Internal oversight: helping further the respect.

• Author: Braun, Esther
• Position: UN Office of Internal Oversight Services

Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

- Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In 1996, an investigation in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus discovered a scheme to defraud the Organization by siphoning funds from the mission's account for fresh food rations provided to peacekeeping troops. It was established that the Chief Financial Officer - who was subsequently dismissed - had covered up the losses and submitted documentation indicating that the account had a balance of nearly $100,000 when, in fact, it had a deficit of almost $450,000. Also in 1996, investigators were able to retrieve stolen UN equipment of about $400,000 in Mombasa, Kenya, from a vendor providing services to peacekeepers.

Throughout much of its existence, criticisms have been made against the United Nations, accusing it of being an inflexible, resource-devouring bureaucratic monster prone to mismanagement and wasteful behaviour, mainly because, unlike other large public administrations throughout the world, the Organization lacked independent internal control over staff and resources for nearly 50 years. In 1994, Member States decided to change that and established an Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

"The decision to create this Office is probably one of the most effective reform steps that it could have taken", the OIOS chief, Under-Secretary-General Karl Theodor Paschke told the UN Chronicle. In its yearly reports, OIOS not only informs the General Assembly of cases of fraud and mismanagement, but also looks into ways of precluding their recurrence in the future. And it has set its priorities on the following cost-intensive areas: peacekeeping, humanitarian and related activities, and procurement.

"I have sent resident auditors to all of the bigger peacekeeping operations", says Mr. Paschke. "We dispatch auditing teams at least once a year, and this creates a conscience of being overseen in a rather continuous way. It also contributes enormously to streamlining and savings in operations, which are quite costly." According to an August 1998 report of OIOS on the inquiry into procurement planning of aviation services in peacekeeping missions, significant corrective actions implemented since 1994 dramatically improved the situation in this area. Aviation procurement planning by the...