The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up the main part of its seventy-eighth session by sending the General Assembly a 2024 budget of $3.59 billion, about $3 million more than the $3.3 billion budget laid out by the Secretary-General in October.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) supported proposed amendments to the United Nations Staff Regulations and Rules, also lending support for human resource management reforms aimed at creating a more equitable and geographically balanced staff representation at the Organization, particularly considering the plight of developing countries.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved its annual programme planning resolution, after rejecting an eponymous text by the Russian Federation that would have removed any references to a mechanism set up by the United Nations a dozen years ago to investigate international crimes committed in Syria since that country’s war began in March 2011.
Adequate and predictable financing for mandates arising from resolutions and decisions adopted by the Council — the main UN intergovernmental body dealing with human rights — is vital to strengthen this pillar and promote and protect fundamental freedoms, said Costa Rica’s representative, also speaking for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2024 budget implications of seven resolutions approved by three General Assembly Committees that — if adopted by all Member States — would deliver nearly $6 million to help the Organization foster greater cooperation on international tax treaties, curb racism and direct more international financing to developing countries.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today considered the 2024 budget implications of six outputs of the First Committee’s (Disarmament and International Security) 2023 session that — if adopted by the General Assembly — would deliver just over $1 million to help verify nuclear disarmament, curb an arms race in outer space and meet the challenges created by lethal autonomous weapons systems. These five resolutions and one decision would also address the legacy of nuclear weapons and support the Open-ended Working Group on security of and in the use of information and communications technologies 2021–2025, which was set up through an Assembly resolution.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns with the Secretariat’s proposal to decrease the 2024 budget of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals by 22 per cent to $63.9 million while cutting dozens of posts without following General Assembly resolutions on the nationalization of staff.
The Group of 77 and China today expressed concern in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) about cost overruns for Umoja, the UN’s enterprise resource planning system, and requested the Secretariat elaborate on its strategic outlook and the longer-term improvements and investments foreseen until 2030.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today threw their support behind the Secretariat’s request for nearly $21 million to let special political missions in Haiti and Colombia carry out expanded mandates in 2024. Representatives also backed $3.67 million in additional funding to support two General Assembly resolutions approved during its seventy-seventh session to help revitalize the Assembly’s work and to turn a global marine biodiversity pact into a reality.
Optimistic that interlinked reform processes juxtaposed with improved service delivery within the United Nations will reinvigorate the Sustainable Development Goals at all levels and redirect savings towards development and carrying out the UN’s mandate, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today called for more detailed information and data on the concept.
