The Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies The Role and Working Methods of a Comprehensive Oversight Institution in the United Nations System

Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law

Volumn 2, Issue , 1998, Pages 287-306

  Munch, Wolfgang ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 85140536352     PISSN: 13894633     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1163/187574198x00091     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. The principle argument was that the Security Council had not properly established the legal terms for the mandate of ONUC. For further details, see Advisory Opinion of the ICJ of 20 July 1962, ICJ Reports 1962,151 et seq. — Certain Expenses of the United Nations — and C. Tomuschat, "On Article 19", 327 et seq., Mn. 6, in: B. Simma (ed.), The Charter of the United Nations. A Commentary, 1994. Furthermore a number of socialist states refused to pay assessed contributions for UN peace-keeping activities in Suez (UNEF).
2. At that time, the regular budget of the United Nations did not operate on a biennial basis.
3. Doc. A/6343 of 19 July 1966, para. 67.
4. For more details on the history of the JIU and general information about the JIU, see V.Y. Ghebali, "L'Evolution du Corps Commun d'Inspection des Nations Unies", AFDI32 (1986), 439 et seq.; K. Hiifner, "The Joint Inspection Unit", in: R. Wolfrum (ed.), United Nations Law, Policies and Practice, Vol. 2,1995, 827 et seq.
5. See A/RES/2360 (XXII) of 19 December 1967, para 2. The notion of the "Joint Inspection Unit" appears at this stage for the first time in a General Assembly Resolution.
6. The composition of the JIU at its starting point was as follows: Maurice Bertrand (France), Lucio Garcia del Solar (Argentina), Sreten Ilic (Yugoslavia), Robert Macy (United States), R.S. Mani (India), Joseph Adolf Sawe (Tanzania), Sir Leonard Scopes (United Kingdom), Aleksei F. Sokirkin (USSR). See Doc. A/7034 of the Secretary-General dated 4 January 1968.
7. Articles without specific reference are those of the JIU Statute, JIU Statute: GAOR 31st Sess., Suppl. 39,163-5.
8. For further details see G. Jaenicke, "On Article 7", 195 et seq., Mn. 35, 36, in: Simma, see note 1.
9. The Statute was not adopted by the IMF, the Members of the World Bank Group and IFAD.
10. io See UNESCO Resolution-Doc. 20 C/Resolution 39.1.
11. Article X reads: "This Organization shall be brought into relation with the United Nations Organization, as soon as practicable, as one of the Specialized Agencies referred to in Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations. This relationship shall be effected through an agreement with the United Nations Organization under Article 63 of the Charter, which agreement shall be subject to the approval of the General Conference of this Organization. The agreement shall provide for effective co-operation between the two Organizations in the pursuit of their common purposes, and at the time shall recognize the autonomy of this Organization, within the fields of its competence as defined in this Constitution. Such agreement may, among other matters, provide for the approval and financing of the budget of the Organization by the General Assembly of the United Nations."
12. 2 See UNESCO Doc. 149 Ex/33 dated 11 March 1996.
13. » See Doc. ACC/1996/FB/R.27 dated 18 December 1996; ITC is a joint subsidiary organ of WTO/UNCTAD and is equally financed by WTO and the UN.
14. Each Specialized Agency pays according to its size, (with WHO paying the largest amount and UPU the smallest).
15. See Doc. A/52/6 (Part I), para 12.
16. 5 See also Doc. A/52/7 Add.l, para. 55.
17. See A/RES/52/220II of 22 December 1997.
18. See also Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly — Doc. A/520/ Rev.l5/Amend.2, Rules 156 and 159, with regard to the membership in the ACABQ and in the Committee on Contributions or article 3 para. 2 of the Statute of the ICSC.
19. See article 16 of the JIU Statute.
20. Prior to 1978 they were staff members.
21. See Annual Report of the JIU to the 52nd General Assembly, Doc. A/52/34, para. 27.
22. See Annual Report of the JIU to the 51st General Assembly, Doc. A/51/34, para. 34.
23. Doc. A/51/34 Annex I.
24. Recent examples include JIU/REP/96/2 (Doc. A/51/642) on the feasibility of the relocation of UNITAR to Turin, which was requested by the Board of Trustees of UNITAR, and JIU/REP/97/6 (Doc. A/52/559) on training institutions in the United Nations System.
25. See paras 45 and 46 of the standards and procedures, published in Doc. A/51/34 Annex I.
26. Article 6 para. 1.
27. For further details of the work programme of the Unit during the first 20 years, see Y. Beigbeder, Management Problems in United Nations Organizations — Reform or Decline} 1987,65 et seq.; S. Schumm, "Die Joint Inspection Unit als Versuch der Einftihrung organisatorischer Rationalist in internationalen Organisationen", in: K. Dicke/K. Hiifner (eds), Die Leistungsfahigkeit des VN-Systems: Politische Kritik und wissenschaftliche Analyse, UN-Texte 37, 1987, 72 et seq. (75-77).
28. The report cycle of the JIU used to cover the period from 1 July to 30 June like the one of the United Nations Board of Auditors. At a meeting of the Inspectors in July of 1998 they decided to return to the previous cycle of work which is identical with the calendar year.
29. The ACC addresses its comments to the final version, of course, and a copy of the JIU report is also provided to the ACABQ for information purposes.
30. To be fair it has to be admitted that some of the organizations have always been cooperative and did not qualify the JIU's activities as disturbing, but as a mutual give and take.
31. An objective and comprehensive evaluation on the JIU, containing critical, but constructive observations has been published by the General Accounting Office, the supreme audit organ of the United States: United Nations — More can be done to strengthen the U.N. Joint Inspection Unit, GAO/NSIAD-86-141.
32. For further detail see K.T. Paschke, "Innenrevision in den Vereinten Nationen — eine neue Erfahrung", VN 44 (1996), 41 et seq.
33. Cited from: The Office of Internal Oversight Services of the United Nations — Its Genesis, its Mission, its Working Methods, its Impact, published by the United Nations Department of Public Information DPI/1761, February 1996, p. 5.
34. Based on operative para. 16 of A/RES/50/233 the JIU has recently developed a follow-up system with regard to approved recommendations, published in Annex I of the Annual Report to the 52nd General Assembly (Doc. A/52/34); see also a note, in which the JIU expressed its views on strengthening oversight bodies, including its own role, published as Doc. A/51/ 674 dated 13 November 1996.
35. A/RES/51/241 of 31 July 1997.