Summary: May 7, 2001: Administrative and Budgetary Aspects of the Financing of United Nations Peacekeeping, Agenda item 153. Statement by Ambassador Per Norström, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sweden on behalf of the Europen Union (New York)
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, and the associated countries Cyprus and Malta align themselves with this statement.
At the outset, the European Union would like to thank the Comptroller, Mr. Jean-Pierre Halbwachs for introducing the Secretary-General´s reports on the individual peacekeeping missions, as well as the related reports, including on the support account and the United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi. We would also like to thank Ambassador Mselle for his introduction of the reports of the ACABQ, and the Director of External Audit of South Africa, Mr. Pramesh Bhana, for introducing the report of
the Board of Auditors. We would also like to thank the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight, Mr. Dileep Nair, for introducing the reports of his office. We will focus our statement today on some generic issues regarding the financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations, taking into account issues raised by the ACABQ and the Board of Auditors. However, we recognise that, as the Board points out in its report, some observations cover a selective number of missions, and that the
findings of the Board may well be appropriate to other missions. We note too that in a number of cases the Board of Auditors is required to remind the Administration of the need to implement its previous recommendations.
Mr. Chairman,
The European Union is strongly committed to United Nations peacekeeping, a core function of the Organisation, and we commend all those who every day risk their lives in the effort to create a more peaceful and secure world. The European Union has troops, civilian police and other personnel throughout United Nations peacekeeping missions. The European Union´s large and recently increased share of the financing of peacekeeping operations, as well as its contribution to training of peacekeeping
personnel, is further testament to our unwavering commitment to this effort. In this connection, I would like to add that the European Union and Associated countries´ collective share of the financing of United Nations peacekeeping is more than 40 percent.
The United Nations peacekeeping effort is global. To be able to continue to meet this crucial task the capacity of the United Nations - and in particular that of the DPKO to plan, deploy and manage peacekeeping operations - must be strengthened, to ensure that adequate structure and staffing is in place. The fact that peacekeeping operations in recent years have been given increasingly multifaceted tasks - including the civilian component, reconstruction of institutions, human rights issues and
the rights of children in armed conflicts - also need to be taken into account in this respect.
Mr. Chairman,
The European Union notes that the budgets for four of the largest peacekeeping missions will be submitted to the General Assembly for consideration during the fifty-sixth session, due to recent and anticipated developments which would likely substantially affect the mandates and resource requirements for these missions. In this connection, we want to underline the importance of adhering to normal peacekeeping budget cycles and we would welcome further clarification from the Secretariat in this
regard. The trend is for increasing expenditure on peacekeeping and precise forecasting is crucial to allow Member States to properly plan resource requirements at an early stage. In this context, the European Union would greatly appreciate a presentation by the Secretariat at the beginning of the resumed session in May, which, inter alia, would outline trends of expected expenditure for peacekeeping operations beyond the subsequent fiscal year for the missions, so as to assist Member States in
their planning for adequate budget provisions. That being said, the European Union is willing to accept the Secretary-General´s proposal for bridging action for the missions in question, as outlined by the ACABQ in § 10 of its report (A/55/874).
Regarding the issue of wet-lease and self-sustainment arrangements the European Union agrees with the ACABQ´s conclusion that an effective procedure needs to be put in place for ascertaining the capacity of troop-contributing countries to meet the requirements in this regard, if and when this option forms part of the contingent-owned equipment arrangement. Moreover, the European Union shares the concern expressed by the ACABQ that some troop-contributing countries appear to be experiencing
difficulties in meeting the required level of equipment and self-sustainment. A remedy for this situation must be sought.
The European Union welcomes the study made by the Secretary-General on the use of United Nations Volunteers in peacekeeping operations, and concurs with the recommendation of the ACABQ that the Secretariat should consider ways of making greater use of them in the future, including in substantial areas such as human rights. In addition, the roster system used by the United Nations Volunteers might be considered as a model for the United Nations Secretariat.
Mr. Chairman,
Procurement and inventory management are functions that account for large investments by the Organization. However, the lack of procurement planning and inadequate training of staff in this area gives cause for concern. Furthermore, through the use of the field assets control system (FACS), which is now operational in all peacekeeping missions, better control of United Nations property in peacekeeping missions should be achieved.
With regard to the Support Account, the European Union recalls the decision taken by the General Assembly in December, as part of the ongoing comprehensive review of the structures supporting peacekeeping activities, to approve funding through the support account to cover the requirements for 93 additional posts for DPKO and related non-post requirements for the first six months of this year. The European Union agrees with the recommendations of the Secretary-General in his report on the budget
for the support account for the period 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002. We note that the requirements of the budget are calculated at a "maintenance level", pending submission of the above mentioned review to the legislative bodies and the later submission to the General Assembly of revised resource requirements in the beginning of the 56th session.
Furthermore, the European Union shares the ACABQ´s opinion that urgent measures need to be taken to better streamline the process and shorten the recruitment period as regards filling the additional posts in DPKO that were approved in December. In this connection, the issue of allocation of additional space to the DPKO needs to be addressed as a matter of priority. We also share the concern expressed by the ACABQ regarding an apparent deterioration in the capacity of the Secretariat to handle
current liquidation and eliminating backlogs in areas such as claims and information and personnel management services.
The European Union supports the proposal by the ACABQ to use the most realistic prospective level of resources for those peacekeeping operations for which commitment authority has been granted, when prorating these missions, in line with the recommendation made by the Secretary-General, in order not to distort the assessment rates for active peacekeeping missions.
Mr. Chairman,
Regarding the important issue of Reimbursement of Contingent Owned Equipment, the European Union will revert to this question in a separate statement, when this item is introduced next week. Likewise, the issue of the new scale of assessment for peacekeeping will be addressed separately, when introduced in the third week of this session.
Mr. Chairman,
Regarding the UN Logistics Base at Brindisi the European Union notes the increasing demands put on the Base and reiterates its important role, including the usefulness of maintaining start-up kits in a state of readiness and functioning as a communications hub for peacekeeping missions worldwide, has been demonstrated once again during the current budget period. The European Union also welcomes the use of the Base as a training centre for peacekeeping staff.
The European Union concurs with the observations and recommendations of the ACABQ, in particular with § 11 of its report (A/55/874/Add.8) regarding the unencumbered balance to be credited to the budget of the Base for the period 1 July 2001 - 30 June 2002. Finally, in this connection, we look forward to the comprehensive review on the potential expansion of the role of the Base to be presented by the Secretary-General in the autumn of 2001.
The European Union recognises that many improvements have been made in the management of peacekeeping missions, particularly where findings of the Board of Auditors have brought to our attention the need for adherence to regulations and rules. In this connection, we regret the late issuance of the Board´s report. The European Union believes that, in order for Member States to be able to assess more easily the effective and efficient management of missions, it would be useful for each mission to
set its own objectives related to its administration. These objectives could be reported on in each budget submission. The objectives could either cascade from objectives set at Headquarters as a result of the implementation of recommendations made by the Board, for example in standardising assets, or be set individually at each mission, for example in dealing with the contingent owned equipment verification process, awarding contracts and reporting on vendor performance or managing the FACS.
Missions would also be able to tell us how vacancies affect the attainment of their objectives.
I thank you.
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