy to national military strategic headquarters might not be relevant to the Office.  The structure proposed was unnecessarily complicated and the proposals did not sufficiently take into account the opportunities for complementarities with other units.  In spite of those shortcomings, the Advisory Committee saw merit in enhancing the Office of Military Affairs in certain areas, within the current structure.

ACABQ recommended approval of 29 additional posts, out of the 92 proposed by the Secretary-General, she continued.  Although the Advisory Committee was open to future proposals, it was of the view that the additional capacity recommended should be placed within the current structure.  The Secretary-General should provide a full account of the impact that the approved posts had had on the operations of the Office of Military Affairs in the next support account submission.  The recommendations of the Advisory Committee would entail approval of $21.15 million for the overall support account resources of the Office for 2008/09, a reduction of about $3.4 million to the amount proposed by the Secretary-General.

ACABQ was not recommending approval of the proposed conversion of 63 investigator posts funded under general temporary assistance to posts, to put into effect the restructuring of the Investigations Division of OIOS, she said.  The Assembly, in its resolution 62/247, had endorsed the recommendations of ACABQ in document A/62/7/Add.35, requesting that a complete analysis and justification on the envisaged restructuring be provided.  Pending submission of that information, as well as the decision by the General Assembly, ACABQ recommended that the functions be maintained under general temporary assistance.

She said, the Advisory Committee recommended approval of an overall amount of some $237.92 million for the support account for 2008/09.  That would entail a reduction of about $20.13 million to the overall amount of $294.05 million proposed by the Secretary-General.

Statements

CONROD HUNTE ( Antigua and Barbuda), on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, welcomed Angela Kane on her new appointment and said that the Group of 77 would present its position on the support account in informal meetings of the Committee.

ALEŠKA SIMKIĆ ( Slovenia), speaking on behalf of the European Union, expressed regret that the ACABQ report was received so late and reiterated dissatisfaction that it was not translated into all United Nations official languages.  She recalled the Union’s position that introduction of reports that had not been translated into all languages should only be allowed on exceptional basis in the interest of time.

The European Union would have preferred that all issues related to the support account were presented in one comprehensive report of the Secretary-General, she said.  That would facilitate assessing the resource requirements in a holistic manner, rather than having separate reports on the restructuring of the Office of Military Affairs, she went on.  The Union had expressed its position on the piecemeal approach to the presentation of reports on numerous occasions and it intended to consider all issues related to the support account together.  The support account was an integral and essential part of peacekeeping and the Union looked forward to discussing it in detail in the course of the informal consultations of the Committee, in order to achieve a result that would allow effective conduct of all peacekeeping missions in the upcoming year.

EDWINA STEVENS (Australia), speaking also on behalf of Canada and New Zealand, said that, in total, the Secretary-General’s proposals on the budget for the support account represented a significant increase over that for 2007/08.  Allowing for the delayed recruitment factor, the real annual cost could exceed $330 million.  When the raft of other peacekeeping budgets before the General Assembly, which could exceed $7 billion, was taken into account, it became necessary to consider those proposals very carefully, along with their relationship to the additional capacity approved just last year.

Member States were responsible for ensuring that United Nations peace and security operations were adequately resourced and equipped to pursue their mandates, she continued.  Over the years, they had been placing increasingly difficult challenges in the laps of the Secretariat, with the expectation that it would manage.  Missions such as UNAMID, MINURCAT, UNIFIL and the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) epitomized the new and increasingly complex style of peace operations.  They required elaborate organization and management.  The Secretary-General argued that UNAMID and MINURCAT were not covered by the 2007 strengthening of Department of Peacekeeping Operations, hence the need for extra capacity.  He also suggested that the current lack of military oversight, guidance and expertise was having an impact on the effectiveness and security of current operations.

She considered that there was merit in additional resources to strengthen the Secretariat’s management of peacekeeping, including in the Office of Military Affairs.  However, she would need to be convinced that the present proposals would demonstrably improve the set up, deployment and operations of peacekeeping missions; lead to systematic improvements in the strategic management, safety and security of field operations; and reduce the duplication of functions across the Secretariat, strengthen unity of command and reduce the “silo effect” in the management of peacekeeping.

She intended to consider not just resources, but also how those initiatives would make the system work better.  The integrated operational teams were a key initiative from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations strengthening in 2007, but they had yet to reach their full potential.  She would seek clarification about the teams from the Secretariat in the informal negotiations of the Committee.  She was interested in how the teams fit in relation to the proposals before the Committee.  She was also interested in the Secretary-General’s proposals to establish an information analysis capacity, make select military personnel available to the Situation Centre and, notably, to furnish a quickly deployable military mission start-up capability for the field.  She would seek further information on those matters and would also seek further explanation of the feasibility of some proposals; for instance, the placement of the military field support service chief in the Office of Military Affairs, while his/her staff were embedded in the Department of Field Support

She acknowledged the benefit of some increased military capacity at Headquarters, but was cautious of creating duplication, she continued.  Increased coordination and effectiveness of existing resources was essential.  She would need to be convinced, in some instances, of the value added of existing functions being replicated in the Office of Military Affairs.  A combined military-civilian presence could also be desirable, in some circumstances.  She stressed the importance of ensuring a clear chain of command between Headquarters and the field and the flow of authority from the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the field and then to the Force Commander.

ELSA CRISTINA DE JESUS PATACA (Angola), speaking on behalf of the African Group, associated herself with the position of the Group of 77 and China and congratulated Ms. Kane on her appointment.

MUHAMMAD A. MUHITH ( Bangladesh) expressed disappointment at the situation with regard to the issuance of documents, which had led to very little time to consider such very important items.

He agreed with the comments of ACABQ on the preliminary report on the status of implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/279 on strengthening the capacity of the United Nations to manage and sustain peacekeeping missions.  He also believed that appropriate actions, as asked for in that resolution, had not been taken so far on the issue of recruitment and senior appointments, and he looked forward to receiving an updated status in that regard.

He also agreed with the observations of ACABQ that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support would suffer from a vacuum in terms of expertise and experience of senior management, as that consisted of almost entirely of new appointments.  That situation should be avoided, if there was a good management of the sequence of changes of staffing by the Secretariat.  In that regard, he emphasized drawing on the expertise of troop-contributing countries for the leadership of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, particularly at the D-1 level and above. The representation of the major troop-contributing countries at the professional level was conspicuously imbalanced in both Departments, as well as in the field.

Turning to the proposal on the restructuring of the Office of Military Affairs, he said his country concurred with ACABQ that those proposals would have benefited from views of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping on the relevant substantive issues.  It was also of the view that the proposal was somewhat premature without a thorough assessment of the impact of the restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, in terms of lessons learned, best practices, capacity and skill gaps and so forth.  He would like to receive further clarification on the thoughts and visions behind those proposals.

KEN MUKAI ( Japan) said he shared some of the observations of ACABQ on the Department of Peacekeeping Operations restructuring and the support account budget.  In particular, he wanted to receive more concrete information on lessons learned and gains achieved through the restructuring that had been launched 11 months ago, how management challenges were being tackled, how coordination had improved and how accountability had been enhanced through the establishment of the Department of Field Support, as well as such entities as the integrated operational teams.

In responding to the Secretary-General’s restructuring request last year, the Assembly had approved 284 new posts, he said.  What, then, was the basis for the request for an additional 256 new posts?  If one considered additional requirements for 92 posts at the Office of Military Affairs, which should have been incorporated in the support account, the total increase was actually 35 per cent.  The piecemeal presentation of the Office of Military Affairs budget hindered the ability of Member States to grasp the whole picture of the support account budget proposal.  For that reason, he welcomed the ACABQ report, which included the requirements for the Office of Military Affairs in the support account and restructuring in a single report.

On the number of military and police personnel deployed last year, he wondered if there was, in fact, a surge this year.  It was in the nature of peacekeeping to have ups and downs.  The relation between the growth in the support account and growth in peacekeeping should, therefore, be carefully considered.  He hoped the report on the evolution of the support account would make clear the division of labour between the field missions and backstopping capacity, and include a full analysis of the combination of military, police and civilian components.  More complete information on the existing capacity should be presented, whenever new capacity was requested.

Turning to the Office of Military Affairs, he said it was his understanding that the main reason for its requirements was to strengthen analysis of information, logistical support and other planning and operational capabilities.  He would like to scrutinize its budget, as part of a more general effort to exercise effective control over the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, and maintain budgetary discipline.  He agreed with ACABQ that there was merit in enhancing the capacity of the Office of Military Affairs in certain areas within the current structure.  At this juncture, however, when the senior leadership of both the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, including the Office of Military Affairs, was in transition, it would be appropriate to avoid a hasty approach.  Careful consideration should be given to the question of how to transfer the military capabilities of the Strategic Military Cell -- dedicated exclusively to UNFIL -- to the Office for Military Affairs.  The time frame of the transfer could be within one year.  The relationship between the Office of Military Affairs and the Department of Field Support needed to be further defined.

Before a decision was made whether to establish posts for logistics capabilities in the Office of Military Affairs, or recruit military officials for the existing logistics posts in the Department of Field Support, serious analysis would be required, he said.  The relationship between the Office of Military Affairs and the integrated operational teams within the Office of Operation continued to be less than clear.  Close collaboration between the Office of Operations and Office of Military Affairs, the Police Division and the Department of Field Support still seemed to be a better solution than to create posts in one department and embed them in another.

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