Praising Ongoing Efforts to Improve Quality of United Nations Conferences, Delegates in Fifth Committee Stress Need to Deliver Services in All Six Official Languages
Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today commended the Secretariat’s ongoing efforts to elevate the quality of United Nations conferences held around the globe while emphasizing the need to deliver these services in all six official languages.
The representative of Uganda, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management helps the Organization fulfil its mandates by supporting the work of intergovernmental and expert bodies. Reiterating that the UN is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Member States, he said this principle “must be ensured at every moment, including in the conference modalities” and these modalities must not treat Member States differently.
Noting that the Organization’s liquidity crisis has led to a recruitment freeze that particularly impacts staff in the language services, the Group commends and encourages efforts to reach out to language professionals, especially from Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean, “as a means of diversifying language backgrounds and promoting the equitable geographical representation of the staff”. The Group welcomes measures to ensure persons with disabilities can use conference services and conference facilities, including the assistance of the Accessibility Centre and the use of sign language services. “We encourage the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to ensure accessibility of all individuals to all duty stations,” he said.
Echoing support for the Department, the representative of Bangladesh said the Department makes it possible for Member States to address global challenges. As Chair of the Generals Assembly’s Second Committee (Economic and Financial), he said he has found the Department’s work indispensable. “Its role is critical in the smooth functioning of the Committee,” he said. The measures for persons with disabilities, contained in the Conference Committee’s draft resolution, are particularly important.
Qatar’s delegate commended the Department’s ongoing efforts to digitalize all UN documents and increase their accessibility through the Internet. In 2023, 16,561 additional documents were digitalized, bringing the number digitalized since the project’s second phase began to about 66,000 documents. This includes important documents from the Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and other bodies. The digitalization process is important as it “preserves these documents as part of the digital memory of the United Nations”, he said. His Government will continue its financial support for this project, which included $5 million for the 2013‑2018 first phase; $2.5 million for the 2019‑2023 second phase; and $2.5 million for the current third phase from 2024‑2029.
Secretariat Lays Out Details on Conference Management
Denis Ishikawa dos Santos, Chair of the Committee on Conferences, presented the Conference Committee’s report (document A/79/32), which covers its work in 2024. The Committee adopted a draft resolution, included in Annex I of the report, and a draft calendar of conferences and meetings of the United Nations for 2025, included in Annex II. They are recommended for the Committee’s consideration and the Assembly’s adoption.
Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, presented the Secretary-General’s report on the pattern of conferences (document A/79/87) and said key performance indicators for documentation and meetings management in 2023 were similar to 2022. The number of meetings held globally was up 35 per cent in 2023 over 2022, reaching nearly 30,000 meetings. Of those, 76 per cent were non-calendar meetings, compared with 67 per cent in 2022, due to end-of-business continuity measures and the return of in-person meetings. Notional savings generated by integrated global management, which identifies available staff from various locations based on the lowest travel costs, increased in 2023, surpassing the savings generated in 2018 and 2019. “We remained committed to our strategy of continued modernization and innovation and improvements were introduced in our meetings management tools,” he said.
The Department’s advances included the full implementation of One-Stop Shop, the single-entry portal for requesting meeting services, in the Nairobi duty station; its introduction in Vienna and its launching in Geneva next year. Other improvements include the debut of the multilingual version of e-deleGATE with several new modules. The Journal of the United Nations now covers meetings at all four duty stations, as well as activities of the International Court of Justice and UN conferences held away from duty stations. Key performance indicators on documentation were again close to 100 per cent, he said, adding that “243 million words were submitted globally for translation”. Proactive communication with other departments minimized delays and facilitated optimized capacity planning. To support multilingualism, the Department achieved full compliance with the simultaneous issuance of documents in the official languages.
The Department continues to schedule competitive examinations for language positions to meet succession-planning needs, he went on to say. Recruiting sufficient language professionals, with the required mix and quality of skills in an era of considerable technological change, is crucial to sustain the required language services. “Liquidity constraints in the second half of 2023, however, delayed the filling of posts across the duty stations,” he added. The Department continues to collaborate with other departments to meet the needs of conference services users and raise awareness of related issues. For example, assistive devices, Braille printing on request, accessible parliamentary documentation and assistance in meeting rooms are provided as regular services. “Going forward, DGACM [Department for General Assembly and Conference Management] will build on the lessons learned and continue its commitment to continuous improvement and modernization in its delivery of multilingual conference services,” he said.
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions Sees Merit in Discontinuing Committee on Conference’s Report
Sharon Brennen-Haylock, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced that body’s related report (document A/79/546). To avoid duplicative efforts and ensure resources are used efficiently, the Advisory Committee sees merit in the “discontinuation of the Conference Committee’s report on pattern of conferences”. Its observations and recommendations could be considered in the proposed programme budget or any other relevant report, she said. The Advisory Committee recommends that the Assembly request the Secretary-General provide the Conference Committee’s annual report for its information.
The representative of Uganda said the Group looks forward to understanding the implications of discontinuing the annual report, during the Fifth Committee’s informal meetings.