Sixty-third General Assembly

Fifth Committee

1^st Meeting (AM)

United Nations reform not possible without resources, investments, says Deputy

Secretary-General as budget committee holds organizational meeting

“We cannot have reform without resources, and we cannot change the way the Secretariat operates without investment”, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said this morning, appealing for the support of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) in dealing with such priorities as strengthening the Secretariat’s development activities, reform of peacekeeping and management, and administration of internal justice during the sixty-third session.

Addressing the Committee during its organizational meeting, she said that, as part of his ambitious reform agenda, the Secretary-General, in partnership with Member States, had set out to make the Secretariat more effective, relevant, accountable and efficient.  Most of all, it was necessary to modernize the Organization’s management practices and administrative backbone.

“Your support is crucial for what I know is our deeply shared goal of improving this Organization’s vital development work”, she continued.  The United Nations development mandate had grown enormously, and the 2005 World Summit had placed a special emphasis on the Organization’s role in that area, yet there had been no commensurate increase in resources.  Critical gaps had arisen in the Secretariat’s capacity to play the leading role expected of it.  The General Assembly, in its resolution 62/236, had provided a significant opportunity to reverse that negative trend and to put the Organization on a firmer footing to deliver on its development-related mandates.  The proposals before the Committee offered a critical opportunity to restore the balance and buttress a more coherent and consistent implementation of development mandates.

On peace and security, she described such recent achievements as the restructuring of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the establishment of the Department of Field Support, and said that, in 2009, it was necessary to complete the reforms in that area by reinforcing the Department of Political Affairs.  The Secretary-General expected that Department to be more active than ever and to reduce, through results, the peacekeeping burden.  The Secretary-General’s proposals stressed more effective use of preventive diplomacy, mediation and his own “good offices”, but the short-term press of crises stretched current staffing, limiting the Department’s ability to focus on other critical issues, engage in longer-term planning and training, and strengthen its ties with regional organizations and United Nations partners.

Turning to management reform, she stressed the need to make the administration “more modern and less bureaucratic”.  The Secretary-General wanted more of the Organization’s efforts to go towards really improving the lives of people, rather than simply “running the wheels of complex internal processes and procedures”.  First, it was necessary to adapt the United Nations human resources framework to today’s reality, in which some 50 per cent of staff worked in the field.  “The Secretary-General appeals to you to approve his proposals for streamlining contracts, harmonizing conditions of service and increasing roster-based recruitment”, she said, calling those reforms essential for a flexible and dynamic workforce, able to respond quickly and effectively to increasingly complex field-based mandates.

Outlining crucial decisions that needed be taken on the administration of justice, she said that, following a milestone approval of the new system in December, the Committee was now called upon to adopt the statutes of the United Nations Dispute and Appeals Tribunals and approve the proposal for transitional measures.  The Secretary-General hoped the Committee would take those decisions in a timely manner so that judges could be appointed and the new system put in place.

Another key challenge during the current session was to better align information technology policies and services with the Organization’s overall priorities, she said.  Member States had called for a more strategic approach to maximizing the value of information and communications technology across the Secretariat.  One important step in that regard had been the appointment of the Chief Information Technology Officer in 2007.  This year, the Committee would be considering important reports on information and communications technology strategy, enterprise systems, disaster recovery and business continuity.  Those initiatives would yield significant long-term benefits.  Seeking to take concrete steps to increase accountability and transparency, the Secretary-General had proposed a new “accountability architecture”, including implementation of enterprise risk management and results-based management to promote responsible decision-making.

Also this morning, the Committee approved its programme of work, on the understanding that necessary adjustments would be made, as required, taking into account the views of Member States.

On the organization of work, the representative of France, on behalf of the European Union, was among the speakers who stressed the importance of timely submission of documents, which was essential for the quality and speed of the Committee’s deliberations.  He also emphasized the importance of budgetary discipline and listed the adoption of new information systems and a new accountability framework for better management of human and budgetary resources among the Committee’s main priorities, as well as the Secretary-General’s proposals for a new human resources management framework.

Also on documentation, the representative of Antigua and Barbuda, on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China -- supported by Indonesia and Angola (on behalf of the African Group) -- pointed out that, during the session, the Committee had to deal with 200 reports, nearly half the Assembly’s workload.  Despite improvement, the ability of Member States to consider reports and prepare for negotiations was still being undermined by the late issuance of reports.

Regarding the provisional programme of work, he cautioned against a preoccupation with items considered “time-bound” at the expense of issues that were not budgetary in nature, but were important for the effective functioning of the Organization.  The Group was not prepared to accept the programme as presented beyond the first week, at this stage.  It was imperative to ensure that adequate time and conference services be provided to the Committee to consider reports.  Also, the concerns of the Joint Coordinating Committee on strengthening the Department of Political Affairs had not been taken into account in the documentation before the Committee.

Joining other delegations in calling for the timely delivery of reports, the representative of Japan stressed the need to devote adequate time to human resources reform during the Committee’s “human resources” session, including mobility, geographic distribution, career development, performance evaluation and accountability.  The latter was essential for effective management.  He also expressed concern with the piecemeal approach to budget requests, which did not comply with the established budgetary process, and called for the minimization of costs in budgetary requests, through careful examination of all proposals.  He added that proposals to strengthen the Department of Political Affairs and the Development Pillars should be considered strictly on their own merits and stressed the importance of negotiations on the scale of assessments.

The representative of the United States also expressed concern about the piecemeal approach to the budget and its unrestrained growth.  He called for a return to existing procedures to maintain discipline in that regard.

Also participating in the discussion of the organization of work were the representatives of Mexico and New Zealand (also on behalf of Australia and Canada).

In his opening statement, the Committee’s Chairman, Gabor Brodi ( Hungary), said that he had no doubt that, with a spirit of cooperation, the members of the Committee would work together, striving to complete the task entrusted to them successfully and in a timely manner.

The Committee will begin its substantive work at 10 a.m. Monday, 6 October, when it is scheduled to take up the scale of assessments for the apportionment of United Nations dues for Member States.

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For information media • not an official record