United Nations: Afghanistan and Iraq Missions Remain Pretty Costly
Friday, 1 January 2010
BY NIRODE MASSON
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
GENEVA (IDN) - The United Nations is poised to spend about 400 million U.S. dollars on special political missions in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010. This amounts to 8 percent of the world body’s total regular budget of about 5.16 billion dollars for 2010-2011.
The budget is 300 million dollars higher than the revised one for 2008-2009 of 4.86 billion dollars, which was approved last December.
Also known as the core budget, it is less than half of New York Police Department's 4.6 billion dollar annual spending. However, the UN core budget does not include peace-keeping, which at present is running at some 8 billion dollars a year. It is approved in separate negotiations. The costs of several major UN agencies are funded by voluntary contributions from 192 member states.
In 2010, the largest of the special political missions, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is projected to cost 241.94 million dollars. The second largest, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), will cost 158.99 million dollars.
In contrast, a sum of 199 million dollars is budgeted in 2010 for the UN’s 25 other special political missions. This includes 690,700 dollars for the Secretary-General’s personal envoy for Western Sahara.
In run-up to the approval of UN’s 2010-2011 budget by the General Assembly on Dec. 24, speakers in the Fifth Committee responsible for administrative and budgetary matters called for “greater accuracy in budget projections, as well as greater clarity on the rationale used to decide the type, size and scope of each mission”.
Representatives of several member states pointed out that the 599 million dollars required in 2010 would come out of a total of about 829 million dollars set aside for special political missions across the 2010-2011 biennium. This would leave a net amount of 200 million dollars for 2011.
“The ballooning cost of special political missions caused a few to urge that the item be removed from the regular budget and be dealt with in a separate account -- one with its own scale of assessments for contributions, as suggested by Nicaragua's representative,” a UN media release said.
DISAPPOINTMENT
The Secretary-General's budget report on special political missions and its five addendums were in fact presented almost at the fag end of this year's session, eliciting disappointment from UN member states, official sources said. Their representatives said “the late submission of an item that accounted for 20 per cent of the budget did not allow for proper oversight”.
Introduced by UN Controller Jun Yamazaki, the reports explain the needs of six special advisers and personal envoys of the Secretary-General, mandated by the General Assembly or Security Council to monitor events in places such as Myanmar (Burma) and Western Sahara, and nine sanctions monitoring teams, groups and panels tasked with overseeing the situation in countries ranging from the Sudan to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
They also included ten field-based missions that promote peace-building in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as larger bodies, such as missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Commenting on the budget proposal for those missions, Japan's representative “expressed concern that the Secretary-General lacked a clear basis for determining the type of United Nations presence that was needed in a given situation”.
He said peace-building offices that were being proposed in the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau had a heavy structure that was too similar to peacekeeping missions, and that in Central Asia, regional offices were being built with the appearance of permanent structures.
He raised further concern about the Secretary-General's submission of a report to the Security Council on the establishment of a special political mission in June, which detailed not only the mission's mandate and overall structure, but also the posts required in each section of the mission.
The structure and posting of special political missions had always been discussed in the General Assembly from a budgetary and administrative standpoint, which Japan's representative said should be the continued practice.
NOT SUFFICIENTLY CLEAR
Susan McLurg, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), added that the description of the missions' performances was not sufficiently clear or specific in terms of the results achieved. Starting with the new budget cycle, she recommended that more systematic and thorough information be provided, in particular for larger missions, such as the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq.
She noted, for instance, that as a result of the planned drawdown of international forces in Iraq, UNAMI would seek to become more operationally self-reliant. Such efforts could include possible financial implications for the United Nations, which should be kept under review.
The representative of Canada, speaking also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand, remarked that the fluid nature of the situation in Iraq had caused the Secretariat to reconsider its planning assumptions, particularly in the scope and timeline for the construction of an integrated headquarters compound in Baghdad. He reiterated the importance of submitting a "convincing proposal" on the construction project that included sound financial analysis and assurances that the project would be completed on time and within budget.
The United States representative expressed support for the greater security measures in Afghanistan, where UNAMA was seeking to open six additional provincial offices. He welcomed the Secretary-General's proposal to use up to 7.9 million dollars in the proposed UNAMA budget "on an immediate basis" to meet security needs in first four months of 2010.
He also supported the Secretary-General's intention to use the budget of the Department of Safety and Security to meet critical needs in other extremely high-threat locations, as they arose. Those 7.9 million dollars would be replaced, and a formal proposal would be submitted to the Fifth Committee at its resumed session next spring on ways to address the entire year's needs. (IDN-InDepthNews/30.12.09)
Friday, 1 January 2010
Friday, 1 January 2010
BY NIRODE MASSON
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
GENEVA (IDN) - The United Nations is poised to spend about 400 million U.S. dollars on special political missions in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010. This amounts to 8 percent of the world body’s total regular budget of about 5.16 billion dollars for 2010-2011.
The budget is 300 million dollars higher than the revised one for 2008-2009 of 4.86 billion dollars, which was approved last December.
Also known as the core budget, it is less than half of New York Police Department's 4.6 billion dollar annual spending. However, the UN core budget does not include peace-keeping, which at present is running at some 8 billion dollars a year. It is approved in separate negotiations. The costs of several major UN agencies are funded by voluntary contributions from 192 member states.
In 2010, the largest of the special political missions, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), is projected to cost 241.94 million dollars. The second largest, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), will cost 158.99 million dollars.
In contrast, a sum of 199 million dollars is budgeted in 2010 for the UN’s 25 other special political missions. This includes 690,700 dollars for the Secretary-General’s personal envoy for Western Sahara.
In run-up to the approval of UN’s 2010-2011 budget by the General Assembly on Dec. 24, speakers in the Fifth Committee responsible for administrative and budgetary matters called for “greater accuracy in budget projections, as well as greater clarity on the rationale used to decide the type, size and scope of each mission”.
Representatives of several member states pointed out that the 599 million dollars required in 2010 would come out of a total of about 829 million dollars set aside for special political missions across the 2010-2011 biennium. This would leave a net amount of 200 million dollars for 2011.
“The ballooning cost of special political missions caused a few to urge that the item be removed from the regular budget and be dealt with in a separate account -- one with its own scale of assessments for contributions, as suggested by Nicaragua's representative,” a UN media release said.
DISAPPOINTMENT
The Secretary-General's budget report on special political missions and its five addendums were in fact presented almost at the fag end of this year's session, eliciting disappointment from UN member states, official sources said. Their representatives said “the late submission of an item that accounted for 20 per cent of the budget did not allow for proper oversight”.
Introduced by UN Controller Jun Yamazaki, the reports explain the needs of six special advisers and personal envoys of the Secretary-General, mandated by the General Assembly or Security Council to monitor events in places such as Myanmar (Burma) and Western Sahara, and nine sanctions monitoring teams, groups and panels tasked with overseeing the situation in countries ranging from the Sudan to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
They also included ten field-based missions that promote peace-building in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as larger bodies, such as missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Commenting on the budget proposal for those missions, Japan's representative “expressed concern that the Secretary-General lacked a clear basis for determining the type of United Nations presence that was needed in a given situation”.
He said peace-building offices that were being proposed in the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau had a heavy structure that was too similar to peacekeeping missions, and that in Central Asia, regional offices were being built with the appearance of permanent structures.
He raised further concern about the Secretary-General's submission of a report to the Security Council on the establishment of a special political mission in June, which detailed not only the mission's mandate and overall structure, but also the posts required in each section of the mission.
The structure and posting of special political missions had always been discussed in the General Assembly from a budgetary and administrative standpoint, which Japan's representative said should be the continued practice.
NOT SUFFICIENTLY CLEAR
Susan McLurg, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), added that the description of the missions' performances was not sufficiently clear or specific in terms of the results achieved. Starting with the new budget cycle, she recommended that more systematic and thorough information be provided, in particular for larger missions, such as the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq.
She noted, for instance, that as a result of the planned drawdown of international forces in Iraq, UNAMI would seek to become more operationally self-reliant. Such efforts could include possible financial implications for the United Nations, which should be kept under review.
The representative of Canada, speaking also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand, remarked that the fluid nature of the situation in Iraq had caused the Secretariat to reconsider its planning assumptions, particularly in the scope and timeline for the construction of an integrated headquarters compound in Baghdad. He reiterated the importance of submitting a "convincing proposal" on the construction project that included sound financial analysis and assurances that the project would be completed on time and within budget.
The United States representative expressed support for the greater security measures in Afghanistan, where UNAMA was seeking to open six additional provincial offices. He welcomed the Secretary-General's proposal to use up to 7.9 million dollars in the proposed UNAMA budget "on an immediate basis" to meet security needs in first four months of 2010.
He also supported the Secretary-General's intention to use the budget of the Department of Safety and Security to meet critical needs in other extremely high-threat locations, as they arose. Those 7.9 million dollars would be replaced, and a formal proposal would be submitted to the Fifth Committee at its resumed session next spring on ways to address the entire year's needs. (IDN-InDepthNews/30.12.09)
Friday, 1 January 2010