Statement by: Mr David Hamer, Adviser, Australian Mission to the UN

As delivered

Thank you Chair.

I have the honor to speak on behalf of Canada and New Zealand, and my own country Australia.

We reiterate our support to the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, and were pleased to engage constructively in the course of negotiations.

Unfortunately, we are left with concerns over the resulting text and its budgetary implications.

According to the Institute’s Statute, its financial resources are to derive first and foremost from annual assessed financial contributions of the Institute’s 28 Member States. It is therefore mainly up to the Institute's Member States to provide the funds necessary for its activities.

The SG report highlights outstanding arrears of 17.1 million US dollars in the annual assessed financial contributions of the Institute's Member States. This is of concern to our delegations, and in a period of a liquidity crisis, we believe it is important this issue is appropriately addressed before additional financial burdens are initiated.

Hence, we are concerned over the request to make up the difference, and to compensate for Member States arrears, by increasing the existing grant provided from the UN budget and its limited resources. 
We reiterate the importance of the Institute’s members to provide their contributions in full and on time in order to facilitate its ongoing operations.

We further stress that the approach taken in the resolution before the committee should not create a precedent.

Despite these concerns, we have abstained on the previous vote on the amendment presented by the United Kingdom in recognition of the Institute’s work.

This Institute is a key body that promotes collaborative efforts and joint action on crime prevention and criminal justice in Africa, including trans-border and trans-national crime. These issues impact on all our three delegations, as well as all Member States, and we remain committed to supporting UN mechanisms that aim to address these issues.

Thank you.