Grace Levin
Advisor for UN Management and Reform
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, New York
November 18, 2020
AS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank the Chef de Cabinet, Ms. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti for introducing the latest report on the implementation of the SG’s management reform agenda, as well as the Under-Secretaries-Generals of the Department of Peace Operations and the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Ms. Rosemary DiCarlo, respectively, for joining us today. I would also like to thank the Chair of the ACABQ, Mr. Abdullah Bachar-Bong, for introducing the committee’s report on this important subject.
As we have stated earlier this session, U.S. strongly supports the Secretary-General’s efforts to reform the management, peace and security, and development structures. We are pleased with the efforts to mainstream a “whole of pillar approach” into the work of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the Department of Peace Operations, though we believe more work must be done to enhance the overall effectiveness in delivery of mandates, reduce fragmentation and duplication, and improve coherence and integration across the pillar.
The Secretary General’s initial report on the restructuring of the United Nations peace and security pillar purports a key dimension of the overarching reform agenda is to reduce duplicative structures and overlapping mandates while increasing support to the field. In the report before us this session, again, the Secretary-General notes that measures are being pursued within the peace and security architecture to avoid overlap and duplication. Redundant policy units in the Peacebuilding Support Office, DPPA, and DPO should be effectively integrated and rationalized, and a unified assessment and planning capacity should be a priority for implementation. Eliminating these silos is a key element of this important reform, and a work plan must be established to ensure these efforts come to fruition. We look forward to a clear plan to optimize the utilization of resources for policy and thematic capacities across the architecture.
Mr. Chair, it is also essential these efforts produce tangible and measurable results, through an evidence-based approach, which are explicitly linked to the goals of the reform. The Organization needs to remain accountable to these goals to retain Member State confidence in the reforms we endorsed. We are ready to engage with all delegations on this critical reform agenda item.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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