United Nations General Assembly: Fifth Committee
13 October 2005
Item 132. Report of the Secretary General on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services
Statement by Edwina Stevens
First Secretary
Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations
On behalf of Canada, New Zealand and Australia
(Check against delivery)
Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I take this opportunity to congratulate Ms Ahlenius on her appointment as Under Secretary-General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services and thank her for her presentation yesterday on the OIOS Annual Report. I would also like to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and the members of the Bureau on your election.
Mr Chairman,
CANZ places a high premium on strong and effective oversight. It is crucial for the United Nations that its oversight system is as independent as possible and is seen to be as such. Our position on oversight has been made very clear in past sessions of the General Assembly, and indeed, in our recent statements during this session on the Board of Auditors and the Review of Efficiency.
It will come as no surprise that we welcome the Summit outcome requesting an independent, external evaluation of the United Nations’ auditing and oversight system, including specialised agencies. The General Assembly will consider that assessment in due course, hopefully soon. The Summit outcome also recognized the pressing need to strengthen the capacity of the OIOS. In this connection, we are pleased that the OIOS is conducting a review of its internal requirements as a basis for proposing specific urgent resource requirements. We look forward to considering these needs in the coming weeks.
Mr Chairman,
We would like to highlight two areas of particular concern for CANZ raised in the OIOS Annual Report.
The first area of concern is the inadequacy of funding available for mandated oversight coverage of extra-budgetary activities. The OIOS Annual Report states clearly that the lack of an effective and enforceable mechanism for funding both audit and investigation activities in agencies with extra-budgetary funding has forced the reduction, and in some cases, the elimination of OIOS investigations. This is not acceptable.
A truly functional oversight system must have sufficient and secure funding mechanisms.
Mr Chairman,
The second area of concern relates to the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse in the context of the management of peacekeeping operations. The management of peacekeeping operations has been identified in the Annual Report as one of the key oversight risk areas and the General Assembly strengthened resources to meet this challenge. We seek assurance about oversight activities in peacekeeping operations, with particular regard to conduct, and would like to learn more about the investigations, their findings, and how these findings are being acted upon. We would also like to know whether increased OIOS activities have been effective in discouraging sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping operations.
Thank you Mr Chairman.