UN Budget
UN FINANCING AND ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
Russia is one of the major contributors to the UN budgets. In accordance with the present scale of contributions to the UN regular budget Russia’s rate equals 1.602%, which places Russia as ranking 14th among all the UN member states.
In 2011 Russia paid approximately $232 million to all the UN budgets (to the UN regular budget, to the budgets of the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Ruanda, to the budgets of UN peacekeeping operations, and to the budget of the Capital Master Plan to Renovate the UN Headquarters in New York).
When the scale of contributions to the budgets of the UN peacekeeping operations, which are to be paid by the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, is calculated, an addition takes place. As a result Russia’s contribution to the budgets of peacekeeping operations does not equal 1.602% as to the regular budget, but 1.9764%.
Russia is a responsible contributor to the UN budgets and applies every effort in order to carry out its obligations when it comes to the contributions charged to it.
Russia, together with other UN member states, insists on the principles of strict budget discipline, financial transparency, accountability and efficient spending of the resources of the UN Secretariat.
Russia is a large supplier of the UN, mainly on the market of aviation services. In 2011, Russian companies supplied services worth $437.6 million. This equals 13.8 percent of all the UN contracts in 2011 ($3.2 billion).
As of June of 2012, 488 Russian citizens work for the UN Secretariat, which includes its offices in Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi, and Bangkok, as well as for the secretariats of regional economic commissions and for international tribunals.
As of July of 2012, 65 Russian citizens work for UN peacekeeping operations as military observers, 13 – as civil police officers, and 73 – as civil servants.
By virtue of objective economic indicators, the rate of Russia’s contributions starting from 2013 will grow by more than 150 percent. According to the scale of contributions to the UN regular budget it will equal approximately 2.5 percent, and to the budgets of UN peacekeeping operations – more than 3 percent, which will place Russia as ranking 11th among major contributors. While Russia will be increasing its financial participation in UN activities, the employment opportunities for Russian specialists within the UN Secretariat will also expand.
FINANCING
All the UN budget expenses are covered by obligatory and voluntary contributions of member states. In accordance with article 17 (paragraphs 1 and 2) of the UN Charter, the General Assembly (GA) examines and approves the UN budget, and member states carry expenses in accordance with the distribution established by the GA.
Before the GA examines the UN budget, it is subject to consideration by the Fifth committee of the General Assembly, which is “the appropriate main committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary questions” (UN GA resolution 43/233A). Representatives of all UN member states, including Russia, are members of the committee. The consideration of questions in the Fifth committee is carried out on the basis of recommendations of the UN Advisory committee on administrative and budgetary questions (ACABQ), which consists of 16 experts in management and budget matters. One representative of the Russian federation is a member of ACABQ.
To learn more about the work of the Fifth committee, go to: http://www.un.org/en/ga/fifth
Today, UN member states make contributions to the following UN budgets: the UN regular budget, the budget of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, of the International Criminal Tribunal for Ruanda, of the Residual Mechanism, and to the budgets of UN peacekeeping operations.
SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS
UN member states make contributions to the UN regular budget in accordance with the scale of contributions which is approved by the UN General Assembly in accordance with the recommendations of the UN GA Committee on contributions (one of the members of the committee is a Russian citizen). Under the following scale of contributions (2010-2012) to the UN regular budget, the following countries are the major contributors:
|
# |
UN member state | Contribution rate |
# |
UN member state | Contribution rate |
# |
UN member state |
Contribution rate |
|
1 |
USA |
22% |
6 |
Italy |
4.9% |
11 |
Rep. of Korea |
2.2% |
|
2 |
Japan |
12.5% |
7 |
Canada |
3.2% |
12 |
Australia |
1.8% |
|
3 |
Germany |
8% |
8 |
China |
3.18% |
13 |
Netherlands |
1.8% |
|
4 |
UK |
6.6% |
9 |
Spain |
3.17% |
14 |
Russia |
1.6% |
|
5 |
France |
6.1% |
10 |
Mexico |
2.3% |
15 |
Brazil |
1.6% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16 |
Switzerland |
1.13% |
The calculation of the scale of contributions is based on the principle of paying capacity; this means that macroeconomic indicators of a country in the recent years (gross national income), which are adjusted if necessary depending on the fluctuations in the rates of national currency, of the gross national income per capita, and other indicators are taken into the account. The maximum rate of a contribution to the regular budget is 22%, the minimum rate is 0.001%.
The last, 72d session of the UN GA Committee on contributions was held from June 4th to June 29th in New York. The main point of the agenda was the consideration of recommendations concerning the scale of contributions to the UN regular budget for 2013-2015. In accordance with the presented calculations Russia’s rate of contributions to the UN regular budget for the period will increase by 52.2%, from 1.602% up to 2.438%. The final decision on the scale of contributions will be taken by the UN GA at the end of December of 2012. To study in more detail the report of the Committee on contributions published after the 72d session, go to http://www.un.org/en/ga/contributions/sessions.shtml
The scale of contributions to the budgets of the UN peacekeeping operations is slightly different from the scale of contributions to the regular budget. All the contributors are divided into three groups. The first group comprises the permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, whose contributions to the budgets of the peacekeeping operations will grow roughly by 25 percent. The second group primarily comprises developed countries, whose contributions equal those to the regular budget. The third one (which is in its turn divided into several subgroups) comprises developing countries and the least developed countries that get different discounts. This substantially reduces their contributions to the budgets of the peacekeeping operations to the level which is lower that the rates of contributions to the regular budget. The payments that are thus not made by these countries are made by the permanent members of the UN SC in equal proportions. As a result, the rates of contributions of the permanent members of the Security Council for 2010-2012 are the following:
|
# |
Permanent member of the UN SC |
Rate of contributions to regular budget |
Rate of contributions the UN peacekeeping operations |
|
1 |
USA |
22% |
27.1415% |
|
2 |
UK |
6.604% |
8.1474% |
|
3 |
France |
6.123% |
7.5540% |
|
4 |
China |
3.189% |
3.9343% |
|
5 |
Russia |
1.602% |
1.9764% |
UN REGULAR BUDGET
The UN regular budget is drawn up for a two-year period. The current UN budget for 2012-2013 is $5.15 billion, which is 4 percent less than the previous budget (2010-2011).
The resources from the UN regular budget cover maintenance costs and the regular activities of department in the UN Secretariat Headquarters in New York, its offices in Vienna, Geneva, Nairobi, Bangkok and UN regional economic commissions and UN special political missions.
BUDGETS OF UN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
Currently 16 UN peacekeeping operations are under way. Each of these operations is financed through its own annual budget, and the financial year does not correspond with the calendar year; it begins on July 1st and ends on June 31st of the following year. The aggregated budget of all the peacekeeping operations for the period July 1st, 2012 – June 31st, 2012 is $7 326.7 million, which is 6.6 percent less than the previous aggregated budget.
To see the full list of the current UN peacekeeping operations and study in detail different aspects of their activities, go to http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping.
BUDGETS OF THE UN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA AND RUANDA
The budgets of international tribunals, just like the regular budget, are drawn for a two-year period. The budgets of both tribunals for 2012-2013 are $418.7 million ($166.5 million for the budget of the International tribunal for Ruanda and $252.2 million for the International tribunal for former Yugoslavia). The contributions of member states to the budgets of the tribunals are calculated the following way: one half of the contribution is calculated according to the regular budget scale and the other half – according to the scale of contributions to the budgets of the UN peacekeeping operations.
Starting from 2012 the international tribunals have started to wind up their activities due to the fact that their mandates are drawing to an end. Their functions will be transferred to the Residual Mechanism, which will be in charge of the archives and of some of the cases that have not yet been closed. The initial budget of the Residual Mechanism for 2012-2013, which covers for now primarily administrative matters connected with the first activities of a new body, is $51.2 million.
CAPITAL MASTER PLAN TO RENOVATE THE UN HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK
In order to carry out the plan to renovate the UN Headquarters in New York, a special fund has been established. From 2007 to 2011, countries made contributions to the fund in accordance with the scale of contributions to the regular budget, which was set up in 2007. It is estimated that the final expenses can reach some $2 billion. The renovations at the UN Headquarters should be finished in 2014.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
UN administrative matters comprise the HR policy of the UN Secretariat, ICT, control functions (internal and external control) and UN procurement. All the indicated spheres are subject to the undergoing reforms aimed at making the Organization more efficient.
HR POLICY
One of the key elements of UN management is the HR policy of the Secretariat. More than 70 percent of the UN regular budget and some 25 percent of the budgets of the UN peacekeeping operations is spent on the personnel. Currently more than 44 thousand people work in the UN Secretariat. These include slightly more than 20 thousand employees at administrative offices (departments, administrations, commissions, etc.) and almost 24 thousand people working in field missions.
As a result of the reform of the contract system today there are Continuous Appointment (CA) contracts for a period of up to five years and Fixed Term Appointments (FTA) for a period of up to one year. Staff rules are developed by a special body – the International Civil Service Commission and are approved by the General Assembly. For more information on the work of the Commission go to: http://icsc.un.org/rootindex.asp.
Posts in the UN Secretariat (some 300 people), financed from the UN regular budget are filled according to the principle of equitable geographical distribution. Each country gets a certain quota based on its rate of contributions to the regular budget and its population. If a country has not exceeded its quota, its candidates are considered in the first place, and then come the candidates from those countries which have exceeded their quotas.
As of June 2012, there are 42 Russian citizens working in the Secretariat; this number is less than what Russia is entitled to according to its geographical quota (45 people). Moreover, as Russia’s financial participation in the UN activities is growing one may expect Russia’s quota to further increase, which will create new job opportunities for Russian representatives within the Secretariat.
The Secretariat constantly employs new people – competent and highly motivated specialists, who share the UN goals and objectives and are ready to dedicate themselves to the honorable service for the good of the international community in different countries of the world. The UN gives a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic multicultural environment and participate in projects aimed at solving world problems.
UN employees are loyal to the principles and basic values of the Organization, such as honesty, professionalism, efficiency and respect for cultural diversity. The UN accepts applications from citizens of all the member states and is guided by the most progressive standards of protection from racial and gender discrimination, as well as from the discrimination towards disabled people.
For more information on different ways to apply for a job at the UN go to https://careers.un.org/lbw/Home.aspx, see the renewed version on https://inspira.un.org (you will have to register there). There are also internship programs for graduates and PhD students (https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=IP), there are numerous programs for volunteers (http://www.unv.org/).
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES
In December of 2008, the Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT) was created as an independent department, financed through a separate budget. The Office is headed by Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) at the level of Assistant General-Secretary. The Secretariat spends annually some $770 million on the ICT (from the regular budget, the budgets of UN peacekeeping operations and non-budget resources); there are 4,219 people working in the ICT sphere; this number includes international employees, volunteers and external employees who work on a contract basis.
Constant advancement of the ICT is the main instrument which helps the UN function effectively. Reforms in this domain include better management of organizational resources and the creation of a secure ICT infrastructure. Today, the main project here is “UMOJA” (which means ‘unity’ in Swahili); its goal is to introduce the Enterprise Resource planning system (ERP). The aim is to concentrate the management of all the financial, human and material resources in a unified integrated information system of the Organization. The project was approved in December of 2008 and is to substitute the current Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), which the Secretariat declared obsolete. A successful introduction of the ERP must improve the efficiency and transparency of resource management. It is believed that the ERP will be a basis for introducing International Public Sector Accounting standards (IPSAS) at the UN. The aggregated cost of the project will be about $350 million. The project was to be finished in 2014, but the deadline will be shifted for a year or two due to complex tasks of constructing and introducing new technologies and programs.