Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ambassador Chris Lu addressed the closing of the first resumed session of the Fifth Committee, highlighting the global crises that have intensified over the past year. He emphasized the role of the United Nations in tackling these challenges and stressed the importance of its workforce as a critical tool for effective action.
"The world is facing a multitude of crises: climate change; conflict; food insecurity; repression; poverty; terrorism," Lu stated. He pointed out that to confront these issues effectively, the UN requires robust human resources management, which is why an entire session is dedicated to this topic annually.
Lu compared the Fifth Committee's function to that of a board of directors overseeing a large organization. He noted that regular review and updates to human resources policies are customary in other sectors but criticized their infrequency at the UN. "Despite global crises growing day by day, we have undertaken only one meaningful reform of the UN’s personnel policies in the past eight years," he remarked.
He also expressed concern about various failures during this session, including inadequate oversight on personnel compensation and failure to extend measures for seconding active duty military staff, which could affect peacekeeping missions. Additionally, there was no progress on addressing mental health needs or improving procurement policies aligned with sustainable development goals.
Lu concluded by acknowledging that this session was longer than previous ones but deemed it unnecessary. "We should admit that this extension was completely unnecessary," he said while expressing appreciation for support in reverting to shorter sessions.