124. Joint Inspection Unit

At its twenty-first session, in 1966, the General Assembly established the Joint Inspection Unit for an initial period of four years (resolution 2150 (XXI)), and subsequently decided to continue the Unit until 31 December 1973 (resolution 2735 A (XXV)) and then for a further period of four years beyond that date (resolution 2924 B (XXVII)). At its thirty-first session, the General Assembly approved the statute of the Joint Inspection Unit as a subsidiary organ of the Assembly and of the legislative bodies of the specialized agencies that accepted the new statute (resolution 31/192). The membership of the Unit was increased from 8 to not more than 11 Inspectors, with effect from 1 January 1978. For the composition of the Unit, see item 107 (h).

The General Assembly has considered this matter at various sessions from its twenty-first session to the sixty-second session (resolutions 2150 (XXI), 2735 A (XXV), 2924 B (XXVII), 31/192, 32/199, 37/124, 38/229, 39/242, 40/59, 41/213, 42/218, 43/221, 44/184, 45/237, 48/221, 50/233, 51/136, 54/16, 55/230, 56/245, 57/284 A & B, 58/286, 59/267 & 60/258 and decisions 52/467, 53/481, 54/454, 62/226 & 62/246.

At its fifty-fifth session, the General Assembly decided to consider the annual reports of the Unit on an annual basis (resolution 55/230).

At its fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly decided that the Unit should include, in its annual reports, information on implementation and the results achieved by organizations in respect of their follow-up to the recommendations of the Unit, as endorsed by their legislative bodies, and the arrangements put in place by participating organizations for reporting thereon (resolution 59/267).

At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly requested that future reports of the Unit, to the extent possible, also include information on estimated savings, actual savings achieved, acceptance rate of recommendations and implementation status by impact category, particularly regarding system-wide or multi-agency recommendations (resolution 61/238, sect. I); confirmed the existing procedure for the appointment of the inspectors of the Joint Inspection Unit; and decided that, beginning on 1 January 2008, the President of the General Assembly, when drawing up a list of countries that would be requested to propose candidates, in accordance with article 3, paragraph 1, of the statute of the Unit, would invite Member States to submit the names of the countries and their respective candidates simultaneously, on the understanding that the candidates submitted were the candidates that the respective Member States intended to propose, to the extent possible, for appointment by the General Assembly, in accordance with article 3, paragraph 2, of the statute (resolution 61/238, sect. II).

At its resumed sixty-first session, in April 2007, the General Assembly decided to consider jointly the annual report and programme of work of the Joint Inspection Unit at the first part of its resumed sessions, starting from the sixty-second session (resolution 61/260).

At its resumed sixty-second session, in April 2008, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to expedite the implementation of resolution 62/246 and to report to it on an annual basis on the results achieved (resolution 62/246).