Source: http://www.un.int/usa/statm_reform_070706.htm http://www.un.int/usa/statm_reform_070706.htm
Date: July 7, 2006

USUN PRESS RELEASE  #  (06)   
July 7, 2006 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Statement by 
Ambassador Mark D. Wallace 
United States Representative for UN Management and Reform 
on “Investing in the UN: For a Stronger Organization Worldwide: Detailed Report” (A/60/846 and Add.1-4 and related ACABQ report A/60/870) 
In the General Assembly - Friday, July 7, 2006 
Thank you, Mr. President.

We have before us a document that authorizes implementation of a number of proposed measures recommended by the Secretary-General in his detailed report on Investing in the UN. These changes, while long overdue, represent positive first steps toward achievement of the types of Secretariat and Management Reform agreed to by world leaders during the September 2005 Summit and reflected in the Outcome Document. They will only have value, however, if they are implemented in a timely and cost-effective manner, and if they are accompanied by additional reforms, well known now to all Member States.

The United States appreciates the dedication and hard work of the delegates in negotiating the proposal before us. While we support the individual elements and look forward to their effective implementation, we believe at the same time that critical elements are still missing. 

Mr. President, we do not understand why, after agreement to confidence-building measures and all of us working together to create a positive spirit in the Committee over the last week, that we still do not have a resolution that reflects reforms that we all know are fundamental and reasonable.
The section on oversight provides little in the way of concrete actions to improve oversight, merely pushing down the road consideration of improvements that should be enacted now. Chief among them is the need to ensure operational independence from the Secretariat of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). In order for OIOS to operate effectively and provide Member States information for their decision-making, the auditors and investigators need to be independent of those that they audit and investigate. To not provide this independence now, when all of us know it is needed, is short sighted and ultimately damaging to the Organization’s own credibility.
 
Another key deficiency is in procurement reform. While the draft grants a small amount of resources to begin badly-needed improvements to the UN’s woefully inadequate purchasing functions, the conditional and temporary nature of the authorization leaves us doubtful whether the UN can quickly and decisively repair this activity. We wonder, for example, what qualified procurement officers would be willing to take temporary jobs with the UN, knowing that their longer term status is so uncertain? This is clearly another area where Member States can and should act decisively; we regret that the draft does not reflect such an approach. 
 
Lastly, while we firmly believe in the need for the UN to have a senior information technology officer to guide the Organization in updating its critical infrastructure for the future, we also believe that this post should be financed through resources that have already been approved. We simply don’t understand why, in a $4 billion biennial budget, there aren’t savings and efficiencies to provide for this position. We continue to believe that savings from mandate review and other reforms would be more than sufficient to finance this and other required Secretariat improvements.
Mr. President, our commitment to UN reform remains strong and sharply focused, and we look forward to working with others to carry out the “revolution of reform” that Secretary of State Rice called for just last year.

Thank you, Mr. President.