Review of the Implementation of General Assembly Resolutions 48/218 B and 54/244

A/RES/59/272View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 119 Review of the implementation of General Assembly resolutions 48/218 B and 54/244, published in 2004.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 4	Business transformation and accountability	7
	Programme 26	Internal oversight	14

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 4	Business transformation and accountability	7	—
	Programme 26	Internal oversight	14	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

2 reports · 2005–2006

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2006	A/61/546	Accountability measures report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/59/272
2005	A/60/312	Measures to strengthen accountability in the United Nations report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/59/272

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 subjects

Accountability Administration Coordination Within UN System Evaluation Institutional Machinery Internal Oversight Management Periodic Reports Reporting Procedures Rules and Regulations

What’s in this document?

23 operative paragraphs

Decides to maintain the reporting procedures for the Office of Internal Oversight Services in full compliance with its resolutions 48/218 B and 54/244, and in this context requests the Secretary-General to ensure that:

Annual reports submitted by the Office of Internal Oversight Services to the General Assembly contain the titles and brief summaries of all reports of the Office issued during the year;

Semi-annual reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services contain the titles and brief summaries of all other reports of the Office issued in the reporting period;

Original versions of the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services not submitted to the General Assembly are, upon request, made available to any Member State;

Also decides that when access to a report would be inappropriate for reasons of confidentiality or the risk of violating the due process rights of individuals involved in Office of Internal Oversight Services investigations, the report may be modified, or withheld in extraordinary circumstances, at the discretion of the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, who will provide reasons for this to the requesting party;

Further decides that reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services shall be submitted directly to the General Assembly as submitted by the Office and that the comments of the Secretary-General may be submitted in a separate report;

Affirms its primary role in the consideration of and action taken on the reports submitted to it;

Notes that no mechanism has been established for the follow-up to Office of Internal Oversight Services recommendations, including those considered by the General Assembly;

Emphasizes the importance of establishing real, effective and efficient mechanisms for responsibility and accountability;

Regrets that despite previous information provided by the Secretary-General on the establishment of accountability mechanisms, including the accountability panel, such mechanisms are not in place, thereby affecting the efficient and effective functioning of the Organization;

Takes note of paragraph 129 (b) of the annual report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services,² and concurs with the view that a high-level follow-up mechanism under the authority of the Secretary-General should be established in the Organization to effectively feed findings and recommendations of the Office, as well as relevant findings of the Joint Inspection Unit and the Board of Auditors, into the executive management processes;

²See A/59/359.

Requests the Secretary-General to submit annually to the General Assembly a report under the agenda item entitled “Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations” addressing the measures implemented with the aim of strengthening accountability in the Secretariat and the results achieved;

Also requests the Secretary-General to establish the aforementioned follow-up mechanism as soon as possible and to report to the General Assembly on the results achieved in the context of the report referred to in paragraph 9 above, with specific reference to:

The composition of such a mechanism, including the seniority of the chair and members;

Terms of reference of the mechanism and frequency of its meetings;

The inclusion in the mechanism of one or more participants with relevant expertise from United Nations-system oversight bodies;

Reporting procedures;

Reaffirms the role of the Board of Auditors and the Joint Inspection Unit as external oversight bodies, and, in this regard, affirms that any external review, audit, inspection, monitoring, evaluation or investigation of the Office can be undertaken only by such bodies or those mandated to do so by the General Assembly;

Also reaffirms the importance of effective coordination, in the implementation of their respective mandates, between the Joint Inspection Unit, the Board of Auditors and the Office of Internal Oversight Services, in order to maximize the use of resources and share experiences, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned;

Stresses the vital importance of the evaluation function of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, and requests the Secretary-General to better reflect the objectives, expected accomplishments and performance indicators related to this function in future biennial programmes and budgetary submissions of the Office;

Reaffirms its oversight role as well as the role of the Fifth Committee in administrative and budgetary matters;

Notes paragraph 129 (a) of the annual report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, and in this context requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session, taking into account the views of external oversight bodies, on how to guarantee the full operational independence of the Office within the context of its resolution 48/218 B;

Decides to evaluate and review at its sixty-fourth session the functions and reporting procedures of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and any other matter which it deems appropriate, and to that end to include in the provisional agenda of that session an item entitled “Review of the implementation of General Assembly resolutions 48/218 B, 54/244 and 59/272”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?