Statement by Paul Ballantyne, Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations Fifth Committee on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand regarding Agenda item 143: Closed Peacekeeping Missions. As delivered 5 May 2011.
Mr Chairman
I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I thank the Secretariat and the Chair of the ACABQ for introducing their respective reports on the updated financial position of closed peacekeeping missions.
Mr Chairman
According to the Report of the Secretary-General, as at 30 June 2010, 18 of the 23 closed peacekeeping missions had cash surpluses available for credit to Member States in the amount of $230.7 million. This represents a considerable sum of money.
We note also that five of the closed missions have cash deficits totalling $86.7 million. We are of the view that cash deficits of closed missions should be addressed through the timely and full payment of assessments by Member States. We call on all Member States to fulfill their Charter obligations and pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without condition.
Mr Chairman
In his report, the Secretary-General indicates that peacekeeping missions have experienced improved liquidity in recent years, which has resulted in a decline in cross-borrowing between active and closed peacekeeping missions. We welcome this development and look forward to receiving the latest up to date figures on cross borrowing during informal consultations.
We must also carefully consider whether the current practice of borrowing between active and closed peacekeeping missions is an appropriate and sustainable mechanism for managing liquidity problems. In this connection, we note the observations of the Secretary-General regarding the expansion of the terms of the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund. No doubt there are other options that could also be explored.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to reiterate the importance CANZ attaches to coming to an agreement on closed peacekeeping missions at this session. For far too long this issue has remained unresolved. This year, we have in front of us an interesting proposal from the Secretary General on this item. While we have reservations with respect to some aspects of this proposal, we strongly believe that the time has come to settle our differences and find a solution that is acceptable to all delegations.
Thank you.