Fifth Committee Approves Text on Administration of Justice System, Expressing Agreement to Keep Dispute Tribunal Judges in Office another Year

Speakers Also Examine 2014/15 Budget for United Nations Mission in South Sudan, Funding to Implement Outcome Document of Indigenous Peoples Conference

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) signalled its approval this afternoon to extend the terms of office of judges of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, while stating its preference for the aims and makeup of an independent judicial panel to assess the Organization’s formal system of administering justice.

By the terms of a wide-ranging draft resolution on the administration of justice at the United Nations (document A/C.5/69/L.7), approved by the Committee without a vote, the General Assembly would decide to extend for one year, until 31 December 2015, the terms of office of three ad litem judges of the Dispute Tribunal, so that body could continue to manage its caseload.

The Assembly would also reaffirm its decision that the interim independent assessment should examine all aspects of the system of administration of justice, including an analysis of whether its objectives were being achieved in an efficient and cost-effective manner, and that the panel of experts to carry out that assessment should come from all regional groups and judicial systems.

Further to the text, the Assembly would stress the importance of ensuring access for all staff members to the justice system, regardless of their duty station, and acknowledge the system’s evolving nature and the need to carefully monitor its implementation.  Taking note of the Secretary-General’s report on the system and the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, the Assembly would endorse the related conclusions and recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).

The Assembly, among other things, would decide to amend several articles of the statutes of the Dispute and Appeals Tribunals.  The text also addressed various aspects of the Organization’s informal administration of justice system.

Also today, the Committee considered the financing of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).  Introducing the Secretary-General’s report on the UNMISS budget for the period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015 (document A/69/550), Chandramaouli Ramanathan, Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Management’s Office of Programme Planning Budget and Accounts, noted that it totalled $1.1 billion, reflecting an increase in authorized troop strength from 7,000 to 12,500 military personnel and an increase in authorized police strength from 900 to 1,323 police personnel, including formed police units, pursuant to Security Council resolution 2155 (2014).  In line with the change in the Mission’s mandate contained in that resolution and the results of the Mission’s staffing review, the 2014-15 budget also reflected a net reduction of 248 posts and positions and the abolishment of 91 Government-provided personnel.

Carlos Ruiz Massieu, ACABQ Chair, introducing ACABQ’s related report (document A/69/650) said that the Advisory Committee recommended reducing the UNMISS budget by $578,900, due to the cutting of 23 posts, mostly under the support component.  It also suggested further reductions in two areas.  The first related to the proposed requirements for official travel, and the need to ensure that training-related travel was properly categorized and that the requirements were estimated on the basis of economy class rates.  The second related to the estimates for termination and separation indemnity, which in the Advisory Committee’s view might be overstated.

Furthermore, the Advisory Committee felt that the Secretary-General’s proposed budget document should have been better organized, given the extent of the resource and organizational changes being proposed as a result of the revised mandate of the Mission and the significant increase of military and police personnel, he said.  There was a need to more transparently present that impact of the change and the links between the proposed resources under the different components and the Mission’s mandated activities.

Kodjovi Dosseh (Togo), speaking for the African Group, expressed concern that the budget proposal for a Mission of such size and scale was once again being introduced at this late stage in the session, urging the Secretary-General to make extra efforts to address the situation.  The Council, through resolution 2155 (2014), had encroached on the Assembly’s mandate by requesting a reduction of the civilian component, while at the same time increasing the troop strength by more than 70 per cent.  Any United Nations main body should not go beyond its prerogatives, he said, expecting that the situation “will not be repeated in the future".

The Group was also concerned that Mission functions to support the South Sudanese Government in capacity-building had been discontinued, he said, and sought clarification on such issues as a 50 per cent reduction of quick-impact projects, facilities and infrastructure, proposed major reorganization, the proposed reduction of the civilian capacities and its related impact on mandate delivery.

The Committee also considered revised budgetary estimates due to the adoption of Assembly resolution 69/2 entitled “Outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples”.  Mr. Ramanathan  introducing the Secretary-General’s report on the matter (document A/69/521), said $101,800 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management of the programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015, as a charge to the contingency fund, would be needed in order to implement paragraphs 31 and 40 of that resolution. 

Mr. Ruiz Massieu, introducing his body’s related report contained in document A/69/657, said it had no objection to the proposed $101,800 in funds for documentation services in 2015.  He added that in the context of the 2016-2017 proposed programme budget, the Advisory Committee intended to conduct a more detailed examination of the costing model for processing official documents at the Organization’s four duty stations — New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.

Speaking for the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, Dayana Rios (Bolivia) stressed the importance of developing a system-wide action plan to ensure a coherent approach towards achieving the aims of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and of specific proposals to enable the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives and institutions at the United Nations on the issues affecting them.  She, therefore, expressed support for the provision of the resources requested by the Secretary-General and endorsed by ACABQ.

The Fifth Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 17 December, to discuss the programme budget implications of a draft resolution on sovereign debt restructuring, the first performance report of the 2014-2015 programme budget and the 2014-2015 programme budget of the special political missions.