While the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the first part of its resumed seventy-ninth session today with the consensual approval of five texts, several delegates expressed concern that the results were disappointing and minimal.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent the General Assembly the names of three candidates to fill two vacancies on the Committee on Contributions and one vacancy on the Independent Audit Advisory Committee.
Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today began reviewing the revised financial implications of the Secretary-General’s plan to draw down 510 personnel from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) over the course of 2025, with the bulk of reductions set for year-end.
To ease the Organization’s chronic cash crisis, the United Nations senior management official today presented the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) with a set of targeted measures that go beyond reduced services, hiring freezes and other spending restrictions.
Noting the approach of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia on 15 March, Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today began reviewing the proposed 2025 budget of $870,000 to support the mandate of a Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, including the creation of professional posts within the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) to assist its High Representative, who is recommended to double as the Special Envoy.
Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today reviewed the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to strengthen its capability to deliver mandates during disruptive events, such as pandemics, terrorist attacks and severe weather events.
Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates today urged the Secretariat to ramp up efforts to boost managerial accountability and internal controls, emphasizing the tone-setting role of top leaders in fostering a more effective United Nations.
Stressing that the Organization’s key asset is its staff, many delegates of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today emphasized the pressure that the ongoing liquidity crisis is having on efforts to rejuvenate the Organization and attract and retain talent from all parts of the world.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) wrapped up the main part of its seventy-ninth session today by sending the General Assembly a 2025 regular budget of $3.72 billion, about $100 million more than the $3.6 billion budget laid out by the Secretary-General in October. In a year of ongoing fiscal constraints, delegates completed the crucial step of approving new scales of assessment — the complex financial mechanism the Secretariat uses to establish the annual contributions of each Member State — for both the regular and peacekeeping budgets.
Concluding the main part of its seventy-ninth session today, the General Assembly adopted a 10-year action programme to address the unique challenges faced by landlocked developing countries, a historic cybercrime convention and the $3.72 billion United Nations budget for 2025.
