The United Nations is weighing a sweeping restructuring plan that will merge key departments and redirect sources globally, in response to a confidential inner memo authored by senior officers main a serious reform effort.
Prompted by finances strains and U.S. assist cuts underneath President Donald Trump – blows that severely weakened humanitarian operations – the high-level overview lays out an bold imaginative and prescient for streamlining the U.N.’s sprawling paperwork.
The six-page doc, reviewed by Reuters and marked “strictly confidential,” outlines a sequence of “suggestions” to consolidate dozens of businesses into 4 central pillars: peace and safety, humanitarian affairs, sustainable growth and human rights.
One proposal, for instance, would mix the operational features of the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. refugee company right into a single humanitarian physique.
The memo consists of a mixture of daring, modest and exploratory concepts which, if carried out in full, would mark probably the most vital overhaul the U.N. has seen in a long time.
It suggests merging the U.N. AIDS company into the WHO and lowering the necessity for as much as six translators at conferences. Another suggestion proposes merging the World Trade Organization – which isn’t a U.N. entity – with U.N. growth businesses.
One official conversant in the memo referred to as it a place to begin.
But the language of the inner self-assessment seems to verify what each supporters and critics of the worldwide physique have lengthy stated: that the U.N. wants streamlining. In a sequence of observations, the memo refers to “overlapping mandates,” “inefficient use of resources,” “fragmentation and duplication,” and notes a bloating of senior positions.
It describes “systemic challenges” the U.N. faces – issues exacerbated because the General Assembly continues so as to add missions and applications. “Increased mandates, often without clear exit strategies, and complexities have led to significant overlaps, inefficiencies and increased costs,” the doc stated.
The memo was ready by a process power appointed in March by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who stated on the time the physique wanted to make itself more cost effective.
The process power, contemplating long-term structural adjustments, is along with shorter-term cost-cutting efforts. Some diplomats have described the trouble as a proactive step to assist forestall deeper U.S. cuts.
“The memo is the result of an exercise to generate ideas and thoughts from senior officials on how to achieve the secretary-general’s vision,” stated Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.
Guterres has lengthy referred to as for U.N. reform. During a gathering with Trump in 2017, the secretary-general instructed the U.S. president that the world physique was saddled with “fragmented structures, byzantine procedures, endless red tape.”
But it’s now going through one of many best monetary crises in its 80-year historical past. At the beginning of the 12 months, the United States – by far the U.N.’s largest donor – was already about $1.5 billion in arrears in obligatory funds for the common finances and $1.2 billion in arrears for peacekeeping.
Since Trump took workplace in January, he has lower billions of {dollars} extra in international help as a part of his “America First” international coverage.
Cuts and geopolitical shifts
The process power memo doesn’t point out any nation by title however notes starkly that “geopolitical shifts and substantial reductions in foreign aid budget are challenging the legitimacy and effectiveness of the organization.”
Among the impacts: The U.N. humanitarian workplace, which faces a $58 million shortfall, has lower 20% of its workers. UNICEF initiatives its finances will shrink by 20%, and the U.N. migration company expects a 30% finances drop, affecting 6,000 jobs.
The cuts are “having an immediate, devastating impact,” Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador and president of the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council, stated Monday.
“What’s happening is terrible – we’re cutting rations in refugee camps,” Rae stated.
The memo additionally suggests relocating some U.N. workers from costlier cities to lower-cost locales and merging operations in Rome. Another shorter inner memo despatched to senior U.N. officers final week and seen by Reuters instructed them to organize by May 16 an inventory of jobs that might be carried out exterior New York or Geneva.
“We must take bold and immediate steps to improve the way we work, maximizing efficiency while reducing costs,” stated the second memo. Hundreds of U.N. workers protested job losses in Geneva on May 1.
Staff instantly supporting the U.N. General Assembly and the Security Council in New York would stay, the primary memo stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com