Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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Annan Announces Major Reform Package (July 16, 1997) News Bulletin (July 16, 1997)
Annan Announces Major Reforms, Including Cuts & Reserve Fund
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced a major package of reforms in a speech to the General Assembly this morning. The Secretary General's office also released a 95 page text of the full reform report. The reforms resulted from an intensive six-month review process, headed by Maurice Strong of Canada, who was named by Annan to the post of Executive Coordinator of UN Reform in January.Annan's reform proposal continued the downsizing trend evident earlier in his administration, offering (1)a reduced budget for the core UN, (2)continued staff reductions, (3)consolidation of various offices and programs, (4)reduction in reports and "paperwork" more generally, and (5)a particularly sharp reduction in administrative costs as a proportion of the total budget. Pressure for deep cuts from conservatives in Washington has been intense. In fact, though, Annan's downsizing and "streamlining" of the UN proved not as draconian as many observers feared. And the Secretary General spared some units that were rumored to get the axe. Most notably, the UN Center for Disarmament Affairs, had been said to be a candidate for abolition, because of opposition from powerful member states and their weapons industries. In fact, the UN's disarmament work survived and actually was upgraded under the Secretary General's plan.
From a financial standpoint, one of the most interesting aspects of the Secretary General's proposals was a plan for a new billion-dollar reserve fund -- payable by voluntary contributions -- to tide the budget over through lean times. Since the United States has fallen far behind in its dues and typically owes more than a billion dollars, such a fund would lessen US pressure on the UN and give the general membership more leverage in the UN policy process. The fund would have to be approved by the General Assembly and it would, of course, need to attract sizeable donations from member states to bring it up to the billion dollar level.
The Secretary General's proposals predictably won few plaudits among conservatives in Washington. Senator Rod Grams, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on international organizations said that "this meager package represents nothing more than the status quo and that is unacceptable." Marc Thiessen, spokesman for Sen. Jesse Helms, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee said that "They're going to have to go a lot further on this." But the reform package won quite warm support from other member states and NGOs, and there was a widespread sense of relief that the Secretary General had stood up to US conservatives' pressure for more radical and destructive surgery.
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