Statement by Philippe Lafortune, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Canada on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the United Nations Fifth Committee on Improving the Financial Situation of the United Nations. Delivered on 13 May 2010.
(as delivered)
Mr Chairman
I have the honour to speak today on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We thank the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Ms Angela Kane, for her presentation on May 7th on the Financial Situation of the Organisation and the controller, Mr Jun Yamazaki for the update he has provided today.
These updates provide both an opportunity for Member States to take stock of the state of the Organisation’s finances, and a chance to reflect on how we as Member States, are ackowledging and respecting our obligations and responsibilities towards the Organisation and its activities.
Mr Chairman
CANZ delegations are encouraged by the improvement in the overall financial situation over the last year, as the level of outstanding assessments has decreased in comparison to 2009. However, we note with concern an increase to the number of Member States who have failed to fully meet their financial obligations to the Organsisation – up to 56 countries or close to one third of the membership.
Once again, our delegations find it unacceptable that a number of Member States regularly fail to meet their obligations. We again remind Member States of the need to fulfil their Charter obligations to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without condition.
Mr Chairman
We are mindful that some governments find it difficult to fulfil all of their financial obligations, especially in the current global financial environment. All governments feel these pressures. CANZ delegations would like to stress the consequences of unpaid assessments that penalise both Member States who have paid in full and on time, and troop contributing countries that are left waiting for the reimbursement of costs they have incurred.
At a time when Member States are asking the Organisation to do more, and the regular and peacekeeping budgets continue to reach record levels, we are called to continually look for ways to eliminate waste and duplication, to rationalise activities and redeploy resources, and to streamline the administration of the Organisation. In this regard, we welcome the Secretariat’s new internet portal that shows the status of contributions on a timely basis and believe this portal will help facilitate payments by Member States.
To conclude, we express our gratitude to those Member States who are meeting their Charter obligations, and we again implore others to do the same.
Thank you Mr Chairman.