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Statement by H.E. Ambassador Hiroshi Minami
Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
Organization of Work
Second Resumed Session of the Fifth Committee
1 May 2017

 

 

Madam Chair,

 

At the outset, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you for your strong leadership, which led to the successful and timely completion of the first resumed session of this committee. I believe that under your able guidance we will be able to finish this second resumed session on time as well, despite the challenging agenda before us.

 

The peacekeeping budget is of a time-bound nature, and as such is the first priority of this session. With regard to the deliberations on the peacekeeping budget proposal, I would like to say first that my delegation fully supports the UN’s peacekeeping operations, as they are intended to enable the Organization to achieve peace and security, which is one of the three pillars of the United Nations, and we are of the view that the PKOs should be provided with the necessary resources for the successful implementation of their mandates.

 

At the same time, the need for the efficient, effective and accountable management of peacekeeping operations cannot be overemphasized. My delegation attaches great importance to this aspect, not only because the peacekeeping budget is ultimately borne by the taxpayers of the Member States, but, more importantly, because we believe that redundant resources without proper management will ultimately undermine the effective operation and long-term sustainability of this Organization.

 

My delegation would like to stress the importance of this Committee exercising its vital responsibility to closely scrutinize the requests of the Secretary-General, and to affirm that we are ready to engage in the negotiations so that this Committee may reach an agreement on budget levels which will properly meet the actual requirements to implement each mission's mandate, in particular through examination of the levels of civilian staff costs and operational requirements, including achievements of efficiency measures.

 

 

Madam Chair,

 

As we move on to the negotiations, my delegation will continue to base its position on the following considerations:

 

First, assessed contributions must be used only for adequate purposes. The budgets to be funded by assessed contributions should cover activities or outputs that are logically concluded as legitimate to be borne by all the Member States, based on clear mandates given by relevant bodies.

 

Second, the resource requirements proposed by the Secretariat should reflect the intention of the intergovernmental bodies in a correct and precise manner. The task of the Fifth Committee is to scrutinize the relationship between the mandate and the actual resource requirements proposed by the Secretariat so as not to allow any broad interpretation.

 

Third, the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters. My delegation believes that this responsibility includes procedural aspects as they relate to administrative and budgetary considerations. The second resumed session should be first and foremost devoted to the deliberation on PKO budgets; consideration of any other item should begin thereafter and should not hamper the swift and timely deliberation on the PKO budgets. In this regard, my delegation believes in your strong leadership, Madam Chair, to guide us through this challenging session and we extend our full support to you.

 

In closing, my delegation looks forward to participating in the negotiations in a positive and constructive manner toward achieving a consensus on all the agenda items by the scheduled deadline of this session.

 

I thank you, Madam Chair.