080520_ImprovingtheFinancialSituationintheUN - Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations

New York

Permanent Mission address: 150 East 42 Street, Level 33, New York, New York 10017 - Telephone: 1 212 351 6600 - Fax: 1 212 351 6610

Statement by Phillip Taula on behalf of Australia, Canada and New Zealand to the United Nations Fifth Committee on Improving the Financial Situation of the United Nations

20 May 2008

(As delivered)

Mr Chairman

I have the honour to speak today on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Our delegations thank the UN Controller, Mr Warren Sach, for his presentation on 9 May on the financial situation of the United Nations.

CANZ once again wishes to deliver the message that all Member States need to fulfil their Charter obligations to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without condition.
Our delegations find it unacceptable that a number of Member States regularly fail to meet these obligations.

Member States are asking the Organisation to do more, and the regular and peacekeeping budgets have reached record levels. We need to ensure that the UN’s programme of work is organised and implemented as effectively and efficiently as possible. We should continually look for ways to eliminate waste and duplication, to rationalise activities and redeploy resources, and to streamline the administration of the Organisation.

CANZ understands that governments may find it difficult to fulfill each and every financial obligation that they have. All governments feel these pressures. But we call on the membership to break the cycle of under and non-payment which puts at risk the implementation of the mandates we have set, and penalises both Member States who have paid in full and on time, and troop contributing countries who are left waiting for the reimbursement of costs they have incurred.

Mr Chairman

To conclude, we would like to express our gratitude to those Member States who are meeting their Charter obligations, and we again urge all others to do the same.

Thank you Mr Chairman