Remarks Before the Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Aspects of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Agenda Item 148: Cross-Cutting Issues

AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to thank the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General, Ms. Bettina Tucci-Bartsiotas, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, Ms. Carole Wamuyo Wainaina, Ms. Heidi Mendoza, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services and welcome her in first appearance before the Fifth Committee, and Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Chairman of the ACABQ for introducing their respective reports. I’d further like to thank the Chairman of the Audit Operations Committee of the Board of Auditors for presenting their findings and conclusions earlier this morning.

Mr. Chairman, the reports presented under Agenda Item 148 “cross-cutting issues” enable Member States to examine the whole of peacekeeping – to analyze trends, assess impact, set policy, and promote reform – in short, to oversee the overall efficiency and effectiveness of peacekeeping. This session, the responsibility of the Fifth Committee is of particular importance, as it the first opportunity for this body to consider reforms undertaken by the Secretary-General since the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. The HIPPO, and the Secretary-General’s implementation report identified structural, bureaucratic, operational, and political challenges that need to be addressed to maximize the effectiveness of peacekeeping in a complex and changing landscape of conflict and fragility.

Our support for UN peacekeeping must entail consistent and constructively critical reviews to ensure that peacekeeping remains fit for purpose. In this regard, my delegation places a great deal of importance on the oversight role the Office of Internal Oversight Services plays in peacekeeping operations, and we commend the observations and recommendations made by the Office’s audit, investigation, and evaluation reports. OIOS identified critical areas of concern across several missions in the areas of conduct and discipline, waste management, Umoja implementation, fuel management, and air operations. Mr. Chairman, we note that many of these observations are not new, and we look forward to discussing these and other cross-cutting matters in the Committee and how these recommendations can best be addressed.

Regarding formulation of mission budgets, over the past several years, the Secretariat has introduced several initiatives to help ensure that resources match mandates, including through strategic assessments and civilian staffing reviews. Nonetheless, there is further opportunity to improve peacekeeping budget formulation. We look forward to understanding better the nature of continued variances between appropriation and expenditure, and the redeployment between different classes of expenditure in peacekeeping budgets, as highlighted by the Board of Auditors. In order to ensure that predictive analysis is robust, vacancy rates should better reflect actual vacancies in the missions. Air operations, with a proposed budget of nearly $840m, must continue to become more responsive, efficient, effective, and safe, including achieving economies of scale through greater use of regional assets. More transparency is also needed in how programmatic funds are reflected in mission budgets.

In this regard, we welcome the Secretary-General’s stated commitment to strengthening results-based budgeting frameworks. The RBB framework should be revised to enable this Committee to engage in more strategic oversight of how resources align with mandates, and better determine the effectiveness with which these mandates are delivered.

A second set of issues relates to the operational effectiveness of peacekeeping. My delegation has been a consistent and strong advocate for improving the quality and efficiency of support provided to field missions to ensure that the right people and materiel are available when and where they are needed.

As the Secretariat moves beyond the Global Field Support Strategy, we will continue to support mainstreaming of the initiatives undertaken as part of the strategy. We have seen many positive benefits and achievements from GFSS, resulting in expedited and streamlined service delivery, strengthened accountability, and improved safety and quality of life. At the same time, we recognize that, in some areas, the strategy has not yet fully delivered and that there is continued need to improve the quality, responsiveness, accountability, transparency, cost effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery in peacekeeping missions.

A field-focused approach was a key theme of the HIPPO and of the Secretary-General’s implementation report. Achieving the necessary flexibility, agility and responsiveness will require both near- and longer-term administrative and institutional reforms. We encourage the Secretariat to complete the review of key administrative processes underway, including streamlining processes to increase efficiency. Umoja gives unprecedented transparency over transactions, and we expect that financial regulations and policies and delegations of authority will be revised accordingly.

Mr. Chairman, we look forward to the discussion on the Regional Service Center in Entebbe. The RSCE has the potential to be an effective service provider to all client missions, and could serve as a model for shared service across the entire organization. But right now, that goal seems quite distant. Processes must be re-conceptualized from end to end, and accountability for steps in the new processes between the RSCE and client missions must be made clearer. A culture of client orientation at the RSCE must be strengthened, and the model for scaling shared services at the RSCE to new client missions must be tested and refined. We remain convinced that with strong implementation, this vision is achievable. Additionally, while there have been long-standing efforts to achieve greater transparency and accountability in the UN Logistics Base and the Support Account budgets, we remain concerned that there is still insufficient workforce planning and baselines to justify support functions. Greater progress must further elucidate the roles, responsibilities, and results achieved by the RSCE, the UNLB, and support account.

UN peacekeeping operations often have a significant environmental footprint. My delegation welcomes the positive efforts that the United Nations has already undertaken to reduce its environmental impact, particularly in the areas of waste management and power generation. These efforts will improve cost-efficiency, support the Sustainable Development Goals, and enhance mission security. We support continued prioritization of improved environmental management in peacekeeping operations.

Peacekeeping is still behind the curve in integrating modern technology into its daily operations. Technology policies and standards should enable, not hinder, the United Nations to improve safety and security of civilian and uniformed personnel – including through improved situational awareness and counter-IED capabilities – to modernizing information and communication technology infrastructure, and enhancing connectivity in the field.

The UN must also be able to rapidly deploy well-trained, well-equipped, highly performing civilian, military, and police capabilities that are fit for purpose. The United States has been a strong advocate for shifting peacekeeping to a capability-driven approach that prioritizes more strategic force generation, development of measurable capability and performance standards, and strengthened pre-deployment training.

Another crucial reform to peacekeeping is increasing the number of women in field operations. It is unacceptable, that fifteen years after Security Council resolution 1325 and the Beijing Platform for Action on Gender Equality, where Member States committed to increasing women’s participation in all spheres of society, women remain drastically under-represented in UN peacekeeping. This is especially the case among uniformed personnel, where women only make up 3 percent of military and 10 percent of police. This Committee must engage in strategic and innovative thinking to find sustainable means to increase women’s role in our peacekeeping operations.

Mr. Chairman, regarding the Secretary-General’s report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, my delegation strongly supports the steps taken by the Secretary General to enhance the zero tolerance policy, including through increased transparency, enhanced vetting for personnel, and the implementation of a victim-centered approach. However, as the alarming increase in the number of sexual exploitation and abuse allegations demonstrates, there is still a long way to go in addressing this scourge, and ensuring accountability for those who harm the civilians they should be protecting. In this context, my delegation stands ready to continually support the Organization’s important work in this area. We look forward to hearing from the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for Improving the UN’s Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Ms. Jane Holl Lute, later this afternoon. And we strongly endorse efforts underway to support for victims, and to enhance transparency and accountability in preventing and addressing SEA.

Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, I would like to recall that last year’s cross-cutting resolution was the first in three years. This year, the comprehensive reform agenda initiated by the Secretary-General raises many issues for the consideration of this Committee. We stand ready to work with other delegations to again reach consensus on a resolution that will enable us to collectively exercise our responsibility for the administrative, budgetary and management oversights of peacekeeping, and to advance those major reform issues I have highlighted this morning.

I’d also like to note the presence of the Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, who I failed to mention earlier in my introduction. Thank you for being here.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Source: U.S Department of State

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Robert Williams

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