UN SAFETY AND SECURITY: MEASURES TAKEN TO IMPROVE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001873

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: UN SAFETY AND SECURITY: MEASURES TAKEN TO IMPROVE
COST-SHARING


1. In its resolution 59/276 the General Assembly established
the Department of Safety and Security and, while recognizing
"the operational difficulties linked to cost-sharing by
organizations", decided to maintain existing arrangements
with regard to UN system cost-sharing for safety and
security. Further, the Assembly requested the
Secretary-General, to submit a report to the Assembly at the

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61st session on measures taken to improve the "operational
administration" of existing cost-sharing arrangements. The
Secretary-General's report (A/61/223) in response to the

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request, will be considered by the Fifth Committee this fall,
and it details the difficulties of implementing the
cost-sharing mechanism for costs associated with safety and
security of UN personnel.


2. In response to General Assembly resolution 59/276, the
High-level Committee on Management met in February 2005 to
discuss the budget requirements subject to cost-sharing, as
well as different options for future cost-sharing
arrangements. In April 2005 they endorsed the recommendation
of the technical meeting and agreed that the apportionment of
field-related security costs would be done on the basis of
actual percentage of field staff (as per the revised Census
of July 18, 2003),with a minimum amount of $75,000.


3. The World Bank has indicated that it disagrees with the
cost-sharing formula and has withheld its contribution.
Discussions are ongoing with that organization. All other
agencies, funds, and programmes have stated that they have no
additional funds to absorb the potential shortfall.
Therefore, the operations of the Department of Safety and
Security may be impacted. The High-level Committee on
Management agreed that all discussion regarding the
substantive aspects of field-related security, including the
details of jointly financed posts, should be taken up in the
context of the Inter-agency Security Management Network.
Comment: The report provides no detail concerning the actual
amount of the potential shortfall in funds for field
security, and USUN intends to follow-up on this during the
consideration of the report in the Fifth Committee this fall.
End comment.

4. Below is a listing of some of the major contributors to
the cost-sharing mechanism, including their current rates and
dollar amounts.

ORGANIZATION FIELD-RELATED COSTS PERCENTAGE
FAO 6 407 678 3.79
ILO 3 716 596 2.2
IOM 4 677 866 2.77
UNDP 26 197 003 15.49
UNESCO 3 580 971 2.12
UNHCR 10 738 154 6.35
UNICEF 17 676 434 10.45
WFP 21 961 702 12.99
WHO 14 992 490 8.86
World Bank 10 343 177 6.12

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