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.
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:
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.
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.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), continuing its first resumed session, put a spotlight on human resources management today, with delegates hailing progress towards gender parity among the Secretariat’s more than 37,000 staff members worldwide while also pressing for greater efforts to recruit personnel on as wide a geographical basis as possible.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened the first part of its resumed seventy‑fourth session today, approving its provisional work programme amid an outcry from some delegates over the General Assembly’s 14 January decision to expand membership of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) without consulting them.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the main part of its seventy‑fourth session on Friday, approving resources totalling $3.07 billion for 2020, its first annual budget since 1973 and $200 million more than the $2.87 billion outlay proposed by Secretary‑General António Guterres in early October.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) briefly met today to inform Member States of the extension of its work until Friday, 27 December.
The United Nations ability to carry out its mandate has been constrained by cash shortages in 2018 and 2019, its top official for accounting-related activities warned the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as the representative of the Russian Federation challenged the way the Organization is managing the liquidity crisis.
At today’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting, Japan’s delegate expressed her concerns with a Secretariat request to approve $64.5 million in new charges against the contingency fund set aside for the Organization’s upcoming 2020 regular budget.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today backed the full 2020 funding of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) at $20.4 million to help the mission created in June by the Security Council carry out its mandate to create a peaceful and stable environment.
United Nations conference facilities in Kenya’s capital badly need upgrading and expansion as a centre for multilateralism, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today, as it also examined the required financial resources to implement resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council.
The United Nations Controller and the Chairman of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) urged delegates today to accelerate their efforts to agree on a 2020 budget in order to prevent a shutdown of most global operations and avoid exacerbating the Organization’s ongoing liquidity crisis.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today expressed concern about delays in renovating the historic Africa Hall at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa and questioned the need for an independent evaluation of the ongoing flexible workplace renovation at New York Headquarters, as they debated construction and property management matters.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today criticized the Secretariat for the recurring delays and cost overruns enveloping the complex billion-dollar enterprise resource planning project — known as Umoja — as the Organization faces increasing fiscal constraints that are jeopardizing its delivery of mandates.
Member States expressed their concerns today that the ongoing construction project at the United Nations premises in Geneva might require more assessed contributions from them, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) discussed ways to mitigate a possible cost overrun for the more than $800 million undertaking in the Swiss city.
With less than 16 working days until the scheduled 13 December close of the main part of its seventy-fourth session, the Chairman of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budget) today warned Member States that the skyrocketing number of budget questions directed towards Secretariat officials is dangerously delaying the Committee’s work.
