EU Presidency Statement - Financing of UN peacekeeping operations

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey and the EFTA country Liechtenstein have aligned themselves with this statement.

The support account is one of the most important issues that the 5th Committee will examine during this session. The number, quality and performance of UN personnel at UN Headquarters responsible for managing peacekeeping missions are critical to effective performance in the field. We would like, at a time when we witness a decreasing trend in peacekeeping activity, to reiterate our view that the level of the support account has to be commensurate to the number and size of active peacekeeping missions. This does not mean there is a rigid mathematical ratio between the two. However, the support account needs to demonstrate responsiveness to the level of field activity and it is essential that this be a salient feature of future peacekeeping support account budgets.

Allow me also to recall our position, expressed in our statement on the overview of the financing of peacekeeping operations, namely that investments in training and in communications and information technology should aim at improving efficiency and performance. Return on investments needs to be demonstrable, not implicit, and reflected in all future peacekeeping budgets. We expect the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to come forward with a comprehensive plan on training and training-related travel costs in order to ensure that these investments are made on the basis of need-analysis and specific demand.

The European Union welcomes the Secretariat's efforts to improve the presentation of the support account in results-based format (A/57/732), while at the same time concurring with the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions that further improvements should be made. In view of the efforts already undertaken in streamlining the procedures, we had expected concrete information on the actual workload. The indicators of achievement should be more specific and the link between resources, expected accomplishments and outputs should become more clear.

Concerning the resources proposed for the support account, we will examine each request on its own merit, attaching due importance to the recommendations of the Advisory Committee (A/57/776).

In accordance with our long-standing position on supporting gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping, we welcome the relevant report of the Secretary-General (A/57/731) and are convinced of the necessity of establishing the post of a Senior Gender Adviser in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. At the same time, we are looking forward to receiving information on how the Senior Gender Adviser will guarantee close cooperation between DPKO and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues.

Turning to the proposed budget of the United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi (A/57/670), the European Union, mindful of the crucial role of UNLB for the rapid deployment and support of peacekeeping operations, concurs with the observations and recommendations of ACABQ (A/57/772/Add.1).

The EU expects that the increased resources of UNLB for July 2003-June 2004, as requested by the Secretary-General, will contribute, together with the progress to be achieved in the swift implementation of Strategic Deployment Stocks, to improving the overall peacekeeping logistics organization, creating the basis for future operational effectiveness at a higher level as well as efficiency gains.

To this end, the EU favors the expanding role of UNLB as a training center for peacekeeping operations' staff that cannot be trained in the missions. In order to further promote efficiency, we welcome the emergence of UNLB as a global hub for communications and information technology support for peacekeeping operations and for procurement related to peacekeeping, and we are looking forward to the early presentation of the relevant two reports by the Secretary-General, as requested by the ACABQ.

The concept of having regional investigators as a means of utilizing them for most field investigations (A/57/494) appears to have merit, as these investigators would be close to the missions and operationally independent (A/57/494). We have noted the request for 12 posts for a regional investigation capacity in Nairobi and Vienna in addition to those based in N.Y. We will carefully examine this issue.

Allow me now to raise some points related to contingent-owned equipment.

The European Union would welcome further review by the Board of Auditors of such issues as memoranda of understanding, pre-deployment inspections, arrival inspections, verification reports and personnel resources. Let me, at this point, reiterate our support for pre-deployment inspections becoming mandatory.

We agree with the Advisory Committee on the need to streamline the process involved in the negotiation and approval of memoranda of understanding, with a view to signing them, to the extent possible, before deployment.

On death and disability benefits, the European Union welcomes the fact that almost all claims are now processed within the 90-day timeline established by the General Assembly, when complete information is provided by the Member State at the time of submission of the claim. We, therefore, agree with the Advisory Committee that, in future, information on this issue be included in the overview report on peacekeeping operations.

Turning to the OIOS report on policies and procedures for recruiting staff for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (A/57/224), the EU notes with concern that the recruitment process of professional staff in DPKO has shown little improvement between the previous OIOS audit in 1999 and the new audit in 2002.

As a result of the introduction of the new staff selection system and its automated tool, Galaxy, and the implementation of the next steps of the Human Resources Management reform, a series of changes have taken place in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Given the fact that the contents of this OIOS report are already partly outdated, we would welcome a new audit on the actual policies and procedures for recruiting staff and the submission of a report to the General Assembly at its 59th session.

In the meantime, the Department should take the necessary steps to fill vacancies within the 120-day time frame. We welcome the target of 95 days from the posting of the vacancy announcement, as already mentioned in our statement on the overview of peacekeeping operations, and we will follow closely this issue.

We concur, in principle, with the ACABQ recommendation that posts that are not filled within 12 months after becoming vacant or being approved shall be deemed to have lapsed.

On the OIOS report on mission liquidation activities (A/57/622), we are concerned with the delays in liquidation of missions and the view of the OIOS that these are mainly due to the absence of systematic planning and monitoring mechanisms. We expect more information from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on this issue.

Finally, we welcome the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the procurement of goods and services through letters of assist (A/57/718) and support its rcommendations. At the same time, as stated before, the European Union is looking forward to the submission of a relevant report by the Secretary-General on strengthening the role of the Logistics Base at Brindisi in procurement.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.

| Arriba |

• EU Presidency Statement - Financing of UNAMSIL and UNOCI (15/10/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Financing of ONUB (13/10/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Assessments for Peacekeeping Operations (23/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - Review of Peacekeeping Operations (16/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - Financing of UN peacekeeping operations (7/5/2003)