Questions Relating to the Proposed Programme Budget for the Biennium 2014-2015

A/RES/68/246View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 134 Proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015, published in 2014.

What else is in this group?

22 documents · 1982–2018

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2018).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2018	A/RES/72/261	Questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2018-2019	5,126	–
2016	A/RES/70/247	Questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2016-2017	4,910	–
2014	A/RES/68/246	Questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015	2,150	–
2012	A/RES/66/246	Questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2012-2013	5,787	–
2010	A/RES/64/243	Questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2010-2011	6,861	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2015

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2015	A/70/396	Limited budgetary discretion report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/68/246

What subjects does this mandate have?

2 subjects

Programme Budgeting Staffing

What’s in this document?

47 operative paragraphs

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 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;

Also reaffirms rule 153 of its rules of procedure;

Further reaffirms the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation;¹⁵

¹⁵ST/SGB/2000/8.

Reaffirms the established budgetary procedures and methodologies, based on its resolutions 41/213 and 42/211;

Also reaffirms that no changes to the budget methodology, to the established budgetary procedures and practices or to the financial regulations may be implemented without prior review and approval by the General Assembly, in accordance with established budgetary procedures;

Reiterates the need for Member States to participate fully in the budget preparation process, from its early stages and throughout the process;

Emphasizes the importance of providing the consistent and timely information necessary to enable Member States to make well-informed decisions;

Stresses that all Member States should fulfil their financial obligations as set out in the Charter of the United Nations on time, in full and without conditions;

Recalls paragraph 7 of section X of its resolution 67/246 of 24 December 2012, and reaffirms the need for a comprehensive and satisfactory solution to the problem of controlling the effects of inflation and currency fluctuations on the budget of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General to commission an independent study on recosting and options for the Organization in dealing with fluctuations in exchange rates and inflation, drawing, inter alia, on the experience of other international organizations, and to report thereon to the General Assembly through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions at the main part of its sixty-ninth session;

Decides that a vacancy rate of 8.75 per cent for Professional staff and 6.4 per cent for General Service staff shall be used as a basis for the calculation of the budget for the biennium 2014–2015;

Reiterates the priorities of the Organization for the biennium 2014–2015, as outlined in General Assembly resolution 67/248;

Notes with concern the late issuance of the first report of the Advisory Committee on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014–2015;¹⁶

¹⁶Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 7 (A/68/7).

Encourages the Secretary-General to take advantage of the potential of new systems and standards, such as the Umoja enterprise resource planning system and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, in preparing his budget proposals, with a view to enhancing the quality and accuracy of information provided to Member States;

Stresses that results-based budgeting and results-based management are mutually supportive management tools and that improved implementation of results-based budgeting enhances both management and accountability in the Secretariat, and encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts in this regard;

Reaffirms paragraph 28 of resolution 55/231, and stresses the importance of adequate training to ensure the full implementation of results-based budgeting;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination as contained in chapter II, section A, of its report;Error: Reference source not found

Also endorses, subject to the provisions of the present resolution and without establishing a precedent, the recommendations of the Advisory Committee concerning posts and non-post resources as contained in chapter II of its first report on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014–2015;

Part IOverall policymaking, direction and coordination

Section 1Overall policymaking, direction and coordination

Takes note of paragraphs I.11 and I.46 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and approves the establishment of the four posts proposed by the Secretary-General for the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children;

Decides to defer consideration of the proposal of the Secretary-General to establish a Partnership Facility to the first part of its resumed sixty-eighth session;

Recalls the letter dated 11 November 2013 from the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly¹⁷ and the associated report on operational arrangements and conditions of service of the Advisory Committee,¹⁸ and decides to defer consideration of this matter to its sixty-ninth session;

¹⁷A/C.5/68/13, annex.

¹⁸Ibid., enclosure.

Section 2General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management

Decides to approve one P-2 post in the Office of the President of the General Assembly;

Also decides to decrease the non-post resources allocated to the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management by 1.45 per cent;

Part IIPolitical affairs

Section 3Political affairs

Decides not to abolish one P-2 post under subprogramme 1 in the Africa II Division;

Takes note of paragraph II.11 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides not to abolish two General Service (Other level) posts under subprogrammes 4, Decolonization, and 5, Question of Palestine;

Also takes note of paragraph II.14 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides not to abolish one General Service (Other level) post in the Office for the United Nations Register of Damage Caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

Section 4Disarmament

Takes note of paragraph II.34 of the report of the Advisory Committee, recalls its resolution 62/216 of 22 December 2007, and decides not to approve the proposed abolishment of one Local level post in the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that adequate support is provided to the group of governmental experts established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 67/53 of 3 December 2012 on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, in order to enable the group to meet for two sessions of two weeks in both 2014 and 2015;

Section 5Peacekeeping operations

Decides not to abolish one P-3 post under subprogramme 1;

Part IIIInternational justice and law

Section 7International Court of Justice

Takes note of paragraph III.6 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides to establish one P-2 post in the Office of the President of the International Court of Justice;

Decides to decrease the non-post resources allocated to the International Court of Justice by 2.35 per cent;

Part IVInternational cooperation for development

Section 9Economic and social affairs

Decides to establish one P-2 post in support of the implementation of the projects under the Development Account;

Section 12Trade and development

Decides to establish one P-3 post of Programme Officer under executive direction and management;

Section 15Human settlements

Decides not to abolish one P-2 post of Associate Human Settlements Officer;

Part VRegional cooperation for development

Section 20Economic development in Europe

Recalls paragraph V.51 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides not to abolish one P-4 post under subprogramme 4 and one P-3 post under subprogramme 6;

Section 21Economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Decides not to abolish one P-2 post under executive direction and management, one P-2 post under subprogramme 1, one P-2 post and one Local level post under subprogramme 3, one P-2 post under subprogramme 5, one Local level post under subprogramme 7, one Local level post under subprogramme 9, one P-3 post under subprogramme 12, one P-2 post under subprogramme 13 and one P-2 and three Local level posts under programme support;

Section 22Economic and social development in Western Asia

Decides not to approve the proposed abolishment of one P-3, one P-2 and seven Local level posts;

Part VIHuman rights and humanitarian affairs

Section 24Human rights

Takes note of paragraph VI.8 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides not to abolish one P-4 post of Secretary of the Consultative Group under subprogramme 4;

Also takes note of paragraph VI.9 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides not to abolish one P-5 post of Chief, Civil Society Section, in the External Outreach Branch;

Decides not to abolish one P-3 post in the Development and Economic and Social Issues Branch under subprogramme 1;

Section 26Palestine refugees

Decides not to abolish one General Service (Other level) post in the West Bank;

Also decides to establish two Investigation Officer posts, one P-3 and one P-4, two P-4 Field Legal Officer posts, one each in Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic, and one P-3 Curriculum Expert post in Gaza specialized in the field of human rights;

Recalls its resolution 65/272 of 18 April 2011, and notes the financial stress under which the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East currently operates, despite the critical work carried out by the Agency in providing vital assistance to Palestine refugees;

Part VIIPublic information

Section 28Public information

Decides not to abolish two Local level posts, one each at the United Nations information centres in Panama and Ghana;

Also decides to decrease the non-post resources allocated to the Department of Public Information by 1.45 per cent;

Part XJointly financed administrative activities and special expenses

Section 31Jointly financed administrative activities

Decides to decrease the non-post resources allocated to jointly financed administrative activities by 1 per cent;

Limited budgetary discretion

Recalls section I of its resolution 66/258, takes note of the report of the Secretary-General,Error: Reference source not found and endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee.¹⁹

¹⁹A/68/7/Add.9.

Staffing table for the biennium 2014–2015

Category | Number of posts | Professional and higher | Deputy Secretary-General | 1 | Under-Secretary-General | 33 | Assistant Secretary-General | 31 | D-2 | 110 | D-1 | 289 | P-5 | 863 | P-4/3 | 2 842 | P-2/1 | 521 | Subtotal | 4 690 | General Service and related | Principal level | 273 | Other level | 2 580 | Subtotal | 2 853 | Other | Security Service | 314 | Local level | 1 963 | Field Service | 116 | National Professional Officer | 85 | Trades and Crafts | 97 | Subtotal | 2 575 | Total | 10 118