UNITED NATIONS, March 7 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has presented plans to overhaul the organization's secretariat to reflect changes in the way it operates.
His far-reaching report, "Investing in the United Nations: For a Stronger Organization Worldwide," presented Tuesday, focuses on ensuring efficiency and accountability in a way that reflects more than 70 percent of the $10 billion annual budget now relates to peacekeeping and other field operations, up from a $4.5 billion budget ten years ago.
"Our current rules and regulations were designed for an essentially static secretariat, whose main function was to service conferences and meetings of member states, and whose staff worked mainly at headquarters" in New York, the secretary-general told the 191-member General Assembly.
"Today, thanks to the mandates that member states have given us, we are engaged directly in many parts of the world, working on the ground to improve the lives of people who need help."
In the 16 years since the Cold War ended, the world organization has taken on more than twice as many new peacekeeping missions as in the previous 44 years and spending on peacekeeping has quadrupled. Over half of its 30,000 civilian staff now serve in the field -- not only in peacekeeping, but also in humanitarian relief, criminal justice, human rights monitoring, supporting national elections and in the battle against drugs and crime.
Annan's plans were mandated by the outcome document adopted by world leaders at September's World Summit. It builds on a package of reforms he launched last year to enhance ethics and accountability and address weaknesses exposed by the Independent Inquiry on the Oil-for-Food Program as well as evidence of sexual exploitation in certain peacekeeping operations.
