Speakers Urge Efficient Financial Management, Avoiding Duplicate Processes, as Fifth Committee Examines Programme Budget Implications of Disarmament-Related Texts
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2024 budget implications of six outputs of the First Committee’s (Disarmament and International Security) 2023 session that — if adopted by the General Assembly — would deliver just over $1 million to help verify nuclear disarmament, curb an arms race in outer space and meet the challenges created by lethal autonomous weapons systems. These five resolutions and one decision would also address the legacy of nuclear weapons and support the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021–2025, which was set up through an Assembly resolution.
The representative of Uruguay — also speaking for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic — criticized the First Committee for failing to achieve consensus on some resolutions and producing competing texts. This creates a duplicative process that means delegates have difficulty knowing which resolution to support while straining the Organization’s finite resources. “A consensus formula would have saved a considerable amount of resources needed for other challenges faced by the UN,” he said. He urged the First Committee to “ensure effective and efficient financial management of the Organization by maximizing existing resources and avoiding the duplication of processes and structures that undermine any cost-saving efforts”.
Delegates today also considered the Secretariat’s ongoing development of a comprehensive capital investment plan, which could possibly combine outlays for ongoing construction projects with new investment proposals.
Cuba’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, noted the report is based on the Advisory Committee’s recommendation for a comprehensive plan on global Secretariat spending across the board, including information and communications technology, capital expenditures and actions to deal with cybersecurity. He said the Group looks forward to more comprehensive data that covers investments on communications technology expenditures and investments across the Organization, including both medium‑ and long-term perspectives.
Maria Costa, Director of the Finance Division of the Office of Programme Planning, Finance and Budget, in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, presented the Secretary-General’s report on capital investment planning. This report builds on some aspects of the previous document considered by the Committee during its seventy-seventh session. “As you will see from the current report, a lot more work needs to be done to get a holistic picture of all capital investments across the Secretariat,” she said. “We have made a lot of progress and learned some lessons already.”
Abdallah Bachar Bong, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced that body’s related report.
Ms. Costa also introduced the Secretary-General’s statements regarding the programme budget implications of the First Committee’s six texts and Mr. Bong presented the Advisory Committee’s related reports.
Capital Investment Planning
MARIA COSTA, Director of the Finance Division of the Office of Programme Planning, Finance and Budget, in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, introduced the Secretary-General’s reports “Capital investment planning” (documents A/78/536 and Corr.1). She said the current report builds on some, but not all, aspects of the previous report, which was considered by the Committee during its seventy-seventh main and resumed sessions and deferred to this year’s main session. Section II of the current report explains the approach taken for building the capital investment plan elements and enabling the General Assembly’s decision-making, including the possibility of using a 9.1 per cent annual cost escalation and 5 per cent contingency for estimating outlays over time.
Section IV tries to reflect the possibility of combining the outlays for the ongoing construction projects with the new investment proposals, so the annual budgetary request for such outlays are relatively stable at the level of resources for 2023 to 2025, she said. Yet this would not include very large construction projects, like the renovation at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), that must account for the previous Assembly decision not to have multiple large projects running concurrently. Section III of the report deals with five specific capital investment projects, which reflect the work completed since the last report. These include: conferencing systems at UN Headquarters; safety and security needs at UN Headquarters, offices away from Headquarters and regional commissions; renovation of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) buildings and facilities, including the auditorium at the Santiago compound; renovation of the ECA’s Addis Ababa compound; and renovation of the UN House in Jerusalem.
She said the five major projects are presented, with resource estimates, for information purposes only and to seek Assembly guidance on the resource requests that will later be proposed. The report contains a preliminary estimate of the capital investments needed for each project and outlines factors that may influence the choice of scope and timing of implementation, especially regarding the financing. The report does not include any resource requests, based on the inputs made by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the Fifth Committee, when the first report was presented. She said the Secretary-General’s prior request to approve the establishment of posts and temporary positions in 2023 and appropriate funds in the 2023 proposed programme budget are no longer relevant as the year is ending.
“As you will see from the current report, a lot more work needs to be done to get a holistic picture of all capital investments across the Secretariat,” she said. “We have made a lot of progress and learned some lessons already.” Depending on the Assembly’s guidance, the Committee would have to adapt its programme of work to rapidly identify the larger investment needs, enable the Assembly to make an informed decision on their scope and sequencing and maintain a stable funding envelope, except for major projects such as renovations at the ECA.
ABDALLAH BACHAR BONG, Chair of the ACABQ, introducing its related report (document A/78/7/Add.20) noted that the Secretary-General’s reports are still before the General Assembly in its current session. However, the information provided therein is preliminary, lacks sufficient detail and justification of the scope and methodology of proposals and detailed baseline for costings. It also does not provide an overview of linkages with previous and ongoing investments or expected efficiency gains and benefits, including through standardization. He trusted that the Secretary-General will further refine the assessments in order to provide more detailed information, including on priority investments, in the next report. Noting that the Office of Information and Communications Technology will continue developing the implementation of the conferencing upgrade project at the Headquarters within existing capacities, the Advisory Committee expects other departments and entities to likewise identify internal resources and capacities, including through reprofiling of posts, to support the development of projects, as appropriate.
Detailed information on the experience and lessons learned from the existing governance and oversight arrangements over capital investments should be included in the next report, he said. The ACABQ trusts that the existing arrangements will be improved and reprofiled while a strong single technical coordination and oversight mechanism at the global level, supported by entity-level arrangements, could be established. Hoping that capital investment planning will consider measures to eliminate physical, communication and technical barriers to persons with disabilities, he stressed the importance of appropriately engaging host countries from the early planning phase through the life cycle of projects’ implementation. As for the reporting frequency on capital investment, the Advisory Committee recommends that a report on capital investment planning, including information on the Organization’s investment needs with medium‑ and long-term perspectives — five and 15 years, respectively — be presented before the seventy-ninth session with detailed phased plans of implementation. The Assembly could thereafter — and based on the plan to be presented in the next report — consider the periodicity of reporting such a plan.
DIOSDADO HERNANDEZ (Cuba), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said the Secretary-General’s report is based on the Advisory Committee’s recommendation that the Organization have a comprehensive plan on global Secretariat spending across the board, including information and communications technology (ICT), capital expenditures and actions to deal with cybersecurity. The Group recognizes this report builds on the previous Secretariat report in five specific areas of investment: conferencing systems at UN Headquarters; safety and security needs at UN Headquarters; offices away from Headquarters and regional commissions; and the renovation of buildings and facilities at ECLAC, ECA and the UN House in Jerusalem. The Group appreciates the application of lessons from other construction projects in designing the ICT infrastructure and back-up initiatives and encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts.
Yet the Group believes these figures do not capture all information regarding ICT expenditures and investments across the Organization, including medium‑ and long-term perspectives, he said. The Group looks forward to having more comprehensive data. He said the Group agrees with the Advisory Committee that the level of resources for capital expenditures should be based on realistic data and use established methodology and industry standards. The capital investment proposal must be integrated with other approved strategies and projects underway. Any capital investment planning programme should be efficient and transparent and identify the cost of ICT equipment and their replacement cycle.
Programme Budget Implications: Draft Resolutions/Decisions by First Committee
Ms. COSTA, Director of the Finance Division of the Office of Programme Planning, Finance and Budget, in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, took the floor again to introduce the Secretary-General’s statements regarding the programme budget implications, prepared in accordance with rule 153 of the General Assembly’s procedural rules, of six draft decisions and resolutions approved by the Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security). All the proposed resources would represent charges against the contingency fund.
She first presented the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/14) on the programme budget implications of draft decision A/C.1/78/L.13, “Open-ended working group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021-2025 established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 75/240”, approved at the First Committee’s 2 November 2023 meeting. [Through this text, the Assembly would endorse the second annual progress report and convene additional intersessional meetings of up to 10 days across 2024 and 2025, to advance discussions, build on the annual progress reports and support the Open-ended Working Group’s work.] In order to implement the resolutions, the Secretary-General’s proposed resources of $318,200 for 2024, comprising $190,500 under section 4, disarmament, and $127,700 under section 29C, Office of Information and Communications Technology.
She then turned to the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/15) on the programme budget implications of draft resolution A/C.1/78/L.31, “Nuclear disarmament verification”, approved by the First Committee on 27 October 2023. [By the text, the First Committee welcomed the Group of Governmental Experts’ report to consider nuclear disarmament verification issues and requested the Secretary-General to seek Member States’ views on the report and report back to the Assembly at its seventy-ninth session.] The Secretary-General proposes resources of $60,400 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management.
Next, she introduced the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/16) on the programme budget implications of draft resolution A/C.1/78/L.52, “Addressing the Legacy of Nuclear Weapons: Providing Victim Assistance and Environmental Remediation to Member States Affected by the Use or Testing of Nuclear Weapons”, which was approved at the First Committee’s 27 October 2023 session. [The text urged Member States that have used or tested nuclear weapons or any other nuclear explosive devices to appropriately share technical and scientific information with the affected Member States regarding the humanitarian and environmental consequences of such use and testing.] The Secretary-General’s proposed resources total $60,400 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management.
She then introduced the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/17), on the programme budget implications of draft resolution A/C.1/78/L.55, “Further practical measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space”, which was approved by the First Committee on 31 October 2023. [By the text, the Assembly would decide to establish an open-ended working group for the period 2024-2028 to make recommendations on substantial elements of an international legally binding instrument on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.] Proposed resources of $136,600 are needed, including $28,800 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management; and $107,800 under section 4, Disarmament.
She then presented the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/18) on the programme budget implications of the draft resolution A/C.1/78/L.56, “Lethal autonomous weapons systems”, which was approved by the First Committee at its 1 November 2023 meeting. [By the text, the Assembly stressed the urgent need for the international community to address the challenges and concerns raised by those weapons systems, particularly through the Group of Governmental Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, and to further understand the issues involved.] The Secretary-General’s proposed resources requirements would include $147,400 under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs.
Finally, she introduced the Secretary-General’s statement (document A/C.5/78/19) on the programme budget implications of the draft resolution A/C.1/78/L.11 “Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security”, approved by the First Committee at its 2 November 2023 meeting. [By the text, the Assembly called upon States to engage constructively in the negotiations, during formal and intersessional meetings of the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021-2025, which will present consensual recommendations to the Assembly.] The proposed resources for 2024 would include $125,100, under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management.
Mr. BONG, Chair of the ACABQ, presented his Committee’s related report (documents A/78/7/Add.31, A/78/7/Add.30, A/78/7/Add.26, A/78/7/Add.28, A/78/7/Add.29, A/78/7/Add.27) recalling that the 2024 proposed programme budget had provisions in sections 28, 29C and 29E anticipating future programme budget implications’ statements. The Advisory Committee trusts that information will be updated with the remaining statements being submitted to the General Assembly, including the total additional requirements against the provisions included in the 2024 programme budget, along with information on any outstanding balances or shortfalls that would require additional appropriation. For the overall resources approved for conference servicing for section 2 of the budget, the Advisory Committee notes the recent underexpenditure trend for conferencing services for other staff costs under section 2 and trusts that more clarification will be provided to the General Assembly.
On the First Committee’s related programme budget implications of one draft decision and five draft resolutions, the Advisory Committee recommends the consideration of the proposed resources. He noted that “with the exceptions of a symbolic adjustment recommended on draft decision A/C.1/78/L.13, the Committee recommends that the Fifth Committee inform the General Assembly that should the Assembly adopt decision on the resolutions, additional resource requirements would arise under the proposed programme budget for 2024 as proposed”. As for the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021–2025, while recognizing the important functions involved, the Advisory Committee encourages the Office for Disarmament Affairs to utilize existing capacity to the extent possible and recommends a total reduction of $12,700.
FELIPE MACHADO MOURIÑO (Uruguay) speaking also for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic, and noting that the right of all Member States to present resolutions for consideration by the plenary must be reaffirmed and defended, said the First Committee has in recent years faced challenges with resolutions tabled on the same subject making it difficult for Member States to determine which to support. The instances in which delegations have supported similar but competing resolutions have not only resulted in duplicative mechanisms and processes but strained the UN’s finite resources, leading to increased polarization and fragmentation within the Committee’s work. He cited resolutions A/78/L.15 and A/C.1/78/L.55 which each seek to establish an open-ended working group focused on preventing an arms race in outer space and meeting respectively in 2025 and 2026 and from 2024-2028 in Geneva. He underscored the importance of collective action in addressing outstanding issues on disarmament and peace and security in the current geopolitical context.
Noting that efforts made to encourage the resolutions’ main sponsors to reach a unified agreement were unsuccessful, resulting in the approval of two resolutions with budget implications, he said while “L.55” translates to additional requirements of $3.73 million, the mandate implementation of resolution “L.15” totals $1.11 million. Due to the lack of political willingness, the Organization is expected to spend $4.841 million to implement both resolutions. “A consensus formula would have saved a considerable amount of resources needed for other challenges faced by UN,” he said. Delegations, particularly smaller ones, will be compelled to organize their scarce resources to attend these competing bodies with “no guarantees that this dispersion of resources will yield the desired results”, he said. Advocating the imperative of a cooperative approach, he urged the Committee to “ensure effective and efficient financial management of the Organization by maximizing existing resources and avoiding the duplication of processes and structures that undermine any cost-saving efforts”.