Statement by Mr. Jun Yamada
First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
On agenda item 129: Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Main Part of the Sixty-Fifth Session
United Nations General Assembly
15 October 2010

Thank you, Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to extend a warm welcome to Ms. Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, to the Fifth Committee. I would also like to thank Mr. Jun Yamazaki, the Controller, and Ms. Susan McLurg, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for introducing their respective reports on this agenda item.

Mr. Chairman,

Japan welcomes the appointment by the Secretary-General of Ms. Margot Wallström as his Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in February of this year. In this regard, we expect that the Security Council will strengthen its responses to sexual violence in conflict. We very much hope that the Special Representative will implement the mandates conferred on her by the Security Council in its resolution 1888 (2009).

We also thank the Secretary-General for reporting to us what the cost of supporting the office of the SRSG will be during the current biennium. I would now like to take this opportunity to share my delegation’s views on the Secretary-General’s report, in order to facilitate our discussion on this agenda item.

Mr. Chairman,

The ACABQ in its report said that the information provided in the Secretary-General’s report, particularly section III, was rather general in nature, and my delegation agrees. We therefore hope to hear further details about the activities of the Office of the Special Representative and about its work plan for the current biennium. We also note that there is no explanation of what roles the nine posts requested for the Office are expected to play. This too should be remedied. In our view, in short, the Secretary-General has not yet met our expectations that he would explain the needs that his proposal is to meet. We hope that the Secretariat will offer further explanations at the informal consultations.

We would like to call attention to the fact that, in paragraph 28 of its resolution 1888 (2009), the Security Council decided that the mandates of the Special Representative would be reviewed within two years, taking into account that the discussions on establishing the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) were underway. We would like to hear from the Secretariat as to whether the mandates conferred on the Special Representative and UN Women are in fact mutually complementary. We are of the view that the level of resources for the Office of the Special Representative should be commensurate with its mandates given during the current biennium. We were also disappointed to learn from the ACABQ report that, in creating the post of the Special Representative, the Secretary-General did not follow the procedure established by the General Assembly, which is that the establishment of extrabudgetary posts at the D-1 level and above is to be subject to the concurrence of the ACABQ.

Mr. Chairman,

In closing my statement, I would like to reiterate that my delegation will participate actively and constructively in the discussions during the informal consultations on all aspects of this agenda item.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.