AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Madam Chair. The United States would like to thank the new chair and Inspector of the Joint Inspection Unit, Ms. Sukai Prom-Jackson for presenting the Unit’s 2018 annual report and the 2019 program of work. I would also like to thank Ms. Federica Pietracci, Senior Program Management Officer, Secretariat of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, for introducing the related note by the Secretary-General.
We thank the JIU for the work conducted in 2018, including the feedback and recommendations in the review of whistleblower policies and practices in the UN system. The United States continues to advocate for effective policies and processes that seek to protect staff members, interns, UN volunteers, and individual contractors or consultants against retaliation when they report misconduct, and we look forward to a fulsome discussion on the JIU recommendations during our consideration of this item.
We also look forward to reviewing reports listed in the program of work in 2019, including the review of enterprise risk management, outsourcing of services and interagency mobility measures, especially as we await the Secretary-General’s updated report on the mobility framework as a whole.
As an important independent external oversight body of the United Nations system mandated to conduct system-wide evaluations, inspections and investigations, the JIU is uniquely positioned to provide Member States critical views on program effectiveness as well as administrative policies. We are pleased to see an increase in JIU recommendation implementation rate since last year and encourage the Organization to continue to make the best use of the recommendations.
In closing, Madam Chair, we encourage the JIU to continue to collaborate with the Chief Executives Board, executive heads of organizations and with member states in order to enhance the effectiveness of all Organizations throughout the UN system. We look forward to working with all delegations during this session to continue to improve the JIU and the impact of its work.
Thank you, very much.
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