The Panel of External Auditors’ sixty-second meeting, chaired by Jorge Bermúdez, Comptroller General of Chile, was held from 28 to 29 November as a hybrid session hosted from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at Santiago, Chile. The Panel consists of the Heads of 13 Supreme Audit Institutions who are either elected or selected to conduct the external audit of the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes and specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The meeting was attended by representatives of Supreme Audit Institutions, which constitute the Panel Membership from Chile, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Organization matters
As new and existing conflicts have had far-reaching security and humanitarian consequences across the world, the need for the Organization to respond simultaneously to multiple crises has led to a sharp rise in demand for security support, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a report released today.
In Lebanon, the World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund are coordinating efforts, and the United Nations is seeking $43 million more over the next three months to address the cholera outbreak. As of 22 October, there have been a reported 239 confirmed cases and 10 deaths.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message marking five years of the United Nations System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, in New York today:
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for United Nations Day, observed on 24 October:
The Secretary-General said he was deeply saddened by the death of three peacekeepers from Bangladesh in the Central African Republic when their convoy was hit by an explosive ordnance while on patrol in the evening. One critically injured peacekeeper is in stable condition and receiving medical treatment.
In Uganda, the United Nations is supporting authorities to tackle the impacts of climate change and restore degraded forest lands. In the north-eastern region of Karamoja, which is affected by climate change-induced drought and food insecurity, the Organization has helped rehabilitate 122 hectares of land.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, as delivered by Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, at the wreath-laying at the Baghdad bombing memorial, today in New York:
The General Assembly established the United Nations Board of Auditors in 1946 as an important mechanism to promote accountability and transparency in the United Nations. The Board performs external audit of the accounts of the United Nations organization and its funds and programmes and reports its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) as also to individual governing bodies not under the General Assembly. The members of the Board have collective responsibility for the audits and approved 23 reports at their regular session at United Nations Headquarters, New York, and remotely from Santiago, Bonn, Beijing and Paris from 20—21 July 2022 (refer to annex).
The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its fifty-ninth session from 20-22 July 2022 under a hybrid format at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent. All the other members of the Committee, namely Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko and Imran Vanker, were in attendance throughout the session, with the exception of Agus Pramono (Vice-Chair), who attended on the last day.