Mandates – requests or directives of action issued by the General Assembly, the Security advice and the Economic and social council – have multiplied significantly since 1945. Today, there are more than 40,000 active mandates, served by around 400 intergovernmental bodies. Together, they require more than 27,000 meetings per year and generate around 2,300 pages of documentation each day, with an annual cost estimated at $ 360 million.
A growing challenge
Mandates guide UN work in more than 190 countries and territories, from peacekeeping to humanitarian response and development. But many are obsolete or riding, and their complexity increases. Since 2020, the number of average words of the resolutions of the General Assembly has increased by 55%, while the resolutions of the Security Council are now three times longer than they were 30 years ago.
“Let’s face the facts,” said Secretary General António Guterres Friday, during a briefing at the General Assembly, “we cannot expect a much more important impact without the means to deliver. By dividing our capacities so thin, we risk focusing more on the process than on the results. ”
A lack of coordination adds to the strain. Several United Nations entities cite the same mandates to justify separate programs and budgets, resulting in duplication and reduction in impact. More than 85% of mandates do not contain any examination or termination provision. “Effective examinations are the exception, not the rule,” said Guterres. “The same mandates are discussed year after year – often with only marginal modifications of existing texts.”
The UN has made mandates around the world, including the certification of elections in Namibia in 1989.
The UN80 initiative: a systemic approach
THE Report of the examination of the implementation of the mandate,, Released on July 31, is part of the wider initiative of the Secretary General’s UN80 – a multi -year effort to modernize the functioning of the UN. Rather than assessing the mandates individually, the report adopts a “life cycle” approach, by examining how the mandates are created, implemented and examined and proposing ways to improve each step.
“Let me be absolutely clear: mandates are the affairs of the Member States,” Guterres told the General Assembly. “They are the expression of your will. And they are the sole property and the responsibility of the Member States. The vital task of creating them, examining them or withdrawing you resides – and you alone. Our role is to implement them – fully, faithfully and effectively. ”
“This report respects this division,” he added. “He examines how we make the mandates you confuse us. »»
From creation to delivery
To approach duplication and complexity, the report calls for registers of the digital mandate which facilitate monitoring of what has been adopted in different organizations. It also encourages shorter and clearer resolutions with realistic resources requirements. “We cannot expect a much more important impact without the means to deliver,” said Guterres.
The report also highlights the growing operational burden on meetings and reports. Last year, the United Nations system supported 27,000 meetings and produced 1,100 reports – three out of five on recurring subjects. “Meetings and reports are essential,” said Mr. Guterres. “But we must ask ourselves: do we use our limited resources in the most effective way?”
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, a miss, was mandated by the Security Council.
Financing and impact
The proposals include the reduction in the number of reports and meetings, rationalization of formats and the use of the surveillance report to guarantee relevance. The secretary general also calls for stronger coordination between the United Nations entities to avoid overlapping and ensuring that each mandate is linked to clear deliverables.
The report warns that fragmented funding underflects coherent delivery. In 2023, 80% of the United Nations funded from voluntary contributions, 85% of which were affected. “Fragmented funding, combined with fragmented implementation, leads to a fragmented impact,” said Mr. Guterres. “Each of us has a role to play in solving this problem. And each of us must act on the levers under our control. ”
Put people first
For the secretary general, reforms not only concern the process, but on the impact. “Mandates do not end in themselves,” he said. “These are tools – to provide real results, in a real life, in the real world.”
He praised UN staff as at the heart of this effort. “None of the work of implementing mandates is possible without our staff – the women and men of the United Nations,” said Guterres. “Their expertise, their dedication and their courage are essential for this business. If we want to improve the way we implement mandates, we must also support and empower people who make them. ”
Many United Nations mandates have agreed to the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York.
A call to the Member States
In his final remarks, the Secretary General stressed that the next steps were to come from the Member States. “The path to follow is up to you to decide,” he said. “My responsibility is to make sure that the secretariat provides the capacities and inputs required by the action plan you choose.”
The report invites Member States to consider an intergovernmental process limited over time to advance proposals and ensure that this effort succeeds when the previous ones failed. The result, according to the report, would be a more agile, coherent and impactful UN which is better to provide programs and services.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
