STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS BY AMBASSADOR KAREN TAN, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AGENDA ITEMS 125 AND 134: PROPOSED PROGRAMME BUDGET BIENNIUM 2014-2015 - PROGRAMME BUDGET IMPLICATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTION A/68/L.37 ON STRENGTHENING AND ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODY SYSTEM 26 MARCH 2014

1        Thank you, Mr Chairman. 

2        I have the honour to speak on behalf of the 10 Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.  We thank ASG and Controller Ms Eugenia Casar and ACABQ Chair Mr Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Chairman for introducing their reports. 

3        ASEAN is firmly committed to the strengthening of the treaty body system.  We welcome the successful conclusion of negotiations on the strengthening process as contained in A/68/L.37.  The programme budget implication must accurately reflect the balanced outcome of those negotiations.  ASEAN emphasises that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for budgetary matters. 

4        Treaty bodies must be given adequate resources to allow them to continue contributing to the promotion and protection of human rights.  The use of such resources must be transparent and accountable, bearing in mind the role of States Parties as key stakeholders in the treaty body system.   

5        While ASEAN supports the capacity-building programme contained in L.37, we also note that L.37 establishes the requirement for capacity-building activities, particularly as stipulated in OP 17 and OP 19, to be undertaken “in consultation with and with the consent of the state concerned” as well as “upon the request of the States parties”. ASEAN will therefore examine the PBI associated with the capacity-building programme to ensure that it complies with the mandate established in L.37. 

6        ASEAN also supports the additional 15% margin of meeting time to prevent the recurrence of backlog, as proposed in L.37.  The Secretariat has calculated that this additional margin amounts to 8.6 weeks.  ASEAN is interested to learn more about the methodology predicating the differing allocations of meeting times from these 8.6 weeks among different committees. 

Mr Chairman,

7        Lastly, ASEAN would like to highlight that the late issuance of reports continues to seriously impede the work of this Committee.  We are only able to consider this important agenda item two days before the session is to close.

8        ASEAN looks forward to constructively engaging stakeholders during informal consultations.  Thank you.

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