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Proposals of the European Union for Reform of the United Nations in Economic and Social Areas

EU for Reform

The European Union supports cooperation and synchronization of the vast UN system among various UN offices, councils and organizations. The recommendations proposed by the EU focus on harmonizing the efforts of various UN organs to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of development and social issues around the world.

Strengthening the Secretariat in Serving the UN System

  1. Coordination and strengthening of the Secretariat development roles would be significantly enhanced by appointment of an Under Secretary General (USG) under the authority of the Secretary General, with responsibility for economic and social cooperation and envelopment issues.
  2. An important responsibility for the USG would be to examine roles and mandates of all UN bodies involved in development; and of all funds and programs with a view to reduce overlap of competences, enhance effectiveness and consider the case, where appropriate, for a merger of development functions and make recommendations or proposals thereon.
  3. Integration of funds and programs in the developing regions should be granted when recommended by the USG and accordingly made by the Secretary General.
  4. There is a need for advanced rationalization of UN economic analysis in consultation with other organizations involved in economic analysis such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and academic institutions. There should be elimination of undue duplication and for liaison with private industry, business and the NGO community in this area.

Strengthening the Role of the Secretariat in Humanitarian Assistance

  1. The EU welcomes efforts made to agree bilaterally on divisions of labor through memoranda of understanding; these memoranda should be based on a common understanding of what the system as a whole can and should do.

Strengthening and Streamlining the UN system at Country Level

  1. EU supports UNDP allocation of significant portions of core resources to the work of the Resident coordinators; along with the UN system as a whole providing full support to the Resident Coordinator system.
  2. UN representation should be unified at country level. This would involve, inter-alia, the appointment of Unified Resident Coordinators to act as formal head of all UN operational activities at country level and to represent the entire UN system.
  3. The following elements would provide the basis for an integration of country level:
    • Common premises of all UN funds, programs and agencies
    • Joint implementation of activities; joint setting of priorities and specification of division of labor
    • Common administrations including: budgeting and financial services; staff; procurement, contracting, purchasing; information technology support; travel services; freight and customs clearance; transportation.

ECOSOC

  1. An integral dimension of achieving effective levels of performance by the UN system in the field of development requires a capacity for provision of overall guidance on policy and operational matters by UN Member States. ECOSOC was envisaged by the Charter as the framework for such a role. We do not believe it has succeeded to date.

Roles and Mandates of UN Bodies

  1. The EU urges that Specialized Agencies focus on their core tasks by ending any duplication of activities, involvement in activities that are not considered essential, and concentrate on key policy objectives such as poverty reduction.

Bretton Woods Institutions and WTO

  1. The EU favors the UN coordination program strategy with the Bretton Woods Institutions to the greatest possible extent.
  2. The EU urges the greatest possible level of collaboration in establishing coherence of approach between separate but complementary roles, including respect of the WTO.

Financing and Burden Sharing

  1. Resolution 50/227 decided upon by the General Assembly, examines new funding mechanisms and requires the establishment of clear and universal criteria:
    • It should assure resources on a predictable and continuous basis, and in this context, the Union is open to dialogue on how best to assure this objective
    • It should facilitate a clear relationship between agreement on the volume of the activities of the organization and the provision of resources, i.e. the sharing of the financial burden
    • It should recognize that while the bulk of the resources will continue to come from developed countries, it is important to achieve a widening of distribution of financing burden
    • A further option to be considered in due course could be to recognize that the normative work of the UN and the common administrative machinery at headquarters and country levels should be a common financial responsibility of all UN member states.

Recruitment and Human Resources Management

  1. The EU favors the development of a credible Performance Appraisal System and encourages the Secretary General to further continue his efforts in this regard. The EU generally urges that the UN recruitment system be made structured as formal as possible including explicit criteria for specific posts.
  2. The EU strongly encourages the Secretary General to improvements in such areas as staff training and recruitment, career development, staff rotations and mobility; appraisal and reward systems; accountability; regular internal auditing; enhanced personal responsibility as well as a greater delegation of budgetary authority.

References:
http://www.un.org/reform/intgov/4refindx.htm, Proposals of the European Union for Reform of the United Nations System in Economic and Social Arenas, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations; January 28 1999

Prepared by: Adrienne Karatoprak and Berivan Tamsen


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