UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Head Announces Staff Cuts and Mergers

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17 1997 (IPS) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday announced plans to sharply reduce staff at the United Nations, cut administrative costs, merge three U.N. departments, and institute a code of conduct for accountability in performance.

The upcoming 1998-99 budget is to be cut by 123 million dollars. Administrative costs will go from 38 percent to 25 percent of total U.N. expenditure, and will average some 1.2 billion dollars annually. The Secretariat also plans to reduce its volume of documentation by 25 percent and eliminate about 1,000 jobs in the U.N. system, mostly through attrition.

“The reforms are aimed at making the United Nations a leaner, more efficient, more effective, and more relevant organisation,” Annan told reporters.

Implying that his proposals were primarily a response to a U.S. demand for reforms in return for the payment of outstanding dues, Annan said: “I hope they will also deliver their part of the bargain.”

The cuts come as U.S. lawmakers, led by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jesse Helms, press the United Nations to cut staff by about 50 percent as a condition for the payment of 1.3 billion dollars in U.S. dues.

Asked what his response would be if Washington sought further staff cuts, Annan said the proposed reduction of 1,000 posts is “a serious proposal that would not gut the organisation.” But “any demand for deeper cuts will not be wise,” the Secretary- General said.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General Joseph Connor noted last year that the U.N. bureaucracy had been downsized from some 10,000 employees worldwide to about 9,000, mostly through attrition. Of the total staff, about 4,800 are currently based at the Secretariat in New York.

The United States says it welcomes the reforms Annan announced Monday.

“We’re pleased that he’s been true to his word,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said in Washington. “He’s kept his promise to present a plan in a timely manner, and we’re very eager to study the details of this plan.”

Burns said that in a spirit of bi-partisan cooperation, the Bill Clinton administration has entered into a dialogue with Congress to reach prompt agreement on how best to promote the shared goal of a reformed and reinvigorated U.N. system that costs less and in which the U.S. continues to take the lead.

“To be able to continue U.S. leadership as further reforms are made within the U.N. system, the United States needs to honour our debts to the United Nations and its affiliated organisation,” he added.

U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson said Annan had taken “a significant step towards the kind of structural reform that will help the United Nations to do more, better, and for less.”

“This plan shows that the Secretary-General has answered the call for leadership on reform and is prepared to exercise the powers of his office in an affirmative and appropriate manner,” Richardson said.

Under Annan’s plan, the United Nations is to merge three departments dealing with social and economic activities into a single entity. The three are the Department of Development Support and Management Services, the Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, and the Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development.

Some 38 percent of the organisation’s resources are currently devoted to administration. The Secretary-General says he is committed to reducing this by one-third and “channelling these resources into economic and social programmes to benefit the developing world.”

Annan also plans to urge all U.N. agencies in the field to share premises and staff costs in an attempt to eliminate duplication and at the same time integrate U.N. activities.

The Department of Public Information is also to be transformed into an Office of Communications and Media Services in an effort “to strengthen capacity to provide relevant and timely communications services to governments, the media, and civil society.”

Annan says a new Code of Conduct for U.N. staff will embody a commitment to excellence, including accountability for performance, and financial disclosure by senior officials.

The Secretary-General also plans to reduce by 25 percent the documentation currently produced by the Secretariat. He said he sometimes worried that “the building will sink under the weight of paper.”

Annan said he will announce the “second track” in the reform programme in July, following consultations with the 185 U.N. member-states.