Progress Towards an Accountability System in the United Nations Secretariat

A/RES/69/272No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 131Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2012–2023

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/77/280

2023A/RES/77/280Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations SecretariatLatestCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/271Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations SecretariatCompare with previous version
2019A/RES/73/289Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations SecretariatCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/72/303Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations SecretariatCompare with previous version
2017A/RES/71/283Progress towards an accountability system in the United Nations SecretariatCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 topics

Accountability Managers Performance Appraisal Results-Based Management

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2015.

2015A/70/668Fifth progress report on the accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

28 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the fourth progress report of the Secretary-General on the accountability system in the United Nations Secretariat;Error: Reference source not found

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,Error: Reference source not found subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Emphasizes the importance of promoting a culture of accountability, results-based management, enterprise risk management and internal control at all levels in the Secretariat through the continued leadership and commitment of senior managers, and reiterates its request that the Secretary-General take appropriate measures to that end, including the training of relevant staff;

Reiterates the provisions of paragraphs 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 19 of section I of its resolution 66/257;

Also reiterates the provisions of paragraphs 8, 26 and 28 of its resolution 68/264;

Stresses the role and responsibility of the Management Committee in promoting and advancing the accountability system as a whole;

Enterprise risk management system and internal control framework

Notes with appreciation the progress made towards strengthening the enterprise risk management system, including the development of a risk register, the establishment of a governance structure for enterprise risk management and the designation of a corporate risk owner for each of the six critical risks identified, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to implement and embed enterprise risk management throughout the United Nations by managing and mitigating the identified risks, in particular the six most critical risks, and developing concrete risk treatment action plans, and to report thereon in the context of the next progress report on accountability;

Welcomes the efforts made by the Secretary-General to implement a coherent and integrated enterprise risk management system that will contribute to embedding or fostering a culture of risk management in the working habits of staff members of the Secretariat, and requests him to ensure the continued commitment at all levels of the governance structure in order to achieve that goal, and to report on concrete actions taken in this regard in the context of the next progress report on accountability;

Looks forward to the results of the pilot implementation of the enterprise risk management system at the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and emphasizes the importance of identifying and sharing lessons learned and best practices with regard to its implementation with other field missions during the phased implementation at those missions;

Results-based management

Reaffirms that results-based management and performance reporting are essential pillars of a comprehensive accountability framework;

Recalls paragraph 12 of its resolution 68/264, and reiterates its request that the Secretary-General identify appropriate methods and tools to portray the efficiency with which the Secretariat undertakes its work;

Notes the progress made on the implementation of the recommendations of the results-based management working group, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to accelerate the implementation of the results-based management framework throughout the Secretariat in a phased manner, taking into account the provisions of paragraph 6 of its resolution 67/253;

Commends the Secretary-General for the steps taken to promote a culture of self-evaluation throughout the Organization and to mainstream the use of relevant monitoring and evaluation tools in programme planning and implementation, requests him to continue to provide staff with adequate training, and looks forward to receiving updated information on the results of the pilot for strengthening the self-evaluation capacity in the Department of Management of the Secretariat;

Requests the Secretary-General to include in the next progress report on accountability a detailed plan, with a fixed time frame and clear milestones, for the implementation of results-based management as part of the regular functioning of the Organization;

Reaffirms the recommendations contained in paragraph 16 of the report of the Advisory Committee, as approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 64/259, and requests the Secretary-General to include a status update in the context of the next progress report on accountability;

Personal accountability

Emphasizes the importance of establishing and fully implementing real, effective and efficient mechanisms that foster institutional and personal accountability at all levels;

Reiterates that compacts and end-of-year assessments are unique accountability tools for senior managers and contribute to transparency in the Organization;

Reiterates its requests to the Secretary-General to take further concrete measures to ensure that the compacts system becomes a meaningful and powerful instrument of accountability, to take actions to address systemic issues that prevent managers from meeting their targets, in particular those related to compliance with the recruitment timeline, and to report to the General Assembly on the progress achieved in this regard in the context of the next progress report on accountability;

Recalls paragraph 14 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to include additional objectives and indicators in the senior managers’ compacts in order to assess the performance of senior managers with respect to the effective and efficient management of resources, and to provide an update in this regard in the next progress report on accountability;

Notes with appreciation the inclusion in the senior managers’ compacts for 2015 of a new standard managerial indicator related to the timely issuance of documentation to intergovernmental bodies and General Assembly committees, as requested by the Assembly in its resolution 69/250 of 29 December 2014, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that it continues to be included in future compacts;

Strengthening accountability in field missions

Encourages the Secretary-General to continue efforts to strengthen accountability in all sectors of field missions and to ensure the full implementation of the zero-tolerance policy of the Organization regarding any kind of sexual exploitation and abuse, and looks forward to its consideration of the matter in the context of the next report on cross-cutting issues related to peacekeeping operations;

International Public Sector Accounting Standards and the Umoja enterprise resource planning system

Encourages the Secretary-General to continue to strengthen and improve the accountability framework by taking advantage of the benefits related to the deployment of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards and the Umoja enterprise resource planning system, and requests him to report thereon in the context of the next progress report on accountability;

Recalls paragraph 16 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found emphasizes that a lack of adequate information for decision-making processes continues to hamper the ability of the Organization to achieve the goals set out in the enhanced accountability framework and to establish an appropriate performance measurement and reporting system, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to present his detailed plan to deal with the current weaknesses related to the data and information needs of the Organization in the areas of programme planning, monitoring and reporting;

Ethics and accountability

Notes the continuing efforts and recent initiatives undertaken by the Secretariat to strengthen ethics in the Organization, including the ethics and reputational risk assessment referred to in paragraph 86 of the report of the Secretary-General, and emphasizes the importance of enhancing the processes and responses of the Organization to ensure that it encourages the reporting of serious misconduct, protects whistle-blowers from retaliation and intervenes to prevent retaliation;

Strengthening accountability in procurement

Recalls paragraph 33 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the procurement training programme fully addresses the provisions of the United Nations Procurement Manual regarding the respective roles of the Headquarters Committee on Contracts and the local committees on contracts in the procurement process and that the general principles of United Nations procurement are taken into account in developing an accountability system;

Other matters

Recalls paragraph 35 of the report of the Advisory Committee,Error: Reference source not found notes the comments of the Committee with regard to the chain of decision-making and the effectiveness of internal controls, requests the Secretary-General to hold staff members, in particular senior managers, accountable for misconduct, and stresses the need to address mismanagement and poor decision-making in an effective manner, in particular to reduce such instances by sharing best practices and lessons learned;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to submit for its consideration an annual report on progress made towards the implementation of the accountability framework, and encourages him to consider including information on accountability with respect to the issues contained in sections III to VIII of his report in the reports on related substantive agenda items;

Also requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at the first part of its resumed seventieth session on the implementation of the accountability framework, and decides to revert to the question of the frequency of future progress reports on accountability in the context of that report.

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