UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: FIFTH COMMITTEE
1 November 2011
Administration of Justice
Statement by Mr Paul Ballantyne
Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Mr. Chairman
I have the honour today to speak on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the outset, CANZ wishes to express its appreciation to the members of the Secretariat and the ACABQ for introducing their respective reports.
Mr. Chairman
CANZ maintains its long-standing support for a fair, efficient and effective system of administration of justice within the United Nations and we welcome the progress made over the past two years.
As we have stated on previous occasions, we believe that a properly functioning system of internal justice is an essential element of our collective efforts to strengthen accountability, oversight, and human resources management in the United Nations.
We note that the Secretary-General has identified a range of issues on which he considers further guidance and resources from member states are required. While we will study these recommendations carefully, we consider that the new system of administration of justice is still evolving and that many aspects have yet to settle. As such, we deem it premature to make an accurate assessment of the new system’s long term resourcing requirements at this time.
Mr. Chairman
With regard to the Office of Staff Legal Assistance (OSLA), CANZ believes it imperative that the provision of legal assistance to staff be complemented by some form of financial contribution by the staff. In this regard, we strongly endorse the recommendation of the ACABQ which would see the Secretary-General putting forward a specific proposal for a mandatory staff-funded scheme.
This is but one of the challenging issues to be considered under this agenda item. We look forward to engaging constructively with all delegations to ensure our consideration of the issues raised in the reports before us are as productive as possible.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.