The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today took up the renovation of the historic Palais des Nations campus, home of the United Nations Office at Geneva, with the Secretariat reporting that the CHF 836.5 million project — due for completion in 2023 — is making significant progress, but delegates expressing concern about potential construction delays and unresolved financing modalities.
Delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged the Secretariat to ensure the United Nations staff reflects the diversity of Member States as more women and young people are hired to shape a dynamic Organization with a mobile and multitalented workforce.
Speakers today welcomed a surge in the market value of the assets of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, 70 years after its establishment, but reiterated concerns about a backlog of payments to beneficiaries as well as governance issues, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) tackled the Organization’s multibillion‑dollar pension system, its operations and performance.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wanted to better understand how ongoing arbitration proceedings preventing a final close-out of the paperwork surrounding the multi-billion-dollar renovation of the United Nations Headquarters will impact the project’s final cost.
Changes to salaries and benefits throughout the United Nations common system must be fair and in touch with global marketplace realities, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) said today as it took up the yearly report of the International Civil Service Commission.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today expressed their concern over the deteriorating conditions at the Organization’s Nairobi conference centre, which are hindering the facility’s capacity to provide conference services.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today supported the Secretary-General’s request for a $9.7 million funding infusion to keep the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia running smoothly in 2019.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) debated the financial situation of the United Nations today, with the representative of the United States — responding to criticism from developing countries — asserting that her country remains committed to the Organization and is fully meeting its financial commitments, albeit later in the year than other Member States.
While welcoming the overall financial soundness of the United Nations, delegates at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today expressed concern about the moderate pace of carrying out recommendations by the Organization’s main auditing body, hiring practices and the finances of the United Nations agency serving Palestine refugees.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today welcomed a 5.2 per cent reduction in the projected cost of replacing semi‑permanent office blocks at the United Nations Office at Nairobi that date back to the 1970s, but expressed concern that a seismic mitigation retrofit and life‑cycle replacements project at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) premises in Bangkok is running the risk of going over budget.
