UNIFIL – Finance – Fifth Cttee report (Addendum)

FINANCING OF THE UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCES IN THE

MIDDLE EAST:  UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON

Report of the Fifth Committee (Part II)

Rapporteur:  Mr. Ihor V. HUMENNY (Ukraine)

I.  INTRODUCTION

1. The previous recommendation made by the Fifth Committee to the General Assembly under agenda item 123 (b) appears in the report of the Committee contained in document A/51/725.

2. The Fifth Committee resumed its consideration of the item at its 56th, 57th, 69th and 70th meetings, on 12 and 13 May and 5 and 6 June 1997.  Statements and observations made in the course of the Committee's consideration of the item are reflected in the relevant summary records (A/C.5/50/SR.56, 57, 69 and 70).

3. For its consideration of the item, the Committee had before it the reports of the Secretary-General (A/51/535/Add.1 and 2) and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (A/51/684/Add.1).

II.  CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTION A/C.5/51/L.71

4. At the 69th meeting, on 5 June, the representative of the United Republic of Tanzania, on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China, introduced a draft resolution entitled "Financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon" (A/C.5/51/L.71).

5. At the 70th meeting, on 6 June, the representative of Portugal informed the Committee of the results of informal consultations on the item.

6. At the same meeting, the representative of Mexico read out the following amendments to the draft resolution, which had been agreed upon during informal consultations:

(a) A new operative paragraph was inserted after operative paragraph 4, reading:

"5. Endorses the observations and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, subject to the provisions of the present resolution"

and the subsequent paragraphs were renumbered accordingly;

(b) Operative paragraph 7 (former para. 6), which had read:

"7. Decides to exclude from the budget of the Force for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 the costs directly attributable to the incident of 18 April 1996, in the amount of 844,318 dollars, and the cost of the relocation of the Fijian battalion, in the amount of 880,300 dollars"

was replaced by the following text:

"7. Authorizes the Secretary-General to enter into commitments for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the amount of 1,773,618 dollars to cover the costs resulting from the incident at the United Nations headquarters at Qana on 18 April 1996";

(c) In operative paragraph 8 (former para. 7), the word "only" was deleted before the words "by Israel".

7. At the same meeting, the representative of the United States of America requested a separate vote on operative paragraph 8, as amended.

8. Also at the same meeting, the Committee adopted operative paragraph 7, as amended, by a recorded vote of 58 to 2, with 52 abstentions.  The voting was as follows:

In favour:  Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Jordan, Kazakstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar,  Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Against:  Israel, United States of  America.

Abstaining:  Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Venezuela.

9. Also at the 70th meeting, the Chairman made a statement.  At the request of the representative of the United States of America, the Committee proceeded to vote on draft resolution A/C.5/51/L.71, as a whole, as amended.  The draft resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 107 to 2, with 3 abstentions (see para. 10).  The voting was as follows:

In favour:  Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kazakstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Against:  Israel, United States of America.

Abstaining:  Japan, Russian Federation, Ukraine.

III.  RECOMMENDATION OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE

10. The Fifth Committee recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft resolution:

Financing of the United Nations Force in Lebanon

The General Assembly,

Having considered the reports of the Secretary-General on the financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon¹ and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, ²

Bearing in mind Security Council resolution 425 (1978) of 19 March 1978, by which the Council established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, and the subsequent resolutions by which the Council extended the mandate of the Force, the latest of which was resolution 1095 (1997) of 28 January 1997,

Recalling its resolution S-8/2 of 21 April 1978 on the financing of the Force and its subsequent resolutions thereon, the latest of which was resolution 50/89 B of 7 June 1996,

Reaffirming that the costs of the Force are expenses of the Organization to be borne by Member States in accordance with Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling also its previous decisions regarding the fact that, in order to meet the expenditures caused by the Force, a different procedure is required from that applied to meet expenditures of the regular budget of the United Nations,

Taking into account the fact that the economically more developed countries are in a position to make relatively larger contributions and that the economically less developed countries have a relatively limited capacity to contribute towards such an operation,

Bearing in mind the special responsibilities of the States permanent members of the Security Council, as indicated in General Assembly resolution 1874 (S-IV) of 27 June 1963, in the financing of such operations,

Noting with appreciation that voluntary contributions have been made to the Force,

Mindful of the fact that it is essential to provide the Force with the necessary financial resources to enable it to fulfil its responsibilities under the relevant resolutions of the Security Council,

Concerned that the Secretary-General continues to face difficulties in meeting the obligations of the Force on a current basis, including reimbursement to current and former troop-contributing States,

Concerned also that the surplus balances in the Special Account for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon have been used to meet expenses of the Force in order to compensate for the lack of income resulting from non-payment and late payment by Member States of their contributions,

Recalling its resolution 50/89 B, in which it requested the Secretary-General to include in his next report on the financing of the Force a full evaluation of damages resulting from the incident that occurred at the headquarters of the Force at Qana on 18 April 1996 and the costs thereof,

1. Takes note of the status of contributions to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon as at 30 April 1997, including the contributions outstanding in the amount of 176.8 million United States dollars, representing 6.6 per cent of the total assessed contributions from the inception of the Force to the period ending on 30 June 1997, notes that some 16 per cent of the Member States have paid their assessed contributions in full, and urges all other Member States concerned, in particular those in arrears, to ensure the payment of their outstanding assessed contributions;

2. Expresses concern about the financial situation with regard to peacekeeping activities, in particular as regards the reimbursement of troop contributors, which bear burdens owing to overdue payments by Member States of their assessments;

3. Expresses its appreciation to those Member States which have paid their assessed contributions in full;

4. Urges all other Member States to make every possible effort to ensure payment of their assessed contributions to the Force in full and on time;

5. Endorses the observations and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary questions,² subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to take all necessary action to ensure that the Force is administered with a maximum of efficiency and economy;

7. Authorizes the Secretary-General to enter into commitments for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the amount of 1,773,618 dollars to cover the costs resulting from the incident at the United Nations headquarters at Qana on 18 April 1996;

8. Decides also that the total amount mentioned in paragraph 7 above, namely 1,773,618 dollars, shall be borne by Israel;

9. Decides to appropriate to the Special Account for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon the amount of 124,969,700 dollars gross (120,860,700 dollars net) for the maintenance of the Force for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, inclusive of the amount of 4,708,300 dollars for the support account for peacekeeping operations, to be assessed on Member States at the monthly rate of 10,414,142 dollars gross (10,071,725 dollars net) in accordance with the composition of groups set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 of General Assembly resolution 43/232 of 1 March 1989, as adjusted by the Assembly in its resolutions 44/192 B of 21 December 1989, 45/269 of 27 August 1991, 46/198 A of 20 December 1991, 47/218 A of 23 December 1992, 49/249 A of 20 July 1995, 49/249 B of 14 September 1995, 50/224 of 11 April 1996 and 51/218 A and B of 18 December 1996 and its decisions 48/472 A of 23 December 1993 and 50/451 B of 23 December 1995, and taking into account the scale of assessments for the years 1997, as set out in its resolution 49/19 B of 23 December 1994 and its decision 50/471 A of 23 December 1995, and 1998,³ subject to the decision of the Security Council to extend the mandate of the Force beyond 31 July 1997;

10. Decides also that, in accordance with the provisions of its resolution 973 (X) of 15 December 1955, there shall be set off against the apportionment among Member States, as provided for in paragraph 9 above, their respective share in the Tax Equalization Fund of the estimated staff assessment income of 4,089,000 dollars approved for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998;

11. Decides further that there shall be set off against the apportionment among Member States, as provided for in paragraph 9 above, their respective share in the estimated other income of 20,000 dollars for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998;

12. Decides that, for Member States that have fulfilled their financial obligations to the Force, there shall be set off against their apportionment, as provided for in paragraph 9 above, their respective share in the unencumbered balance of 2,863,500 dollars gross (2,679,700 dollars net) in respect of the period ending on 30 June 1996;

13. Decides also that, for Member States that have not fulfilled their financial obligations to the Force, their share of the unencumbered balance of 2,863,500 dollars gross (2,679,700 dollars net) for the period ending on 30 June 1996 shall be set off against their outstanding obligations;

14. Invites voluntary contributions to the Force in cash and in the form of services and supplies acceptable to the Secretary-General, to be administered, as appropriate, in accordance with the procedure and practices established by the General Assembly;

15. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-second session, under the item entitled "Financing of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Middle East", the sub-item entitled "United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon".

Notes

¹A/51/535/Add.1 and 2.

²A/51/684/Add.1.

³To be adopted by the General Assembly.

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