United Nations Association – UK, 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL
t. 020 7766 3450 / f. 020 7000 1381
samarasinghe@una.org.uk / www.una.org.uk
The Rt Hon. David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
24 May 2015
cc. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt. Hon Philip Hammond
Secretary of State for International Development, Rt. Hon Justine Greening
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing to you to ask you to pay special attention in the coming months to the need to raise the
effectiveness and vigour of the United Nations.
We represent the two British associations most closely concerned with UK support for the UN: the United Nations
Association – UK (UNA-UK) and the British Association of former UN Civil Servants (BAFUNCS).
The UN celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. To mark this, we have been organising three seminars to draw on
the experience and wisdom of British citizens who have worked for the UN over the past seven decades. The first
seminar, on development, was held on 14 May at Sussex. The second, on humanitarian issues, will take place in
October in Oxford, and the third, on peace and security, will be held in London in January 2016.
The FCO has provided generous funding for this last event. Our partners for this project are: the Institute of
Development Studies, Sussex; All Souls College, Oxford; King’s College London; the Bodleian Library and the
Overseas Development Institute.
The purpose of the seminars is not to merely celebrate the UN’s achievements, but to provide recommendations for
UK action at a time when the international system is under increasing strain. The complex challenges facing the
world have highlighted the urgent need for the UN. Yet there is little concerted effort to make it more effective.
We believe the UN is an indispensable tool for realising the UK’s global objectives and support from the UK is
necessary for UN initiatives to succeed. While our increasingly multipolar and polarised world is challenging the
UN’s ability to have impact on hard political issues, its relevance is greater than ever: as the setter of global norms;
as a framework for effective programmes, particularly for the most vulnerable; and in determining the criteria for
legitimacy of political action.
Given your strong personal support for international development, we wanted to share with you the outcomes of
our first seminar. The event brought together over 30 people who have spent almost all their working life in the
UN’s funds, programmes and agencies, serving collectively in 45 developing countries. Most had reached senior
ranks – including Under-Secretary-General, Special and Deputy Representative of the Secretary-General
(SRSG/DSRSG) and Resident Coordinator.
The conclusions they reached are as follows:
 At country level, the UN and its agencies have often had considerable impact. Leadership by UK professionals
has often been an important ingredient of this success.
 The Millennium Development Goals have served as an important focus for UN development activities, in
practical achievements and in raising the public profile and popular awareness of the UN’s work. The
Sustainable Development Goals – to which you contributed through the High-Level Panel - will help carry these
achievements forward.
 But the United Nations has reached a critical juncture, with weak leadership and an increasingly poor image
internationally. The UK needs to press for it to be strengthened.
We identified areas for priority UK attention and action:
1.
The UN System needs a stronger Secretary-General. The next appointment, due in 2016, is a major opportunity
for states to select a highly competent individual with true international stature, vested with adequate
authority and freedom to act. We believe that this will require a better appointment process, and limiting the
appointment to a single, longer term. We are encouraged by the steps that UK has already taken in support of
this, and by the widespread support for the 1 for 7 Billion Campaign, which UNA-UK helped to found and which
has a grassroots base of 45 million people worldwide. We ask you to use your personal influence to support
the call for a fair, open and inclusive process of selection, and for a single, longer term.
2.
The UN System needs stronger leadership at all levels. Eighty per cent of those entering the UN at the level of
Assistant Secretary-General level and above are political appointees with no previous experience of the UN and
often inadequate qualifications for the posts they hold. A similar situation often exists at other levels of the
UN. The UK could do much to improve this situation, for example, by supporting clearer criteria for
appointments and more professional induction and training schemes at all levels, in all of which the UK has
expertise and professional experience to contribute.
3.
The UN System needs structural reinforcement. One way of achieving this would be increasing the share of UK
Aid allocated as core (un-earmarked) funding for the UN. We are delighted that the UK has led the way by
becoming the first G8 country to meet the 0.7% target. The UK is now the largest contributor to multilateral
aid.
DFID studies have shown that multilateral aid, carefully administered, produces high value for money. Yet a
relatively small share of UK multilateral funding goes to the UN’s funds and specialised agencies (under 10%),
with most going to the EU, and this share has fallen since 2011. A larger share going to the UN programmes,
especially as core support, would increase the net economic and social impact of UK Aid, as well as provide
more leverage for the UK on the Boards of the organizations concerned.
4.
The UK's influence on the work of the UN can be greatly strengthened from within by expanding opportunities
for UK citizens to work throughout the UN System. The Conservative manifesto pledges to triple the size of the
International Citizen Service with opportunities to volunteer abroad. We applaud this ambition and hope that
UN Volunteer opportunities will be publicised through this initiative.
We also applaud the UK’s recent decision to reinstate support for the UN’s Junior Professional Officer scheme.
The UK must now give it energy and publicity as it did so successfully in the 1960s. (Many of our seminar’s
participants started out as JPOs). The scheme is a major way of attracting committed young people and
developing them into managers – our seminar noted the importance of middle management to the UN’s
effectiveness. Some would no doubt go on to senior roles within the UN.
We shall be sending a fuller note on the seminar’s findings to the Foreign Secretary and International Development
Secretary, and will seek to have a dialogue with these two departments as our seminar series progresses.
We very much hope that some of these ideas and policies can be incorporated in UK plans for celebrating and
strengthening the UN in its 70th anniversary, and that you will give your personal commitment to supporting this
programme of ideas and action.
Yours sincerely,
Sir Jeremy Greenstock
Chairman, UNA-UK
Edward Mortimer
President, BAFUNCS
Sir Richard Jolly
Former Chair, UNA-UK
Former President, BAFUNCS
Annex 1
Witness Seminar 1 The UK and the UN in Development Cooperation,
Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 13 – 14th May 2015
Priority areas of the UN where British support could make a major difference
The UK has a strong professional voice within many of the UN funds and specialized agencies, often more
influential than realised. UK’s commitment to the 0.7 target for aid means that the UK is now the largest
single multilateral donor which potentially adds to this influence, especially when exercised with
sensitivity and for global concerns.
We would like to suggest that the relevant UK Departments, particularly DFID and the FCO focus
increased attention on the following areas:
1. Policy support
The UK has often been a strong advocate and voice in the promotion of policies and norms for the public
global good, particularly in and through UN organs and treaties. It has also been a prime mover in the
development and drafting of policies and resolutions. A strengthening of these role could enable the UK
to continue to “punch above its weight” for the benefit of the wider international community and the
promotion of global norms.
1.1 Human Rights: Support for human rights activities linked to development at country level and to the
work of the office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, including in the form of un-earmarked
funds.
1.2 International norms: The UN’s role in setting norms is an important global function and should be
valued and supported, especially because of its legitimacy and global outreach.
1.3 Lessons of experience within the UN: DFID and FCO could consider holding periodic meetings with
UNA-UK and former UN staff members as already happens in Germany and Netherlands.
2. Support for strengthening UN Staffing Procedures
The JPO programmes of the 1960s and 1970s provided a major means for the UN to recruit UK staff,
many of whom went on to hold senior positions of leadership and responsibility in the UN. Support for
JPOs has recently been reinstated but no one, to the best of our knowledge, has taken charge of
implementing the programme.
2.1 Junior professional Officer programmes. New energy needs to be given to this programme by urgently
appointing someone responsible in DFID or the FCO. Some of the administrative burden of this
appointment might be eased by setting up a selection committee formed, which could include our
seminar partners, IDS, ODI, Oxford and other universities. Many students in development studies look for
such opportunities and could greatly benefit from them.
2.2 Support for Interns and internships: Support for UK interns to work in UN field offices is a valuable
means for helping them gain early experience and possible entry into the UN. Interns often need modest
support for travel and some stipend, which a number of other countries provide. The UK’s reputation for
supporting a truly international civil service would be enhanced if it provided support for one intern from
a developing country (perhaps Commonwealth) for each UK intern, a system practiced by the
Netherlands and some other European countries.
2.3 Strengthening of UN procedures for selection, appointments and promotion. UN procedures in this
area need improvement. This could be a focus for FCO and DFID professional support and pressure, not
only for the UN secretariat but in all funds and agencies of the UN.
2.4 Appointments and promotion policies: National quotas are only one way to achieve an appropriate
balance in UN Staffing. Gender and regional balance are also important and can often be achieved by
quiet modifications of appointment and promotion procedures. The UK could support such broader
moves and perspectives on staffing, especially in the UN Funds and specialized agencies which have more
flexibility in their employment policies.
3. Institutional Memory
The UN experience of the last 70 years is of fundamental importance for understanding the strengths and
difficulties, successes and failures of what in fact have been early attempts to better manage the
emerging global economy. The record of these attempts with few exceptions are in a deplorable state,
because few agencies and their government supporters are prepared to provide financial support for
support of records and archives of this experience. The result is that many parts of the UN too often
spend time and money forgetting what went before and reinventing the wheel. There are several areas
where the UK’s own experience and professional skills could provide support.
3.1 UN Funds and Agency archives: Professional support and modest contributions of funding for
establishing, strengthening and maintaining the UN archives in the main UN funds and agencies could
make a big difference to strengthening the UN’s institutional memory, and feeding back lessons of
experience into future operations and support.
3.2 UN Career Records Project: The provision of modest funding to the Weston (new Bodleian Library) for
the cataloguing and strengthening of career records of former UN staff, as well as for oral history, could
help to strengthen the development of archives on the UN and the involvement of UK and other
nationals in it in the UK itself.
3.3 Strengthening of libraries of UK development institutes and institutions. The strengthening of libraries
and archives services devoted to the UN in universities and development institutes, could help to inform
students, researchers, academics and other users become more aware of the UN activities and
opportunities.
4 Financial support for the UN
The UK is now the largest single contributor to multi-lateral funding of development assistance – a
praiseworthy position, given the many studies that have shown multilateral aid carefully administered
produces high value for money. Yet we note that a high proportion of UK’s multilateral funding goes to
the EU and the World Bank and relatively little, under 10 per cent, to the UN funds and specialized
agencies.
4. 1 Review and redirection of multilateral UK aid: A larger share going to the UN funds and agencies
would in our view increase the net economic and social impact of UK aid, as well as providing more
leverage of UK on the Boards of the UN funds and specialized agencies.
4.2 Core funding: A higher proportion of UK financial support to the UN should be in the form of core
funding for WHO, UNICEF, UNDP and for field operations of other UN funds which DFID has rated good
value for money. The lack of core support for maintaining its country office structures was part (though
only part) of the reason for the delayed and weak WHO response to Ebola.
4.3 Population related activities: More support for UNFPA is needed, especially linked to support and
extension of family planning services and activities in countries where fertility rates are still high and
where women who wish to are unable to access such services.
4.4 Grant funds: Modest amounts of grant funds can often make more effective the work of UN staff in
development. The need for grant funds for UN Women for use at country level is a clear example.
4.5 Support is needed for UN coordinating bodies such as the Standing Committee on Nutrition (the SCN)
and the Collaborative Council for Water Supply and Sanitation (the WSSCC) and other inter-agency
coordinating committees with a proven record in quality and relevance.
5. Education and the Media
Education and the media in the UK have an important role in spreading awareness and understanding of
the globalization and the wider world, the UN’s wider roles in development and the UK’s interests in
them. The UK’s national policies of education and the media should be kept under review to see that
wider international perspectives are well maintained, kept up to date and where necessary initiatives
taken to strengthen such activities. Given the importance of social media for the younger generation,
DFID and the FCO have responsibilities to feed in material for this audience. Some opportunities include:
5.1 Professional support for the UN’s information activities and outreach. Given the UK’s deep and long
tradition of quality journalism and film making, UK professionals with this experience have much to offer
the UN. DFID and FCO could provide support for such professionals to work with the UN, both in the
Department of Public Information and in the media and outreach departments of the UN funds and
specialized agencies.