Fifth Committee

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns over the worsening cash flow problems enveloping the Organization’s regular budget and stressed the need to give the world body a sounder financial foundation.  Some Member States criticized other States for not paying their assessments on time and in full without conditions, which has forced the Secretariat to take emergency measures to pay staff and keep the New York City Headquarters operating.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began reviewing the proposed programme budget for special political missions, good offices and other political initiatives during 2020, with delegates seeking clarification and justification for some resource requirements.

The United Nations senior management official told members of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today that the Organization is confronting its worst liquidity crisis in recent years as she laid out the Organization’s key financial indicators for 2019.

Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today began discussing the proposed programme budget for 2020 totalling $2.87 billion, which represents no real-term growth from 2019 but reflects the strategic priorities and reforms of the United Nations.

Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened their seventy‑fourth session with the election of Andreas D. Mavroyiannis of Cyprus as their chairman as they urged each other to collaborate to handle a heavy workload that includes preparing the Organization’s first annual budget.

Concluding the second part of its resumed session, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent 22 draft resolutions and 1 draft decision to the General Assembly, asking it to authorize an annual United Nations peacekeeping budget of $6.51 billion and have the Secretary-General explore options to improve the Organization’s cash position.

Warning that the United Nations is in the midst of a financial crisis that has been years in the making, the Secretary-General presented the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) with a set of proposals today designed to put both the regular and peacekeeping budgets of the Organization on more solid ground. 

Concerned about the cash deficits of several closed United Nations peacekeeping missions, delegations today called for the speedy reimbursement of expenses to countries that supply personnel and equipment, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) reviewed the financial position of those operations.

Continuing its consideration of the United Nations peacekeeping budget, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the proposed 2019/20 budget of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and heard the introduction of a draft resolution on financing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Drawing attention to deepening liquidity problems and continued delays in reimbursing countries that provide peacekeeping troops and police, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged all Member States in arrears, especially those with ample capacity to pay, to promptly fulfil their financial obligations to ensure that the United Nations continues to deliver its mandate.