Pakistan against money factor for UN status

UNITED NATIONS—Pakistan has voiced opposition to calls from some member states for special previleges and status commensurate with their contributions to the UN budget, saying that was contrary to the world body’s Charter.
“We would not support any move that would tantamount to putting on sale a privileged status within the UN”, Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram told the General Assembly’s budget committee.
The Pakistan ambassador did not name any country, but demands have recently been made, especially in Japan — the second largest contributor to the UN budget — for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Following its unsuccessful bid for a permanent seat as part of the Group of Four — the others being India, Germany and and Brazil — there have been calls in Japan for reduction of it’s contribution to the UN.
“We believe this (call for special privileges) is contrary to the UN Charter, which was founded on the principle of sovereign equality and payment of dues according to a country’s ‘capacity to pay’,” Ambassador Akram said.
He spoke after Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a $3.6 billion United Nations budget proposal for 2006-2007 to the committee. The Ambassador said that there was a limit to absorbing expenditure on new and additional mandates from‘existing resources’. Pakistan believed that while efficiency in the use of resources was highly desirable, provision of adequate resources, commensurate with the mandated activities, was imperative. He, therefore, called on all Member States to honour their financial obligations in full and on time; payment of dues was a Charter obligation. For its part, he said, Pakistan had always paid its dues in full and without any conditions, an apparent reference to US congressional moves to link payment of American contribution with the implementation of UN reforms.
In determining the level of the budget, Ambassador Akram said it was necessary to ensure adequate resources to fulfil the approved mandates. The programmes relating to poverty alleviation, promotion of universal primary education and other high priority areas should receive adequate financial and human resources.
He suggested that the savings of $18 million reported by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) should be diverted to the Development Account.
Actions and activities of the Organization should be Member-driven and not UN Secretariat-driven, the Pakistan ambassador said. Proposals to grant authority and flexibility to the Secretary-General for deployment and redeployment of human and financial resources should not be used to change the priorities determined by Member States. Review of mandates should not be a merely cost-cutting exercise.
Such matters of human resources management as a one-time staff buy-out should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive exercise and not in a piecemeal manner, he said. The OIOS should have greater financial and operational independence, coupled with greater accountability to the Assembly as the principal oversight organ of the United Nations.—APP