Several Delegates Advocate Creation of Financing Mechanism as Fifth Committee Considers $711.3 Million Budget Proposal for 36 Special Political Missions
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the Secretary-General’s appeal for $711.3 million for three dozen special political missions for 2025 as several delegations again pushed for the creation of a special financing mechanism to sustain them.
While supportive of their crucial role in the Organization’s global peace and security pillar, delegates voiced concern that the missions — created without the full backing of all Member States — take up nearly a quarter of the Organization’s regular budget.
“We reiterate that, like peacekeeping operations, these missions are established by the Security Council's decision and are not subject to consideration by the full membership,” said the representative of Brazil, speaking for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean delegations. He again called for the missions’ to be funded through a special and separate account, which would be budgeted annually from July to June and apply the scale of assessments used for peacekeeping operations. “We also stress the need for these missions to have clear and realistic mandates that allow for periodic reviews of their progress.”
Echoing this view, Singapore’s delegate, speaking for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), urged the Committee to use the funding and backstopping recommendations laid out by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) in its 13 December 2011 report. “These are still relevant today,” she said, referring to the establishment of a separate account aligned with the peacekeeping operations budget cycle. “The regular budget cycle does not suit special political missions because most backstopping support for these missions are drawn from UN Secretariat departments funded by the peacekeeping operations budget,” she said. By aligning with the peacekeeping operations budget cycle, these missions would be shielded from the regular budget’s constant liquidity issues.
The representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, said her delegation regretted the challenges of the past four years that have prevented a consensual outcome on the missions’ financing. “Our goal is to achieve a positive, consensus-based outcome for this item in a timely manner,” she said. “Our approach to negotiations will be technical and realistic, ensuring each mission's budget aligns with Security Council mandates.”
The representative of Egypt, speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, said the Group is watching how missions relate with their host countries and regional and subregional organizations. Other important issues are the allocation of resources for quick impact projects and infrastructure and for capacity-building programmes in host countries, as well as equitable geographical representation and employing national staff. While acknowledging Secretariat efforts to nationalize mission posts in recent years, he said the Group is concerned with Africa’s low level of representation in leadership positions.
Regarding the use of national staff, he said the Group remains convinced such staff “support confidence-building and effective relations with host Governments”. He called on the Secretary-General to create more national positions, nationalize professional posts, fill vacant national posts expeditiously, and simplify and shorten the process of recruitment of national and local staff.
Japan’s delegate said these missions’ accumulated expertise over the past 75 years have been crucial in revitalizing multilateral efforts for peace and security. Yet with the diverse range of global conflicts and the ongoing liquidity crisis, the Organization must update this budget to reflect evolving circumstances on the ground.
Several delegations pointed out how these missions help maintain stability in conflict-torn countries and surrounding regions. The representative of Grenada, speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said the extension of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) until 15 July 2025 will help restore stability in the country and maintain regional security. The Mission is also fostering inter-Haitian national dialogue and monitoring the sanctions regime. “Strong support from the United Nations and the international community is critical,” he said. Resource allocations for BINUH should be based on the situation on the ground and he urged the UN to fill vacant posts.
The representative of Haiti said that since 1996 the various UN missions have been an effective tool for peace and security. Adequate funding of BINUH is necessary to help the Haitian Government restore a climate of peace. Colombia’s delegate echoed this point and said the United Nations Verification Mission in his country has played a fundamental role in helping Colombia carry out a peace agreement begun eight years ago. “Without the active participation of the Mission, we would not have been able to fulfil demobilization, reintegration and other activities needed to restore peace,” he said.
Similar sentiments were expressed by delegates of countries in the Mideast and Gulf region. Kuwait threw his delegation’s support behind adequate financing for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)as it will help maintain regional security and stability. The representative of Iraq said UNAMI must have sufficient resources. He noted that Iraq has hosted UNAMI for 20 years and reaffirmed the need for cooperation between the United Nations and Iraq to extend regional cooperation and stability.
Special Political Missions
Chandramouli Ramanathan, United Nations Controller and Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Finance and Budget, presented the Secretary-General’s reports on the 2025 proposed programme budget for 2025 for the special political missions, good offices and other political initiatives authorized by the General Assembly and/or the Security Council (documents A/79/6(Sect.3)/Add.1, Add.2, Add.3, Add.4, Add.5, Add.6).
The overall resource requirements proposed for the 36 continuing special political missions for next year total $711.3 million, down $30.7 million from 2024. This reflects the net result of various factors, including a $0.2 million reduction for military personnel costs and a $11.8 million drop in operational costs, as well as $47.8 million less for the discontinuation of two missions: the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) and the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (UNITAD), whose mandates were terminated on 3 December 2023 and 17 September 2024 respectively. There is a decrease of 142 posts and positions, down from 4,415 in 2024 to the proposed 4,273 in 2025. This reflects the closure of missions and efforts to streamline staffing and contribute to strengthening of national capacity.
Abdallah Bachar Bong, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced its related reports (documents A/79/7/Add.1, Add.2, Add.3, Add.4, Add.5, Add.6).
United Nations Financial Performance Report 2023
Mr. Ramanathan took the floor again to present the Secretary-General’s financial performance report on the programme budget for 2023 (document A/79/83) and Mr. Bong presented the Advisory Committee’s related report (document A/79/312). Final 2023 expenditures totalled $3.37 million, $26.1 million less than the appropriation approved by the Assembly. The $26.1 million difference comprised $8.3 million under regular budget entities (excluding special political missions) and $17.8 million under special political missions. Mr. Bong presented the Advisory Committee’s related report (document A/79/312).
While the Organization started 2023 with a cash surplus and total cash of nearly $700 million, including liquidity reserves, it ended the year with depleted reserves and a cash deficit of over $400 million. As the year began, the Organization had a large cash deficit and total cash of barely $67 million in reserves. “It has necessitated imposing more stringent cash conservation measures for 2024 from the beginning of the year,” Mr. Ramanathan said. “The situation at the end of 2024 could be as bad as or worse than in 2023.”
To avoid exacerbating an already fragile liquidity situation, he proposed temporarily suspending the return of $88 million in credits. This amount would be placed, after apportionment to Member States, in a reserve and used if collections are insufficient to let mandates be carried out in 2025. The Assembly could invite Member States to apply their credits towards current or future dues, once it decides that the liquidity situation has improved sufficiently to allow the lifting of the temporary suspension.
Examining the Organization’s financial performance, the representative of Uganda, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, regretted that the unpredictability in the pattern of collections has once again led to hiring and spending restrictions. “We are deeply concerned that cash availability has repeatedly become a dominant factor potentially hindering mandate delivery,” he said, stressing that the most fundamental and effective answer to the Organization’s recurrent liquidity problems depends on Member States fulfilling their obligations to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions. He welcomed the efforts of delegations that have consistently worked to reduce their arrears and give the Secretariat more predictability on their payments.
“We also emphatically recall that one single Member State, which is also the only beneficiary of the maximum ceiling in the scale of assessments, continues to be responsible for more than half of the unpaid assessed contributions to the regular budget,” he said, adding that the proposed temporary suspension of the return of credits is not a fundamental way to solve this problem.
The speaker for the United Arab Emirates said mandate delivery must remain at the core of the Committee’s discussions. “This is particularly important at a time in the Middle East when the flames from the war on Gaza have spread to the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the region,” she said. Ensuring funding in 2025 for the position of the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, established by resolution 2720 (2023), and adequate financial resources for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), is essential, she said, a view echoed by the representatives of Egypt and Jordan.