The Joint Inspection Unit

TOWARDS A MORE EFFECTIVE SYSTEM OF FOLLOW-UP ON REPORTS OF THE JOINT INSPECTION UNIT

1. The value of a JIU report depends on effective follow-up. Effective follow-up requires (a) that the reports be given active and serious consideration by the legislative organs of the participating organizations, with the benefit of specific and timely comments on them by the secretariats, and (b) that there is expeditious implementation of the approved recommendations contained in them, with full reporting on the implementation measures taken and analysis of the resulting impact.

2. This system of follow-up is based on the JIU statute, which has been accepted by all JIU participating organizations, and on General Assembly resolution 50/233 of 7 June 1996, including the resolutions reaffirmed therein.

3. The General Assembly, in resolution 50/233, stressed that the impact of the Unit on the cost-effectiveness of activities within the United Nations system was a shared responsibility of the Member States, the Unit and the secretariats of participating organizations.

Joint Inspection Unit

4. In order for the JIU reports to be thoroughly and effectively utilized by the legislative organs of participating organizations, as called for by the General Assembly in paragraph 13 of resolution 50/233, the recommendations included in JIU reports must be (a) directed at correcting clear deficiencies with practical, action-oriented measures to solve significant problems; (b) convincing and well-supported by the facts and analysis in the report; (c) realistic in terms of implied resource commitments and technical capabilities; (d) cost-effective; and (e) specific regarding actions to be taken, and those responsible for taking actions, so that implementation and resulting impact can be clearly tracked.

5. The Unit should submit its reports to the executive heads of its participating organizations sufficiently in advance of the meetings of legislative organs to be thoroughly and effectively utilized at the meetings.

Executive heads of the participating organizations

6.  Upon receipt of reports, the executive heads concerned will distribute them immediately, with or without their comments, to the member States of their organizations, as called for in article 11, paragraph 4 (c), of the JIU statute.

7.  The executive heads concerned with a report will assure that the report, with their comments, will be submitted to the appropriate legislative organs within the time-frames specified in article 11, paragraphs 4 (d) and (e), of the JIU statute, that is, for a report concerning only one organization, not later than three months after receipt of the report for consideration at the next meeting of the competent organ, and for reports concerning more than one organization, not later than six months after receipt of the Unit's report for consideration at the next meeting of the competent organs concerned.

8.  The executive heads, in addition to assuring that their comments on reports are timely, will also assure that their comments are specific in addressing the recommendations of the report and well supported.

9.  As called for by the General Assembly in paragraph 4 of its resolution 50/233, the executive heads will take the necessary measures to ensure that the thematic reports of the Unit are listed under the appropriate substantive agenda items of the work programme of the appropriate legislative organs of the participating organizations.

10. The executive heads should assist the appropriate legislative organs in planning their work programmes to assure that sufficient time is allocated for active and serious consideration of JIU reports.

Legislative organs

11. With the assistance of the executive heads, the legislative organs should plan their work programmes so that sufficient time is allocated to allow for active and serious consideration of the relevant JIU reports.

12. The legislative organs should take concrete action on each recommendation of a JIU report under consideration, as called for in paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 50/233, rather than just taking note of the report as a whole. This is a necessary requirement for JIU reports to have impact, in view of article 5, paragraph 5, of the JIU statute, which provides that the Inspectors of the Unit may make recommendations but have no power of decision.

13. Procedures to assure effective follow-up would involve tracking and reporting on (a) steps taken to assure active and serious consideration of the JIU reports after they have been issued by the Unit and (b) measures taken to implement approved/accepted recommendations and determine their impact.

Consideration of JIU reports

14. The Unit will establish a systematic process for tracking each step taken towards consideration of a report by the appropriate legislative organs, including measures taken by secretariat officials, in accordance with article 11, paragraph 4, of the JIU statute. This tracking system will be updated to reflect each step as it is taken, and reports in the form of a matrix will be issued quarterly for the information of Member States. This continually updated matrix will also be made available on-line.

15. To the extent that the matrix indicates that the reporting time-frames specified in article 11 of the JIU statute are not being met, reminder notices will be sent, initially to the JIU focal points in the appropriate organizations, and later to the executive heads if the delays are not corrected, with copies sent to the presiding officers of the concerned legislative organs. The sending of such reminder notices will be included in the matrix.

16. The JIU annual report will include consideration of problems experienced in having reports given active and serious consideration by appropriate legislative organs.

Implementation of approved/accepted recommendations

17. Once a report is considered by the legislative organs and decisions taken on the report as a whole and on specific recommendations, the executive heads of the concerned organizations will ensure expeditious implementation of approved/accepted recommendations (see para. 19 below) and full reporting on measures taken to the appropriate legislative organs. JIU will monitor actions taken.

18. Recommendations accepted by the executive heads of concerned organizations, even if not acted upon by the appropriate legislative organs, will be subject to follow-up and compliance.

19. At the conclusion of the meetings of the legislative organs, the executive heads of the participating organizations will send to the Unit a list of JIU reports given consideration at those meetings and indicate those recommendations within each report that were approved, including, with explanation, those recommendations the organizations believe have already been implemented.

20. The executive heads of concerned organizations, following a format developed by JIU, will prepare a chart (matrix) for each report given consideration at a meeting of a legislative organ, indicating:

21. The completed chart will be sent to JIU and to the bureau of the appropriate legislative organ.

22. Executive heads will submit reports on the implementation of JIU recommendations and their impact to their appropriate legislative organs in accordance with the established meeting schedules of the legislative organs, with copies sent to the JIU sufficiently in advance to allow for comments as the Unit considers appropriate.

23. In accordance with article 12 of the JIU statute, the legislative organs should systematically verify the implementation of approved recommendations and request the Unit to issue follow-up reports as they deem appropriate.

24. JIU will include in its annual report information and analysis on the implementation of JIU recommendations and their impact. This section of the report will note the extent to which established timetables for implementation of recommendations are being maintained. It will also indicate the status of action on specific recommendations, such as no action yet taken, action under way, action completed, or no action intended.

25. The legislative organs will examine these reports and give appropriate guidance to the executive heads concerned and the Unit.