Adapting UN structures to a rapidly evolving world.

With UN worldwide responsibilities now expanding to virtually every conceivable area of human activity - "from every angle of vision, chronological, practical, functional, conceptual, individual and institutional, we come to one conclusion", asserted Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his annual report to the General Assembly.

"Humanity's project is now truly universal, and to cope with it we must fashion comprehensive and integral projects, policies and efforts," he declared.

The main objective of UN restructuring is therefore, "to consolidate and streamline the activities of the Organization into well-defined functional categories" to ensure effective implementation of mandates entrusted to the Secretariat by the policy-making organs, he stated in a 29 September report on the restructuring and efficiency of the Secretariat.

During the wide-ranging reform's first phase initiated in February 1992, a number of offices were regrouped and related activities consolidated. "As a result, unnecessary bureaucratic layers have been reduced and certain peripheral activities eliminated," he reported.

Among the structural changes:

* A Department of Political Affairs was created to encompass the former Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, Centre Against Apartheid, the Office for Political and General Assembly Affairs, the Department for Special Political Questions, Regional Cooperation, Decolonization and Trusteeship, and the Department for Disarmament Affairs.

* A new Department of Peacekeeping Operations was established, incorporating the former Office for Special Political Affairs.

* A Department of Economic and Social Development was formed, to replace the Department of international Economic and Social Affairs, the Department of Technical Cooperation and Development, the UN Centre on Transnational Corporations, and the Centre for Science and Technology for Development.

* A new Department of Humanitarian Affairs was established, absorbing the functions performed by the Office of the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator, the Unit for Special Emergency Programmes, and various offices and units dealing with emergencies and humanitarian assistance programmes.

* The Department of Conference Services became an Office and was made part of the Department of Administration and Management.

In a second wave of organizational restructuring related to economic and social affairs, the Secretary-General decided to establish three new Secretariat departments, focusing respectively on policy coordination and sustainable development; economic and social information and policy analysis: and development support and management services.

Persistent attempts

As with previous restructuring exercises, the new measures have sought to develop clearer lines of authority, responsibility, accountability and communication; improve coordination; and avoid duplication of work.

However, one UN body - the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions - noted in March that "there is a need for a clear statement of an overall restructuring plan and a time-frame for its implementation". The Committee thought the Secretary-General should demonstrate "how the restructuring, would achieve the management aim of a more responsive, cost-effective, streamlined Secretariat".

Indeed, restructuring and reform are not challenges which are unique to the current UN administration.

"The haphazard growth arid complexity of the United Nations Secretariat has led to persistent attempts at reform over the years, including major attempts in, 1953, 1961, 1966, 1969, 1975, 1982, 1986 and 1992", the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) - the General Assembly's watchdog - reported (A/48/420) this year (see story pg. 44).

While the Unit expressed "full respect" for continued reforms, it also was concerned that "rapid and continuing restructurings risk accentuating confusion and blurring responsibilities".

The JIU warned: "Worst of all, they might become an end in themselves, actually serving to avoid accountability through the turmoil of endless organizational reshuffling."

~Group of 18':

Major precursor 

A major precursor to the present process of reform was the creation of the 18-member Group of High-level inter-governmental Experts to Review the Administrative and Financial Functioning of the UN. This prestigious panel, established in December 1985 by resolution 40/237, produced 71 recommendations to streamline the UN structure, describing it in its report as "too complex, fragmented and top-heavy".

Among the proposals were: staff cuts; significant reductions in the number of conferences, resolutions and reports; improved coordination in work programmes to eliminate duplication; and measures to ensure the recruitment of women.

The Group's recommendations, which gave particular attention to restructuring in economic and social activities, were adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 1986 (resolution 41/213), marking what one Member State described then as "the beginning, not the end, of a process of reforming and improving the organization".

Accountability

emphasized

As that process stretched into the 1990s, reform has focused not only on streamlining, but also on ensuring that the UN operates in an atmosphere of accountability and responsibility".

In 1993, internal controls and audit mechanisms, the Secretary-General has reported (A/48/1), were strengthened as requested by Member States in different forums.

In August, in the wake of continuing critism of UN performance, he created the new post of Assistant Secretary-General to oversee the office for inspections and investigations, incorporating various units dealing with audit, management advisory services, evaluation and monitoring, currently within the Department of Administration and Management.

"This appointment is the first step towards the establishment of a higher level post with broader audit, evaluation and investigation authority", reported the Secretary-General,

The new Assistant Secretary-General, Mohamed Aly Niazi of Egypt, has a strong track record of not only investigating allegations of mismanagement, but also of tracking them down and saving the UN millions of dollars in the process, a UN official stated after announcing the appointment on 24 August.

Mr. Niazi, he said, would be examining closely "every single allegation of fraud and mismanagement", reporting directly to the Secretary-General and working closely with the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management.

Uncovering waste

and fraud

In a report on "accountability and oversight" in the UN Secretariat (A/48/420), the JIU expressed the opinion that Mr. Niazi could "contribute greatly to reducing the serious deficiencies in present oversight, accountability, internal control and management improvement processes".

However, Inspectors were concerned "lest Member States and Secretariat managers, in a commendable zeal for economy, try to establish accountability and oversight controls ~on the cheap'".

In addition, uncovering waste, fraud and corruption must be joined by improved management. "Thus, it is vital that the new office devote substantial time and resources to assisting the Secretary-General in creating and maintaining a dynamic management culture throughout the Secretariat", the JIU reported.

The Unit further recommended that in considering establishment of a "higher level post", the General Assembly should:

* Carefully assess the many long-standing problems of the former oversight units, which shared certain fundamental shortcomings, including understaffing, particularly qualified, competent people; lack of independence; and gaps in coverage of large-scale and complex field operations;

* Seek to institutionalize independence, accountability, flexibility, transparency, professionalism, improved compliance, economies of scale and, above all, managerial improvement, which a single, consolidated internal oversight unit could offer; and

* Consider establishing a UN Office of Accountability and Oversight, with a mandate to audit, inspect, investigate, evaluate and help improve UN programmes, activities and personnel practices for which the Secretary-General had administrative responsibility.

UN management and personnel practices were criticized in a controversial report presented to the Secretary-General in 1993 by former United States Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, who left his post as Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management on 26 February.

Mr. Thornburgh claimed that "defects exist in nearly every aspect of present personnel practices", and he complained about a shortage of qualified managers at the UN.

It is "not easy to stand back and consider what needs to be done for the future - for the management and development of the human resources of the Organization for the nineties, and into the twenty-first century", the Secretary-General told the Staff/Management Coordinating Committee in New York on 20 September. "But today we must do just that. We must consider how to manage and develop the human resources on which so much depends."

He added: "For the rest of this century, and into the next, the staff will be central to the world's peace and development."

Answering charges

Melissa Wells, Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, stressed to reporters in New York on 26 August that the Secretary-General was "deeply committed to reform and to addressing waste, abuse and fraud through a system-wide approach".

Responding to press charges of corruption and inefficiency related to UN procurement, particularly in Cambodia, Ms. Wells said the UN was currently investigating "alleged irregularities in the bidding process".

Problems with procurement of minivans and pre-fabricated houses in Cambodia had arisen due to the lack of "perfect vision into the future", she said.

A survey team had assessed a need for a certain number of pre-fab housing for outlying areas, but within four to six months people had begun building houses. So pre-fab units had been redirected to Somalia and other areas.

Similarly, the number of minivans needed was overestimated, but when the Organization had tried to cancel its original order, the manufacturer had refused.

Ms. Wells also addressed recent tightening of security at UN Headquarters in the wake of the World Trade, Center bombing, which included suspending public guided tours. The UN "could not open its doors as it had done in the past", she stated. It had now become a place "where dramatic, unfortunate incidents can occur".

Security Council

With the dramatic growth in UN membership and changes in the global balance of political and economic power, there has been increasing pressure for reconsidering the composition of the Security Council, especially the possible addition of permanent members.

Following a General Assembly request (resolution 47/62) in 1992, Member States were asked to comment on possible review of Council membership. "Proposals warranting serious study are now on the table", the Secretary-General reported to the Assembly. "The question of the Security Council's membership structure is of crucial importance, and I look forward to the issue being resolved by the time of the fiftieth anniversary of the Organization."

On its creation in 1945, the UN's membership numbered 51, and the Council was composed of 11 nations, including 5 permanent members. UN Charter provisions on the Council's composition and voting procedures were formally amended once, in December 1963, when membership was raised from 11 to 15, and the vote required for adoption of decisions went from 7 to 9. No changes were made regarding permanent members or the veto,

Recently, Japan and Germany have laid claim to permanent Council seats, primarily because of their increasing financial contributions to the UN. Other countries, such as Brazil, Egypt, India and Nigeria, have also sought permanent membership, because of demographic importance or political influence in their regions or special groups. Any changes require a formal amendment to the Charter.

Among proponents of increased Council membership is Ali Alatas, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, who, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, told the press on 5 October that the number of permanent and non-permanent members should be augmented, Particularly the number of developing countries.

Towards that end, the Movement had established, he said, some principles for membership based on economic and political weight, geographic representation and demographic realities. The Movement also favoured eliminating the veto.

However, the United States Commission on improving the Effectiveness of the UN - a privately-funded group established by Congress in 1987 - stated in its final report of September 1993 that "a greatly expanded Council could prove unwieldy and impaired in its ability to reach consensus on major issues".

It suggested that to assure adequate participation in the Council of major Powers not now represented, a permanent seat be given to each of three regions - Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. To Prevent the Council from growing too large, the Commission would prefer to include representatives from those regions, as well as from Germany and Japan, without changing the Council's present size of 15 members.

Future composition

A consultation in November 1992 on the role and composition of the security Council, co-sponsored by the International Peace Academy and the Stanley Foundation, was attended by several Permanent Representatives to the UN and personalities from the media, academia, and business. The experts strongly agreed that changes in the Council's composition would be "inevitable" and clarifications of its role and relationship with the General Assembly were desirable.

Some expressed misgivings over a lack of openness in the decision-making process of the Council. Many of its actions seemed to be taken in advance by the five permanent members, it was felt, and the Council was resorting more often to closed-door informal consultations to discuss important issues.

That concern was also raised in June 1993 when speakers at a resumed Assembly session called for summaries of Council informal consultations to be included in its annual report to increase transparency and inform general UN membership of its intentions.

On 4 August, Council President Madeleine K. Albright of the United States said that a number, of steps would be taken to bring greater transparency to the work of the Council, including posting its agenda on a daily basis.

General Assembly

While the General Assembly is "playing an increasingly practical role in world activities", the Secretary-General in his annual report stated that its work "could be further streamlined".

Noting that many resolutions did not address policy issues, but were more in the line of work programme decisions (i.e. taking note of a report and requesting the Secretary-General to prepare another report), Mr. Boutros-Ghali suggested that "in the interests of efficiency, the resolution format be reserved for General Assembly actions that address policy matters and formulate recommendations; for action by Member States and the international community".

Member States were asked to "carefully review the need for every report" as there were "many documents requested by the General Assembly on a recurrent basis that add little or no useful information to the, report of the previous year".

The Assembly has undertaken efforts to enhance its own capacity to fulfil the role envisaged for it under the Charter and increase its effectiveness.

On 14 September, the forty-seventh Assembly decided (resolution 47/233), as a first step, to make changes in the committee structure of the Assembly "to respond better to the requirements of the new phase of international relations".

Among the changes, the Special Political and the Decolonization Committees were merged into a new Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), which is responsible for all agenda items previously assigned to the two commitees.

On 10 November, Assembly President S. R. Insanally announced that he was establishing an open-ended working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, with a view to carrying out the tasks set forth in resolution 47/233.

Such improvements, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali has stated, "can have no limit", yet he hoped that the present phase of restructuring and renewal would be completed by 1995, the UN's fiftieth anniversary.

"The pace set must, therefore, be increased", he concluded, "if the United Nations is to keep ahead of the acceleration of history that characterizes this age."

The Joint Inspection Unit:

A unique UN body

The joint Inspection Unit (JIU) - a UN "watchdog" - is "the only independent body system-wide to supervise the management, accountability and efficiency of the UN", said JIU Inspector Francesco Mezzalama, a former Italian diplomat.

The Unit, created by the General Assembly on an experimental basis in 1968 and formally established in 1978, concentrates on development of cooperation in the UN system, staff policy, and planning, programming and evaluation.

Consisting of 11 inspectors - chosen from among members of national supervision and inspection bodies, or from among persons of similar competence in dealing with administrative, financial and management questions - the Geneva-based Unit is "a unique body, whose work has not received the required attention", Mr. Mezzalama recently told the UN Chronicle.

He emphasized that the Unit's work is "strictly linked with the requirements of more management efficiency, streamlined administration and all necessary efforts under way to improve the management of the UN and the UN system as such".

The Unit has broad investigative powers on all fields having a bearing on efficiency and proper use of funds. However, it does not have decision-making powers and cannot interfere in the, operations of the services it inspects. in the view of some, this renders the Unit "a toothless bulldog", is one delegate told the Fifth Committee on 10 November.

The JIU is responsible to the Assembly and to the relevant legislative bodies of the specialized agencies and of other international organizations of the UN system, Mr. Mezzalama stated.

He is typical of the inspectors comprising the Unit. Born in Italy in 1924, Mr. Mezzalama has extensive diplomatic experience and served as a member of the Italian delegation to the General Assembly from 1986 to 1989).

The inspectors conduct their investigation individually or in small groups, sometimes without prior notification, in any of the services of the organizations, Mr. Mezzalama stated.

The Unit presents original versions of the inspectors' reports to the heads of the concerned organizations and presents an annual report of its activities to the Assembly and relevant bodies.

In the 25 years of its existence, the JIU has produced 282 reports and notes, he pointed out. Investigations in 1993 include those on staffing of the civilian component of UN peace-keeping and related missions; accountability and oversight in the UN Secretariat; operational activities for development of the UN system with non-governmental organizations and Governments at the grassroots and national levels; and a note on the Secretary-General's "An Agenda for Peace".

Through its reports, the Unit contributes, Mr. Mezzalama said, "to the search for the improvement of the activities of the organizations of the UN system in the field of international economic cooperation".