Fifth Committee

Encouraged by the decrease in arrears to both the United Nations regular budget and its peacekeeping account compared to last year, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning urged that States do even more to ensure that outstanding payments were paid on time and in full, and that the Secretariat reciprocate by making administrative processes more transparent and efficient.

Taking up the Secretary-General’s proposed $313.9 million budget for next year’s peacekeeping backstopping activities — known formally as the peacekeeping support account — speakers at the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) said increases must be proportionate to need, and called for “utmost prudence” in determining its size.

Resuming its consideration of peacekeeping finance and field support against the backdrop of an unprecedented $8 billion-plus peacekeeping budget, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard calls for a “clear message” to be sent to the Secretary-General on cross-cutting issues relating to peacekeeping administration and budgeting, on which agreement had eluded the Committee in the past two years.

In the midst of a broad agenda — covering the financial situation of the United Nations, cross-cutting issues in peacekeeping finance and the new global field support strategy — the Fifth Committee approved a draft resolution that would authorize the Secretary-General to enter into commitments of $120.64 million for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, to support a rise in troop and police levels, as endorsed by the Security Council following the disastrous January earthquake.

Meeting for the second day of its resumed session, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard the proposed budgets of nine United Nations peacekeeping and integrated missions for the 2010/11 financial year, which ranged from $1.44 billion for the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to $47.9 million for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), tasked with maintaining the 1974 Israel-Syria ceasefire.

The General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened today the second part of its resumed substantive session, what its Chairperson called the “final lap” in its annual marathon to take action on vital issues, such as funding United Nations peacekeeping operations and improving the Organization’s financial situation.

Concluding the first part of its resumed session this afternoon, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved six draft texts, including a multipart draft resolution urging movementtowards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat and a draft resolution that would fund a new Emergency Preparedness and Support Team.

Taking up a range of topics, the Fifth Committee was told today that it was “imperative” to have a support system in place for United Nations personnel that had survived malicious acts, natural disasters and other emergencies, and to coordinate with families of deceased staff members.

Responding to the Secretary-General’s report on a proposed “accountability system”, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today urged that more attention be given to what the United Nations leadership could do to foster a sense of personal responsibility among staff, in order to better address what some saw as weak links between resource allocation and desired results.

Assistant Secretary-General and United Nations Controller Jun Yamazaki today presented the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) with the Secretary‑General’s request for an additional $1 million for three special political missions -- the United Nations Representative on the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban, and the Monitoring Group on Somalia.