Organization matters

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its fifty-eighth session from 19 to 21 April at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today said the number of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers in Costa Rica has doubled in the last eight months, reaching more than 150,000 people.  This represents 3 per cent of Costa Rica’s total population of 5 million.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, observed on 25 March:

Some 175,000 people in Ethiopia have been displaced from their homes due to the drought ravaging the Horn of Africa, and over 1.5 million cows and other livestock are estimated to have died, humanitarian affairs officials say.  The drought also displaced 670,000 men, women and children in neighbouring Somalia.

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its fifty-seventh session from 16 to 18 February 2022.  Due to the ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic, the meetings were held virtually.  The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent.  All the other members of the Committee — namely, Agus Pramono (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko and Imran Vanker — were in attendance.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations System Staff College today:

At least 25 United Nations staff members and associated personnel – including 24 peacekeepers, 19 of whom worked for the Mission in Mali – were killed in deliberate attacks in 2021, according to the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the United Nations Staff Union.

At least 25 United Nations staff members and associated personnel — one civilian and 24 peacekeepers, including two women peacekeepers — were killed in deliberate attacks during 2021, according to the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the United Nations Staff Union.

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its fifty-sixth session from 7 to 10 December 2021.  Due to the ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic, the meetings were held virtually.  The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent.  All the other members of the Committee, namely Agus Pramono (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko, and Imran Vanker, were in attendance.

The sixty-first meeting of the Panel of External Auditors, chaired by Girish Chandra Murmu, Comptroller and Auditor General of India, was held from 6 to 7 December as a hybrid session hosted from the United Nations Headquarters in New York.