CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by Jorge Cumberbatch, I Secretary, Cuban Delegate to the V Committee. Closure of the first resumed session of the Committee in the General Assembly 64th session. New York, 19 March 2010.

Mr. Chairman,

Our delegation associates itself with the statement by the delegation of Yemen on behalf of the G-77 and China, as well as with the statement by the delegation of Chile on behalf of the Rio Group, at this level of the debates on the work of the Fifth Committee already concluding.

We take this opportunity to congratulate you on the duties you already assume in the Foreign Office of your country, as we thank the work of the facilitators of the Committee in the debates on the different agenda items.

Mr. Chairman,

The decisions adopted in these working sessions of the Committee referring to accountability framework and discretions point to an issue that, despite the Organization’s years, remains an essential part of the Member States’ perception of the Secretariat.  

The United Nations are repository of the major multilateral instruments setting order in interstate relations. Despite all the ills brought about by the current unjust international order, it is hard to imagine a world without the United Nations. The tragedies we suffer today would be even worse.

Therefore, the Organization’s staff, particularly those at senior levels, should always bear in mind the commitments they have undertaken.

There lies the importance of accountability and the need for them to be responsible for their actions and decisions when implementing, with impartiality and integrity, intergovernmental decisions mostly resulting from long and thorough negotiations among Member States.

To our delegation, it is essential that the Secretariat interiorize the pressing need to avoid, at all costs, perceptions of partiality in its performance. The financial resources put by States at its disposal come from public coffers; so, it is not by chance that most of us seating in these benches zealously follow up on their use.

 

This approach is of particular importance for the developing countries such as ours, facing all kinds of obstacles to the advancement of our economies, primary sources of funds for the public budgets, which include the payments to be made to the accounts of this organization

Mr. Chairman,

Allow us to focus the attention on curious dynamics that some delegations and part of the Secretariat are promoting at other levels of the United Nations intergovernmental bodies.

It is of concern how in processes in which several aspects on System-wide Coherence and the new initiative on the work of the Department of Field Support are reviewed, there is a search for endorsements and approvals of topics directly related to the Member States’ monitoring of the work of the Secretariat.

My delegation wishes to reiterate that the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies are the authorities with the mandate, prerogatives and role to make decisions on all aspects of the Organization related to management, budget, programme planning, evaluation and oversight.

This is not the first time that, whenever certain authorities of the Secretariat and some Member States cannot achieve some objectives in open and transparent negotiations, they resort to parallel processes and, in some cases, to the open breach of the mandates established, so as to assert their interests.

Our delegation calls to end these practices, which only contribute to sow mistrust among delegations and between the delegations and the Secretariat. Under these circumstances, it will be very hard for the United Nations to contribute the way our nations require to achieve progress in the wellbeing of our peoples.

For our part, we will follow very closely the evolution of these events

Mr. Chairman,

Last of all, we wish to reiterate the commitment of our delegation to continue working to make the United Nations the organization for all we all wish for.

Thank you.

(Cubaminrex- Embacuba ONU)