Summary: November 17, 2003: Statement on behalf of the European Union by Mr. Roberto Martini, First Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Italy to the U.N. Peacekeeping Operations - item 138, item 140, and item 143. Eighth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations - Fifth Committee (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and the EFTA countries, members of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) declare that they align themselves with this statement.
Mr. Chairman,
Let me first thank Ms. Catherine Pollard for her clear illustration of the important financial issues that we will discuss in this session.
Peacekeeping remains a core function of the United Nations and it is perhaps one of the most high profile and visible endeavours of the Organization. The E.U. is fully committed to supporting peace-keeping operations and welcomes the opportunity to discuss the budgets this session for, "MONUC", "UNMISET", "UNIKOM". Moreover, we await with anticipation the budget, and the ACABQ's comments thereon, for UNMIL.
To this end, it is important also that efficiency be enhanced, by ensuring that the budgeting process of the missions be as accurate as possible.
For this reason, we believe that the use of RBB techniques in peacekeeping budgets is an important step forward: linking requests for resources to outputs and expected accomplishments is essential and, while concurring with the observations of the ACABQ in A/58/447, we commend the Secretariat for its attempt to prepare its estimates using RBB techniques, and strongly encourage further improvements in this field in order to enable a more accurate forecasting of the use of resources against
priorities. At the same time, we underline the importance of introducing and implementing more visible benchmarks, able to monitor the accomplishments of administrative strategies and related budgetary investments.
Moreover, we endorse the ACABQ's comments concerning the efficiency gains which could be achieved by reducing the number of staff travelling to the same meetings, and through greater use of videoconferencing, especially between the Missions and New York. We also consider that standard ratios for items such as IT and transport should be applied because they are a useful concept, and offer firm guidelines within which missions should operate. A good example of practice for efficiency gains is
represented by the UN Logistic Base in Brindisi, where operations are coordinated more efficiently thanks also to a substantial investment in ICT; for this reason we endorse, whenever possible, a greater use of the Base for coordination of new synergies in the Peacekeeping sector.
Another fundamental condition for the successful work of PKOs is that they are given the necessary resources to operate. It's a reason of particular concern for the E.U. that missions are often cash-strapped as a consequence of non-payment of assessments by member states. We should not forget that payments by member states enable missions to function properly as well allowing the Secretariat to reimburse member states for troops and equipment.
Mr. Chairman,
Reading closely the reports before us, we have a few general comments and some specific ones. The ACABQ commented extensively earlier this year on cross-cutting issues such as training, IT, recruitment and travel. Indeed, the concerns raised struck a chord with this Committee and led us to adopt, for the first time, a resolution which focused solely on cross-cutting issues. Despite this, the ACABQ again felt compelled to refer back to its previous comments on these issues in respect of some of
the budgets before us. We would welcome assurances from the Secretariat that these comments, and the contents of our Resolution, were taken into account when the budgets were prepared and that they will continue to guide the Secretariat during its preparation of PKO budgets.
We fully support the comments made by the ACABQ in respect of UNMISET that the issue of disposal of assets must be taken forward in the context of a slower than expected draw-down, and that there must be some form of legally binding agreement regarding the hand-over of weaponry.
We welcome the resolution S/RES/1493(2003) which reinforced the mandate and staffing of MONUC to allow it to more fully implement its mission of peace. The resolution also gave the SG Special Representative the authority to coordinate the efforts of the international community, which will be important during this difficult transitional phase.
In our statement during the 2nd resumed session in May this year the EU said that a reduction in the time taken for filling vacancies was crucial to the operating effectiveness of PKOs. We hope that Galaxy will be rapidly improved and that DPKO will not rely on having to use its own separate monolingual system, because the principle of equality of the working languages is of particular importance for the staffing of this mission.
Also in respect of MONUC, we were concerned by the ACABQ's comments about persistent overbudgeting. Notwithstanding the slower than anticipated build-up, it's worrying that the underspend for the last financial year was 20%. In this respect, we support the ACABQ's recommendation on the proposed revised budget level for MONUC.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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