Speakers today urged the Secretariat to closely track the efficiency and cost benefits gained from the massive restructuring of the United Nations peace and security architecture into two main departments — the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the Department of Peace Operations — as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) reviewed progress in implementing the reform begun in January 2019.
Speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today laid out the urgency of adequately funding the Organization’s 39 special political missions — which form a crucial part of its global peace and security pillar while consuming nearly one quarter of a regular budget facing a worsening liquidity crunch.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent the General Assembly 10 nominations to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) — which plays a crucial role in helping the Fifth Committee examine the Organization’s budget and manage its employees — while delivering 27 additional recommendations to the Assembly for four other of its subsidiary bodies and the International Civil Service Commission.
The representative of the United States today rejected as “patently false and downright insulting” suggestions that her country is responsible for the United Nations liquidity crisis, while other speakers urged those Member States with the capacity to do so to pay their assessments in full and on time, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the question of improving the Organization’s financial situation.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today reacted to the Secretary-General’s proposed programme budget of $2.99 billion for 2021, a net reduction of 2.8 per cent over 2020.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ introduction to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) of the proposed programme budget for 2021, in New York today:
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved a draft resolution that would let three of the four Member States now behind in their contributions to the United Nations budget keep voting in the General Assembly until the end of its seventy-fifth session.
Before approving a programme of work for their seventy‑fifth session, delegates of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today vowed to work together as they tackle an ambitious agenda that embraces the Organization’s second annual budget and crucial reforms meant to expand efficiency and transparency.
Speakers praised and called for more details about the roll-out of a new framework for assigning senior managers greater authority to make decisions and hold their staff accountable for results, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met to review the efficiency of that system in the United Nations Secretariat.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today examined how audit and oversight bodies are functioning across the United Nations organizations, while also weighing the benefits and risks of using cloud computing across these entities.
