UNGA 56

Fifth Committee

Statement by Mr Henry Fox Representative of Australia on behalf of the Delegations of New Zealand, Canada and Australia

Item 136: Financing of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the financing of the United Nations Mission of support in East Timor

New York 21 May 2002

Mr Chairman

I have the honour to speak on behalf of New Zealand, Canada and my own delegation Australia.

It is with much pleasure and satisfaction that we note that this debate is taking place as the people of East Timor have achieved their independence. We wish to extend our congratulations to East Timor and look forward to this new nation taking its place as a member state of the United Nations later this year.

It is only two and a half years since the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor began the complex task of building capacities among the East Timorese people to facilitate their transition to independence. The fact that so much has been achieved in such a short period of time is a credit to this Organization and to the international community at large. It demonstrates what can be achieved if this Organization sets its mind to it.

While much has been achieved, much remains to be done. We are considering the budget of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor, UNMISET, whose role is to provide critical support in the to the new nation, under a Security Council mandate adopted on Friday 17 May 2002. We wish to thank the Controller for his introduction of the budget and of the related documents. We very much appreciate and commend the hard work done by the Secretariat in planning and implementing the seamless transition from one mission to the next, and in aligning the financing of the missions with the normal peacekeeping financing cycle. We also wish to thank Ambassador Mselle for introducing the related reports of the ACABQ. We wish to place on record our thanks to the Advisory Committee for its expeditious consideration of the budget estimates in a situation where a Security Council mandate had not yet been adopted and under considerable time constraints.

Mr Chairman, a budget of $318 million gross is being sought for the first year of operation of UNMISET, involving a reduction of 30% from the final year of UNTAET. The budget was prepared on the basis of the progressive downsizing of the military and civilian police components of the mission over the course of the next year, downsizing which will continue into the second year. The ACABQ has recommended that the Assembly approve the appropriation and assessment of a budget of $292 million gross for the first twelve months. Our delegations are ready to support this recommendation on the basis of assurances from the Secretariat that implementation of the mandate of the mission will not be adversely affected by the proposed reduction.

The ACABQ commends the mission for its achievements in the prosecution of serious crimes and suggests that the mission move quickly to document the lessons learned in this area as well as in relation to gender and public information. We hope this suggestion will be taken up.

Mr Chairman, in relation to the three further reports under consideration we note that the ACABQ has supported the courses of action being proposed by the SecretaryGeneral which our delegations can also support.