Statement by Mr. Hiroshi Onuma

First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations

On agenda item 129: Civilian Capacity

Main Part of the Sixty-Seventh Session

United Nations General Assembly

7 December 2012

 

Thank you Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to thank Ms. Sarah Cliffe, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor for Civilian Capacities, and Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for introducing their respective reports on this agenda item.  In the following statement, I wish to share my delegation’s views on these reports.

Mr. Chairman,

Japan supports the civilian capacity initiative, which allows post-conflict countries to widen the pool of civilian expertise and to facilitate rapid and efficient deployment of said expertise.

 

Japan welcomes the launch of a new online platform, CAPMATCH, in September, as it builds partnerships to support post-conflict recovery, democratic transition, and conflict prevention, either bilaterally or with UN presence on the ground. 

Needless to say, the initiative is cross-cutting in nature and has various aspects for discussion.  While we recognize that much of the initiative is still in the process of development, my delegation believes that it will benefit from this committee’s discussion on the administrative and budgetary aspects, including those raised by the ACABQ report (A/67/583), such as the global focal point system, the flexibility of changing the mix of civilian capacity and the proposed emergency staff deployment facility.

Mr. Chairman,

In closing, I would like to reiterate that my delegation will participate actively and constructively in the discussions on this agenda item.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.