Administrative and budgetary issues

With demand growing significantly for United Nations peacekeeping, time had come to make a decision to increase the reimbursement rate for troop-contributing countries, delegates from those States today told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Delegates expressed alarm today that proposed cuts to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti would thwart that struggling Caribbean nation’s gains towards stability and development, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Financial) examined the budgets for the previous and current cycles of that mission and three other peacekeeping operations.

The United Nations financial situation was “generally sound” at the end of 2013 thanks to the continued positive efforts of many Member States, the Organization’s top management official today told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Delegates discussed strategies to better manage the United Nations budget for both active and closed peacekeeping missions, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the second part of its resumed sixty-eighth session this morning and adopted its programme of work.

Acting without a vote as it concluded the first part of its resumed sixty-eighth session this evening, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) approved eight draft texts relating to the Capital Master Plan, a new staff mobility framework and progress towards establishing an accountability system for the United Nations, among other things.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined the financial implications of a proposed draft resolution on strengthening the United Nations human rights treaty body system — a text that would have a far-reaching impact on how it operates.

Noting the vulnerability of the Beirut headquarters of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia to attack in light of recent targeted explosions throughout Lebanon’s capital, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today welcomed the Secretary-General’s proposed measures to improve staff safety and security at the complex.

Commending the progress made towards completing the massive, $2.2 billion renovation of the United Nations Headquarters begun eight years ago, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sought new ways to rein in cost overruns, relocate the functions of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and South Annex buildings, and keep the project on track for completion by 2015.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today underlined the importance of ensuring that all United Nations premises meet health, safety and accessibility standards, as they began the strategic capital review, an examination of the management of overseas property and construction projects.

While commending the progress made in the past two years to expand the pool of civilian experts providing immediate aid and support for institution-building in post-conflict countries, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) sought greater clarity today on the budgetary implications of those efforts and on ways to align the work of United Nations field personnel with the national decision-making cycles of the countries concerned.