UN Chronicle | Fifth Committee: Administrative and Budgetary - Financing the Future

Fifth Committee: Administrative and Budgetary
Financing the Future
By Vikram Sura with Jonas Hagen, for the Chronicle

Article

The Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee considers any action of the General Assembly that necessitates a budget, and is the "bank" authorizing other Main Committees to draw their cheques. Sometimes, resolutions call for expenses unforeseen in the regular budget, known as the "Programme Budget Implications" or PBIs. They are mandated by the Main Committees and can range from research on fresh water to disarmament, to digging up landmines, to aiding the girl child.

In the Assembly's fifty-seventh session, PBIs amounted to some $3.5 million, and to spare money for these, a contingency fund was established last year-some $18.9 million was placed in it. However, most was spent in the past year and $1.52 million remained at the beginning of the session.

"It was a key issue for us", Thure Christiansen of Denmark, who also spoke for the European Union, told the UN Chronicle. "The initial estimates for covering all the needs of PBIs was $3.5 million but only $1.5 million was available. In a good dialogue with the Secretariat and other Member States, we gave $1.49 million out of the fund." These extrabudgetary expenses, among others, included $44,700 in connection with the Economic and Social Council's 2002 resolutions and decisions; $250,000 for future operations of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and $455,800 for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (Third Committee resolutions); $286,500 for strengthening the terrorism prevention branch of the Secretariat; and $203,200 for ensuring effective secretarial support for the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development (of the Second Committee).

"'The PBIs were subject to a very tough consideration", Eva Silot of Cuba told the Chronicle. "There were attempts to prioritize among PBIs, which is contradictory with the fact that when you adopt a resolution in other Committees, you should also provide the correspondent money."

The delegate of Japan, Shinichi Yamanaka, told the Chronicle that it was "important to adjust the UN budget to the new agenda that has emerged through the Millennium Declaration and recent major international conferences". He added: "In order for the UN to address this new challenge, and mindful of the overall level of the budget, it is necessary not only to abolish obsolete activities but also to terminate lower-priority activities." In response to a question regarding Japan's UN contribution, Mr. Yamanaka said: "At this juncture, Japan has not decided on a negotiating position regarding the scale of assessments for contributions to the regular budget, to be negotiated towards the end of this year. Japan will continue to strive for a fairer and more equitable scale of assessments so that the resulting burden for our country would be appropriate."

According to Assembly resolution 41/213, in the years when the budget is not authorized, the Secretary-General submits an outline of the proposed budget for the following years. In the fifty-seventh session, after consideration of the Secretariat's proposal for $2.69 billion, the Committee recommended that the budget proposals for 2004 and 2005 be prepared on the basis of an estimated $2.89 billion. Also, at the end of the first year of a two-year budget, the Secretariat submits a report that adjusts the numbers for inflation and exchange rate variations, as well as additional mandates of the General Assembly and the Security Council. This is part of the budget preparation process. For 2003/2004, the Secretariat asked for an additional $300 million, of which some $176 million were mandated.

"On this issue, the European Union and other delegates expressed concern for the $300 million proposed by the Secretariat", Mr. Christiansen told the Chronicle. "We asked the Secretariat to thoroughly review it. We were happy to see that we were able to lower the proposal to $176 million. It's a good development from the Union's standpoint. We managed to mitigate the pressure on the current budget."

Earlier in his presentation before the Committee, Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph E. Connor said that only 105 Member States had paid their regular budget assessment in full, 39 had made no payment whatsoever in 2002, while 45 had made partial payments or had received a credit as a result of a reduction in the rate of assessment.

Ambassador Murari Raj Sharma Permanent Representative of Nepal. Chairman, Fifth Committee. UN Chronicle Photo

In an interview with the Chronicle, Committee Chairman Murari Raj Sharma of Nepal said: "Most of the budget comes from a few developed countries, and most of the developing countries chip in part of that cost. It is quite a small amount compared with what a few rich countries contribute. Apparently, it is very clear on the part of advanced nations to try to minimize the UN expenditures. But that does not preclude the fact that both the developed and developing groups are equally interested in common, shared goals."

The Committee recommended to the Assembly a total of 16 texts on issues ranging from UN personnel and assessing dues of Member States, to financing the UN Mission in Sierra Leone and the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, all of which were adopted without a vote. Under personnel issues, a proposal to set up a senior management service (SMS) was met with doubts. According to the 2002 International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) report, SMS would "play an important role in building the Organization's leadership and management capacity". However, the Russian Federation's delegate, in particular, said that creation of such a service was "unjustified", and it was not quite clear what specific problems it would be able to resolve. The establishment of "a corporate elite", he said, hardly corresponded to the desire for openness and transparency within the Organization.

The delegate of China, on the other hand, said that it was very important for the United Nations to have a streamlined contingent of senior managers who were "representative, competent, dynamic and of high quality". He told the Committee that China supported the idea of exploring SMS at pilot organizations. However, he added, only the high managerial posts should be considered for the service. The delegate of Morocco sought further clarification regarding SMS and asked whether staff representatives would be consulted in setting up such a service.

Under Article 19 of the UN Charter, if the amount of arrears of a Member State equals or exceeds its due contributions for the preceding two full years, it can lose its vote in the General Assembly. Around 45 countries were granted exception this year, with the Fifth Committee saying that "failure to pay the full minimum amount … was due to conditions beyond their control". The last time dues were fixed was in 2000, for a period of three years. Therefore, no Member State can request a change in its dues to the United Nations until the end of 2003. However, Argentina and Afghanistan were granted an exception due to the economic circumstances facing their countries.

"It was the first time Rule 160 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly was applied", said Mrs. Silot Bravo, "that is why it was so important on the precedent it would establish, in relation to the decisions taken in the context of the scale of assessments for the regular budget, which is approved every three years." Mr. Christiansen said: "We accepted the lowering of dues. At the same time, we requested that criteria be established before the Committee accepts any future proposal."

The debate leading to the resolution on "Financing of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone" from July 2002 to June 2003 was a key item addressed by the Fifth Committee. UNAMSIL, established in October 1999 with some 17,000 personnel, is the largest peacekeeping mission of the United Nations.

The Committee granted $90 million, as against the Secretariat's proposal of $100.8 million, in light of the proposed downsizing of the Mission. In the debate, the delegate of Nigeria said she wanted to know the implications and consequences of authorizing the sum of $90 million, while South Africa's delegate said that whatever financing decisions were made, they should not prevent UNAMSIL from successfully implementing its mandate.

Under a resolution adopted by the Fifth Committee, major renovation of United Nations Headquarters is estimated to begin in October 2004, with a projected budget of some $1.05 billion. UN Photo

In a joint statement to the Chronicle, four African diplomats-Karen Lock of South Africa, Nonye Udo of Nigeria, Abdelmalek Bouheddou of Algeria and Yasser Elnaggar of Egypt-said: "In light of the fact that the attainment and maintenance of peace and stability in Africa is one of the cornerstones of NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa's Development], African delegates ensured that the Fifth Committee approved a budget that would enable UNAMSIL to effectively complete its mandate." The quartet also said that in the negotiations on the financial performance of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, African delegates supported the appointment of judges and were concerned with the continued existence of high vacancy rates at the Tribunal. They also stated that the United Nations should meet its financial obligations on enforcement of sentences and upgrading of prison facilities.

Speaking about the fifty-seventh session of the Committee, Chairman Sharma said: "In purely financial issues, we may have had a slightly more predetermined position, but in terms of personnel issues it was flexible." He also said he saw "tremendous flexibility"' on the part of all major negotiating groups, and as Chairman he noted that "it was challenging, of course, but thoroughly enjoyable".

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