(As delivered)
Statement by Mr. Sho Ono
Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
Agenda Item148: Administrative & Budgetary Aspects of Financing UNPKOs:
“Cross-cutting Issues”
Fifth Committee
Second Part of the Resumed Session of the Sixty-Ninth Session
of the United Nations General Assembly
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, I would like to thank Ms. Bettina Tucci-Bartsiotas, the Assistant Secretary-General, Controller, Mr. Atul Khare, the Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support, Ms. Carole Wamuyu Wainaina, the Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Human Resources Management, Ms. Carman L. Lapointe, the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, for introducing their respective reports.
First and foremost, I would like to reiterate Japan’s profound appreciation for all the UN peacekeepers who serve in the field around the world. I would like to also express our deepest condolences for those peacekeepers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, including two Tanzanian peacekeepers in the DRC. Since Japan is not only a major financial contributor but also a troop contributing country, we always take careful consideration of the working conditions of all peacekeepers while debating budgets in the committee.
On this agenda item, I would like to point out that my delegation had been disappointed by the absence over the past two years of a resolution on cross-cutting issues. This year, Member States should enhance their cooperation towards adopting a resolution on this agenda item by consensus.
In this context, my delegation would like to suggest the application of some ideas discussed under the improvement of the working methods of the Fifth Committee in order to reach a consensual agreement in a timely manner, including having initial discussions on principles instead of submitting hundreds of paragraphs which will have little prospect to be adopted, as well as having negotiations on more focused areas with streamlined texts.
My delegation looks to the strong leadership of the able coordinator of this agenda item and will cooperate with her and other partners towards the successful adoption of a resolution on this agenda item.
On the overview report, first and foremost, my delegation would like to suggest that we take a practical approach to tackling issues by prioritizing them, including particularly focusing on the new recommendations put forward by the ACABQ, rather than repeating the same philosophical debate in previous years.
As my delegation stated on the opening day of this session, we believe that budget levels should neither exceed nor fall short of the requirements of each mission's mandate, in particular by examining the levels of civilian staff requirements and operational costs in general. The overview report and the ACABQ report on it highlight various points to be discussed.
First, on the civilian personnel requirements, which constitute approximately 24% of the PKO budget proposal, we highly appreciate continuing developments on the comprehensive civilian staffing review for several missions during the past year, namely MINURSO, UNISFA, MONUSCO, MINUSTAH and RSCE, in accordance with the GA resolution 66/264. In order to ensure the right-sizing of the missions, my delegation strongly expects that the Secretariat will duly address the findings of these reviews identified in the overview report, such as the need to have regular reviews on the staffing requirements and to promote nationalization of staff.
Second, on the operational costs, which constitute approximately 34% of the PKO budget proposal, my delegation closely follows various management reform initiatives, such as Umoja, IPSAS, AIMS, supply chain management, new rations standards, and the electronic fuel management system that are either on track or to be fully implemented. My delegation also believes that the Standard Cost and Ratio Manual (SCRM) should be utilized in an effective manner to avoid over-budgeting in the area of the operational costs.
From the viewpoint of ensuring the fiscal discipline, my delegation notes with concern that budgetary redeployments between expenditure groups and classes are carried out "as a matter of routine without an evaluation". My delegation concurs with the BOA and the ACABQ recommendations on the budgetary redeployment. As my delegation has underscored in the consultation on each PKO mission's budget, we request the Secretariat to project the budget more accurately and implement them with the sense of budgetary ceiling in the each expenditure groups and classes.
As for the accuracy of the projection of PKO budget, my delegation also supports the views of ACABQ on the application of the latest exchange rate in order to avoid over-budgeting. My delegation expects the Secretariat to adjust the proposed levels of the PKO budget accordingly and inform us of it during the informal consultations.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation notes with appreciation that the global field support strategy (GFSS) is concluding its five-year implementation period this June, and looks forward to the future mainstreaming of this initiative. We welcome reported tangible savings of nearly 425 million US dollars generated over the last four budget cycles, which should be examined in detail. We expect that the Secretary-General will comprehensively assess and report the progress made towards the achievement of the end-state vision of this initiative under all the pillars.
On the issues of a second shared service center and the separation of the budget of the RSCE, my delegation has many questions which we expect to be answered by the Secretariat during informal consultations. We would like to examine these proposals from the perspective of the lessons learned through the experiences of GFSS, especially in light of the assessment on the current functioning of the RSCE.
Mr. Chairman,
Regarding sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, my delegation concurs with the view of the Secretary-General that one substantiated case of sexual exploitation and abuse is one case too many. Sexual exploitation and abuse can NOT be tolerated under any circumstances.
In this context, my Government is taking various initiatives including collaboration with the office of SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Last year, Japan provided a voluntary contribution to the UN project “E-learning programme on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse for all categories of field personnel” and hopes this programme will soon be rolled out to all relevant personnel. My delegation will continue to strive to contribute to realizing the zero tolerance policy.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation is looking forward to participating in the negotiations in a proactive and constructive manner working towards achieving a consensus on this agenda item by the scheduled deadline of this session.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
