LHE/20/8.GA/INF.1 - page 45

- International Assistance and the need to enhance the human resources of the Secretariat to manage this mechanism, the delegation hoped that more extrabudgetary fixed-term posts would be created in the medium term to better implement International Assistance, as well as some basic tasks such as capacity building. It therefore welcomed the sustainability of these posts. The Assembly should also give due consideration to the underutilization of the International Assistance mechanism with a view to developing a comprehensive long-term approach to remedy the problem and to effectively deliver International Assistance to requesting States Parties.
- 225. The delegation of Austria expressed its appreciation of the Secretariat's work , adding that it was happy about the increase in the utilization of the Fund under budget lines 1 and 2 from 21 per cent to 53 per cent, which saw an increase in the ceiling of International Assistance. However, this engendered an additional workload for the Secretariat, which was highly likely to continue in future cycles. However, as mentioned by the Secretary, a specific strategy was still needed to address the underutilization of the Fund with regard to International Assistance; the primary function of the Fund according to the Operational Directives. The delegation understood that activities to encourage or enable States Parties to request International Assistance required additional human resources in the short and medium term and that the costs for additional posts could not be funded through cost recovery as generally foreseen for activities related to the Fund. It therefore supported the Secre tariat's proposal to establish a new budget line for additional fixed-term posts in order to fully activate the International Assistance mechanism and to also effectively monitor and evaluate its implementation.
- 226. The delegation of China warmly thanked the Secretariat for its report. The Fund plays a very important role in capacity building in Member States and China had contributed to the Fund over the last few years and would continue to do so, as it would like to see the largest possible number of countries taking advantage of International Assistance, especially developing countries. The delegation believed that for a more effective use of the Fund, the Secretariat did in fact need a team dedicated to International Assistance. The Secretariat must therefore be provided with the means to better utilize the available resources so as to provide more International Assistance. China encouraged the Secretariat to recruit candidates from developing countries to fill the positions funded by the extrabudgetary resources with a view to assisting those developing countries and ensuring a better geographical balance within the Secretariat, which should be reflected in the resolution.
- 227. The delegation of India thanked the Secretariat for the excellent report and it appreciated that the underutilization of funds under the International Assistance mechanism had been taken into account, providing a well-researched document to address the problem. It welcomed the proposal to create three new posts and it supported the new budget line. It was also noted that the report mentioned an increase of 30 per cent in the number of States Parties since 2010, while at the same time there had been a decrease in staff by 20 per cent. The delegation hoped that the creation of these three posts would address this imbalance. It also supported China's remark on the creation of these posts and whether they would follow the same rules of geographical representation followed for regular posts under UNESCO. It was noted that the P-3 post holder would mainly be in charge of setting up an improved International Assistance mechanism from a strategic point of view, while the P-2 post holder would manage the day-to-day implementation and monitoring of each project. The delegation remarked that countries who required assistance and capacity building the most might also be in a situation where their knowledge [of the Convention] might be lower. Hence the call to the Secretariat and the General Assembly to make an extra effort to hire people for the posts from these regions. Cultural translation is an extremely difficult activity and many developing countries had had centuries of other people telling them what was best. Thus, it was important that a person who understood the local culture make and plan these projects for the better implementation and utilization by States who needed them most.
- 228. The delegation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines welcomed the Secretariat's proposal to enhance its human resources to improve the implementation of International Assistance,