PHA-Exchange> UN reform right from the top

[Aviva]

>
> Kofi Annan calls for reform at the United Nations, asks officials to
> simplify their labyrinthine procedures
>
> By RANJAN ROY, Associated Press Writer
>
> UNITED NATIONS - Countless committee meetings, fat reports written in
> dense language, reams of paperwork that tie up a complex web of officials.
>
> That's not a critic's cynical view of the United Nations. It's what the
> U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself says about the world body in a
> report released Monday on the need for reform. "We must be prepared to
> change with the times - constantly adjusting to new conditions and new
> needs," Annan told a news conference at U.N. headquarters.
>
> Calling on his officials and the 190 member nations to help redraw
> priorities, Annan's report to the General Assembly prescribes
> streamlining various departments, simplifying labyrinthine procedures,
> firing or retraining staff and recruiting more skilled people.
>
> "Activities which are no longer relevant must be dropped, while on new
> issues ... the U.N. must deepen its knowledge, sharpen its focus and act
> more effectively," the 55-page report said.
>
> According to the report 15,484 meetings were held by various U.N. bodies
> and 5,879 reports were issued in 2000 and 2001. Most U.N. reports appear
> in the six official languages of the United Nations.
>
> "But it must now be clear to everyone that the international agenda has
> become overloaded with such meetings," the report says, warning that
> "summit fatigue" had set in both among the general public and governments.
>
> "We are not saying conferences are obsolete or should be abandoned. But
> there could be other ways of organizing these conferences," Annan told
> reporters.
>
> He advocated more planning ahead of conferences so that all the
> documents are ready before delegates meet. Otherwise, he warned "you
> come up with a document with is an agreement on the lowest common
> denominator."
>
> The report added that even larger countries find it difficult to
> participate in and keep track of all such meetings.
>
> Annan said U.N. reports, which often run into hundreds of pages of
> dense, technical prose, should now have size limits and be written in
> "simple, crisp language."
> Annan began a major effort to overhaul U.N. operations when he took
> office five years ago, a key demand of the United States and other
> members. He has continued his effort during his second five-year term
> that began in January.
>
> Annan also said the fight against international terrorism will remain at
> the top of the U.N. agenda, along with the priorities spelled out in the
> Millennium Declaration adopted by more than 150 world leaders in
> September 2000.
>
> The Millennium Summit targets include cutting in half the proportion of
> people living on less than one dollar a day, ensuring that every child
> goes to primary school, and reversing the AIDS epidemic by the year 2015.
>
> To create a leaner organization, the United Nations may for the first
> time start offering golden handshakes for staffers whose jobs are
> redundant, the report said.
>
> It said its Department of Public Information will be trimmed and many of
> the 71 U.N. Information Offices worldwide will be closed and subsumed
> into regional hubs.
>
> As a first step, 13 such offices in Western Europe will be consolidated
> into one regional information center.
>
> More than 5,000 people are employed in the 35-story U.N. headquarters in
> New York. Hundreds of thousands of others work full-time, part-time or
> as consultants worldwide.
>
> However, Annan's plan does not envisage a lower budget, a U.N. official
> said. Money saved in the restructuring would be used to retrain staff
> and improving the organization's information systems, the official said.
>
> For 2002-2003, the regular budget is $2.625 billion, up $90 million from
> the $2.535 billion in 2001-2002.