Progress Towards an Accountability System in the United Nations Secretariat

A/RES/66/257View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 132 Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, published in 2012.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2012–2023

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/77/280

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2023	A/RES/77/280	Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat	1,443	29%Compare
2020	A/RES/74/271	Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat	1,594	48%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/289	Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat	1,308	38%Compare
2018	A/RES/72/303	Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat	1,082	37%Compare
2017	A/RES/71/283	Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat	1,162	29%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

12 reports · 2013–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2025	A/80/468	Fifteenth progress report on accountability : strengthening accountability in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/255
2024	A/79/696	Fourteenth progress report on accountability : strengthening accountability in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/255
2023	A/78/678	Thirteenth progress report on accountability : strengthening accountability in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/255A/RES/77/280
2021	A/76/644	Eleventh progress report on accountability : strengthening accountability in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/255
2021	A/75/686	Tenth progress report on accountability : strengthening accountability in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/74/271

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

Accountability Delegation of Authority Performance Appraisal Programme Implementation Risk Management

What’s in this document?

37 operative paragraphs

I.Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;Error: Reference source not found

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions;Error: Reference source not found

Stresses the importance of promoting a culture of accountability, results-based management, enterprise risk management and internal controls at all levels in the Secretariat through the continued leadership and commitment of senior managers, and reiterates its request that the Secretary-General take appropriate measures to that end, including, inter alia, the training of relevant staff;

Recalls paragraph 5 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to provide more details on accountability measures and their application, which are necessary for reporting purposes and for the day-to-day management of the implementation of the accountability framework, including monitoring progress, evaluating results and taking corrective action, as required;

Also recalls paragraph 6 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to improve the content of future progress reports on the implementation of the accountability framework by providing more complete and transparent information that would enable a clear understanding of the principles and mechanisms of the accountability measures implemented or envisaged, including an analysis of the impact of their application on strengthening accountability, with key performance indicators and supporting statistical information to substantiate results;

Requests the Secretary-General to develop, as a priority, a clearly defined and well-documented plan that includes clear objectives, responsibilities and a timeline for accomplishing the specific actions he is undertaking to strengthen accountability in response to the present resolution and resolution 64/259;

Recalls paragraph 11 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to submit, for its consideration, an annual report on progress made towards the implementation of the accountability framework;

Decides to continue to consider this matter under the same agenda item at the first part of its resumed sixty-seventh session;

Definition of accountability and roles and responsibilities

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to draw on lessons learned, experience and expertise from the United Nations programmes and funds and other United Nations entities when further developing the accountability system of the United Nations Secretariat;

Promoting a culture of accountability

Acknowledges that strengthening accountability remains a work in progress, that some elements of the accountability framework have been established and that much work needs to be done in order to build an effective system of accountability in the United Nations and to improve the management of its operations;

Welcomes the report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled “Accountability frameworks in the United Nations system”;Error: Reference source not found

Delegation of authority

Notes that the information contained in the report of the Secretary-General is insufficient to enable a clear understanding either of the comprehensive review process or of the system of delegation of authority, recalls paragraph 21 of resolution 64/259 and paragraph 36 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on an accountability system,⁸ and stresses the need for the Secretary-General to urgently address the continued deficiencies in the current delegation of authority system through the promulgation of well-defined roles and responsibilities of individuals at all levels to whom authority is delegated, systemic reporting mechanisms on monitoring and exercise of delegated authority and actions to be taken in cases of mismanagement or abuse of authority;

⁸A/64/683 and Corr.1.

Implementation of the recommendations of oversight bodies

Emphasizes the importance of the full and timely implementation of the recommendations of oversight bodies, and stresses in this regard the role of the Management Committee in monitoring and ensuring that accepted recommendations are followed up and implemented in a timely manner, and the need for transparency in the work of the Committee;

Recalls paragraph 24 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found in particular the issues raised by the Board of Auditors, and requests the Secretary-General to further strengthen consultation and cooperation with the oversight bodies as he pursues the implementation of the accountability framework;

Personal and institutional accountability

Emphasizes the importance of establishing and fully implementing real, effective and efficient mechanisms that foster institutional and personal accountability at all levels;

Notes with concern that there is little evidence that senior managers’ compacts have had any real impact on enhancing accountability, and requests the Secretary-General, in this regard, to pursue concrete measures to ensure that the compact system becomes a powerful instrument of the accountability system;

Encourages the Secretary-General to pursue his efforts to improve the content and assessment methods of the compact system by establishing connections between individual workplans, departmental workplans, budget fascicles and senior managers’ compacts, as well as by including in the senior managers’ compacts the final assessment of their performance;

Recalls paragraph 30 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary QuestionsError: Reference source not found on the mismanagement of the Umoja project, and requests the Secretary-General to fully implement the governance structure of the project, as mandated by the General Assembly in its resolution 66/246 of 24 December 2011, as a matter of priority;

Requests the Secretary-General to further develop and take appropriate measures to hold staff accountable for mismanagement and wrongful or improper decisions and to strengthen efforts to increase recovery actions against those convicted of fraud in the Organization;

Reform of the performance appraisal system

Recalls paragraph 39 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to establish a more robust system of sanctions to address the underperformance of staff in order to create a culture of accountability;

Requests the Secretary-General to include in the report requested in paragraph 7 above information on progress in the establishment of the rewards and recognition framework of the United Nations Secretariat;

Selection and appointment of senior managers

Welcomes the report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled “Transparency in the selection and appointment of senior managers in the United Nations Secretariat”;Error: Reference source not found

Enterprise risk management and internal control framework

Welcomes the progress made by the Secretary-General towards the development of the enterprise risk management framework, stresses that there is a need to clearly distinguish between the respective roles and responsibilities of the governing bodies and management, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to review his enterprise risk management policy, focusing on the role and responsibilities of the Secretariat in the management of the risks of its operations;

Stresses that the General Assembly is responsible for determining the risk tolerance of the Organization, and expresses its concern over the lack of detailed analysis by the Secretary-General with regard to the key risk areas of the United Nations;

Welcomes the report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled “Review of enterprise risk management in the United Nations system: benchmarking framework”;Error: Reference source not found

Concrete measures to prevent potential conflicts of interest

Recalls paragraph 54 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that concrete measures are taken to prevent potential conflicts of interest in all the activities related to the administrative and budgetary aspects of the functioning of the United Nations, including the current process governing all procurement, staff recruitment and promotion and other relevant processes, and to report thereon;

Performance reporting, implementation of the results-based management framework and results-based management information system

Stresses that results-based management and performance reporting are essential pillars of a comprehensive accountability framework, and regrets that the report of the Secretary-General does not address all the areas identified by the General Assembly in resolution 64/259, notably results-based management and performance reporting;

Requests the Secretary-General to promote a culture of self-evaluation throughout the Organization, to mainstream the use of relevant monitoring and evaluation tools in programme planning and implementation, to provide staff with adequate training, as appropriate and within existing resources, and to include in his report on the implementation of the present resolution information on measures taken in this regard;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to take appropriate measures to accelerate the implementation of results-based management and to include, inter alia, in his next report concrete measures on how the Organization will shift the focus of its accountability from the delivery of outputs to the delivery of results;

II.Change management initiatives

Reaffirming its determination to strengthen further the role, capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of the United Nations, and thus improve its performance, in order to realize the full potential of the Organization, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and to respond more effectively to the needs of Member States and existing and new global challenges facing the United Nations in the twenty-first century,

Recalling its resolutions 41/213 of 19 December 1986, 42/211 of 21 December 1987, 49/233 A of 23 December 1994, 58/269 of 23 December 2003 and 60/260 of 8 May 2006,

Recalling also Article 2, paragraph 1, and Articles 17, 18, 97 and 100 of the Charter,

Reaffirming the rules of procedure of the General Assembly,

Stressing the intergovernmental, multilateral and international character of the United Nations,

Reaffirms the role of the General Assembly and its relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies, within their respective mandates, in planning, programming, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation;

Also reaffirms that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters, and reaffirms the role of the Fifth Committee in carrying out a thorough analysis and in approving human and financial resources and policies, with a view to ensuring full, effective and efficient implementation of all mandated programmes and activities and the implementation of policies in this regard;

Further reaffirms its role with regard to the structure of the Secretariat, and stresses that proposals to amend the overall departmental structure, as well as the format of the programme budget and the biennial programme plan, are subject to review and prior approval by the General Assembly;

Reaffirms the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation⁹ and the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations;¹⁰

⁹ST/SGB/2000/8.

¹⁰ST/SGB/2003/7 and Amend.1.

Stresses the need for the General Assembly to participate in the budget preparation process, from its early stages and throughout the process;

Also stresses that setting the priorities of the United Nations and formulating policies are the prerogative of the Member States, as reflected in legislative decisions;

Further stresses, as one of the essential components of accountability, the importance of compliance with the Charter of the United Nations, its resolutions and the regulations and rules;

Notes the change management initiative of the Secretary-General and the recommendations contained in the report of the Change Management Team submitted to the Secretary-General, and requests him, in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 7 above, to submit to the General Assembly for its consideration and prior approval any proposals or measures related to the implementation of the recommendations contained in paragraphs 8, 11, 15, 16 to 18, 27, 28, 30, 34, 37 to 41, 43 and 49 to 61 of that report.