UN Photo/Isaac Billy
The General Assembly made important strides in revitalizing its work during the reporting period, supported by the Secretariat where appropriate. For instance, it brought forward the elections of non-permanent members of the Security Council and members of the Economic and Social Council, introduced innovations in the selection process of my successor and enhanced its interaction with civil society. Intergovernmental negotiations continued on Security Council reform even as a commonly agreed formula continued to elude the membership as a whole. The Secretariat, meanwhile, continued to modernize and improve conference services provided to Member States, including through the use of new technologies to improve the timeliness and quality of multilingual documentation.
A similarly energetic use of technology and multilingual platforms, both traditional and digital, was applied to public information outreach activities during the reporting period to popularize the achievements and activities of the Organization, particularly the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. To mark the seventieth anniversary of the Organization, a year-long commemoration was undertaken. The various observances of the seventieth anniversary helped to connect the Organization to local and grassroots audiences worldwide and to engender further support for the United Nations and its work.
Following a decade of comprehensive management reform, the Secretariat is now well positioned to operate as a modern, efficient and integrated global organization. Through Umoja, the new enterprise resource planning system, business processes have been standardized and automated across our global operations. This is an opportunity to review the way we do business and to simplify and streamline processes and consolidate the fragmented administrative architecture of the Secretariat. In the hope of strengthening our stewardship of the resources Member States entrust to us, my proposal for a new global service delivery model is being developed and will be presented to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session.
The new staff selection and managed mobility system was launched starting with POLNET (political, peace and humanitarian job network) on 1 January 2016. This system provides a more strategic and global approach to human resources management while building an adaptable global workforce of staff with diversified skills and experience. Significant progress has been made in reducing the fragmentation of information and communications technology resources, which in turn enhances the Organization’s ability to support Umoja and to comply with technology standards and best practices. There has also been progress on modernizing the office environment. The first phase of flexible workplace implementation started in January 2016.
During my tenure, the internal system of administration of justice which forms part of the accountability architecture of the Organization was established. The General Assembly envisaged a system that, inter alia, ensures the accountability of managers and staff members alike. The report of an independent panel and my comments on its assessment of the system are the subject of separate reports for the Assembly’s consideration during the seventy-first session.
Enterprise risk management has been a key part of my vision of a strengthened Secretariat. It facilitates effective strategic decision-making across the Organization and stimulates healthy dialogue at the most senior levels on critical issues in an environment of growing complexity and uncertainty. Following a Secretariat-wide risk assessment, the Organization is taking steps to mitigate the top strategic risks to the Organization in areas such as organizational structure; organizational transformation; strategic planning and budget allocation; safety and security; extrabudgetary funding and management; and human resources strategy, management and accountability.
One of the most critical risks facing the Organization is the current security environment. Improvements in security management practices and policies have proved effective in containing casualties: a lower number of personnel have been killed as a result of violence since 2011, despite the increasing number of attacks against the United Nations. Tragically, however, in addition to the high losses of uniformed personnel mentioned in paragraph 37, 15 civilian personnel lost their lives as a result of acts of violence, mostly due to crime and civil unrest. The Organization has also focused on strengthening its duty of care to staff deployed in high-risk environments, balancing it with the implementation of critical United Nations programmes and mandates. In the global context, the Organization is determined to pursue effective and coordinated responses, consolidating its resources through the integration of all the security resources of the Secretariat under the Department of Safety and Security, and enhancing collaboration with host Governments towards greater security of United Nations personnel and accountability for perpetrators of crimes against United Nations personnel.
Partnerships
The United Nations has long recognized the power of partnering as a specific element of its work. Partnerships should include not only Governments but also businesses, private philanthropic foundations, international organizations, civil society, volunteer groups, local authorities, parliaments, trade unions, research institutes and academia. Multi-stakeholder arrangements have proved successful because they expand on traditional partnerships by significantly increasing available resources, improving the effectiveness of their use and increasing policy and operational coherence. Such partnerships can channel commitments and actions, and their success depends on assigning roles, responsibilities and clear accountability. The multi-stakeholder partnership model has emerged as a promising way to share burdens, catalyse action and bring all relevant actors to bear in addressing specific problems.
Multi-stakeholder partnerships are critical for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Engagement with business is proving especially important. Through our main initiative for mobilizing the private sector — the United Nations Global Compact — more than 8,000 companies are advancing principle-based business practices and advancing United Nations goals. A majority of companies surveyed indicate that they are aware of the Sustainable Development Goals and a similar majority state that they are willing to implement the Goals in their business plans. A clear trend is emerging: business organizations, including investors, seeing themselves as legitimate and involved actors in the broad sustainable development agenda. The Paris Agreement on climate change marks another milestone in terms of our ongoing collaboration with the international business community — and likewise opens new opportunities for partnership and cooperation between the United Nations and business on this most urgent global issue.
Enhancing the integrity and accountability of the United Nations in working with the private sector is essential. The revised guidelines on United Nations-business cooperation are serving as a critical framework for coherent and transparent private sector engagement as the United Nations implements the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. These Guidelines on a Principle-based Approach to the Cooperation between the United Nations and the Business Sector also refer to the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with clear language on transparency and stakeholder accountability.