Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) Approves Five Texts, Defers Action on Measures to Tackle United Nations Liquidity Crisis

Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) Approves Five Texts, Defers Action on Measures to Tackle United Nations Liquidity Crisis

Despite weeks of negotiations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) concluded its five-week session without agreement on urgent measures to confront a deepening liquidity crisis that now threatens the United Nations ability to function.

At stake was a proposal to suspend credit returns - a technical but consequential mechanism that, if left unchanged, will continue to erode the Organization's cash position.

Chronic delays and shortfalls in the payment of mandatory contributions have pushed the United Nations into a precarious financial position, with a record $1.57 billion in unpaid dues for the regular budget by the end of 2025. In a stark warning earlier this year, Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned Member States that the Organization could run out of cash as early as July, stressing their obligation to pay in full and on time.

While there are modest signs of improvement - 95 Member States have paid their 2026 assessments in full as of 25 March, compared to 85 by the end of March last year - structural constraints persist. Chief among them is the requirement to return unspent funds to Member States as credits against their future assessments, even when underspending results from late contributions or funds never received.

Unless Member States reconcile these contradictions, the United Nations risks entering each budget cycle with diminished liquidity - and diminishing room to act.

Decision to Defer

By approving a draft decision "Questions deferred for future consideration" (document A/C.5/80/L.30), the Committee recommended that the General Assembly decide to defer - until its May-June session - consideration of the proposed revisions to the Financial Regulations of the United Nations, which includes the suspension of returning unspent funds to Member States and other measures to mitigate cash shortfalls.

The representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, expressed concern that "the financial rules and regulations and the financial situation were not substantively addressed during this session and were instead deferred to the second resumed session, despite being identified as a key priority by the Secretary-General". Brussels trusts that the Committee will engage with this matter as "a priority, with a view to reaching agreement" at the May-June session.

Japan's delegate underscored the urgency of addressing the Organization's liquidity crisis, which demands Member States' sustained attention. She expressed regret that this agenda item was postponed despite efforts to send a clear signal to move forward. Tokyo looks forward to receiving concrete proposals from the Secretary-General and engaging in a constructive, evidence-based dialogue during the upcoming session to "chart a sustainable path forward", she added.

The representative of Uruguay, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, attributed the postponement of consideration of the proposed revisions to the Financial Regulations and Rules to "delays in the issuance of documentation and in the provision of responses to Member States' queries". He demanded sufficient time allocation to analyse all implications, stressing that addressing the liquidity challenge requires a collective commitment by all Member States to fulfil their financial obligations in full, on time and without conditions.

Smooth Sailing for Three Texts

Despite some challenges, however, Committee members were able to approve some draft resolutions by consensus.

By the draft titled "Special subjects relating to the programme budget for 2026" (document A/C.5/80/L.27), the Assembly would endorse the conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of the Advisory Committee on "Enterprise resource planning project, Umoja", and on "Addressing racism and racial discrimination".

By the draft titled "Information and communications technology strategy" (document A/C.5/80/L.28), the Assembly would note with concern the lack of progress in addressing multiple recommendations by the Board of Auditors, including its request for additional details regarding the information and communications technology (ICT) strategy implementation plan, resource requirements and proposals for consolidating the functions of the Office of Information and Communications Technology and reviewing its staffing model.

It would also recognize that instances of artificial intelligence (AI) deployment in the UN system are primarily small-scale and siloed, emphasizing the need to consolidate and formalize efforts to harness AI at the Organization-wide level. To that end, the Assembly would encourage the Secretary-General to implement a "Scan, Pilot, Scale" approach to build understanding of AI capabilities and identify successful AI pilots in high-impact areas that can be applied across the UN system to enhance mandate delivery. It would also encourage the Secretary-General to finalize the policy on responsible AI use in the Secretariat.

By the text titled "Joint Inspection Unit" (document A/C.5/80/L.29), the Assembly would stress the importance of the oversight functions of the Joint Inspection Unit in identifying managerial, administrative and programming questions within participating organizations and providing the Assembly and other legislative organs with practical, action-oriented recommendations to improve UN governance.

The Assembly also would underscore the unique role of the Unit as an external and independent system-wide inspection, evaluation and investigation body, stressing the important contributions that its recommendations make to improving the UN system's efficiency. The Assembly would encourage the Unit to continue efforts to maximize the efficiency of limited resources in implementing its mandates.

Recorded Vote on Funding for Expert Panel on Iran

However, the draft titled "Revised estimates relating to the programme budget for 2026 under section 3, Political affairs, and section 36, Staff assessment: special political missions", sparked divisions among Member States.

By the text, the Assembly would approve $2.19 million in operational costs for the Panel of Experts on Iran as well as the resources for the Senior Representative for the implementation of Security Council resolution 2792 (2025) and the Panel of Experts on Iran, and the revised resources for the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen and the UN Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement.

Its approval - by a recorded vote of 88 in favour, to 8 against (Burkina Faso, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Russian Federation) with 37 abstentions - surmounted an amendment, proposed by the Russian Federation, seeking to "not approve any resources" for the Panel of Experts on Iran and for the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1737 (2006).

The proposed amendment - supported by China and Iran - was rejected by the Committee in a vote of 74 against to 10 in favour, with 48 abstentions.

Too Many Deferrals, Entrenched Positions on Key Agenda Items

During the current session, delegates dealt with many key issues, such as human resource management reform, business-class air travel, cost-cutting measures, geographical representation of workforce, supply chain management, and internship programmes.

The representative of Angola - speaking for the African Group - acknowledged the session's positive outcomes while expressing regret over the "significant" number of agenda items that were not concluded. "The growing number of deferrals - together with the increasing number of items on which no action was taken - is a matter of serious concern," he stated.

This trend risks placing additional pressure on already congested sessions, he argued, and affects the quality, timeliness and predictability of the Committee's work. He urged all delegations to renew their commitment to constructive engagement and consensus-building to reduce deferrals, avoid inaction on important agenda items and ensure that the Committee can "discharge its responsibilities effectively".

His counterpart from the United States expressed disappointment at the failure to address the over-reliance on continuing contracts and advance common-sense reforms on business-class travel. "The UN loves its business-class travel," he said, stating that the current standard exceeds that of most national Governments and is not a responsible use of taxpayer resources. Moreover, extending the session has only diluted focus and discipline. He proposed a return to a four-week session or doing away with the first resumed session entirely.

"Once more we have seen a pattern of no-actions, deferrals and entrenched positions preventing this Committee from delivering outcomes commensurate with our technical mandate," observed the representative of the United Kingdom. She expressed disappointment over the failure to reach agreement on "outdated" rules regarding air travel as well as on human-resources management - the "main focus of this session". Nevertheless, she welcomed items on which consensus was reached, stating that - "whilst modest in number" - they demonstrate that "technical, evidence-based engagement remains the Committee's most effective tool".

China's delegate expressed regret over the failure to make progress on equitable geographic distribution and workforce rejuvenation in the context of human-resources management. He also stressed that consensus has "long been the working method of the Committee", expressing regret that budgetary matters were brought to a vote. He therefore called on all parties to uphold the Committee's working methods and "jointly oppose the politicization of management issues". Further, he called on all States to make full use of meeting times, give equal attention to every agenda item and "set an example in improving quality and efficiency".

While welcoming constructive outcomes on ICT matters and addressing racial discrimination, the representative of Israel expressed regret that this session produced "far more no-actions and deferrals than actual resolutions". She called for a serious discussion on the Committee's working methods. "Starting too late, leaving no time for engagement until the final stages and repeating the same patterns year after year do not serve this Committee well," she said. "If you want better outcomes, we need better working methods."

Fifth Committee Chair Zsuzsanna Horváth (Hungary) said, however, that "it is not a lack of time, but a lack of timely, active and constructive engagement". Looking ahead to the second resumed session, she urged all delegations to build on these reflections.

Complete Live Blog coverage of today's meeting can be found here.