U.S. Statement as Delivered by Ambassador Laura S.H. Holgate – Agenda Item 4 – Budgetary Matters
Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2023
Thank you, Chair, for your wise guidance of this body. You have the full support of my delegation. Safeguarding human rights and upholding the rule of law are fundamental to building inclusive, safe, and peaceful societies. UNODC’s strategic and innovative approaches to developing programming deliver the tools to realize a more safe and secure world, and to address the systemic inequities within legal systems and removing barriers to justice.
The United States is proud to be UNODC’s largest donor. We appreciate UNODC’s collaborative approach to designing both regional strategies and integrated thematic programs. We encourage other countries to join us and other existing donors in supporting UNODC’s work on crime prevention and criminal justice. Ongoing threats, such as rising violent extremism and Russia’s military occupation of swaths of Ukrainian territory, have created space for criminal elements to thrive, and the work of UNODC is as important now as ever before.
We welcome the establishment, within existing resources, of UNODC’s global program on people-centered crime prevention and criminal justice. We underscore the importance of community-oriented and evidence-based crime prevention approaches, developed in partnership with civil society, to better assist with implementation of effective crime prevention policies. We congratulate UNODC, as well, on the work of the Independent Evaluation Section to inform decision-making within the organization.
We reiterate our support for UNODC’s work to promote an inclusive workforce to ensure diversity, geographical representation, and gender parity, while taking into account the primary role of merit in all personnel decisions enshrined in Article 101 of the UN Charter. We align ourselves with the statement of the Group of Friends of Gender in this regard. We applaud institution-wide efforts on disability inclusion through UNODC’s Action Plan for Disability Inclusion.
Additionally, we encourage UNODC’s continued flexibility and innovation in the use of new technologies and modalities to make Commission meetings and programs more accessible and inclusive.
Finally, the United States reaffirms the importance of FINGOV, the intergovernmental working group on finance and governance matters, as a platform for focused, informal dialogue on budget and management issues. We appreciate UNODC’s continued commitment to consult with FINGOV on proposals that may alter the funding model for UNODC to ensure member states’ views are incorporated into the decision-making process. We also encourage UNODC’s continued focus on strengthening management practices and oversight to instill donor confidence.
Thank you.