Administrative and budgetary procedures of the Untied Nations

XVII. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORT OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE
1854. Administrative and budgetary procedures of the Untied Nations

A

The General Assembly, Having regard to resolution 1731 (XVI) of 20 December 1961, in which the General Assembly recognized its need for authoriative legal guidance as to obligations of Member States under the Charter of the United Nations in the matter of financing the United Nations operations in the Congo and in the Middle East, Recalling the question submitted to the International Court of Justice in that resolution, Having received the Court's advisory opinion of 20 July 1962,[1] transmitted to the General Assembly by the Secretary-General,[2] that the expenditures authorized in the General Assembly resolutions "expenses of the Organization" within the meaning of Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter, Accepts the opinion of the International Court of justice on the question submitted to it. 1199th plenary meeting,
19 December 1962.

B

The General Assembly, Recognizing that peace-keeping operations of the United Nations, such as those in the Congo and in the Middle East, impose a heavy financial burden upon Member States, in particular on those having a limited capacity to contribute financially, Recognizing that in order to meet the expenditures caused by such operations a different procedure is required from that applied to the regular budget of the United Nations, Taking into account the advisory opinion of the International Court of justice of 20 July 196219 in answer to the question contained in General Assembly resolution 1731 (XVI) of 20 December 1961, Convinced of the necessity of establishing at the earliest possible opportunity different financing methods from those applied to the regular budget to cover, in the future, peace-keeping operations of the United Nations involving heavy expenditures, such as those for the Congo and the Middle East,

1. Decides to re-establish the Working Group on the Examination of the Administrative and Budgetary Procedures of the United Nations with the same membership as that established in General Assembly resolution 1620 (XV) of 21 April 1961, and then to increase its membership to twenty-one by the addition of six Member States to be appointed by the President of the General Assembly with due regard to geographical distribution, as provided in resolution 1620 (XV), to study, in consultation as appropriate with the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Committee on Contributions, special methods for financing peace-keeping operations of the United Nations involving- heavy expenditures, such as those for the Congo and the Middle East, including a possible special scale of assessments;

2. Requests the Working Group to take into account in its study the criteria for the sharing of the costs of peace-keeping operations mentioned in past resolutions of the General Assembly, giving particular attention to the following:

(a) The references to a special financial responsibility of members of the Security Council as indicated in General Assembly resolutions 1619 (XV) of 21 April 1961 and 1732 (XVI) of 20 December 1961;

(b) Such special factors relating to a particular peacekeeping operation as might be relevant to a variation in the sharing of the costs of the operation;

(c) The degree of economic development of each Member State and whether or not a developing State is in receipt of technical assistance from the United Nations;

(d) The collective financial responsibility of the Members of the United Nations;

3. Further requests the Working Group to take into account any criteria proposed by Member States at the seventeenth session of the General Assembly or submitted by them directly to the Working Group;

4. Requests the Working Group to study also the situation arising from the arrears of some Member States in their payment of contributions for financing peace-keeping operations and to recommend, within the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, arrangements designed to bring up to date such payments, having in mind the relative economic positions of such Member States;

5. Requests the Working Group to meet as soon as possible in 1963 and to submit its report with the least possible delay and in any case not later than 31 March 1963;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to distribute the report of the Working Group to Member States as soon as possible with a view to its consideration, when appropriate, by the General Assembly.

1199th plenary meeting,
19 December 1962. The President of the General Assembly, in pursuance of paragraph 1 of the above resolution, appointed six additional members of the Working Group on the Examination of the Administrative and Budgetary Procedures of the United Nations, as follows: ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, CAMEROON, MONGOLIA, NETHERLANDS and PAKISTAN.[3] As a result, the Working Group is composed of the following Member States: ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, CAMEROON, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, INDIA, ITALY, JAPAN, MEXICO, MONGOLIA, NETHERLANDS, NIGERIA, PAKISTAN, SWEDEN, UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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[1] Certain expenses of the United Nations (Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter), Advisory Opinion of 20 July 1962; I. C. J. Reports, p. 151. [2] Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventeenth Session, Annexes, agenda item 64, document A/5161. [3] See A/5398.