EU Presidency Statement - Joint Inspection Unit

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries-Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia-as well as the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey -and the EFTA countries belonging to the European Economic Area-Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway- have aligned themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

Let me first of all express our thanks to Mr. Armando Duque Gonzalez, Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit for presenting the Joint Inspection Unit's reports.

The E.U. attaches a great importance to inspection activities as a fundamental tool to enhance efficiency of the system of the UN.

The JIU, being the only system-wide independent external oversight body, should have a special place among the three UN monitoring organs. However, in recent years, the General Assembly has repeatedly raised some critical points concerning the work of the JIU, included the content of reports, their late appearance, the adequacy of recommendations, the need to improve coordination between JIU and other oversight bodies.

These are not only the concerns of the 5th Committee. During the 43rd Session of the Committee on Programme and Coordination (CPC) some delegations expressed their concern about the performance of the JIU and recommended the JIU to undertake an in-depth review of its Statute, working methods and proceedings and to present to the Fifth Committee at the 58th session of the GA concrete proposals.

In response to the request, the JIU presented a report on the preliminary review of its Statute and working methods where it addresses some of the concerns expressed by member states. The EU welcomes the forthcoming reaction of the JIU and requests the Unit to present the final review during this session.

The EU is prepared to discuss with all other interested delegations the reform of the JIU this autumn, also in the context of the annual programme of work of the JIU.

Mr. Chairman,

Coming to the other reports presented by the JIU, the European Union welcomes the report A/58/220 on the implementation by the Secretary-General and executive heads of organizations of the United Nations system of the approved recommendations of the JIU in important sectors, such as improving the system capacity for conflict prevention and peace-keeping, or ameliorating travel efficiency and cost savings in the UN.

The EU has also taken note of the JIU's report A/58/34 on the activities carried out by the Unit from January 1st to December 31st 2002, the report A/58/64 on the programme of works for 2003 and the Report A/58/291 on the programme of work for 2004.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Art. 19 of UN Charter (8/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN Administrative and Financial Functioning  (8/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - Financial reports and reports of the Board of Auditors (7/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - Organization of work of the Fifth Committee (30/9/2003)