Reform impasse could curtail UN operations 

By Mark Turner
May 2, 2006
The Financial Times
Original Source: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8dd6b3f6-da03-11da-b7de-0000779e2340.html

The United Nations might need to consider contingency plans, including a shutdown of non-essential services, officials said, after the developing world rejected management reforms deemed crucial by the US, Europe and Japan.
Last week, the G77 bloc of developing countries and China won a vote that stymied efforts to give the UN secretary-general managerial freedom, and to change the way budgetary decisions are taken.
The clash came shortly before a mid-June deadline to decide whether to lift a UN budget cap, which major funders in the developed world have tied to progress on reforms.
Some UN officials warn that if rich and poor countries do not reach an accommodation, they may face a crunch similar to the mid-1990s shutdown of the US federal government. These fears were underlined by the US mission to the UN, which warned: “If we don’t make progress on the UN reform priorities, the American public and the American Congress will lose their patience quickly.”
A senior US congressional staffer warned that some people were even taking “a look at bilateral assistance programmes”; and said there was talk of a “continuing resolution” where the UN budget might be agreed month to month.
But other UN officials said any talk of contingency plans was premature, and added that the secretariat could not be seen as issuing threats that appeared to take the side of the US. Tactical divisions even within the secretariat highlight a profound and growing split throughout the UN system.
The UK warned last week that the G77 decision to force a vote, which broke a 20-year tradition of consensus on budgetary affairs, was a “destructive move”. Japan described it as baffling. France called it “a victory for the radicals”, referring both to opponents of management reform, who fear an erosion of developing countries’ influence, and to US opponents seeking an excuse to cut the UN off. John Bolton, the US ambassador who before his appointment was a leading critic of the UN, saluted the G77 for sticking to their position.
There is still a theoretical opportunity for compromise. Last week’s recommendation by the budget committee has yet to be adopted by the plenary of the general assembly; the assembly’s president’s office is conducting tentative talks to see if a consensus can be salvaged.
But diplomats say a breakthrough is unlikely, given the strength of feeling on both sides. In the meantime, the money is already running out. One UN official said the kitty was dry for special political missions, and said the dreaded word “furlough”, or a temporary lay-off, was in the air. “It is a very American word,” noted another UN official.