Cross-Cutting Issues

A/RES/69/307View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 148 Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations, published in 2014.

What other versions does this mandate have?

6 versions · 2010–2022

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/76/274

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2022	A/RES/76/274	Cross-cutting issues	6,675	19%Compare
2016	A/RES/70/286	Cross-cutting issues	4,567	23%Compare
2015	A/RES/69/307	Cross-cutting issues	3,427	30%Compare
2012	A/RES/66/264	Cross-cutting issues	2,651	30%Compare
2011	A/RES/65/289	Cross-cutting issues	4,318	20%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

6 reports · 2010–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2024	A/78/774	Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/274
2023	A/77/748	Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/274
2016	A/71/323	Overview of human resources management reform : towards a global, dynamic, adaptable and engaged workforce for the United Nations report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/286
2016	A/71/97	Combating sexual exploitation and abuse report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/286
2012	A/67/633	Third annual progress report on the implementation of the global field support strategy report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/66/264

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Financial Management Financial Resources Operational Activities Peacekeeping Operations Sex Crimes Support Services

What’s in this document?

68 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its resolutions 57/290 B, 59/296, 60/266, 61/276, 64/269, 65/289 and 66/264, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of their relevant provisions;

Appreciates the efforts of all peacekeeping personnel in the field and at Headquarters;

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the overview of the financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations: budget performance for the period from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 and budget for the period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015Error: Reference source not found and budget performance for the period from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 and budget for the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016,Error: Reference source not found the fourth and fifth annual progress reports of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the global field support strategy,Error: Reference source not found the reports of the Secretary-General on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuseError: Reference source not found and the letter dated 28 February 2014 from the Chair of the 2014 Working Group on Contingent-Owned Equipment to the Chair of the Fifth Committee;Error: Reference source not found

Also takes note of the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the activities of the Office on peace operations for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2013Error: Reference source not found and for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2014;Error: Reference source not found

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,¹¹ subject to the provisions of the present resolution, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure their full implementation;

¹¹A/69/839 and A/69/874.

Takes note of paragraph 5 of the report of the Advisory Committee;¹²

¹²A/69/839.

Reaffirms that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibility for administrative and budgetary matters;

Stresses the importance of ensuring timely reimbursement to troop-contributing countries;

Notes the establishment by the Secretary-General of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations, which presented its report to the Secretary-General on 16 June 2015,¹³ and looks forward to considering the subsequent report of the Secretary-General during its seventieth session, recalling paragraph 7 of the present resolution and the responsibilities of the other relevant Main Committees of the General Assembly;

¹³See A/70/95-S/2015/446.

I.Budget presentation and financial management

Reiterates that the delegation of authority on the part of the Secretary-General should be to facilitate the better management of the Organization, but stresses that the overall responsibility for management of the Organization rests with the Secretary-General as its Chief Administrative Officer;

Reaffirms the need for the Secretary-General to ensure that the delegation of authority to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support of the Secretariat and to field missions is in strict compliance with relevant resolutions and decisions, as well as with relevant rules and procedures of the General Assembly on this matter;

Stresses that heads of departments report and are accountable to the Secretary-General;

Reiterates the importance of strengthened accountability in the Organization and of ensuring greater accountability of the Secretary-General to Member States, inter alia, for the effective and efficient implementation of legislative mandates and the use of human and financial resources;

Emphasizes that all field missions shall be provided with adequate resources for the effective and efficient discharge of their respective mandates, and stresses that the current level of peacekeeping activity should have scalable implications on resource requirements, taking into consideration the number, size and complexity of peacekeeping operations;

Stresses that, in formulating budget proposals, the Secretary-General must strictly abide by legislative mandates;

Notes the importance of the Standard Cost and Ratio Manual as an effective standardized consolidated reference tool to ensure credibility, consistency and transparency, and urges the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to align the holding of assets with the Manual, while duly taking into account the situation on the ground and bearing in mind the mandate, complexities and size of individual peacekeeping missions;

Urges the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to regularly update the Standard Cost and Ratio Manual and to include information in this regard in his next overview report on the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations;

Recalls paragraph 69 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found decides, on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, to apply, for the financial period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, fuel prices based on the average rates from November 2014 to April 2015, and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon in the context of the next performance reports of the individual missions;

Also recalls paragraph 71 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found decides, on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent, to apply, for the financial period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, the exchange rate as at 1 May 2015, and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon in the context of the next performance reports of the individual missions;

II.Personnel issues

Pays tribute to all United Nations peacekeepers who have been wounded in the line of duty or who have made the ultimate sacrifice while working in the pursuit of peace;

Expresses its appreciation to all United Nations personnel performing functions related to peacekeeping, in particular those serving in hardship duty stations under some of the most difficult conditions;

Notes the importance of ensuring that the civilian staffing structure of peacekeeping operations is commensurate with the effective delivery of mandated activity, and in this regard encourages the Secretary-General to regularly review the civilian staffing needs of peacekeeping operations, as appropriate;

Urges the Secretary-General to make every effort to reduce the recruitment lead time for staff in field missions, taking into account the relevant provisions governing recruitment of United Nations staff, to enhance the transparency of the staffing process at all stages and to report on the steps taken and results achieved in the context of his next overview report on the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations;

Recalls section I, paragraph 6, of resolution 55/238 of 23 December 2000, paragraph 11 of resolution 56/241 of 24 December 2001, paragraph 19 of resolution 61/279, paragraph 22 of resolution 62/250 of 20 June 2008, paragraph 29 of resolution 63/287 of 30 June 2009, paragraph 8 of resolution 64/271 of 24 June 2010, paragraph 7 of resolution 65/290 of 30 June 2011, paragraph 17 of resolution 66/265 of 21 June 2012 and paragraph 17 of resolution 67/287 of 28 June 2013, and requests the Secretary-General to intensify his efforts to ensure proper representation of troop-contributing countries in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, taking into account their contribution to United Nations peacekeeping, and to report thereon in the context of his next overview report;

Also recalls paragraphs 65 and 66 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found and decides to defer consideration of the issue until its seventieth session;

Further recalls paragraph 65 of resolution 67/255 of 12 April 2013, looks forward to the issuance of guidelines for the recruitment of government-provided personnel, and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon, in the context of his next overview report, at its seventieth session;

Emphasizes the importance of the timely review of the rate of death and disability compensation;

III.Operational requirements

Requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to reduce the overall environmental footprint of each peacekeeping mission, including by implementing environmentally friendly waste management and power generation systems, in full compliance with the relevant rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the United Nations environmental and waste management policy and procedures;

Emphasizes the importance of the implementation of all demining activities, where specified in relevant peacekeeping operation mandates, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to report thereon in the context of his next overview report on the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to ensure that accommodations provided by the United Nations for uniformed and civilian personnel serving in peacekeeping operations meet the relevant United Nations standards and to report thereon at the second part of its resumed seventieth session;

Encourages the Secretary-General to utilize local materials, capacity and knowledge in the implementation of construction projects for peacekeeping operations, in compliance with the United Nations Procurement Manual;

Welcomes the successful implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards in the missions, and requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to address underlying challenges related to their implementation, while taking into account lessons learned and best practices;

Requests the Secretary-General to strengthen oversight and internal controls in the areas of procurement and asset management across peacekeeping missions, including by holding mission management accountable for checking stock levels before undertaking any acquisition activity in order to ensure compliance with established asset management policies, taking into account the current and future needs of the mission and the importance of the full implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards;

Recalls its request to the Secretary-General in paragraph 18 of its resolution 69/273 of 2 April 2015 to encourage interested local vendors to apply for registration on the United Nations Secretariat vendor roster, with a view to broadening its geographical base;

Requests the Secretary-General to make full use of the Regional Procurement Office in Entebbe, Uganda, for procurement in the field;

Also requests the Secretary-General to present in his budget proposals a clear vision of the construction requirements for each mission, including, as appropriate, multi-year plans, and to continue his efforts to improve all aspects of project planning, including the assumptions underlying the formulation of such budgets, with due consideration of operational circumstances on the ground, and to closely monitor the execution of works to ensure their timely completion;

Recalls paragraphs 137 and 143 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found welcomes the ongoing roll-out of the aviation information management system across all peacekeeping operations with aviation assets, and looks forward to further reporting on the improvements realized in air operations;

Notes the often dangerous and hostile environment in which air crews working under contracts with the United Nations operate, requests the Secretary-General to consider measures to be implemented to strengthen the security of such crews, including confirming that the appropriate lines of responsibility for the handling of related security aspects are in place, and to report thereon in the context of his next overview report on the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations;

Recalls paragraph 147 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found requests the Secretary-General to ensure consistency, transparency and cost-efficiency in the budgeting for unmanned aerial systems in individual peacekeeping operation budget proposals in this regard, including by presenting expected accomplishments and indicators of achievement, as well as information on outputs, as appropriate, in the context of the results-based budget framework, and also requests the Secretary-General to include comprehensive information, including on lessons learned from the utilization of unmanned aerial systems in United Nations peacekeeping operations, in his next overview report;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the procurement of unmanned aerial systems from commercial providers complies with the United Nations Procurement Manual and that reimbursement of unmanned aerial systems provided by troop-contributing countries is consistent with the framework set out in the Contingent-Owned Equipment Manual, and also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the next Working Group on Contingent-Owned Equipment an issue paper to clarify the current reimbursement arrangements for unmanned aerial systems provided by troop-contributing countries;

Acknowledges the initiative of the Secretary-General to review and optimize the composition of missions’ vehicle fleets to ensure that they are adapted to the conditions and operational circumstances on the ground;

IV.Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse

Recalls section IV of its resolution 66/264, and reaffirms the collective and unanimous position that one substantiated case of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse is one case too many;

Reaffirms the need for full implementation of the United Nations policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in peacekeeping operations;

Welcomes the determination of the Secretary-General to strengthen measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in the areas of prevention, enforcement and remedial action;

Notes the declining number of reported allegations of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse during the present reporting period, and reiterates its concern at the number of cases, particularly those involving the most egregious forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse;

Expresses concern about the response of the United Nations to the recent allegations of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in the Central African Republic;

Welcomes the establishment of an external independent review panel by the Secretary-General to review and assess the response of the United Nations to recent allegations of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, including in the Central African Republic, as well as a broad range of systemic issues related to how the United Nations responds to serious information of this kind, and encourages the review to give due consideration to decision-making processes in all departments and offices involved and at all levels of the Organization, including senior management;

Requests the Secretary-General to report expeditiously to the General Assembly on the findings of the review, and also requests the Secretary-General to report on the lessons learned and measures for improvement no later than at the main part of its seventieth session;

Recalls the bulletin of the Secretary-General on protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations,¹⁴ and welcomes the prompt reporting in good faith of any misconduct, including sexual exploitation and sexual abuse in peacekeeping operations;

¹⁴ST/SGB/2005/21.

Also recalls paragraph 21 of its resolution 69/272 of 2 April 2015, encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to strengthen accountability in all sectors of field missions, and to this end urges the Secretary-General and Member States to undertake all relevant actions within their respective areas of competence, including holding perpetrators accountable;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the availability of easily accessible reporting mechanisms for victims of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse;

Also requests the Secretary-General to improve the timeliness and quality of investigations;

Stresses the importance of responsibility and accountability of the most senior managers at Headquarters and in missions in determining organizational behaviour and of leading by example with regard to the conduct of both uniformed personnel and civilian staff in peacekeeping operations;

Requests the Secretary-General to make further efforts to ensure that all personnel are made fully aware of, and remain compliant with, their personal responsibilities regarding the Organization’s policy of zero tolerance, upon their arrival in the mission and throughout their deployment;

Stresses the importance of training all personnel for the prevention of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, and requests the Secretary-General to expedite the development of the e-learning programme and to deploy it as soon as possible;

Recognizes the commitment of the troop-contributing countries to the United Nations policy of zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse;

Recalls paragraph 55 of the report of the Secretary-General,¹⁵ and requests the Secretary-General to engage in consultations with Member States, in particular troop-contributing countries, on the methodology for reporting sexual exploitation and sexual abuse cases and to update the relevant Committees on the results of his efforts in this regard in his future reports;

¹⁵A/69/779.

Reiterates the importance of improving the collaboration between the Secretary-General and the troop- and police-contributing countries with regard to allegations of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, emphasizing the need to maintain frequent exchange of information on the ongoing processes;

V.Global field support strategy

Welcomes the progress achieved and the benefits realized, including those related to shared services, in the implementation of the global field support strategy, and emphasizes the need for timely completion of any remaining activities;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide, in his next overview report on the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations, detailed information on the final evaluation of the global field support strategy, including cost-benefit analyses, lessons learned, best practices and benchmarks for reporting on progress and assessing achievements, as well as information on planned post-strategy activities and on their mainstreaming into the ongoing work of the Secretariat;

Recalls paragraphs 46 and 47 of the report of the Advisory Committee,¹⁶ and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that any initiatives related to field support and service delivery improvements take into account lessons learned and best practices from other Secretariat initiatives so as to maximize benefits and avoid possible duplication and overlap;

¹⁶A/69/874.

Also recalls paragraph 51 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found decides to give the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe operational and managerial independence, and requests the Secretary-General to submit a budget proposal for the Centre for the period from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017, to be charged against the missions that the Centre supports;

Requests the Secretary-General to develop scalability models to inform the resource requirements for the support account for peacekeeping operations, the United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi, Italy, and the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe and to report thereon at the second part of its resumed seventieth session;

Welcomes the continuing efforts of the Secretary-General to improve the performance of the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe to meet client needs, also welcomes his proposal to rebalance the staffing component in the Centre, and requests him to continue the nationalization plan in a phased manner over a two-year period;

Endorses the Secretary-General’s initiative that the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe report directly to the Department of Field Support, as outlined in paragraph 27 of the report of the Secretary-General;¹⁷

¹⁷A/69/651.

VI.Other issues

Requests the Secretary-General to promote effective coordination and collaboration in the Office of Internal Oversight Services, bearing in mind its operational independence;

Invites the Independent Audit Advisory Committee to examine the operational independence of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, in particular in the area of investigation functions;

Welcomes the ongoing review of the policy of the Organization on protection against retaliation, and looks forward to its timely completion.