United Nations Daily Highlights, 05-09-07

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON

BRIEFING

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

[The following substitutes for the noon briefing, which was cancelled because of the release of the report of the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) into the UN

Oil-for-Food Programme.]

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

INDEPENDENT INQUIRY COMMITTEE REPORT ON OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAMME

IS PRESENTED TO KOFI ANNAN AND SECURITY COUNCIL

The Security Council held an open meeting on the Independent Inquiry Committee's report on the UN Oil-for-Food Programme, which was presented by Committee's Chair, Paul Volcker.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan made the following statement in the Security Council:

"As you know, it was on my initiative, and with the support of this Council, that in April of last year Mr. Volcker, Justice Goldstone and Professor Pieth were asked to conduct their inquiry.

I took that initiative, not with a view to deflecting blame, or to forging a political weapon against anyone, but with the sole purpose of uncovering the truth. I was convinced that only by revealing the full truth, however painful, could the United Nations regain its credibility, and establish what changes were needed.

Mr. Volcker himself remarked, when presenting his first interim report, that few other organizations would have opened themselves to independent scrutiny as fully as this one has. And indeed, the truth as revealed in the successive interim reports of the Inquiry, and in this full report today, is painful for all of us. There can be few people, either in this Council or in the Secretariat, who will take pleasure in hearing or reading the conclusions that the Inquiry has reached.

Yet I believe we should all be profoundly grateful to Mr. Volcker and his colleagues for the work that they have done, and the report that they have produced. I have no doubt, no doubt at all that this Organization will benefit from it.

Mr. President, my colleagues and I have only just received the full report, as you have, and therefore it would be premature for me to give a detailed response at this stage. But there are some things that I am ready to say now.

The report is critical of me personally, and I accept the criticism.

Earlier this year the Committee concluded that I did not influence, or attempt to influence, the procurement process. I am glad to note that the conclusion is reaffirmed.

But I accepted then, and still accept, the conclusion that I was not diligent or effective enough in pursuing an investigation after the fact, when I learned that the company which employed my son had won the humanitarian inspection contract. I deeply regret that.

The evidence of actual corruption among a small number of UN staff is also profoundly disappointing for all of us who work in this Organization.

But, while I have not yet had time to study the full text of the report, I am gratified to see that two essential points are made in the preface. First, the Committee notes that the Programme did succeed in restoring and maintaining minimal standards of nutrition and health in Iraq, while also helping to maintain the international effort to prevent Saddam Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. And secondly, it observes that the wholesale corruption within the Programme took place among private companies, manipulated by Saddam Hussein's government.

More important, however, are the Committee's findings about the general management of the Programme, which was characterized by weak administrative practices, and inadequate control and auditing. Most important of all is the way that those findings reflect on the system of decision-making, accountability and management throughout the Organization.

Here too, as chief administrative officer, I have to take responsibility for the failings revealed, both in the implementation of the Programme and, more generally, in the functioning of the Secretariat.

The report also finds that many of these problems were rooted in an unclear demarcation of roles and responsibilities between this Council, the 661 Committee and the Secretariat and in particular by this Council's decision to retain substantial elements of operational control within the 661 committee, composed of national diplomats working under highly politicized instructions from their home governments, yet willing to take decisions only when there was unanimous consent among all the fifteen members.

This, of course, calls for reflection by Member States.

Mr. President,

There are hard lessons for all of us to learn.

They are lessons about the importance of accountability, and particularly of having clear lines of responsibility and reporting, so that all officials, and all parts of the Secretariat, know exactly where their responsibilities lie.

They are lessons about oversight, and particularly about the need for mechanisms to ensure that, when oversight reveals deficiencies, someone takes prompt action to repair those deficiencies.

And above all, they are lessons about the need for the United Nations to maintain the highest possible standards of integrity, and of effective performance.

Mr. President, we shall have to study all these lessons, and all the Committee's recommendations, with great care. It may well be that we shall have to propose specific new reform measures to put them into practice.

But one thing should be clear right now. The Inquiry's findings underscore the vital importance of proposed management reforms, many of which are at this very minute being negotiated by Members in the General Assembly, with a view to their adoption, as part of a broader agenda of political and institutional change, by next week's summit.

As you know, I have already embarked on new reforms in areas where I have discretion reforms designed to improve the performance of senior management, to strengthen oversight and accountability, to increase transparency, and to ensure the highest standards of ethics, notably by creating a new Ethics Office. But there are many key decisions that only the General Assembly can make.

As the Inquiry's report says, we cannot be sure, however much we might wish it, that fresh emergencies will not sooner or later impose on us new tasks as complex as the Oil-for-Food Programme.

Therefore, it is vital that we review fully the rules governing our budgetary and human resources. The Oil-for-Food Programme is only the most extreme example of the wide range of new types of operation that Member States have called on the Secretariat to undertake in the last 15 years. It surely illustrates the point that our rules must allow us to attract, retain and develop a cadre of professionals with appropriate skills to manage such operations, to move them from post to post in a fair and practicable way, and to rationalize a budgetary process which at present is far too heavy, time-consuming and bureaucratic.

Even more obviously, it is vital that we build a stronger and better-resourced oversight structure, and ensure that it is fully independent, both of the Secretariat and from political interference by Member States. One important element in this new structure would be the independent oversight advisory committee proposed in the draft outcome document submitted by the President of the General Assembly which corresponds closely to the Committee's recommendation of an Independent Auditing Board.

But it's no less vital that the Secretary-General himself should be allowed to carry out his functions effectively, taking day-to-day decisions on deployment of staff and resources without having to wait for prior approval from the General Assembly, or this Council, or their various committees. As the report says, one of the fundamental problems with the Oil-for-Food Programme was that neither the Security Council nor the Secretariat leadership was clearly in command, and this turned out to be a recipe for the dilution of Secretariat authority and evasion of personal responsibility at all levels. In future, the respective roles and powers of the different parts of the Organization must be clearly defined, so that the Secretary-General knows precisely what is expected of him, and Member States can hold him fully accountable for the results.

As I told the General Assembly negotiators last week, I know that none of you want a Secretariat that can always blame its failings on Member States, or MemberStates blaming their failings on the Secretariat. You want a Secretariat that is given clear instructions by Member States, and then takes responsibility for its success or failure in carrying them out.

Mr. President,

The findings in today's report must be deeply embarrassing to all of us. The Inquiry Committee has ripped away the curtain, and shone a harsh light into the most unsightly corners of the Organization. None of us Member States, Secretariat, Agencies, Funds or Programmes can be proud of what it has found. Who among us can now claim that UN management is not a problem, or is not in need of reform?

On the contrary, as the Volcker Report puts it, reform is imperative if the United Nations is to regain and retain the measure of respect among the international community that its work requires.

Next week's summit gives world leaders a golden opportunity to enact such a reform. But the negotiators are leaving it perilously late. There is a grave danger that the opportunity will be missed. I hope I'm wrong.

Thank you very much. "

The Secretary-General also took questions from reporters after he addressed the Security Council.

ANNAN REITERATES FULL SUPPORT FOR NORWEGIAN-LED EFFORTS

TO ADVANCE PEACE PROCESS IN SRI LANKA

In the aftermath of the assassination of the Sri Lankas former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the international community is exploring all options to help the Government of Sri Lanka stabilize the situation and put the peace process back on track.

In this context, at the request of the Secretary-General, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi just completed a four day visit to Colombo. He held consultations with government officials as well as a broad spectrum of people in the country. The heightened attention by the United Nations is meant to reinforce, and in no way to replace, the ardent efforts of Norway to facilitate the peace process. The Secretary-General reiterates his full support for the Norwegian-led efforts to advance the peace process.

MEMBER STATES CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS ON UN REFORM

Following yesterday afternoons meeting of the General Assembly core group on the draft outcome document on UN reform for the 2005 World Summit, Member States are conducting direct, inter-governmental negotiations on all the outstanding issues related to development.

The core group is scheduled to meet twice today, at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

UNITED NATIONS RELEASES HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) released its Human Development Report 2005 today.

Among other things, the report focuses on the human costs if the world fails to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The authors say it appears likely the world will fail to meet those goals, if current trends continue.

The report is designed to help the heads of state and work towards meeting those goals during the coming summit. The authors emphasize that development is ultimately up to the governments of developing countries-to tackle inequalities, respect human rights, encourage investment and root out corruption. The Report also focuses on the role richer countries must play to defeat poverty, in three vital areas: aid, trade and security.

In welcoming the report, the Secretary-General

said It is plain that a dramatic scaling up of action is needed now if we are to make this framework a reality, in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015, and to overcome the massive inequalities that divide humanity. He urged all Member States coming to next weeks Summit to heed this timely message.

WORLD NEEDS AIDS VACCINE

The world needs an AIDS vaccine more urgently than it needs any single medical discovery, and Africa needs it more than any other part of the world.

That is what Stephen Lewis, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said yesterday evening at the opening ceremony of the AIDS Vaccine 2005 International Conference in Montreal, Canada.

Lamenting that the world was not as passionate as it should be about finding a vaccine, he highlighted three of his main concerns and recommendations.

First, he said, the world clearly needed a great deal more money for the quest for a vaccine. Second, private pharmaceutical and biotech companies must be brought on board.

Finally, he said that there had been extremely limited progress in helping women, who were the most vulnerable and who were suffering the most from the pandemic.

ATTACKS ON VILLAGES REPORTEDLY CONTINUE IN DARFUR

The security situation in Darfur,

Sudan remains volatile with many reports on continuing banditry, alleged attacks on villages and looting and reports on fighting in West and North Darfur, the UN mission in Sudan reports.

It says thee situation in West Darfur is of particular concern following a series of attacks on aid convoys. Overall, there have been at least 10 serious attacks on humanitarian workers in the past 30 days, including two attacks by armed men that took place on 1 September, according to the mission.

The Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator Manuel da Silva travelled to Darfur this week to discuss with the government, NGOs and the African Union ways to curtail theses numerous security violations that are seriously affecting humanitarian operations in West Darfur. An agreement was made with the African Union to increase security along the main routes and efforts are expected from government authorities to improve the operating environment for humanitarian work in the area. The mission reports.

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES DIALOGUE BETWEEN ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA

In his latest report to the Security Council on Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Secretary-General today called upon both countries to engage in dialogue to achieve lasting peace.

The Secretary-General said, "wish to emphasize the importance of dialogue without any precondition between the parties as an integral part of the ongoing efforts to resolve the existing stalemate..."

The Secretary-General also commended both parties on a decline of the number of incidents in temporary security zones between them.

ANNAN APPOINTS NEW GROUP OF EXPERTS FOR DR CONGO

The Secretary-General has appointed five people to the re-established Group of Experts for the Democratic Republic of the Congo tasked with investigating the weapons embargo against militias in that country.

The Secretary-General announced the move in a letter to the Security Council, noting that the Council had requested the groupss re-establishment in Resolution 1616.

The five people appointed to the group are: Ibra Deguene Ka of Senegal, Joseph Andre Jacques Buisson of Canada, Rico Carisch of Switzerland, Abdoulaye Cissoko of Mali and Jean Luc Gallet of France. Ka will chair the Group of Experts.

U.N. HUMANITARIAN SYSTEM NEEDS MAJOR UPGRADE, NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS TOLD

In remarks today to the Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization Forum, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said that the world must fight the root causes of disaster, conflict and injustice. But only if governments, non-governmental organizations and the UN system worked together, would we succeed, he added.

He also made three points. First, he said a major upgrade of the UN humanitarian system was needed. In that context, he referred to the Secretary-Generals report, In Larger Freedom, which had proposed three reforms: a more predictable funding base; a more predictable, strengthened response capacity; and a more predictable right to access, with improved security for aid workers.

Second, he said the world needed to harness the energies, resources and imagination of all sectors of society especially the non-governmental organization community and the private sector.

Finally, he said that impressive as our technical ability was, it was not enough. We needed to match the technical revolution with a similar moral and ethical revolution so that these tools can reach everyone all those who suffer, all those in need.

UNITED NATIONS RUSHES RELIEF SUPPLIES TO FLOOD SURVIVORS

IN CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has authorized an emergency grant of nearly $18,000 for the Central African Republic, following floods that have hit up to 20,000 people in that country.

Since the Government requested international assistance, UN agencies have also swung into action. For its part, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), together with a local partner, has distributed 30,000 litres of clean water.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided anti-malarial medicines, and is carrying out an information campaign on hygiene, as the floods have increased the number of health hazards. WHO will also provide drugs to national medical facilities, and will work to strengthen an epidemiological monitoring system.

UN agencies have also provided therapeutic high-nutrition biscuits, water purification tablets, jerry cans for clean water, and petrol lamps.

HONOR ROLL OF PAID UP MEMBER-STATES REACHES 112

With the arrival of checks Monday from Senegal and Turkmenistan, the "Honour Roll" of Member States that have paid-in-full their UN dues has reached 112.

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

United Nations, S-378

New York, NY 10017

Tel. 212-963-7162 - press/media only

Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or by e-mail to: inquiries@un.org

United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article