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External sources (not reviewed)

Turning to the report of the Secretary-General on the revised estimates for the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for the biennium 2010-2011 (A/65/183), he recalled that, in paragraph 5 of the report on the financing of the Tribunal for the biennium 2010-2011 (A/64/476), the Secretary-General had indicated that factors beyond the Tribunal’s control would affect the completion dates of trials and that, should the trial schedule vary significantly, the requirements would be reassessed and relevant changes would be addressed in the context of revised estimates.

[...] [...] Contributions assessed under regular [...] [...]

[...] [...] the Operation, rather than the amount of $649,855,000 requested by the Secretary-General.

At its 32nd session the General Conference decided by resolution 68 that “the resources of the Fund shall be assessed and paid in United States dollars; these resources shall normally be held in United States dollars, but the Director-General shall have the right, with the agreement of the Executive Board, to alter the currency or currencies in which the Fund is held in such a manner as he deems necessary to ensure the stability of the Fund and the smooth functioning of the split-level assessment system; if such an alteration should be agreed, an appropriate exchange equalization account should be established within the Fund to record translation gains and losses on exchange”.

The regular programme was adequately protected by the split level system of assessment.

[...] [...] $138,802,500 already assessed for the period [...] [...]

Overall, the regular programme was satisfactorily protected by the split-level assessment system. Extrabudgetary funds experienced losses on exchange, which were offset against interest income in accordance with past practices.

The Conference may also wish to bear in mind that the acceptance of a large number of payment plans, deferring payment of contributions into future years, places an additional burden on the cash resources of the Organization.

That specific feature is taken into account in the split assessment system used by the Organization for contributions receivable from Member States in the two currencies (the euro and the dollar), reflecting the proportion observed in expenditure for several bienniums which seems to be relatively stable over time (44% dollar/56% euro).

Under the exceptional circumstances addressed in the present note, the requested additional appropriation for UNMIK, with assessment, for the 2011/12 financial period is critical to ensuring the continued operation of the Mission in support of its mandate.

At its 25th session the General Conference adopted resolution 33.2 which extended the system for 1990-1991 and requested the Executive Board to study the advantages and disadvantages of a split-level assessment system as compared with a forward purchasing of French francs against dollars and make proposals to the General Conference at its 26th session.

Assessment of the amount in paragraph (a) above at a monthly rate of $3,993,425 should the Security Council decide to continue the mandate of the Force.

[...] [...] they are assessed; nevertheless payment of the amount assessed in one currency [...] [...]

By its resolution 63/258 A, the Assembly also authorized the Secretary-General, upon the advice of the Controller, to assess on Member States, as required, a further amount of up to $200,000,000 for the maintenance of the Operation for the period from 1 January to 30 June 2009.

Corresponding increases were applied pro rata to other Member States, except, under track 1, the ceiling country.

Based on the recommendation made by the Executive Board at its 135th session (135 EX/Decision 7.5) that the split-level assessment system should be continued, the General Conference at its 26th session adopted resolution 25.1 by which it extended the system for an indeterminate period by amendment of Financial Regulation 5.6.

Requirements for capital investment is normally kept outside the budget base since they are not related to programme activities and since the Organization’s budget should not be influenced by the year-to-year variation of such requirement as, under the present custom, there is no mechanism to provide the Organization with a linear amortization of this kind of cost.

Increases corresponding to this least developed countries ceiling were then applied pro rata to other Member States, except, under track 1, the ceiling country.

(e) Communications ($1,777,400): reduced requirements for commercial communications, spare parts and contingent-owned equipment, owing to the mission’s lower prorated share of the global transponder lease, the acquisition of 24 new jammers and the lower-than-budgeted deployment of military contingent personnel, respectively

It reaffirms the obligation of Member States under Article 17 of the Charter to bear the expenses of the Organization as apportioned by the General Assembly, bearing in mind the special responsibilities of the permanent members of the Security Council for the maintenance of peace and security, as indicated in Assembly resolution 1874 (S-IV) of 27 June 1963.

The split-level assessment system for contributions to be assessed and paid partly in United States dollars and partly in euros (formerly French francs) was introduced by the General Conference at its 24th session as a measure to protect the regular budget from adverse currency fluctuations of the French franc to the dollar.

Approval and assessment of the total amount of commitment authority, for the periods from 1 May 2007 to 30 June 2008 and from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, will provide for the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund to be replenished for the total of $50,000,000 authorized by the Advisory Committee and financing of the additional amount of $30,906,900 required for immediate needs in providing logistics support to AMISOM.

As indicated above, those increases were calculated in accordance with track 1, that is, they reflected a distribution of points from the ceiling country that did not include any points arising from the application of the low per capita income adjustment.

The assessment rates used for the regular budget and peacekeeping operations are also used for apportioning the costs of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

The introduction in 1988 of the split-level system for the assessment of contributions,52 under which contributions are paid partly in dollars and partly in euros, depending on the proportion of the Organization’s expenditure in a given currency, has somewhat shielded the regular budget from the effects of fluctuations in the euro/dollar exchange rate.

The report focuses primarily on four main financial indicators: assessments issued; unpaid assessed contributions; available cash resources; and the Organization’s outstanding debt to Member States.

[...] [...] providers of assessed contributions to United Nations budgets and of voluntary contributions to United Nations funds, programmes and agencies, including a standing peacebuilding fund; and Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Nigeria and Pakistan selected by and from among the top 10 providers of military personnel and civilian police to United Nations missions.

It was also agreed that, if the one-third/two-thirds formula was a fair assumption for the reimbursement of staffing costs, it should also be used for costs that had previously not been shared: general temporary assistance, computer, office space and audit costs.

The President also recalled that the States Parties have expressed satisfaction with the performance, efficiency, professional competence, responsiveness and dedication of the ISU and that there was general agreement among the Task Force members on the need to review the financing model of the ISU, in order to make it sustainable and predictable, and to achieve more equitable burden sharing.