United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a USD 4.2 billion budget for the next two years -- 2008-2009, a slight increase over the previous one, arguing that the world body need more money to face new and existing challenges.
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a USD 4.2 billion budget for the next two years -- 2008-2009, a slight increase over the previous one, arguing that the world body need more money to face new and existing challenges.
The budget, representing a 5 per cent increase over the USD 3.8 billion budget for 2006-2007, was presented to the General Assembly's budgetary committee where intense bargaining is expected with European Union and United States.
The amount does not include billions of dollars that are need for the peacekeeping operation, and are funded separately by the member States.
The UNSG says it needs the extra money for conflict prevention, promotion of human rights and fight poverty, disease and hunger worldwide.
When the previous budget was adopted, the United States has linked its payments to the reform of the world body, especially in management, fiscal disciple, transparency and vigorous oversight.
"Never has the world so needed a strong United Nations," Ban told delegates in the Assembly's Fifth Committee, which tackles administrative and budgetary matters. "Yet never have our resources been stretched so thin."
After the budgetary committee okays the budget, its adoption by the 192-member General Assembly is more or less guaranteed though the member States could reopen the issues.
Noting that the year ahead will be "among the most challenging in our history", the Secretary-General pledged to strengthen the organisation so it can do the job effectively.
This will require careful fiscal management, balancing varied and sometimes conflicting priorities, and, above all, making the UN "faster, more flexible and more efficient in delivering better results with the limited assets at our disposal," he stated.
He noted that, last year, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was reorganised in order to better execute the UN's many peacekeeping mandates.
Now, the focus is on the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) with a new emphasis on anticipating crises and proactive preventive diplomacy, he said asking the Committee to authorise USD 18 million for it.
A top world body official said the aim was to create some 90 new posts.
Ban further proposed re-organising the Secretariat to better serve the interests and needs of the least developed, landlocked and small island nations.
As part of the UN's ongoing reform efforts, he emphasised that the Secretariat should continue to improve its working methods to avoid duplication and save costs, so that it can be faster, more flexible and modern.
"This requires us to streamline rules and work patterns, in line with the best public and private practices," he said.
He noted that the proposed budget also provides for "stiffer" internal oversight, and the Committee is examining proposals for a comprehensive revision of the UN system of administrative justice.
The budget, he said, is a "compact of understanding" between the Secretary-General and the UN's Member States. "It details in concrete terms how we intend to realise the goals of the UN, and how I intend to exercise the authority you have entrusted to me," he said.
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