Examining Reports on Pattern of Conferences, Budget Committee Voices Concern over Conference Service Costs, Delays in Issuing Documents
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved the United Nations priorities for biennium 2016-2017 and began its examination of conference services, including the late issuance of documents and the status of equal treatment of the six official languages.
At the outset, the Committee adopted, without a vote, a draft resolution on programme planning, by which the Secretary-General would be asked to prepare the budget proposal for the next biennium on the basis of the following priorities: promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development; maintenance of international peace and security; development of Africa; promotion of human rights; effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; promotion of justice and international law; disarmament; and drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
The Committee then commenced its consideration of issues related to conference management, including submission of documents, multilingualism, quality of translation and interpretation, cost efficiency, the utilization rate of meeting facilities, record digitization, paperless services and the development of common information technology systems, such as g-Meets, g-Doc and g-Text, to better manage conferences at the four United Nations duty stations -- New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.
Tegegnework Gettu, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, noted impediments to improving meeting services included the ageing and retirement of skilled language staff, including interpreters and translators, and the “poaching” of those personnel by other international organizations. On the late issuance of documents, he said that the problem could be better addressed if author departments submitted documents on time, improved the quality of drafts, abided by word limits, submitted documents in Word format and prioritized their work to fit the schedules of the Fifth Committee and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
Bolivia’s delegate, representing the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, stressed the need for an accountability mechanism to monitor the submission of documents, arguing that the most prominent issue was neither the overlap between the work of the Fifth Committee and ACABQ nor the lack of predictability in the Committee’s work programme, but the late submission of reports by author departments.
The United States “would like to know why this continues to be a problem and what we can do to solve this collectively,” said its delegate, citing that the ACABQ’s report under consideration today was issued over the weekend. She, however, commended the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management for reforming its services through the gDoc, gText and gMeets initiatives.
Japan’s delegate called for more in-depth discussion on the development and dissemination of PaperSmart technology across the United Nations on the premise that the system should help reduce conference service costs, while taking into account the need among Member States for hard copies. It was vital to reduce all conference service costs, such as by planning fewer meetings and shortening their duration.
The Russian Federation’s delegate urged the Secretariat to redouble efforts towards equal treatment of the Organization’s six official languages, calling for the establishment of a “centre” to promote multilingualism.
The Committee also began its discussion on a proposal to make Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish faith, an official United Nations holiday. Adding the “The Day of Atonement” to the United Nations calendar would send a strong message of tolerance, acceptance and unity to the global community, Israel’s delegate said.
Yotam Goren, Chair of the Committee on Conferences, introduced the Report of the Committee on Conferences for 2014.
Mr. Gettu introduced the Secretary-General’s report on the Pattern of conferences.
Pavel Chernikov, ACABQ Vice-Chair, introduced that body’s related report.
Also speaking today were representatives of Canada, Uruguay and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Monday, 27 October, to take up agenda items on the United Nations pension system as well as the 2014-2015 programme budget for Umoja, the Organization’s enterprise resource planning system.
Programme Planning
At the outset, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved a draft resolution on programme planning (document A/C.5/69/L.4) without a vote.
The text would have the General Assembly decide that the United Nations priorities for biennium 2016-2017 were: promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development; maintenance of international peace and security; development of Africa; promotion of human rights; effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; promotion of justice and international law; disarmament; and drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Also by the text, the Secretary-General would be asked to prepare the proposed programme budget for that period on the basis of those priorities.
Pattern of Conferences
YOTAM GOREN, Chair of the Committee on Conferences, introduced the Report of the Committee on Conferences for 2014 (document A/69/32) and highlighted the chapters and information contained in the 72-page report. The Committee had held its substantive session from 2 to 8 September 2014. The report included seven chapters, including Chapter II, Calendar of conference and meetings; Chapter III, Meetings management; Chapter V, Matters related to documentation and publications; and Chapter VI, Matters related to translation and interpretation.
TEGEGNEWORK GETTU, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, introducing the Secretary-General’s report on the Pattern of conferences (documents A/69/120 & Corr.1), described how the United Nations meeting management could be improved. To improve the quality of services, it was important to reach out to managers individually. For the Fifth Committee, document processing had been shortened from 30 days last year to 28 days this year. However, there was no room for complacency. Challenges facing the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management included the difficulty of handling workloads in peak periods and retaining skilled language staff, including interpreters and translators. There was a need to hire temporary staff in peak periods.
Experienced staff was ageing and retiring, and language staff was being poached from other organizations, such as the European Union and the World Bank, a situation that required the replenishment of language personnel, he said. Lastly, he urged the relevant departments to submit documents in a timely way, improve the quality of drafts, abide by word limits, submit documents in Word format, and synchronize activity schedules with those of the Fifth Committee and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). Many documents far exceeded word limits, and staff had to retype documents submitted in PDF format.
PAVEL CHERNIKOV, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, introducing that body’s related report (document A/69/527), said that the number of meeting rooms available and actual use of those at the four conference-servicing duty stations - New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi - must be closely monitored, given a drop by three points from 85 per cent in 2011 to 82 per cent in 2013. The Advisory Committee would keep the issue of multilingualism under close review and welcomed an effort to digitize the Organization’s documents.
DAYANA ANGELA RIOS REQUENA (Bolivia), speaking for the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, commended the Committee on Conferences for the high quality of its work and believed its recommendations would help the Fifth Committee’s consideration of this agenda item. The draft resolution on the Pattern of Conferences was a good basis for negotiations on the issue. The Group gave great importance to the effective delivery of quality conference services which provided equal treatment of the Organization’s six official languages. As in previous years, the Group was concerned about the decline in use, from 80.5 per cent in 2012 to 67.4 percent in 2013, of the conference centre at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). While acknowledging that the decrease was caused by the renovations carried out in 2013, the Group expected that the renovations, coupled with marketing and pricing strategy, would significantly improve the conference centre’s use.
The timely issuance of quality documents was very important for the deliberations of intergovernmental bodies, especially the Fifth Committee, she said. The Group noted that the Secretariat’s report highlighted two challenges in this area: the overlapping between the work of the Fifth Committee and ACABQ, and the lack of predictability of the Committee’s programme of work. The Group disagreed with the assessment of the two issues as being the most prominent regarding the lateness of documents. The Group believed that more attention had to be paid to what it considered the most prominent challenge: the issue of the late submission of reports by author departments. The Group believed an accountability mechanism was needed to properly monitor and deal with this late submission issue. “This would allow for a better understanding of all the different factors that affect the issuance of documentation,” she said.
The Group welcomed the efforts of the Department of Public Information and the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management to digitalize important United Nations documents and hoped this single team had the capacity to digitalize the 3 million documents deemed as particularly important, she said. The Group also stressed the importance of multilingualism and quality translation and interpretation services, in the six official languages, to the smooth deliberations of Member States. The Group welcomed any action to improve the quality of translation and interpretation services and repeated that any efficiencies should not come at the expense of quality.
HIROSHI ONUMA (Japan) said that while maintaining the appropriate quality of conference services was essential for proper decision-making, those services must be provided in the most efficient, effective way. “The Secretariat should not stop seeking efficiencies in delivering conference services through the introduction of new cost-saving measures,” he said. Japan wanted to deepen the discussion on the development and dissemination of PaperSmart throughout the United Nations, while accounting for Member States’ continuous need for hard copy documents and the premise that the use of PaperSmart should help reduce conference service costs. Regarding the use of conference-servicing resources, Japan welcomed all initiatives introduced by the Secretariat to increase the usage rate of these services, but felt it was important to take more concrete and practical measures to reduce all conference service costs, such as by planning fewer meetings and shortening their duration. He encouraged the efforts by all intergovernmental bodies to use digital recordings in order to boost efficiency and curb costs.
MICHAEL DOUGLAS GRANT (Canada) said that his country had joined 32 Member States, representing more than 900 million people, from all five regional groups in submitting to the Committee of Conferences, a signed letter of support for the recognition of Yom Kippur as an official United Nations holiday. Adding it to the United Nations calendar would send a strong message of tolerance, acceptance and unity from the Organization to the global community.
CHERITH A. NORMAN CHALET (United States) commended the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management for reforming its services and noted the tangible benefits of more efficiently processing and translating documents, through gDoc and gText, as well as meetings management through gMeets. Those initiatives had not only improved the Department’s services, but had made the staff’s work easier and given it an ability to accomplish even more. While commending the progress made on integrated global management across all United Nations duty stations, the United States noted that significant challenges remained in the timely submission of documents. “My delegation would like to know why this continues to be a problem and what we can do to solve this collectively,” she said, adding that the problem lay with the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management’s processing, as well as the submitting departments and other bodies’ examination of reports. For example, the delegation received the ACABQ report over the weekend for that issue, which was introduced at this morning’s meeting. “This is not a responsible way to enable Member States to fulfil our oversight responsibilities,” she added.
The United States also appreciated the willingness of the delegations on the Committee on Conferences to find a compromise on the request, made by several Member States, for the United Nations to establish Yom Kippur as an official United Nations holiday, she said. Since the United Nations recognized the major festivals of other world religions, the United States believed the calendar should reflect the holiest day of Judaism. Yet the addition of any holiday had to be completed on a cost-neutral basis. She looked forward to exploring how establishing a Yom Kippur holiday could be done within these parameters.
DAVID YITSHAK ROET (Israel) said many important issues were discussed during the Committee on Conferences’ last session and one issue in particular, the request to make Yom Kippur an official United Nations holiday, could extend the shared vision of tolerance and mutual respect. Yom Kippur, or “The Day of Atonement”, was the holiest day of the Jewish faith, when millions of Jews living in 120 Member States fasted and spent the day contemplating how to advance peace and understanding between people. The Permanent Representatives of 32 Member States, representing more than 900 million people from all five regional groups, had submitted a signed letter of support for the recognition of Yom Kippur as an official United Nations holiday to the Committee on Conferences. That letter was officially circulated as document A/AC.172/2014/3. “Adding Yom Kippur to the United Nations calendar will send a strong message of tolerance, acceptance and unity from the Committee to the global community,” he said. The Israeli delegation looked forward to a robust debate in good faith on the technical aspects of the request, as well as the implementation process.
IMELDA SMOLCIC (Uruguay) endorsed the statement made by Bolivia’s representative on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Speaking in its national capacity, Uruguay repeated its support for the inclusion of Yom Kippur on the list of United Nations holidays. Religious holidays could be public or private and were collective expressions of people that went beyond borders. They were holy and involved ritual and liturgy. They could not be compared to other types of holidays. They should be analysed and treated with respect and generosity. Uruguay endorsed the request to recognize Yom Kippur as an official holiday. It was committed to discuss the issue during informal consultations and hoped consensus could be achieved.
SERGEY V. KHALIZOV (Russian Federation) said the Secretariat must double its efforts to achieve parity of services in the six official languages, improve the quality of work and expedite document digitization. Regarding the integrated global conference management services in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi, he stressed the importance of providing quality linguistic services, including training of language staff. Measures to address the language capacity issue included hiring through competitive exams and internships. The Secretariat’s effort to achieve equal treatment of the six official languages was not sufficient, and there was a need to improve multilingual translation services for treaty bodies. The establishment of a single centre to promote multilingualism would merit consideration. Lastly, he said that the practice of late presentation of documents to the Fifth Committee should not continue.
JUSTIN KISOKA (United Republic of Tanzania) aligned his country with the statement made by Bolivia’s representative on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. It was necessary to invest in conference facilities and technology. He urged the appropriate use of laptop computers during meetings. Their use during previous meetings had been beneficial. Any deliberations on PaperSmart should go along with improvements in technology. That should be regarded as an investment, not just current expenditures. With regard to impact of the Capital Master Plan, he emphasized the need to address certain elements. That included the accessibility of some conference areas, including seating for handicapped delegates. There was a need to invest in teleconferencing capabilities in all facilities.