Reformed Procedures for Determining Reimbursement to Member States for Contingent-Owned Equipment and Troop Costs

A/RES/55/274View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 153a Financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations, published in 2001.

What subjects does this mandate have?

11 subjects

Costs Equipment and Supplies Liability Medical Supplies Peacekeeping Operations Questionnaires Reimbursement Standardization Statistical Methodology Troop-Contributing States Working Groups

What’s in this document?

20 operative paragraphs

Endorses the recommendations of the post-Phase V Working Group on reform procedures for determining reimbursement of contingent-owned equipment and troop costs, as outlined in paragraph 17 of the report of the Secretary-General,2 subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Takes note of the recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions;3

Affirms the importance of conducting peacekeeping operations with the maximum of efficiency and effectiveness and the need to minimize delays in processing reimbursements to troop- and equipment-contributing countries;

Recognizes the fact that delay and uncertainty in reimbursements to troop-contributing countries of troop and contingent-owned equipment costs adversely impact on the ability of current and potential troop-contributing countries to participate effectively in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and in this context emphasizes the need for all Member States to pay their assessed contributions to all peacekeeping operations in full, on time and without preconditions;

Stresses that necessary resources should be provided to the Secretariat to allow verifications to be conducted to confirm, before deployment, the preparedness of each potential troop contributor and to ensure that standards continue to be met in accordance with the provisions of the relevant memoranda of understanding;

Notes that the evaluation and standardization of United Nations peacekeeping training are currently being developed by the Secretariat in consultation with troop-contributing countries, and requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on this important issue to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session, through the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, for approval of these standards;

Recognizes the need for providing specific guidance on the methodology of reimbursement for troop costs;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly for its approval at its resumed fifty-sixth session, taking into account the views expressed by Member States, a methodology for reimbursement for troop costs, covering troops and formed police units, and a questionnaire to be submitted to troop-contributing countries, on the basis of the following elements and guidelines:

Troops, formed civilian police units and staff officers serving in United Nations peacekeeping operations shall be reimbursed on an equal basis for identical services;

Reimbursement for troop costs shall take into consideration, inter alia, general principles such as simplicity, equity, transparency, comprehensiveness, portability, financial control and audit and confirmed delivery of specified services, all of which shall be built into the agreements entered into by the United Nations with the participating States;

The data for this survey shall identify the common and essential additional costs from existing troop levels related to personnel that are incurred by troop-contributing countries due to their participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations, including the establishment of a standard vaccination package and identification of mission-specific vaccines and mission-specific medical and biochemical examinations, using the data available from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, that could be liable for reimbursement;

The methodology shall ensure that no double payment is made with respect to reimbursement between the various levels of self-sustainment, components of troop costs and any other allowances;

Decides that a future standard rate of reimbursement for troop costs should be based on new survey data that is representative of the costs incurred by around 60 per cent of countries that have contributed troops to peacekeeping operations;

Decides also, on an interim and ad hoc basis, to increase the standard rate of reimbursement for troop costs to troop-contributing countries by 2 per cent, effective 1 July 2001;

Decides further that an additional 2 per cent increase, on an interim and ad hoc basis, will be effective as of 1 January 2002, bringing the total increase of the current rate of reimbursement for troop costs to 4 per cent;

Requests the Secretary-General to review the practical aspects of the wet-lease, dry-lease and self-sustainment arrangements, including the effectiveness of the contingent-owned equipment procedures to ascertain the capacity of troop-contributing countries to meet the requirements for wet-lease and self-sustainment provisions of the contingent-owned equipment arrangements and the need to ensure the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations, including through a consistent implementation of the standards set out in the contingent-owned equipment manual, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session;

Stresses the need for the Secretariat to meet its obligations, in full, as agreed upon in the memoranda of understanding, in a timely manner, so as to ensure operational effectiveness of the troops in United Nations peacekeeping operations;

Takes note of the views of the Secretariat regarding the possibility of reviewing, subject to future experience, the procedures for settlement of liability for damages for major equipment used by one country and owned by another country, and decides that the liability for damage to major equipment used by one country and owned by another country should be based on the relevant provisions of their memoranda of understanding in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General to convene in 2004 an open-ended working group of experts, for a period of no less than ten working days, to hold a triennial review of reimbursement rates for contingent-owned equipment and self-sustainment, including medical services;

Decides to keep this matter under review at its fifty-sixth session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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