New York – The UN General Assembly, has approved the appropriation of 7.86 billion dollars for 15 UN peacekeeping missions around the world for the 2016/2017 fiscal period, a UN statement said on Monday.
The statement said that the General Assembly adopted 25 resolutions and one decision contained in reports from its Fifth Committee dealing with administrative and budgetary matters for the funding approval.
It said that one of the resolutions addressed cross-cutting issues related to the financing of UN peacekeeping operations.
The General Assembly also expressed concern over allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving UN soldiers on peacekeeping missions.
It welcomed the appointment of a UN Special Coordinator to improve the organisation’s response to sexual exploitation and urged the UN Secretary-General to regularly update member states on the work of the Special Coordinator.
In appropriating funds for peacekeeping operations from July 2016 to 30 June 2017, the Assembly said the budgetary allocations would cover financial commitments and maintenance costs for the missions in Abyei (the border between Sudan and South Sudan).
Others are: the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Golan Heights, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Western Sahara and Somalia.
The statement said that all resolutions were adopted without a vote, with the exception of a resolution setting out budgetary arrangements for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
It said that the resolution were adopted by a recorded vote of 155 in favour to 3 against (Canada, Israel, U.S.), with no abstentions.
The Assembly also adopted three related drafts on the support account for peacekeeping operations, and financing for the account, as well as for the UN Logistics Base at Brindisi, Italy, and UN Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda.
Also adopted was a resolution on the UN financial reports and audited financial statements on peacekeeping missions, as well as the Board of Auditors’ reports on them.
The Assembly adopted resolutions on three closed peacekeeping missions, namely the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) and the UN Support Mission in Syria (UNSMIS). (PANA/NAN)
