General Assembly resolution approves first steps to strengthen Secretariat Management

The Secretary-General on 7 March presented to Member States his management reform report "Investing in the United Nations: For a Stronger Organisation Worldwide" with 23 far-reaching proposals on the management of the Secretariat. Following the submission on 11 May of further details on his proposals for their consideration, the General Assembly issued on 7 July its decisions in resolution A/RES/60/283 designed to strengthen the organization.

The General Assembly in June 2006 considered a wide-ranging set of reforms covering oversight and accountability, information and communications technology, limited budgetary discretion, financial management practices, improving reporting mechanisms, public access to UN documentation, and procurement.

Their decisions put in place the first measures to effect the changes requested at the 2005 World Summit, to be implemented over the next four years, and approved an immediate additional appropriation of $4.43m under the regular budget.

Key decisions include:

1. An increase in the discretionary spending authorization of the Secretary-General of $20m per biennium for the periods 2006-2007 and 2008-2009;
2. A request for the Ethics Office to be fully staffed and operationalized;
3. Establishment of a Chief Information Technology Officer to oversee the integration of Secretariat-wide ICT systems;
4. Approval of the implementation of a next-generation Enterprise Resource Planning system (or comparable) to replace existing older systems;
5. Approval for the adoption of IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards);
6. An increase in the Working Capital Fund to $150m;
7. Authorisation to proceed with the improvement of the procurement system and approval of approximately $700,000 for immediate enhancement measures.

A number of key reform proposals were deferred to the 61st General Assembly Session (fall 2006) for consideration, which include the recommendations of the Governance & Oversight Review and the Human Resources proposals. The Secretary-General's procurement reform report (submitted in June 2006), and a comprehensive report on public access to UN documentation, will also be considered at that time. A report of the High-Level Panel on the UN's Internal Justice System will be taken up by Member States, along with a response from the Secretary-General in early 2007.

Finally, the System-Wide Coherence Panel is expected to deliver its recommendations in October on the streamlining of the organization's activities and operations.

About UN Reform

The pace of today's globalized world means that change is a constant, and this is no different for the United Nations. The demands by Member States of the UN and its Secretariat, agencies, funds and programmes have grown enormously. The UN is expected to deliver more services in more places than ever before to the world's people who are most in need.
      Just in the last nine years, the number of civilian and soldiers deployed on peacekeeping missions has increased from 20,000 to 80,000, and the overall financial resources managed by the Secretariat have also doubled in this period to $18 billion. The number of humanitarian and human rights operations have also dramatically increased.

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