The chief budget officer of the United Nations said Tuesday that an effort by the Bush administration to delay approval of the institutions budget in December in order to push through reforms would cause a crisis in the organization and cut into essential operations.
– It is a very serious situation, said Warren Sach, assistant secretary general and controller, adding: – It is fragile and creates real problems in terms of the operational capacity of the organization.
The US announced last week that it would oppose adoption by the General Assembly of the usual two-year budget at the end of the year unless the costs of new reform proposals were included. John R. Bolton, the United States UN ambassador, said the 191-nation Assembly should instead approve a three- or four-month interim budget until the changes could be financed.
He argued that approving the 3,9 billion US dollar budget now would send a “business as usual” message with no assurances that there would be essential changes like the elimination of outdated missions, the overhauling of management, the creation of a peace-building commission and the substitution of the discredited human rights commission with a new human rights council that would deny membership to notorious rights violators.
Mr. Bolton accompanied the announcement with a prediction that if rebuffed, the United States would look to new forums outside the UN to settle international problems.
Mr. Sach said such an interim budget would confront the UN with a deficit of 320 million dollar in the first quarter of 2006 alone.
Among the options to try to close it, he said, were borrowing from the separate peacekeeping budget, drawing down reserves and freezing recruitment, travel, equipment purchases and salary payments.
None of those, he said, would produce nearly enough money and would require approval by the General Assembly, which was opposed to the American move and wary of Congressional threats to withhold American dues.
Mr. Sach declined repeated requests from reporters to identify specific programs or missions that might be affected but confirmed that his office was examining the question.
– It is a matter of prudent financial planning, how we could cope in the absence of inflows. There is no clear, easy way around a situation where more money has to go out than comes in, he said.
Secretary General Kofi Annan responded to Mr. Boltons proposal last week by saying it was essential to the functioning of the organization to have a budget approved this year. He said paying for the reforms, which he supported, should be addressed in supplemental budgets next year.
The British ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, said the European Union did not endorse the American plan and wanted “the budget adopted in the normal way,” with the reforms financed in supplemental budget proposals.
Toshiro Ozawa, a deputy Japanese ambassador, said Tuesday that Japan shared Washingtons concern that passing the budget in the normal fashion would call into question the UNs determination to adopt needed reforms.
But he said his country did not back the interim budget proposal and was looking at other options.
– We think it can create a lot of problems, particularly in terms of cash flow, and that is not something we want to do, he said.
Kilde: The Push Journal
