Special Subjects Relating to the Programme Budget for 2025

A/RES/79/258BView PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 139 Proposed programme budget for 2025, published in 2025.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Section 1	Overall policymaking, direction and coordination	12

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?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Section 1	Overall policymaking, direction and coordination	12	—

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?

3 reports · 2022–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2025	A/80/558	Status of implementation of the information and communications technology strategy for the United Nations report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/258B
2023	A/78/325	Report on the assessment of the workplace at United Nations Headquarters report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/75/253 C
2022	A/76/669	Final report on the implementation of a flexible workplace at United Nations Headquarters report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/75/253 C

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Anti-Discrimination Measures Communication Technology Governance Human Rights Advancement Information Technology Islamophobia Programme Budgeting Religious Intolerance

What’s in this document?

44 operative paragraphs

B¹

¹Resolution 79/258, in section VI of the Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-ninth Session, Supplement No. 49 (A/79/49), vol. I, becomes resolution 79/258 A.

I.Revised estimates resulting from General Assembly resolution 78/264 on measures to combat Islamophobia

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Recalls paragraph 9 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure efficient and effective delivery of all mandates and roles assigned to the Under-Secretary-General regardless of funding sources;

Notes the approach taken by the Secretary-General to optimize existing capacity and resources, and requests the Secretary-General to explore the possibility of using this approach whenever new proposals lead to requests for additional resources, as appropriate;

Encourages the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to undertake all efforts necessary in order to broaden its donor base;

Decides to further reduce resources for travel of staff by 10 per cent;

Approves additional appropriations in the amount of 774,200 United States dollars under the programme budget for 2025, comprising:

743,400 dollars under section 1, Overall policymaking, direction and coordination;

30,800 dollars under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management;

Also approves the conversion of one post (Under-Secretary-General) previously funded from extrabudgetary resources to regular budget funding, effective 1 April 2025, and the establishment of two posts (1 P-5 and 1 P-3) under the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations under section 1, to support the activities mandated by the General Assembly in its resolution 78/264 of 15 March 2024;

Further approves an additional appropriation in the amount of 74,800 dollars under section 36, Staff assessment, of the programme budget for 2025, to be offset by an equivalent amount under income section 1, Income from staff assessment;

II.Revised estimates resulting from decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council at the organizational session for its eighteenth cycle

Recalling its resolution 79/257, section IX of its resolution 79/258 A, and its resolutions 79/259 A to C, of 24 December 2024,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General⁴ and the related report of the Advisory Committee,⁵

⁴A/79/575/Add.1.

⁵A/79/7/Add.47.

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee;

Approves additional appropriations in the amount of 479,900 dollars under the programme budget for 2025, comprising:

190,000 dollars under section 2, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management;

219,400 dollars under section 24, Human rights;

33,200 dollars under section 28, Global communications;

7,000 dollars under section 29E, Administration, Geneva;

30,300 dollars under section 34, Safety and security;

Also approves an additional appropriation in the amount of 46,000 dollars under section 36, Staff assessment, of the programme budget for 2025, to be offset by an equivalent increase of 46,000 dollars under income section 1, Income from staff assessment;

III.Revised estimates relating to the programme budget for 2025 under section 3, Political affairs, and section 36, Staff assessment: United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

Recalling section VIII of its resolution 79/258 A,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General⁶ and the related report of the Advisory Committee,⁷

⁶A/79/6 (Sect. 3)/Add.10.

⁷A/79/7/Add.48.

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Decides to abolish all vacant posts;

Approves resources in the amount of 95,399,100 dollars for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, which would supersede the commitment authority in the amount of 86,500,000 dollars approved by the General Assembly in section VIII, paragraph 38, of its resolution 79/258 A;

Appropriates an additional amount of 95,399,100 dollars under section 3, Political affairs, of the programme budget for 2025;

Decides to assess an additional amount of 8,899,100 dollars, taking into account the amount of 86,500,000 dollars already assessed on Member States under the terms of its resolution 79/258 A, under section 3, Political affairs, of the programme budget for 2025;

Appropriates and decides to assess an additional amount of 684,900 dollars, taking into account the amount of 9,472,200 dollars already assessed on Member States under the terms of its resolutions 79/259 A to C, under section 36, Staff assessment, of the programme budget for 2025, to be offset by an equivalent amount under income section 1, Income from staff assessment;

IV.Information and communications technology strategy

Recalling section II of its resolution 60/283 of 7 July 2006, its resolutions 63/262 of 24 December 2008, 63/269 of 7 April 2009 and 64/243 of 24 December 2009, section XVII of its resolution 65/259 of 24 December 2010, its resolution 66/246 of 24 December 2011, section I of its resolution 67/254 A of 12 April 2013, section XV of its resolution 68/247 A of 27 December 2013, section II of its resolution 69/262 of 29 December 2014, paragraph 107 of its resolution 70/247 of 23 December 2015, section V of its resolution 70/248 A of 23 December 2015, section II of its resolution 70/238 B of 1 April 2016, section III of its resolution 71/272 B of 6 April 2017, its resolution 71/281 of 6 April 2017, section I of its resolution 72/262 C of 5 July 2018, its resolutions 72/266 B of 5 July 2018, 76/245 of 24 December 2021 and 78/243 of 22 December 2023 and its decision 79/551 of 24 December 2024,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the refined elements of the information and communications technology strategy⁸ and the related report of the Advisory Committee,⁹

⁸A/79/339.

⁹A/79/7/Add.17.

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure that the information and communications technology strategy remains in line with the relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly on information and communications technology;

Underlines the importance of information and communications technology in strengthening oversight and accountability and in increasing the availability of accurate and timely information to support decision-making;

Recalls paragraph 4 of the report of the Advisory Committee, notes with concern that the refined information and communications technology strategy does not address specific requests made by the General Assembly in its resolution 78/243, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to refine elements of the strategy, with explicit demonstration of the operationalization of the guidance in resolution 78/243 and the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, and report thereon in the context of his future reports;

Also recalls paragraph 7 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides to reset the lifetime of the information and communications technology strategy by two years;

Further recalls paragraph 9 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that all relevant data or records are accurate and are shared with the Office of Information and Communications Technology on an annual basis by Secretariat entities;

Emphasizes the need to strengthen governance and oversight frameworks and mechanisms, requests the Secretary-General to include in his next report an information and communications technology governance framework with effective monitoring and compliance arrangements to avoid fragmentation in information and communications technology expenditure and ensuring alignment with organizational goals, as well as an accountability framework which should be finalized by mid-2025 and include explicit clarification on the balance between central control and operational freedom, the responsibilities of the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Secretariat entities, including their relationship to the relevant governance processes, and accountability of entities for non-compliance, and also requests the Secretary-General to provide information on implementation of the information and communications technology governance and accountability framework in his future reports;

Recalls paragraph 16 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to take additional measures to ensure that information and communications technology-related budget proposals, in particular those of entities with high information and communications technology expenditures, comply with all relevant budget instructions and are duly reviewed by the Office of Information and Communications Technology;

Also recalls paragraph 16 of the report of the Advisory Committee, stresses that the effective leadership of the Chief Information Technology Officer role is necessary to ensure comprehensive implementation of the information and communications technology strategy, and requests the Secretary-General to clarify the authority, responsibilities and accountability of the Chief Information Technology Officer and delegation of authority principles in his future reports;

Further recalls paragraph 18 of the report of the Advisory Committee, notes with concern the low rate of implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors, requests the Secretary-General to expedite the implementation of outstanding recommendations of oversight bodies and to provide an update in his future report on the implementation of all recommendations and findings made by the Joint Inspection Unit and the Board of Auditors during and since the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly, related to all domains under the authority of the Office of Information and Communications Technology;

Recalls paragraph 20 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to provide a detailed multi-year implementation plan, including timelines, milestones and performance indicators corresponding to the strategic plan proposed by the Secretary-General, and to provide updates thereon in his future reports;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide an analysis on the impact of the rapid development of emerging technologies, calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure a high level of security and data protections in the application of these technologies, and requests an update in his future report;

Also requests the Secretary-General to submit an estimate of resources needed for the implementation of the information and communications technology strategy, for information only, including a list of all proposed initiatives and activities with their projected expenditure, and with their projected timelines, milestones, performance indicators, and ranking by the Office of Information and Communications Technology on level of urgency, further requests the Secretary-General to submit a multi-year plan through the capital investment plan, and reiterates that the endorsement of the present resolution does not prejudge any future budgetary implication costs for the implementation of the strategy, which should be transmitted through the regular budgetary process;

Further requests the Secretary-General to increase transparency and clarity of information and communications technology expenditure and to submit a proposal on the presentation of information and communications technology costs and utilization of resources in order to provide consolidated information on updated overall information and communications technology budgets and expenditures, including the intention to utilize information and communications technology resources more efficiently, and encourages efforts to optimize the relevant expenditures for information and communications technology-related goods and services in his future report;

Requests the Secretary-General to explore centralized purchasing of productivity tools, including licences, by the Office of Information and Communications Technology, including by requesting resources for these requirements under section 29C of the programme budget only;

Recalls its resolution 78/243, reiterates that the information and communications technology strategy of the Secretary-General is a critical enabler of the mandates of the Organization and that it is intended to define the high-level strategic vision, principles and expected outcomes of information and communications technology activities across the Secretariat, and requests the Secretary-General to provide a comprehensive report on the implementation of the strategy on an annual basis, starting at its eightieth session.

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?

B1

I.Revised estimates resulting from General Assembly resolution 78/264 on measures to combat Islamophobia

II.Revised estimates resulting from decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council at the organizational session for its eighteenth cycle

III.Revised estimates relating to the programme budget for 2025 under section 3, Political affairs, and section 36, Staff assessment: United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

IV.Information and communications technology strategy

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

B¹