Reforms Are Progressing, But Overall Objectives Have Not Yet Been Achieved

摘要

In recent years, the United Nations has had fundamental problems. In 1994, the U.N.'s inability to procure goods and services fairly and on time reached a crisis. Also there was an overall failure of its human resources system to staff critical posts with the right people. Peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia failed to accomplish their missions. By 1997, the Secretary General stated that the United Nations had become fragmented, inflexible, and, in some areas, superfluous. Member states demanded improvements. In response, the Secretary General proposed a reform program consisting of three core elements--(1) restructuring U.N. leadership and operations, (2) developing a performance-based human capital system, and (3) introducing programming and budgeting processes focused on results. The Secretary General stated that these elements formed an integrated program; all were necessary to create a United Nations that achieved results and continuously improved. While not all of the reform elements applied to the entire United Nations,2 the overall program provided a model for a U.N.-wide reform process. The Secretary General set the end of 1999 as the target date to put the reforms in place. Today, I will discuss the status of the reform program and highlight some results.