New York, 20 February 2008 – When the UN General Assembly’s Fifth Committee resumes its work remaining from the end of 2007, it will have on the agenda a review of the Secretary-General’s proposed restructuring of the Department of Political Affairs (DPA). The Fifth Committee will meet from 3-28 March 2008.

On 25 October 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented a proposal to spend an additional $21 million over the next two years for changes to DPA.

Member States reportedly responded favorably to Ban’s plan. However, the proposal underwent review by the GA’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), and in December 2007 the ACABQ recommended approving only two-thirds of the proposed new resources. The ACABQ forwarded its recommendations to the General Assembly’s Fifth (Budgetary) Committee for approval, which has yet to take action and will do so in March 2008.

Background

The Department of Political Affairs is led by Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe. Established in 1992, the DPA plays a central role in the UN’s conflict prevention efforts. Its stated functions (see DPA’s website) are:

Political analysis,

Peacemaking and preventive diplomacy,

Electoral assistance, and

Serving the Security Council and other UN bodies.

The Department advises the UN Secretary-General on how to promote peace, and it provides guidance to approximately 40 envoys and representatives of the Secretary-General, as well as to the political missions in the field.

DPA is organized into divisions that address regional (Asia and Pacific Division, Africa Division, Palestinian Rights Division) and thematic matters (Electoral Assistance Division, Policy Planning Unit).

The 2005 World Summit Outcome stressed the need to strengthen the capacity of the Secretary-General and his offices to mediate and help prevent and resolve crises. In Operative Paragraphs 74-76, Member States:

Stressed the importance of preventing armed conflict;

Renewed their commitment to promoting a culture of prevention of armed conflict and to strengthening the capacity of the UN for the prevention of armed conflict;

Stressed the importance of a coherent and integrated approach to the prevention of armed conflicts and the settlement of disputes;

Stressed the need for the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Secretary-General to coordinate their activities within their respective Charter mandates; and

Supported the Secretary-General’s efforts to strengthen his capacity in the mediation of disputes and other aspects of his “good offices.”

Older reports, including the 2004 report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change, and the 2000 “Brahimi report” on UN Peace Operations, reportedly also influenced Ban’s proposals.

Secretary-General Ban’s October 2007 proposal for reforming the DPA focused mainly on strengthening its capacity for preventative diplomacy.

His proposal follows on an earlier initiative to restructure and strengthen the UN’s peacekeeping department, including by creating a Department of Field Support. (Read about that reform effort here.) Ban’s report calls the DPA upgrades “the next vital step in his effort to meet the increasingly heavy and complex responsibilities assigned to [the UN] in the area of peace and security.” While the DPKO reconfiguration addressed peacekeeping, DPA reforms take on the UN’s conflict prevention and resolution capacities.

Present Situation of DPA

Presenting Ban’s proposal to the ACABQ in October 2007, DPA head Lynn Pascoe described the current state of the Department:

The Department has a budget of $64 million for two years.

Several reports have documented the shortage of resources in DPA and have noted that this shortage decreases the ability of the Department to meet the growing demand for its work in conflict resolution, electoral assistance and peacemaking. The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services estimates that demand for preventative diplomacy is six times the 1990 level, and the DPA’s preventive diplomacy missions have increased six-fold, accordingly. Requests for assistance from Electoral Assistance Division have become more numerous and complex, and the Security Council Affairs Division receives increased demands for the sanctions committees, due to an eleven-fold increase in the number of States subject to UN sanctions.

Increased responsibilities have come without proportionate budgetary increases.

The Department is said to focus too much attention on New York operations vis-à-vis the regional divisions.

The Department is severely understaffed and has trouble performing its key functions, both in its role as the political arm of the Secretariat and in the field. At current staffing levels, oversight of the number of political missions is “extremely difficult.”

The stretching of staff time also means that staff must either 1) narrow their focus to areas of existing UN activity, “at the expense of other situations where problems are less obvious and visible, but where a small effort at prevention could potentially make a significant difference” or 2) cover an unreasonably wide geographic area, “at the sacrifice of depth of analysis and concrete initiative.”

Proposal for Upgrade

The Secretary-General’s proposals to strengthen DPA are described in detail in the 2 November report to the ACABQ.

Ban proposed:

Approximately 100 new staff, including: 70 professional posts, with increased travel to conflict zones for officials; 30 general service staff; and a “cadre of young professionals” to move between political missions. See page 100 of the proposal for “revised organizational chart and post distribution.”

Reorganizing of regional divisions and increasing them from four units to six: two each for Africa and Asia, and one each for Europe and for Latin America. Currently Asia and Latin America are addressed by one division. New bureaus would be established for the Great Lakes region of Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, South-East Europe, Central America/Mexico and South-East Asia; they would serve as sources of political and diplomatic advice and assist the preventive diplomacy efforts of Special Envoys of the Secretary-General, individual Member States, and regional organizations. These new offices would work with existing UN agencies in the region to provide a “localized hub” for conflict prevention.

At headquarters in New York, “adequate support arrangements to guide and monitor” field activities must be developed.

Creating a new division within DPA – the Policy, Partnerships and Mediation Support Division – which would increase policy support and mediation capabilities.

Strengthening the mediation unit and electoral assistance divisions.

Summary of Ban’s Proposed Reforms to DPA

	Present Situation	Proposed Changes
Two-year budget	$64 million	+ $21 million = $85 million
Number of staff	970: 220 at NY Headquarters, 750 in the field	+103 = 1073
Structure	4 regional divisions focused on preventive diplomacy: - Asia and Pacific Division (“mega-division”) - Americas and Europe Division (“mega-division”) - Two Africa Divisions Thematic matters - Electoral Assistance Division - Policy Planning Unit - Decolonization Unit - Security Council Affairs Division - Palestinian Rights Division	More regional divisions: - Strengthen existing two divisions for Africa. Africa I: Great Lakes, Horn of Africa, Southern Africa/Indian Ocean. Africa 2: Central Africa, West Africa, North Africa/Indian Ocean. - Split Asia-Pacific mega-division into two divisions - Middle East and West Asia (new), and Asia and Pacific Division – and strengthen both. - Split Americas-Europe mega-division into two divisions – Americas, including a new unit for Central America/Mexico, and Europe – and strengthen both. Network of regional offices New division – the Policy, Partnerships and Mediation Support Division Strengthening the mediation unit and electoral assistance divisions
Responsibilities	Currently DPA manages the political missions in Iraq, Burma, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Nepal, Somalia, West Africa, Guinea-Bissau, and CAR. DPA also supports the envoys and representatives to Burma, Northern Uganda, Darfur, and Western Sahara, among others.	To better manage these duties, the DPA would be more field-oriented, with stronger regional offices vis-à-vis the New York office. Officials would undertake more field missions where there are warning signs of conflict. DPA would be charged with detecting crises before they emerge and mitigating conflicts with earlier diplomatic interventions.

ACABQ’s Recommendations

ACABQ discussed Ban’s proposal in November and December 2007. In its report to the Fifth Committee on 15 January, ACABQ:

Recognizes organizational and resource constraints in certain areas of the DPA that challenge its capacity to fulfill tasks.

Recommends approving only some of the proposed additional capacity.

Discourages fragmentation of regional divisions into too many units requiring additional senior posts, and possibly causing “structural rigidity, making it difficult to deploy staff where they are required.” Encourages an integrated, not country-specific or “piecemeal,” approach. Requests the Secretary-General to provide “a detailed comprehensive proposal on the strengthening of regional presences.”

Encourages identifying synergies both between DPA and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and among all departments of Secretariat and specialized agencies, funds, and programs, as a way to reduce requests for additional resources. Because the DPA’s role is to provide the overall strategic approach for a country, rather than an operational role, it should develop that strategy in a way that recognizes the expertise of other entities – avoiding duplication. Similarly, while “strengthening of the regional divisions [is] warranted,” the DPA should also expand its collaboration with the rest of the UN system.

Urges Secretary-General to address the need for “clear criteria or transparent decision-making mechanisms to determine the lead department for missions in the field.”

Urges immediate attention to a human resources strategy for DPA.

Recommends adding up to 60 new staff, rather than 103.

Suggests that only $13 million of the Secretariat's requested $21 million for DPA is necessary.

Next Steps

The request for more information from the Secretary-General may be part of the reason that the Fifth Committee did not take action on this proposal at its budget meetings in December.

Some analysts suggest that the proposal to strengthen DPA will be held up until the Secretary-General makes a similar, concrete proposal for upgrading the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In early January Ban told a meeting of Member States’ regional groupings, “Within the UN itself, we must undertake a fundamental review of our development machinery and programming across the system. We need a more coherent, focused, and reinvigorated approach. As requested by the General Assembly, I will soon present proposals to its resumed session.”

It is unclear whether his proposals will come before the Fifth Committee’s resumed session (3-28 March), and if so, whether they will indeed affect the final decision on resources to strengthen the DPA.

Documents

Fifth Committee’s Agenda for Resumed Session (13 February 2008)

ACABQ Recommendations on DPA Reform (15 January 2008)

Fact Sheet on Strengthening the Department of Political Affairs (4 December 2007)

Secretary-General's Report - Strengthening the Department of Political Affairs (A/62/521) (2 November 2007)

Bulletin of the Department of Political Affairs - Winter 2007-2008

Report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the audit of the management of special political missions by the Department of Political Affairs (A/61/357) (19 September 2006):

Part I (Electoral Assistance) (29 March 2007); Part II (Security Council) (29 March 2007)

Biographical Information on Lynn Pascoe (U.S. State Department)

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