Consensus built, 'in part through compromise.' (UN)(includes related articles on reforms adopted by the General Assembly, General Assembly working groups and the background of the UN reform initiative)

After months of intensive review and negotiation, the General Assembly in November and December endorsed a number of actions proposed by the Secretary-General to reform the Organization. Mr. Annan's initiatives, which are within his purview as the United Nations chief administrative officer, aim to enable the Organization to better carry out its mandates in an increasingly complex and cost-conscious world. These range from a cabinet-style decision-making structure for the Secretariat to new measures to fight crime, drugs and terrorism, and to strengthen the protection of human rights and its development work.

"Together, we have taken major strides to initiate the process of revitalization that we all agree is necessary if the United Nations is to thrive in the twenty-first century", Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Assembly on 22 December, as it suspended its work. "Together, we are making this the 'reform Assembly'", he stated.

The broad discussions on the reform proposals demonstrated a notable convergence in the aspirations and intentions of Member States to prepare the Organization to face new realities and challenges, said General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine at the same meeting.

A major outcome of the "reform Assembly" was the establishment of the post of the Deputy Secretary-General as an integral part of the Office of the Secretary-General. The Deputy will be appointed by the Secretary-General, with a term of office not exceeding his own, and will assist the Secretary-General in managing the operations of the Secretariat, ensuring coherence of activities and programmes, and elevating the profile and leadership of the United Nations in the economic and social spheres.

Two consensus resolutions, adopted by the Assembly on 12 November and 19 December, contained a wide range of reform actions which, in the words of the Secretary-General, "will create a United Nations that has a leaner and more cost-effective structure, a budget that is more committed to solvency and development priorities, and a management that is better coordinated and accountable".

The suspension of the fifty-second session followed the adoption by the Assembly of the scale of assessments for 1998-2000, which maintained the ceiling rate of 25 per cent, but lowered the floor rate to 0.001 per cent. The Assembly also appropriated $2.532 billion for the 1998-1999 budget, which incorporated elements of the Secretary-General's proposals.

Following the presentation of his reform package to the General Assembly in July, the Secretary-General took every opportunity to explain his plan to Member States and major groups, including the European Union, the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, all of which had expressed reservations on different points. Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko, speaking after the 12 November vote, referred to the differences that had to be overcome before this part of the reform package received the delegates' support.

In its resolution, the Assembly commended the Secretary-General's reform initiatives and called on him to implement them, keeping in mind the many views and concerns expressed by Member States in the first two months of the Assembly's debate. Many States emphasized that reform must be undertaken with the view of strengthening the Organization and its role, rather than seeing it as merely a cost-cutting exercise. The 12 November resolution opens the way for the Assembly's consideration of the broader recommendations for reform from the Secretary-General and the Assembly's Working Groups.

The reform process highlights the determination of the United Nations and its constituents to rethink a broad range of questions about the Organization. "The United Nations has not only to grapple with systemic problems", explained the fifty-first General Assembly President, Razali Ismail, who was responsible for much of the progress by the Working Groups during the last session. "It also has to overcome the greater difficulty of defining its role and functions against critical and often unfair examination, against a backdrop of swirling global events and rapidly emerging challenges."

The Secretary-General initiated wide-ranging measures to streamline the Secretariat on 17 March when he established reform mechanisms that, in addition to taking immediate action, would provide him with recommendations for strategic, structural changes.

In addition to proposing a cut of 10 per cent in staffing, aggressively reducing administrative costs and proposing a zero-growth budget, the Secretary-General consolidated the three departments involved in economic and social development into one entity, and undertook other departmental restructuring designed to facilitate better coordination and eliminate duplication of the work in the Secretariat.

The Secretary-General also outlined the framework for longer-term reforms, grouping together some 30 UN entities into four thematic areas: peace and security; economic and social; development operations; and humanitarian affairs. Four Executive Committees, comprising the heads of the departments, funds and programmes working in these four areas, have been meeting regularly in order to provide a stronger and more unified direction to their respective work programmes.

The Executive Coordinator for UN Reform, Maurice F. Strong, has been chairing a Steering Committee of senior officials that monitors and coordinates the reform process in the Secretariat. The Secretary-General also established a cabinet-style Senior Management Group, under his personal chairmanship, composed of top Secretariat officials and other senior managers.

A new Management Reform Group within the Department of Management, under the chairmanship of UnderSecretary-General Joseph Connor, has been focusing on management reform measures throughout the Secretariat, which aim to bring more coherence and efficiency to its work. Its efforts have been complemented by corresponding groups in many of the United Nations funds and programmes.

Reforming the Security Council

As its recommendations will likely require changes in the UN Charter, this Open-ended (meaning open to all Member States) Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council has been grappling with potentially the most important and politically charged reform issues facing the United Nations. Discussions have focused on size, composition and the decision-making in the Security Council, including the right of veto, and improvements in its working methods. These issues are seen as comprising a comprehensive package and are not expected to be resolved separately.

The Council currently has 15 members, including five permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States). Increasing the size of the Council has been seen by most countries as key to improving the Council's representativeness by taking into account the considerable increase in UN membership and the economic and political changes that have taken place since the Council was last expanded (from 11 to 15 members) in 1963. While many countries see broader representation of developing countries as an essential expression of a more democratic and legitimate Council, others have expressed concern that too large a Council would be unwieldy and less efficient.

Progress has already been achieved on a number of changes to the working methods leading to more transparency in the Council's procedures. Much more difficult is finding a convergence of views on the decision-making powers in the Council, specifically the right of veto. Only the five permanent members currently have the right of veto, and any changes to the veto power must be acceptable to all of them.

During the past two years, various proposals have been put forward regarding the expansion and composition of the Security Council. In March 1997, Mr, Razali, in his capacity as Chairman of the Working Group and in a bold attempt to move discussions in the Group forward, presented a paper synthesizing the majority view regarding expansion of the Council. His proposal envisioned increasing Council membership from 15 to 24, by adding five permanent members (one each from the developing States of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, and two from the industrialized States) and four non-permanent members (one each from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean).

In Mr. Razali's proposal, which the Working Group discussed intensively in March and April, the new permanent members would not have the right to veto. In addition, the proposal urged the original permanent members to limit the use of the veto to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which deals with the Council's enforcement powers.

However, some countries strongly argue that the Council should not have more than 20 members. The United States has proposed adding as permanent members, without the right to veto, Japan, Germany and three developing countries, thus increasing the permanent members to 10 and the overall members to 20.

The issue of veto remains a sticking point - some countries believe the new permanent members should possess equal rights - as does the means of determining who should be the new permanent members. Early hopes that there could be agreement on the principle of an expanded Security Council by the end of 1997 have faded.

The Financial Situation

This Open-ended Working Group was established in 1994 to address the longstanding financial crisis caused by the nonpayment of assessed dues by Member States and to identify ways to ensure "a sound and viable financial basis for the Organization". The Working Group has focused on ways to ensure payments of arrears and on outstanding contributions, accompanied by discussions on introduction of payment schedules and the stricter application of Article 19 of the Charter, which stipulates that a Member State with arrears in the payment of its dues amounting to two years or more of assessments shall have no vote in the General Assembly. The Group has also been discussing incentives to Member States who pay on time and disincentives for those with overdue contributions, as well as issues related to capacity to pay and methods of calculating scales of assessments.

Divergent views have been expressed on all issues. On the scale of assessments, the Working Group considered in March a controversial proposal by the United States - the Member State which is assessed the highest level of dues to the Organization (25 per cent of the regular budget and 30 per cent of the separate peacekeeping budget). The United States proposed that the dues ceilings be lowered to 20 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively - the first time such a detailed proposal had been formally put on the table and one which would have significant implications for the Organization. As the Working Group was unable to discuss changes in assessment, the issue will be undertaken by the General Assembly. The urgency of putting the Organizations funds on a more stable basis has been underlined by the non-authorization by the United States Congress in November of payment of part of the back dues owed by the United States.

An Agenda for Peace

The United Nations mandate to help maintain international peace and security has been central to the reformulation of its overall role in the world today. The discussion of an Agenda for Peace came out of the historic Security Council meeting of Heads of State or Government on 31 January 1992, which asked the Secretary-General to prepare "an analysis and recommendations of ways of strengthening and making more efficient the capacity of the United Nations for preventive diplomacy, for peacemaking and for peacekeeping". This subject has been just as sensitive as that of the Council reform, touching on questions of national sovereignty.

Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, submitting in 1992 the report An Agenda for Peace, presented proposals on the three issues the Council had requested, plus the related concept of post-conflict peace-building. As a result, the General Assembly established in 1992 an informal open-ended Working Group to respond to these proposals. The Working Group, through the Assembly, gave the Secretary-General a clear mandate to pursue preventive diplomacy and strengthen the Secretariat's early warning system, in particular information collection and analysis.

In 1995, the Secretary-General issued a Supplement to An Agenda for Peace and the General Assembly reconvened the Working Group to continue considering both An Agenda for Peace and its Supplement in four key areas, for which subgroups were established, chaired by four coordinators. These are:

* the subgroup on preventive diplomacy and peacemaking, which has, for instance, discussed whether and when consent for preventive diplomacy is required;

* the subgroup on post-conflict peace-building, which has addressed issues such as the lack of will of the international community to provide sufficient funding for assistance after devastating conflicts, as occurred in Cambodia, Haiti and El Salvador, and the sensitivity of many countries regarding what they may perceive as interference in their internal affairs;

* the subgroup on coordination, which has agreed on a draft text on coordination of humanitarian and development assistance in the field, particularly coordination within the UN system, between the UN system and regional organizations, and between the UN system and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (the Secretary-General also made recommendations on these issues in his "track-two" proposals);

* the subgroup on sanctions, which has examined the impact of Security Council sanctions, with some countries viewing them as an effective instrument for implementing Council decisions, and others concerned about the negative effects that sanctions might have on the most vulnerable segments of the population or on neighbouring States.

An Agenda for Development

Created by the General Assembly in 1994, partly as the counterpart to the Agenda for Peace Working Group, the Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group on an Agenda for Development was mandated to elaborate an action-oriented comprehensive agenda framework for the work of the international community in this crucial area. Despite considerable differences, particularly between developing and developed countries, this Working Group agreed on a document which was adopted at a special meeting of the General Assembly on 20 June. The Secretary-General has described the Agenda as "one of the most far-reaching agreements on the central issue of development ever attained in the international community".

An indication of the hard time the delegates had reaching agreement is that even the definition of development itself was contended until the Working Group's final session. At stake was the relative balance of importance assigned to "sustainable development" - favoured by donor countries because it incorporates good governance, human rights and environmental protection - versus "sustained economic growth" - seen by many developing countries as a necessary precondition for making progress on the social front. An underlying concern among developing countries is that political, social and environmental standards set by the rich countries increasingly are becoming conditions for receiving aid or admittance to trade and investment agreements.

In the end, it was decided to break the definition into four parts, stressing the centrality of development in the work of the United Nations, the essential importance of economic growth in developing countries, the essential role of democracy and freedom, and the fundamental importance of women's empowerment, respectively.

Another balancing act was required to find agreed language on the impact of globalization. At the insistence of developed countries, the final document stressed that open economies and a thriving private sector are keys to economic growth. But it also reflected concerns of developing countries that many nations are marginalized from the benefits of globalization, that small-island and landlocked countries face special difficulties, and that there is an important role for international assistance and a strong public sector.

The document is divided into three parts: an outline of objectives; the policy framework, including the means of implementation; and institutional issues and the recommended follow-up to the commitments made by Governments during the cycle of major United Nations conferences held between 1990 and 1996.

Strengthening the System

In July, this Open-ended Working Group completed one of the broadest reviews of the functioning of the General Assembly and the Secretariat ever undertaken. The Working Group achieved consensus agreement on nearly 100 measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations, after two years of research, debate and often hard-fought negotiations. The Group's final report and recommendations are expected to be approved by the fifty-second General Assembly. Several of the recommendations concerning the Secretariat are already being implemented.

The Working Group did not tackle the issue - amply covered in the media - of reforming the wider UN system, which includes 14 specialized agencies, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). But it addressed issues such as coordination within the system, asking the Secretary-General to further elaborate ways to strengthen coordination, and calling for uniform terms and term limits for the heads of specialized agencies.

The Working Group particularly sought to strengthen the work of the General Assembly. It recognized that the proceedings of the Assembly do not command the attention of Member States or the public at large because it has far too much on its agenda for discussion. While all items of interest should be on the agenda, the Group concluded, there may be no need to discuss all of them every year. Agenda items could be grouped or considered every two or three years.

The Working Group called for greater transparency in the selection process of the Secretary-General. It was unable to agree, however, on the proposal to limit the Secretary-General to one term - between five and seven years - to enable him or her to focus on the work in a sustained manner without the disruption of a reelection campaign. While most Member States support the one-term concept, some are concerned that precluding further time in office might turn out to be too inflexible. The Group did, however, request the Secretary-General to consider term limits for his senior managers.

Other points of agreement:

* the General Assembly should avoid micro-managing the Secretariat;

* General Assembly resolutions should respond to major issues rather than be fragmented;

* stronger links should be explored between the General Assembly and civil society, particularly NGOs;

* a uniform four-year term of office, renewable once, for the heads of Programmes, Funds and other bodies of the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.

RELATED ARTICLE: Adopted and Actioned

On 12 November, the General Assembly put its stamp of approval on the actions that the Secretary-General has taken or initiated since March, among them:

* establish a Department of Economic and Social Affairs, consolidating the work of the Secretariat in these areas;

* combine the Vienna-based programmes on fighting crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism into a single office, headed by an Executive Director;

* combine the Geneva-based programmes on human rights into a single office, headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights;

* restructure Secretariat machinery for coordinating humanitarian assistance, headed by an Emergency Relief Coordinator;

* bring together the UN funds and programmes with development operations into a UN Development Group to facilitate goal-oriented collaboration and programmatic coherence;

* consolidate the UN presence at the country level into a single UN office under a Resident Coordinator;

* establish a Department of Disarmament Affairs to advance the disarmament agenda;

* strengthen capacity for post-conflict peace-building by making the Department of Political Affairs the focal point within the United Nations;

* cut administrative costs over the next four years by at least $200 million;

* upgrade the UN administration, by consolidating procurement services, streamlining procedures, expanding electronic procurement, developing a single service to provide information technology and telecommunication infrastructure, and expanding the use of documents in electronic form;

* undertake initiatives to increase UN consultation and cooperation with civil society - the business community, labour unions, non-governmental organizations and academia;

* consolidate information activities as an integral part of all UN work to enhance its ability to explain clearly its role and range of activities, especially to national audiences.

On 19 December, the Assembly approved a ten-part resolution, by which it decided to, among other things:

* establish the office of Deputy Secretary-General (on 12 January 1998, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of Louise Frechette of Canada to the post);

* invite Member States to improve the supply of information to the Secretary-General that could assist the Organization to prevent conflict and maintain international peace and security; endorse the recommendation that the Security Council, in establishing a future peacekeeping operation, should prescribe a time-frame for the conclusion of the status-of-forces agreement between the UN and the host Government for the operation in question;

* invite the Economic and Social Council to consider the Secretary-General's recommendations relating to its organization and methods of work, as well as the reform of its subsidiary bodies, conduct a general review of the regional economic commissions and report to the Assembly before the end of its present session;

* request the Secretary-General to submit, by the end of March 1998, specific proposals for the establishment of a new system of core resources for development, taking into account the views of Member States, and ask the Economic and Social Council to consider arrangements for closer integration of the governance oversight of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/UN Population Fund and the UN Children's Fund;

* establish a humanitarian affairs segment of the Economic and Social Council, effective 1998, and designate the Emergency Relief Coordinator as the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator, who would retain responsibility for coordination of natural disaster relief; transfer to UNDP the responsibilities of the Emergency Relief Coordinator for operational activities for natural disaster mitigation, prevention and preparedness, with the understanding that the resources for this task would be provided by a grant from the UN regular budget for 1998-1999;

* ask the Secretary-General, taking into account the views of Member States, to submit by the end of March 1998, detailed proposals for the proposed establishment of a Revolving Credit Fund;

* establish a development account to be funded from savings from possible reductions in administrative and other overhead costs, without affecting fill implementation of mandated programmes and activities;

* invite the Secretary-General to elaborate his UN reform proposals relating to: a new concept of trusteeship; a Millenium Assembly in the year 2000; a Millenium Forum (a separate companion event of representatives of civil society); the UN system (a Special Commission at the ministerial level to examine the need for possible amendments to the Charter and the treaties from which the specialized agencies derive their mandates); and provisions whereby initiatives that involve new mandates and institutional machinery would be subject to specific time-limits that would require explicit review and renewal by the Assembly ("sunset provisions").

RELATED ARTICLE: General Assembly Working Groups

In an effort to give coherence and vision to the process of reforming the United Nations in the post-cold-war period, the General Assembly has, since 1992, set up five working groups. These have been charged with the task of reformulating overarching policies for the international community in the areas of peace and security and development, as well as recommending institutional and organizational changes. Their work, which addresses areas beyond the authority of the Secretary-General, does complement many of the structural and administrative reforms that he has proposed.

The Working Groups are:

* The High-level Open-ended Working Group on the Strengthening of the United Nations System;

* The Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council;

* The High-level Open-en&d Working Group on the Financial Situation of the United Nations;

* The Ad-hoc Open-ended Working Group of the General Assembly on an Agenda for Development;

* The Informal Open-ended Working Group on an Agenda for Peace.

While all Working Groups have made progress, only the Working Groups on Strengthening of the UN System and on the Agenda for Development have completed their deliberations - both in June of this year. It is expected that the Assembly will ask the others to continue their deliberations during the current session.

RELATED ARTICLE: Background

Attaining consensus and addressing the "big picture" of the United Nations in the world today has inevitably slowed the work of the Working Groups. Several difficult questions had to be addressed before specific actions or changes could be successfully formulated. Is there sufficient political will to make and sustain change? How can the financial stability of the Organization be restored? What authority and autonomy are Member States prepared to give the United Nations? These are among the questions that frame negotiations among Member States and require commitments and answers if reforms are to be successfully implemented.

The Secretary-General's reform package heightened the level of consultation between the Secretariat and Member States, enabling progress to be made. Noting that the General Assembly is addressing the reform issues as its first order of business, Mr. Annan said: "I think it is important that we demonstrate to ourselves and to the world that the United Nations is not only' capable of reform, but is also determined to reform and render the Organization the effective organization that it ought to be."

When Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Hennadiy Udovenko, assumed the presidency of the Assembly in September, he asked the representatives of Brazil and Norway to organize a group of "Friends of the President" to assist him in organizing the Assembly's handling of the complex reform issues, which led to the 12 November resolution. Since then, the representatives of Botswana and Ireland performed this role, aiming to achieve a resolution on the rest of the reform package.

One of the key decisions which Mr. Udovenko had to contend with was whether to deal with reform proposals piecemeal or as a total package. Although the strongest supporters of the reform package had hoped for its early adoption, the complexity of the proposals led most Member States to request more time to consider them. As a result, the General Assembly addressed overall reform in several ways - through informal plenary debate, in the six main Assembly committees and a variety of other intergovernmental bodies and, of course, through the informal consultations that take place throughout the session.

Other proposals before the General Assembly - such as financial reforms involving the scale of assessment, the reform of the Security Council and measures to review the Organization's relationship with its specialized agencies - are of such magnitude that their detailed consideration is expected to take many months to finalize. Nevertheless, the Assembly has already adopted resolutions pertaining to changes within the Organization which will be crucial to its future and, which in turn, will also have implications for individual governments and citizens everywhere.

RELATED ARTICLE: 'Individuals Can Make a Difference'

The following statement was issued on 19 September by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

Ted Turner, Vice-Chairman of Time Warner Inc., stunned participants in the United Nations Association dinner last night with the announcement of a $1 billion contribution to support the goals of the United Nations.

The funds will not offset the $1.5 billion that the United States owes the United Nations because the world body cannot accept contributions from private citizens for that purpose. Mr. Turner said his intention was to acknowledge the reform efforts of Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to support the humanitarian work the United Nations does, such as lifting landmines and aiding refugees and children in need.

The Secretary-General responded by thanking Mr. Turner and saying "he has shown the way" for how individuals can make a difference. Mr. Turner said his intent was to invite others to contribute to the fund. Senior Secretariat officials met with representatives of Mr. Turner this morning to begin discussion of meshing Mr. Turner's objectives with those of the United Nations.