POLITICS: UN Stretched with Bare Bones Budget

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 1999 (IPS) - UN Secretary-General Kofii Annan, unveiling pending plans for 2000-2001, says that, once again, the United Nations will be struggling to do more within shrinking budget resources.

“For five years the United Nations has had absolutely no increase in its budget – even in nominal terms,” he told the Administrative and Budgetary Committee Wednesday.

Announcing a budget of 2.5 billion dollars for the next biennium, Annan said UN finances virtually would be at the same level in real terms, as they were for years 1998-1999.

In each of the past five years the United Nations has cut a total of about 350 million dollars in overall spending to cover the cost of inflation, Annan said. During that period, the United Nations also absorbed more than 100 million dollars for special missions – mostly involving humanitarian and relief operations caused by unforeseen natural disasters.

“There comes a point, however, at which further cuts could seriously compromise our ability to deliver the services that the member states have mandated and expect from the Secretariat,” Annan noted.

“Stringent budget discipline is one thing; a starvation diet, year upon year, is quite another, particularly when the Organisation is continually asked to do more and more,” he added.

Annan said that while he had been asked to cut spending to bare bones, the United Nations increasingly was being saddled with new challenges, new peacekeeping missions and new responsibilities.

“Look around the world, from East Timor to Sierra Leone. Listen to the speeches last month at the General Assembly, on disarmament, development, discrimination and other issues. And think for a moment about the bloody 20th century,” he said.

“You will see and hear and understand why the international community continues to turn to the United Nations for its unique and universal services.”

The United Nations had a long agenda, demands continued to rise and expectations remained high. “We must respond and my budget seeks to do so,” said Annan.

Although spending will more or less remain the same, the proposed budget calls for small but important increases in certain priority areas: peace and development in Africa; humanitarian assistance; promotion and protection of human rights; fight against drug trafficking and organised crime; and training programmes to ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to do their jobs.

To accommodate these increases, savings will be achieved in administration, common support services and through other efficiencies, Annan said.

Since all assessed dues are paid in hard currency, the strength of the US dollar had helped the United Nations considerably. But the same rising dollar has wreaked havoc in UN agencies such as the UN Population Fund and UN Development Programme (UNDP) where most voluntary contributions were in local currencies.

Just this week, UNFPA Executive Director Nafis Sadik complained that currency fluctuations have lowered the value of contributions from European donors.

According to the proposed budget, the United Nations would have a total staff of 8,802 posts in 2000-2001, representing an increase of about 61 posts on the previous budget period, but down from the 10,021 members of staff in 1996-1997.

Annan also proposed that more than 500 posts be redeployed among the various programmes and sub-programmes.

“Our work is ever-changing, with surprises and shifting demands, and so it is essential that the United Nations be able to put the right person in the right place at the right time, and to apply its resources where they are most needed,” he asserted.

Ambassador Peter Burleigh of the United States – the largest single contributor to the United Nations, accounting for 25 percent of the budget – told delegates that, in terms of priorities, it was notable that the budget allocated more than 25 percent of the total resources to development activities – far more than any other single priority area.

But he said that the budget was still “too input-oriented”, with insufficient emphasis on expected accomplishments and performance indicators that could be used to assess progress in achieving objectives for which resources are provided.

“While we acknowledge and appreciate the Secretariat’s efforts to include programme objectives and expected accomplishments in most budget sections, these enhancements fall short of what is necessary to make the budget process more results-oriented,” Burleigh declared.

The budget should be brought down after recosting, to the current budget level; this could be done easily merely by taking full account of measures to make the Organisation more effecient and effective, he added.

“Let me be clear on this point: the UN believes that mandated activities for the next biennium can be fully implemented within the initial level of the current budget, or below 2.5 billion dollars,” Burleigh said.

And he warned that the US will not support a higher level.

“Continued efforts by the United Nations to improve efficiency, reduce overheads, and rationalise budget allocations should be more than sufficient to offset any unanticipated increase in costs,” he added.