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On Monday, 26 October, the Committee began its consideration of agenda item 118: Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations with an introduction by the Chairman of the Committee on Contributions to the 58th session report of the Committee on Contributions which covered three main areas i.e., (a) the methodology for the preparation of future scale of assessments; (b) the application of Aritcle 19 of the Charter, and (c) the assessment of non-member states. The Committee on Contributions remained convinced that GNP was the least unsatisfactory income measure for the purposes of the scale and should continue to be used for preparation of future scales. The Committee on Contributions also viewed that the reintroduction of a ceiling on per capita assessments set at the level of the per capita assessment of the Member States with the highest assessment would run counter to the principle of capacity to pay. As to its consideration of requests for exemption under Article 19. The Committee on Contributions focussed its examination on two main issues: the possibility of establishing guidelines or criteria for granting exemptions under Article 19, and the problem of timing caused by the respective timetables for the application of Article 19 on the one hand and the sessions of the Committee on Contributions on the other.
Twenty seven delegations participated in the general discussion. Though most speakers supported the recommendations of the Committee on Contributions, each regional group expressed his/her own view on the issues considered by the Committee on Contributions. The European Union reiterated the proposal to revise the peacekeeping scale in order to better reflect the fundamental principle of capacity to pay. On the one hand, the Group of 77 and China, MERCOSUR, and the ASEAN strongly believed that scale of assessments for peacekeeping operations should not be considered under this agenda item since that issue belonged to another item. Some members from the Eastern Europe believed that the financial crisis of the organizations was directly linked with the scale of assessments. All acknowledged that Article 19 of the Charter should be further reviewed and strengthened. CANZ was convinced that strengthening the application of Article 19 would not be sufficient, rather other incentives and penalty measures should be required. She referred to GA resolution 14A(1) of February 1946 on the terms of reference of the Committee on Contributions and pointed out that one of the mandates given to the Committee on Contributions was "to report to the General Assembly on the action to be taken if members fall into default with their contributions".
The Committee concluded its general discussion on this item and was referred to informal consultations under the chairmanship of Mr. Frank Smyth (Ireland).
.At the same time, the requests for exemption to Article 19 by the Governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Iraq are under negotiations at an informal informal setting
.On Wednesday 28 October, the Committee heard an address by the Secretary-General on his report on the reform of human resources management (A/53/414) under agenda item 30: United Nations reform: measures and proposals and 119: Human resources management. The aims of the reform were to strike a major blow for excellence, efficiency and effectiveness by delegating authority, by decentralizing decision making and by ensuring accountability at all levels. He emphasized that the reform of human resources management was not a direct application of management practices from the outside nor an exercise in budget reduction and staff cutting as a way to fund the development account, but rather an investment in change, and an essential process by which the UN was modernizing its most important asset, -- its staff.
The Committee will continue its consideration of this item on 9 November when it begins its general discussion of the other reports under agenda item 119: Human resources management.
.The Committee began its consideration of the thematic reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services under agenda item 112: Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations and item 165: Joint Inspection Unit.
The Under-Secretary-General for OIOS introduced the reports of OIOS, particularly, the report on the audit of the United Nations commercial insurance programme (A/52/1020), the audit of the United Nations health insurance programme (A/53/467) and the inquiry into allegations of insufficient use of expertise in procurement planning of aviation services in peacekeeping missions (A/52/1010).
The Committee also began its consideration of agenda item 145: Review of the implementation of General Assembly resolution 48/218B, on the question of the evaluation and review of the reporting procedures of the Office for Internal Oversight Services. Nine delegations participated in the general discussion, the representatives of Austria (EU), Indonesia (Group of 77 and China), Canada (CANZ) Syrian Arab Republic, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Algeria and Yemen.
Speakers from the Group of 77 and China aligned their statements to the statement of the Chairman of the Group of 77 and China. They believed strongly that the oversight function by the OIOS should be carried out within the regulations and rules of the Organization and under the authority of the Secretary-General. They claimed that it was the responsibility of the Secretary-General to ensure that the reports of the OIOS did not contain any recommendations which transgressed the mandates approved by Member States. They believed that OIOS should strictly confine its recommendations to internal management and that regulations and rules approved by the GA should be fully respected. They reaffirmed that the programmes and activities approved by Member States could only be modified by the competent intergovernmental bodies. They noted with concern that the resources for OIOS had been gradually increasing despite the financial difficulties of the Organization. They believed that OIOS should be a role model for other departments by reducing the level of its resources yet maintaining enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. The representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic and Algeria raised a number of questions regarding the geographic and national composition of the staff in the Office of OIOS. The representative of Yemen opined that a separate Tribunal, composed of Judges outside the Organization, should be established so as to ensure that staff who directly and indirectly violated the financial rules of the Organization were properly punished.
The representative of Canada (CANZ) felt that a strong internal oversight function in a bureaucracy was a necessary management tool. This important function, he said, had been carried out by OIOS and he supported fully its continued role in UN management. He proposed that OIOS provide inputs into the development of performance measures, which the Organizations lacked experience and expertise. He commended the clarity, conciseness and user-friendly reports of the OIOS which had proven to be a valuable contributions to the work of the Committee.
The Committee will continue its general discussion on the question of thematic reports of the OIOS, 165: Joint Inspection Unit and item 145: Review of the implementation of GA resolution 48/218B.
On Monday, 19 October, the Committee resumed its consideration of agenda item 142(a) Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the Untied Nations peacekeeping operations and had before it a draft resolution A/C.5/53/L.9 on the question of support for peacekeeping operations, submitted by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Miles Armitage (Australia), following informal consultations. The draft resolution recommended to the General Assembly that it would decide to establish within the level of the 400 support account funded temporary posts approved for the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, two civilian posts at the P-4 level (one Humanitarian Affairs Officer and one Civilian Police Officer) for a rapidly deployable mission headquarters and one P-4 post for the Office of Internal Oversight Services. The Assembly would note with concern that the extension of the deadline for the submission for applications for the replacement of type II gratis personnel has resulted in cases of differential treatment among Member States. The General Assembly would take note of the commitment and assurances by the Secretary-General that the recruitment process for the replacement of type II gratis personnel, including those in the two international tribunals, will be completed by 28 February 1999, in accordance with resolutions 52/234 and 52/248.
The Committee adopted the draft resolution as orally revised without a vote.
The Committee began its consideration of agenda item 117: Pattern conferences and heard introduction to the report of the Committee on conferences by the Chairman of that Committee, Mr. Kohji Yamagiwa (Japan). the Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services also made a statement.
Fourteen delegations spoke on the item who fully supported the recommendations of the Committee on Conferences.
On Friday, 23 October, the Committee adopted a draft resolution on the three financing of peacekeeping operations, namely, the Financing of MINURSO (A/C.5/53/L.10) UNMOT (A/C.5/53/L.12), UNPREDEP (A/C.5/53/L.11) endorsing the recommendations of ACABQ.
In that same meeting, the Committee continued its general discussion on the question of exemptions to Article 19 of the charter and had before it a letter from the Government of the Republic of Iraq requesting exemption to Article 19.
Following a statement made by the representative of Iraq, the representative of Kuwait, supported by the representatives of Saudi Arabia and the United States, indicated that the case of Iraq was different from the other requests being considered by the Committee, since, Iraq's economic hardships was the result of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq owing to its non-compliance with General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, therefore, they concluded that the request should be rejected. The representatives of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Cuba, Syrian Arab Republic, Egypt and Suday had no objections to the request of Iraq and appealed that the Committee should look at the case on technical and not political grounds. The matter was referred to informal consultations. At the request of the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Committee decided to seek the views of the Chairman of the Committee on Contributions on her request and to consider all three requests for exemption to Article 19 separately.
At its second week of deliberations, the Fifth Committee took action on the following:
It recommended to the General Assembly, without a vote, to take note of the fourth quarter report of the Secretary-General on death and disability claims;
It recommended to the General Assembly to take note with appreciation of the first report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on its activities during the 52nd session (A/53/7) and request the Secretary-General to bring that report to the attention of the Executive Heads of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations and the Funds and Programmes concerned.
It recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of draft resolution A/C.5/53/L.6 on the question of treatment of savings from improved cost effectiveness. (GA/RES/53/3).
It recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of a draft decision A/C.5/53/L.7 on the administrative arrangements for ITC/UNCTAD/WTO whereby the General Assembly would request the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD and the Joint Advisory Group on the ITC/UNCTAD/WTO to consider the proposals on the new adminsitrative arrangements for ITC/UNCTAD/WTO and would request these bodies to submit their comments, as a matter of priority for its consideration.
The Fifth Committee resumed its consideration on exemption to Article 19 of the Charter under agenda item 118: Scale of Assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations to the General Assembly and had before it a request for exemption to Article 19 submitted by the Governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Republic of the Congo. The representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a statement to refer her request to informal consultations as soon as possible. On his part, the representative of the Republic of the Congo referred to the economic and social situations in his country and agreed with the proposal to refer their requests to informal consultations. He looked forward to a positive and favourable decision of the Committee.
Twenty-one delegations intervened in support for the request to hold informal consultations on the matter. Those consultations will be held on Tuesday afternoon, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Frank Smyth (Ireland).
The Committee also recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of draft resolution (A/C.5/53/L.8) which would reaffirm and strengthen the previous resolution on the matter and reconfirm the deadline on phasing out of gratis personnel by 28 February 1999.
The Fifth Committee began its consideration of the financing of three peacekeeping operations namely, item 125: Financing of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO); 136: Financing of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT); and 140 Financing of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) The action required for the General Assembly were to provide additional resources as a result of the extensions of its respective mandates and the expansions its Mission.
Informal consultations on those three agenda items are scheduled for Monday morning, 19 October 1998, under the chairmanship of Ms. Gabrielle Duschner (Canada), Mr. Lovemore Mazemo (Zimbabwe) and the Chairman of the Committee, H.E. Mr. Movses Abelian (Armenia) respectively.
The Committee began its consideration of agenda item 114: Programme Planning. The report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination on its thirty-eighth session was introduced by the Chairman of the Committee, H.E. Mr. Bagher Asadi (Islamic Republic of Iran). All speakers commended the excellent work and welcomed the new reporting in the Discussion part of the Committee for Programme and Coordination. All expressed satisfaction that the Committee was able to make conclusions and recommendations on all issues. All speakers attached importance to the role of CPC as the main subsidiary organs of the ECOSOC and the General Assembly for planning, programming, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation. All expressed support to the conclusions and recommendations of CPC.
The Committee concluded the general discussion and informal consultations on the item will be coordinated by Mr. Nester Odaga-Jalomayo of Uganda.
On Monday, 5 October, the Fifth Committee approved its Organization of work for the main part of the 53rd session. Also, during this week, the Committee considered, exceptionally and urgently, the recommendations of the Committee on Contributions in Section C, Chapter III of its report (A/53/11), regarding the exception to the application Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations. Following informal consultations on the question, the Committee endorsed the recommendations of the Committee on Contributions contained in paragraphs 32 and 36 of its report, that the failure of the Comoros and Tajikistan to pay the minimum amount necessary to avoid the application of Article 19 was attributable to conditions beyond their control; thus allowing them to vote through the 53rd session of the General Assembly. The Committee received a similar letter from the Governments of Guinea Bissau and Georgia. Following intensive discussions on the procedure, and on the proposal of the representative of Uganda, the Committee adopted the following decision that the General Assembly, without prejudice to Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations and Rule 160 of the Rules and Procedures of the General Assembly, decides to grant temporary waiver for a period of three months beginning 7 October 1998 to Georgia and Guinea Bissau and requests the Committee on Contributions to review the cases of Georgia and Guinea Bissau at its next session.
The Committee also considered in two formal meetings, the report of the Secretary-General on Development account (A/52/1009) and the related report of ACABQ (A/53/7/Add.1), under agenda item 113: programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999. The report of the Secretary-General was introduced by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Mr. Joseph E. Connors, which contained procedures for administering the development account. Also, he assured the Committee that only savings of a lasting nature will be proposed for transfer to the development account and that the level of the development account will be built up until such time the General Assembly decides to change it. The related report of the Advisory Committee as presented by the Chairman of that Committee. The report he said contained only policy issues. The report on the utilization of the development account will be considered by the Advisory Committee and the Fifth Committee at later stage. The Advisory Committee stressed that the transfer of resources derived from efficiency measures to development account should not be a budget reduction exercise and that this transfer should not affect the level of the budget, as approved by the General Assembly. The Advisory Committee suggested that for the sake of better clarity and to avoid the use of a term reserve for financing, accounting and auditing purposes, a more appropriate title for Section 34 of the programme budget could be that of "Supplementary Development Activities". Eleven delegations spoke on the item and all supported the concept of development account. Most speakers expressed concern about the timing for communicating the productivity gains in the context of the performance report and requested the Secretariat to submit a report every six months on the impact of efficiency measures on the implementation of mandated programmes and activities and after approval by the General Assembly. Speakers from the Group of 77 and China expressed concern at the impact of the efficiency measures on the staffing level and the representative of Cuba proposed that the Committee be informed of the number of posts targeted for abolition in the departments concerned. Informal consultations on the question are ongoing under the chairmanship of Mr. Humayun Kabir (Bangladesh). The Committee considered the report of the Secretary-General on support account under the agenda item 143: Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations. The related report of the Advisory Committee are in documents A/52/892 and A/53/418. He said that compared with the staffing table of 346 posts for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, the current recommendations of the ACABQ reflected the establishment of 20 new support account posts for the Department of PeaceKeeping Operations (DPKO), the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), and the Department for Management (DM), and the conversion of 106 positions formally occupied by gratis personnel officers into temporary support account posts in DPKO. Twelve delegations participated in the general debate and all expressed regret that the Secretariat did not fully adhere to the provisions outlined in paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 52/248. The Group of 77 and China reaffirmed that all mandated programmes and activities should be carried out by international civil servants in accordance with Articles 100 and 101 of the UN Charter and insisted on phasing out gratis personnel by February 1999 as set out in General Assembly resolutions 52/234 and 52/248. The European Union strongly believed that backstopping of peacekeeping operations at headquarters must function properly and that in order to avoid putting at risk backstopping capacities for peacekeeping as a result of vacancies, timely recruitment procedures were crucial. The European Union appealed to all delegations to work towards a speedy decision making process to meet its mandated deadline of October 15. Informal consultations on this question are ongoing under the chairmanship of Mr. Miles Armitage (Australia). The Under-Secretary-General for Management apprised the Committee of the current financial situation of the United Nations under the agenda item 115: Improving the financial situation of the United Nations. He confirmed that the financial situation of the Organization has further deteriorated, neither it had abated or reversed and that even the budget for the peacekeeping operations would reached its lowest level at the end of the year. The practice of cross borrowing continues which has affected delay in reimbursing payments to troops contributing countries. He said that the amount of $197 million dollar owed by the United States had not been reflected in the current forecast. He opined that the payment of the amount owed by the United States Government would improve the financial difficulties of the Organization. Twelve delegations intervened in the general debate. They reiterated that the solution to the financial crisis of the United Nations was for Member States to observe strictly their treaty obligations to the United Nations and payment of their assessed contributions, in full, on time and without conditions. In reply to all concerns addressed by most speakers to the Government of the United States, the permanent representative of the United States acknowledged his Government's obligations to pay its assessed contributions to the United Nations. He reiterated that due to a complicated national legislation process, the payment of arrears could not be directly handed to the Organization without passing through the Appropriation Committee and approval of the President of the United States. The Committee had before it the reports of the Secretary-General on the treatment of savings from improved cost effectiveness in UNCTAD (A/52/898 and Corr.1) and the related report of the ACABQ thereon (A/53/7/Add.2). In introducing the report of the Secretary-General, the Controller drew the attention of the Committee to the proposals for allocation of $5.5 million and the breakdown of activities to be undertaken. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee referred to GA decision 52/462 of 31 March 1998 and expressed concern at the precedent created whereby the General Assembly allocated a portion of the unspent balance from the biennium 1996-1997 to activities being undertaken during the current biennium. He advised the Committee to avoid this kind of decision in the future. Three speakers on the question supported the financing of such activity. The question was referred to informal consultations under the chairmanship of Mrs. Sharon Brennen-Haylock (Bahamas). On another issue, the Committee had before it the reports of the Secretary-General on the administrative arrangements for ITC/UNCTAD/WTO in documents A/C.5/52/25 and A/C.5/52//45. The former report provides a historical overview of ITC and outlines in detail the proposals for revised administrative and budgetary arrangements for review, approval, administration and reporting on the implementation of the programme budget of ITC. The latter report, a note by the Secretariat, contains the arrangements entred into by the Secretary-General with the Director-General of World Trade Organization and substantiating document regarding the current arrangements dating back from 1973. The Chairman of the Advisory Committee found that the proposals by the Secretary-General did not fully address a simplified arrangements and suggested a simplified procedure as contained in paragraph 11 of its report A/53/7/Add.3. The representative of Indonesia (Group of 77 and China) believed that the budgetary arrangements proposed by the WTO was against the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and requested the restoration of its current budgetary and administrative arrangements. The question was referred to informal consultations under the Chairmanship of Mrs. Sharon Brennen-Haylock (Bahamas).