The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded the first part of its resumed seventy-fifth session today, sending — without a vote — three draft resolutions and one draft decision to the General Assembly for adoption, but failing to reach agreement on the longstanding issue of human resources management.
The global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economic health of Member States is driving home the critical importance of a robust culture of accountability within the United Nations, delegates said today as the resumed session of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the latest reports on the subject against the backdrop of the Secretary-General’s ongoing efforts to reform the Organization.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today opened the first part of its resumed seventy-fifth session, with a view to ending the ongoing deadlock in negotiations on aspects of the United Nations human resources management reform, such as greater recruitment of staff members from unrepresented or underrepresented countries and the removal of career advancement barriers for General Service staff.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) wrapped up the main part of its seventy-fifth session on Wednesday by approving resources of $3.21 billion for the 2021 regular budget, the Organization’s second annual budget in nearly 50 years. After the United States’ representative’s request for a recorded vote, the budget was approved with 151 delegates voting in favour, the United States and Israel voting against, and one abstention by Sudan.
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.
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.
