CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by Jorge Cumberbatch, first secretary, delegate of Cuba to the fifth committee main part of the 65th session of the general assembly agenda item 130: programme planning

New York, 7 October 2010.

Mr. Chairman,

First and foremost, my delegation wishes thank Mr. Vladimir Pavlovich, Chairman of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC), for his presentation, in this room, of the outcomes of the 50th Session of this body.

Furthermore, my delegation reiterates its full support to the statement by the distinguished delegation of Yemen on behalf of the G-77 and China. Nevertheless, we would like to make some additional comments in our national capacity.

Mr. Chairman,

Programme Planning is essential for the functioning of the Organization, as it is the exercise enabling legislative mandates of the United Nations different organs and intergovernmental entities to become concrete consensus activities.

That is why the process of analysis of programme planning is paid special attention in all its stages. Cuba reaffirms the role of the CPC as the main subsidiary organ of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for planning, programming, oversight and coordination.

In this context, it is essential the adherence of the several entities of the Secretariat to the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation. Paragraphs 4.8 and 4.9 of said regulations clearly provide that intergovernmental bodies shall review their proposed strategic framework prior to the review by the CPC.

Our delegation to the 50th Session of the CPC was surprised at the interpretation of abovementioned paragraphs of the regulations, included in one of the working documents of the Committee (E/AC.51/2010/CRP.1), regarding the functions of the Human Rights Council and the submission to it of the strategic framework drafted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

So now the Council is not the sectoral or functional intergovernmental body to which, according to the regulation, the strategic framework must be submitted before it is submitted to the CPC. We hope that the Presidential Statement by the Council issued last 1st October will help solving this problem. The regulations are clear and are not open to biased interpretations. The Office of the High Commissioner must strictly comply with them, as the rest of the entities of the United Nations Secretariat.

Also, as reiterated in the CPC conclusions, the Secretariat must formulate the strategic frameworks in strict abidance by the legislative mandates. In the CPC sessions, we realized some entities are clearly insisting on promoting concepts and approaches that do not enjoy any consensus among the Membership, or are still under the consideration of Member States for their definition.

Such maneuvers prevented the Committee from adopting the plan outline of the proposed strategic plan, and brought about the extension of the negotiations on programs 2 on political affairs, 11 on environment, 13 on drug control, and 22 on humanitarian assistance.

Mr. Chairman,

The 50th Session of the CPC analyzed questions relating to the supervision and assessment of the outcomes of the Secretariat’s work.

In the work of the Chief Executives Board, It is particularly surprising, the tendency of this coordinating body to act in a quasi-autonomous manner, present already carried out actions to the Membership, promote the interests of just a part of the Member States, and disregard intergovernmental mandates. The set of CPC conclusions and recommendations are clear in this respect and request concrete actions to correct that tendency.

In that context, it would be useful to pay attention to the recommendations by the Joint Inspection Unit on the selection and conditions of service of the executive heads in the United Nations system organizations (A/65/71-JIU/REP/2009/8).

By the way, we are still waiting for the comments of the Secretariat on another important report of the JIU, The role of the special representatives of the Secretary-General and resident coordinators (JIU/REP/2009/9), which is particularly relevant in light of the recently adopted General Assembly resolution 64/289 on system-wide coherence.

Mr. Chairman,

The outcomes of the 50th Session of the Committee reaffirmed the relevance of its recommendations and conclusions, which we endorsed entirely. Our delegation will work for having the amendments approved by the CPC to the different programs reviewed duly included.

Finally, we express our willingness to achieve a draft resolution on this matter in an expeditious manner, and we will constructively engage in the informal consultations to attain this goal.

Thank you

(Cubaminrex-Misión ONU)