Fifth Committee

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.

Good progress was being made on the creation of an emergency management system to better prepare the United Nations to withstand disruptive crises and natural disasters, Secretariat officials and delegates alike told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today as they scrutinized reports on the subject.

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the first part of its resumed sixty-eighth session today with a review of its 2014 work programme and organization of work, and of the role of the Joint Inspection Unit in light of its importance in the “United Nations oversight landscape”.

After heated negotiations that stretched beyond Christmas Day, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the main part of the sixty-eighth session today, recommending a $5.53 billion budget for the 2014-2015 biennium.

The United Nations must provide predictable and sufficient funds to its intergovernmental bodies, Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) delegates said today as they scrutinized the costs during the next biennium of new and existing activities of entities focused on human rights and sustainable development.