8/9/2019 UN Accountability BkM Talking Points

1/5

Secretary-General ' s ta l lun~ oints onGuidelines on D isclosure of Oversight Re ports toM em ber S ta tes, 28 April 2008

1: As you know , the issue of trans pa ren cy has been onmy agenda f rom the day I took office as Sec retaryGeneral. I can see no better way fo r anOrgan ization such as the UN to be ac coun table toits M em be r States than to be totally tra nsp are nt inthe way t he O rganization is run.

2. I hav e just issued a rep ort on A ccountabilityA rchitec ture w hich integrates all the functions ofthe existing bodies such as the E thics Office, theinterna l an d external audit bodies a nd whichclarifies the difference between compliance,integrity an d performance. This rep or t proposes tostreng then th e tools to improve the in tern al controlf ram ew ork through three separa te but relatedtools: au di ts (tha t evaluate compliance byD ep artm en ts with rdles and regulations),investigations (which is m ean t to add ress wrong-doing, f ra u d a nd corruption) and results basedman agem ent, performance repo rts and seniorm anag ers com pacts (to measure the resultsachieved by the Sec retariat as a whole).

3 T h e 2005 W orld Summ it brought governance andoversight to the forefro nt of manag eme nt reform.M em be r States requested the Secretary-General to

8/9/2019 UN Accountability BkM Talking Points

2/5

ensu re transpa renc y and accountability within thesystem of th e United Nations, including th especialized agencies.4 G en era l Assembly last year established th eInd ep en de nt Aud it Advisory Comm ittee, whichtogether with the s trengthened internal a ndex tern al oversigh t boclies und erpin s th eOrganization's accountability fra m ew ork an dimproves transparency.j To ad va nc e today's discussions, I requested OIO Sto prepa re a very preliminary dr af t on how wecould extend o u r common approaches both todis clo sl~ re f information on interna l aud it reports,an d to stre ng the n ou r investigative capacities.OIOS pr ep ar ed a prel iminary d ra f t of Guidelineson the D isclosure of Audit Repor ts to M em berS ta tes an d H asked the CEB Secretar iat todis tr ibu te this to al l of you in advance. I am s u r etha t t he r e m ay be different perspectives on th eap pro ach in this paper.

6. It is t rue th a t OIOS has d isassociated itself fro mth e UN-RIAS recomm endations as i t feels th at theG en era l Assembly resolution raises the stan da rdfor t ran spa ren cy to a higher level than w ha t theCEB end orsed last October.

7. In th e case of the U nited N ations S ecr eta riat theconditions fo r disclosr ~re f internal oversight

8/9/2019 UN Accountability BkM Talking Points

3/5

re po rts ha s been legislated by the G en era lAssembly in t he ir resolution 59/272. T h eresolution provides th at original versions ofovers ight repor ts (prepared by 0 1 0 s ) - thisincludes in tern al aud it, evaluation, inspection an dinvestigation reports - tha t ar e not submitted to theG en era l Assembly ar e, upon request, mad eavailable to any M em ber State .

8 I fully unde rstand t ha t the Fund s and Programm eshave a n in ternal au dit capacity within their ownaccou ntability framewo rlts which responds todecisions talcen by t he ir respective Execu tiveB oa rds rega rdin g disclosure policies an d which aresepara te from 010s.But I also thinlc t h at w e lacka c om m on investigative capacity in the UN toad dre ss wrong-doing, misconduct and even fraudan d cor rupt ion. M emb er S ta tes are reques ting the.Secretary-G eneral to prep are a comprehensivere p o rt o n investigations which should be commonbetween the Secre tar ia t and Funds andProgrammes .

9 I believe th e UN System as a whole needs acon sisten t se t of policies on t ransparency. In thecase of investigations wh ere d ue process rights ofindividuals a r e involved, we should be careful topro tec t individuals whose security an d rights maybe compromised.

8/9/2019 UN Accountability BkM Talking Points

4/5

l o . While I advocate transparency in all aspects of theOrganization's work I wonlcl like to take u p twoissues in this informal meeting.1. First, to agree on a common approach for thedisclosure of internal audit reports.2 Second, to establish a mechanism to supportme in the preparation of the comprehensivereport on investigations that Member Statesare requesting.

I 1. In relation to internal audits and building on theCEB endorsement of UN-MAS (representatives ofinternal audit services of the UN and multi-lateralbanks) recommendation on disclosure of internalaudit reports to Member States in October 2007, Iwould like to go a step further and propose thatinternal audits be provided to any Member Stateupon request but with the understanding thatconfidentiality should be kept by the requestingMember State.1 2 In the case of investigations, we need to ensure thatthe UN System, including Funds and Programmes,talces all preventive and corrective actions to

combat misconduct, fraud and corruption.I ; With, the above understanding I will provide youwith a revised version next week, after listening toyotlr views today so that we can agree on common

8/9/2019 UN Accountability BkM Talking Points

5/5

guidelines fo r the disclosure of inte rn al oversightrepo r t s as se t out for the UN Secre tar ia t in Genera lAssem bly resolution 591272 by May. I will alsoestablish s t ask force to prepa re the d raf tcom prehen sive re po rt on investigations. I would- req ue s t th a t you nominate a representa t ive to thetask force so tha t we can sub mi t a com monpropo sal to the G eneral Assembly by June .