The process of informals in the Fifth Committee

UN Chronicle, March-May, 2002

It was close to midnight in Conference Room 5 at United Nations Headquarters when Thomas Schlesinger closed his files and left for home a satisfied man. Schlesinger, a senior Counsellor with the Austrian Mission to the United Nations and Austria's representative in the Fifth Committee, had successfully tied up a contentious resolution that demanded lengthy sessions of informal diplomacy. And now he was left only with the task of notifying the Committee Chairman that unanimity had finally been reached, and the resolution adopted.

Schlesinger was appointed Coordinator for informal consultations to finalize a draft resolution on "pattern of conferences", the second largest resolution the Committee had been tackling. It dealt broadly with conferences in the United Nations, their timing, duration, utilization of translation and interpretation facilities, and documentation of meetings, and it needed Schlesinger's skills to "gavel" (announce as adopted) the final resolution.

The Fifth Committee works hard to pass its financial and budgetary agenda without a vote. Besides its own agenda, it also has to approve unanimously the budgetary requirements arising out of the work of the other five committees. Often, its own work has to be delayed as the other committees await word from the Fifth on proposals sent to it. Working towards this exhaustive consensus is a "unique process in multilateral diplomacy", says Schlesinger. To insiders, this process of consultations between diplomats is known as the "informals".

Reforming the budget: Resolution 41/213

The evolution of the informals is linked to General Assembly resolution 41/213. In the mid-1980s, the United Nations was faced with severe financial crunches, which forced the Organization to borrow from peacekeeping funds to meet needs in other areas. Member States began criticizing the methodology of the budget accounting, and arrears kept on increasing.

"In the mid-eighties, you had resolutions which were voted in the Fifth Committee, where initially the large contributors only abstained, but later in the Assembly voted against budget resolutions", says Schlesinger.

This spurred the General Assembly to establish the Group of High-level Intergovernmental Experts to Review the Efficiency of the Administrative and Financial Functioning of the United Nations. In August 1986, the Group submitted seventy proposals to the Assembly, but there was no consensus in the Group on streamlining the budget process. So the Assembly on its own passed resolution 41/213. A key part of this resolution states that the Fifth Committee must achieve the "broadest possible agreement" in passing the budget.

"This is the reason why you have a very interesting decision-making process in the Fifth Committee", says Schlesinger. "With the necessity to find a consensus or the broadest possible agreement, you need a different mechanism of decision-making. It's not looking for majority in counting votes, it is bringing each and every Member State on board." Reaching this state of broadest possible agreement involves many levels of consultations.

To pass a draft text, first it has to be introduced in the formal negotiations. If there is strong disagreement in the "formals", the matter is pursued in the (1) formal informals, (2) informal informals, (3) least formals, and (4) political meetings.

Off the record, on the record

The Fifth Committee convenes for formal meetings in Conference Room 3 in the General Assembly building of the UN Secretariat. One level below the street, in a broad, long corridor, doors lead into the various conference rooms that accommodate anywhere between 40 to 830 people.

The Committee's formal meetings, just like other committee meetings, are announced in advance in the UN Daily Journal, and are scheduled between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Delegates occupy chairs behind small rectangular wooden plaques bearing their country's name. A headset attached to the arm of each chair is used for listening to interpretation in the six official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish). A few feet above the ground, set into the wall, are booths where interpreters sit behind glass panels doing simultaneous translation into and out of the official languages.

Collen Kelapile of Botswana, Coordinator of the pattern of conferences in 2000, says, "Statements are usually in written form and a few are circulated in advance to facilitate the work of translators and interpreters, and for other delegations who may want hard copies to brief and seek instructions from capitals. Full conference services are provided, and staff of the Department of Public Information (DPI) prepare press releases."

If diplomats agree on a text in the formals, the Chairperson recommends that the Committee adopt it and report it to the Assembly, where 189 Member States vote on it for final adoption. If disagreement surfaces in the formals, diplomats pursue the text into the second level of talks-- the formal informals.