Fifth Committee

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict, reaffirming that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme helps implement sanctions on conflict diamonds and encouraging the widest possible participation and compliance.

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.

The General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened its first resumed session today to consider key matters under its purview, including issues related to the Organization’s liquidity crisis, the geographical diversity of staff, air travel, staff contract types, supply chain management, and modernization of technology infrastructure.

Emerging from complex negotiations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved the United Nations programme budget for 2026, totalling $3.45 billion, as they concluded the main part of their eightieth session. The budget largely reflects the Secretary-General’s proposed 15 per cent reduction in financial resources and a nearly 19 per cent cut in staffing.

Following complex negotiations in its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), the General Assembly today adopted the United Nations programme budget for 2026 — totalling $3.45 billion — as it concluded the main part of its eightieth session.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the revised estimates, UN80, relating to the proposed programme budget for 2026 and the support account for 2025/26, in New York today:

Sport gives people the courage to see an opponent “not as an enemy, but as a partner in a shared endeavour”, the General Assembly heard today, as its President urged Member States to uphold the Olympic Truce — a “living metaphor” for peace at a time of escalating global tensions.

The General Assembly today elected Alexander De Croo of Belgium as the next Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a four-year term.  The Russian Federation objected to confirming the appointment by acclamation and requested a recorded vote.  The Assembly approved the nomination with 172 votes in favour to none against, with 1 abstention (Russian Federation).  Mr. De Croo will serve from 2 December 2025 to 1 December 2029.

As the United Nations faces the possibility of ending 2025 with a cash deficit, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) considered ways to surmount the looming crisis, from delaying credit returns to tackling payment defaults by the United States.

Warning of the risk of bankruptcy amid shrinking resources and growing needs, the United Nations chief today briefed the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the Organization’s proposed budget for 2026, outlining the funding and staffing required to maintain peace and security, protect human rights, advance sustainable development and achieve other key objectives.