UN MANAGEMENT REFORM: JUSCANZ AMBASSADORS CONSULT

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000527 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA SUBJECT: UN MANAGEMENT REFORM: JUSCANZ AMBASSADORS CONSULT ON WAYS FORWARD REF: A. USUN 442 ¶B. USUN 481 ¶C. USUN 461 ¶1. Representatives of Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States (JUSCANZ) conferred March 14 to explore ways of dealing with the Secretary-General's latest initiatives for improving the UN's management and governance (reftels). While none of the Ambassadors had yet received comprehensive instructions from their capitals on the report, all agreed that the General Assembly should not relinquish control of the process to the Fifth Committee or any other body, and that strict timelines must be imposed on these bodies in order for the General Assembly to reach some early decisions. They also saw the value of creating some early momentum by moving forward quickly on a few priority measures, acknowledging that many other initiatives were complicated and would take more time to reach decisions on. Canada's Ambassador Rock, who hosted the lunch on March 14, said the President of the General Assembly had planned to hold the first meeting on the report on March 27, at which time the body would decide to request input from the ACABQ and the Fifth Committee. These two committees would also be asked to review a Secretariat-produced "implementation plan" during March and April. ¶2. During much of this same period the General Assembly will also be busy with the Secretary-General's report on the review of UN mandates, now due to be issued on March 28. Ambassador Rock said he and his working group co-chair Ambassador Akram of Pakistan will soon be consulting with various groups and delegations on how to handle this other critical report. They expect to have a formal Plenary session during the third week in April to work out a timetable for the review, which would take place in May and June. Rock emphasized that the mandate review would run into real problems unless certain politically sensitive mandates (e.g., Palestinian mandates) were exempted from the initial review. U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Wolff said the U.S. could not accept conditions for the mandate review since we would judge everything on its merits. Rock also said the western group should agree with the Group of 77 and China to retain savings derived from the mandate review to fund activities in the same thematic areas (e.g., funds saved from eliminating mandates in the development area should be used for other development activities.) While Ambassador Wolff said that this too caused problems for the U.S., he said it might be possible to consider funding meritorius development activities. ¶3. Looming over the discussions of the management reform report and the mandate review was the issue of how to deal with the $950 million spending ceiling approved by the General Assembly last December. While it was not clear to anyone (Ambassadors and experts) at the lunch precisely how and when the Secretary-General would bring the spending cap item to the General Assembly, the Fifth Committee experts believed that the cap would need to be dealt with in their Committee under the agenda item for the 2006-2007 budget, since it was the budget resolution that contained the spending authority provision. Ambassador Wolff said that the U.S. position was simple: without significant progress on reform, there will be no lifting of the cap. Ambassador Ozawa of Japan cautioned that JUSCANZ and the EU would be outvoted in a confrontation with the G-77 over the spending cap. New Zealand Ambassador Banks said that many G-77 delegations believed that they were humiliated last December when a small group of delegates outside of the Fifth Committee negotiated the budget and imposed a spending cap; she sensed that they were not about to let it happen again. Ambassador Wolff said that it was important for like-minded delegations to remind G-77 delegations on March 27 to the connection between the reforms and the next budget decision. Rather than give such a warning at that point, Ambassador Rock suggested that the JUSCANZ ambassadors send a joint letter to the Secretary-General that would lay out JUSCANZ expectations for progress on reform as a condition for allowing the UN to spend more money. ¶4. Other points made during the lunch--and a similar meeting held the day before at the Australian Mission--are as follows: -- The first review by the ACABQ of the management reform report was critical to increasing the likelihood of early success. Representatives agreed to monitor current activities in the ACABQ through their Committee members (Japan, Canada, U.S.) and share information. -- The chef de cabinet for the President of the General Assembly will be meeting with key groups and delegations over the coming days to discuss the process and calendar for handling the management reform report. Ambassadors agreed to send a consistent signal that the General Assembly needed to maintain control of the process and also needed to enforce strict timelines for other committees to respond to it. -- Australia agreed to host another meeting on Friday March 17 to discuss initial guidance provided by capitals and possibly agree on a handful of priority measures that could be pursued and agreed to at an early stage. -- The Group of 77 and China continues to resist the principle that the General Assembly is supreme on budget and other matters. Group members will persist in advancing their view that the Fifth Committee be allowed to take whatever time is necessary to reach decisions on the many management reform measures. -- Representatives agreed that the Secretary-General needs to be urged to complete the reform measures that he is already authorized to carry out. -- Ambassador Ozawa of Japan expressed concern about the high cost of the reform measures contained in the management report, likening the situation to the Japanese saying that "the pig is getting fat while being roasted." -- Information from the UN budget office indicated that the UN, as expected, would probably run out of money in June. BOLTON