Fifth Committee: UN medium-term plan, budget, documentation addressed.

A medium - term plan, which spells out the strategic objectives of the United Nations for 1998-2001 was endorsed by the General Assembly on 18 December, on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). By adopting resolution 51/219, the Assembly also agreed that the Organization, in implementing the plan, would give priority to the following areas of work: maintenance of international peace and security; promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development; development of Africa; promotion of human rights; effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; promotion of justice and international law; disarmament; drug control and crime prevention, as well as combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

To convert those priorities into concrete programmes and activities, the Secretary-General was invited to prepare a programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999 on the basis of $2512 billion at initial 1996-1997 rates, recosted to $2.480 billion at revised 1996-1997 rates (51/220).

Detailed deliberations on the budget began in March 1997 when it was examined by the Fifth Committee and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). For the first time in its history, ACABQ convened in 1997 without the United States as one of its members. France and New Zealand were elected in secret ballot to the two seats available to the Western European and Other States group.

With regard to human resources, the Assembly approved a 0.4-per cent increase in base/floor salary for United Nations staff in the Professional and higher category (51/216). It also noted the Secretary-General's assurances that he would "not take any decision on the involuntary separation of staff members, including those on the redeployment list, to achieve savings" in the context of resolution 50/214 (51/221). In addition, the Secretary-General was asked to limit short-term appointments against regular budget posts to temporary replacements in cases of mission service and leave, and limit exceptions to regular rules and procedures for recruiting, appointing or promoting under-secretaries-general and assistant secretaries-general, special envoys and staff of his Executive Office.

Action on the issue of gratis personnel or loaned officers was deferred until the resumed session. The existence of such personnel was given higher prominence by a statement made in the Committee in October by James Jonah of Sierra Leone, who had been a United Nations Under-Secretary-General. He described the increase in such staff as a "vicious attack on the international Secretariat" and a tactic to destroy the international civil service.

By resolution 51/211 B, the Secretary-General was asked to "pursue his efforts to improve the quality in the substance and presentation of documentation, applying new publishing techniques to enhance readability and reduce consumption of paper". He was strongly urged, "as a matter of priority, to develop the cost-accounting system for conference services", and asked to report, through the Committee on Conferences, to each subsidiary organ of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council "on the cost of conference services it utilized in the year concluded in order to enable those organs to plan more effectively" (51/211 C).

The Assembly also adopted resolutions on administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations (51/13; 51/218), as well as on the financing of: the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (51/2); the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia (51/3); the United Nations Protection Force, the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia, the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force, and the United Nations Peace Forces headquarters (51/12); the United Nations Mission in Haiti (51/14); the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (51/152); the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (51/153); the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (51/154); the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (51/213); and the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (51/214) and Rwanda (51/215).

RELATED ARTICLE: Chairman Notes New Priorities Set by Fifth Committee

"The Committee has a tall agenda; practically whole United Nations items are interrelated within this Committee", observed Ngoni Francis Sengwe of Zimbabwe, Chairman of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

The Fifth Committee gave different priority areas of work to the Secretary-General as guidelines for the implementation of the medium-term plan for the period 1998-2001. "Three of these aspects were new this year", Mr. Sengwe told the UN Chronicle. "First, the promotion of sustained economic growth; second, the priority for development of Africa; and third, the aspect on combating drugs, crime and international terrorism. I think these guidelines are important because they are clear and focused."

Another issue which Mr. Sengwe found important was on the 1998-1999 programme budget. "The General Assembly approved the regular budget at $2.5 billion for the biennium, and the Contingency Fund up to $19 million. Although the Secretariat proposed a lower figure, the General Assembly did not agree", he explained.

Some agenda items had to be deferred to the fifty-first resumed session, owing to the lack of time. "It is normal that the Committee cannot handle all the agenda items during the General Assembly. The Fifth Committee has a tall agenda; practically whole UN items are interrelated within this Committee. The decisions on political items we are talking about are not taken lightly by the Member States. Considering the fact that all the decisions we make are binding, I think we did pretty well," he concluded.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sixth Committee Chairman Sums Up

"The establishment of an International Criminal Court is one of the topics that will raise the most interest within the United Nations and in the international legal community", Ramon Escovar-Salom of Venezuela, Chairman of the Sixth Committee (Legal) told the UN Chronicle.

The Committee dealt with several relevant issues, Mr. Escovar-Salom said. "One was the establishment of an International Criminal Court, which due to its importance led to numerous encounters to discuss different subjects related to this item." It would raise the most interest within the United Nations and in the international legal community, he stressed.

Another important issue was the Convention on the law of non-navigational uses of international watercourses. "It is in its final stage and will be of great significance to all States", the Chairman said.

Other issues were the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, and measures to eliminate international terrorism. "Especially the item on terrorism was important this year", he said, "because the General Assembly decided to establish a Special Committee to prepare an international convention for the suppression of terrorist attacks with bombs and of nuclear attacks."