the increasing scope and complexity of economic and social problems confronting the system and the inescapable pressures for fiscal austerity. He noted also the threat of a de facto restructuring of the system with uncertain and negative results, as new bodies were created, in the absence of adequate action by the Ad Hoc Committee. To meet that threat he proposed that in addition to identifying major problem areas requiring comprehensive examination, the Ad Hoc Committee should also seek to take specific, concrete action on other areas of a less comprehensive nature in order to reach agreement on the matter in the near term. With regard to the major priority areas for examination, he suggested the report of the Group of Experts would be the most logical place to begin and he cited the five general themes identified in Secretary Kissinger's speech. For specific, concrete action, he proposed establishment of a unified personnel system, a unified procurement system, and an effective program evaluation mechanism.

The Ad Hoc Committee decided at its second session to concentrate its consideration on the following eight problem areas: (1) the General Assembly; (2) ECOSOC; (3) other UN forums for negotiations, including UNCTAD and other UN organs and programs, the specialized agencies, the IAEA, and ad hoc world conferences; (4) structures for regional and interregional cooperation; (5) operational activities of the UN system; (6) planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation; (7) interagency coordination; and (8) Secretariat support services.

The Ad Hoc Committee also decided at its second session that an informal working group should hold a series of meetings in April to receive from the Secretary General, in his capacity as Chairman of the ACC, options and possible alternative courses of action in respect of the identified problem areas. The informal working group also received papers from the United States, the European Community, and the Group of 77 (the developing countries) indicating their preliminary and informal views regarding each of the eight problem areas.

During its third session in New York, June 211, the Ad Hoc Committee continued its consideration of the eight problem areas and exchanged views on the informal proposals submitted by the delegations. The Chairman (Ghana) was invited to prepare a consolidated text which would attempt to bring together all the proposals made and the views expressed by delegations.

At its third session, the Ad Hoc Committee decided that informal meetings should be held at

Geneva in July during the 61st session of ECOSOC in order to begin consideration of the Chairman's consolidated text. However, there was only a preliminary exchange of views on the Chairman's text during these informal meetings.

The fourth session of the Ad Hoc Committee met intermittently during the course of the 31st General Assembly, from September 23 to November 29. The Ad Hoc Committee was able to complete more extensive consultations on five sections of the Chairman's consolidated text, but due to the pressure of other commitments, did not discuss the other three problem areas (points (5), (7), and (8) above). The Chairman was requested to prepare a revision of the five sections of his consolidated text covered by the consultations to serve as the basis for further discussion.

The Ad Hoc Committee submitted an interim report to the 31st General Assembly in which it noted that it had made considerable progress in the elaboration of the restructuring measures requested of it, but that all the measures envisaged by the Assembly were interrelated and were intended to be pursued in a fully concerted fashion. It accordingly recommended that its mandate be extended another year so that it could submit final recommendations to the Assembly at its 32nd session.

On the recommendation of its Second Committee, the 31st General Assembly on December 21 took note of the interim report and extended the Ad Hoc Committee's mandate for another year.

UN ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS

PATTERN OF CONFERENCES

19/ was

The 22-member Committee on Conferences established by the General Assembly in 1974 to act for it between sessions on requested departures from the approved calendar of conferences, to make recommendations on improving the pattern of conferences and conference servicing, and to develop

19/ Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, U.S.S.R., United Kingdom, United States, and Yugoslavia.

for approval by the Assembly an annual calendar of conferences.

The Committee met 35 times between January 29 and October 21, 1976. It approved the holding of several meetings in 1976 that had been organized subsequent to approval of the 1976 conference schedule and, in some cases, modified the proposals for more effective use of conference resources. It approved a calendar of conferences and meetings for 1977 based on a draft text submitted by the Secretary General and took note of a tentative calendar for 1978.

The Committee considered in detail the question of optimum apportionment of conference resources, discussing such aspects of the problem as timing, length, and frequency of meetings; ways to improve punctuality; equitable distribution of the conference load throughout the year; and the needs of informal meetings. The Committee made a number of recommendations concerning meeting records that were designed to institute economies without impairing operations. These included, inter alia: (1) subsidiary bodies of subsidiary bodies (e.g., subcommittees of the Committee of 24) should cease to be provided with meeting records of any kind, other than sound recordings; and (2) on an experimental basis in 1976 the summary records of the main committees and subsidiary bodies of the General Assembly and of the sessional committees and subsidiary bodies of ECOSOC should be issued only in initial general distribution, subject to the issuances of corrigenda to remove serious error (instead of--as had been the practice in previous years initially in provisional form followed at much later date by a final, official version). Finally, the Committee recommended that the General Assembly reaffirm the general principle that UN bodies should normally meet at their established headquarters and that when meetings are held away from headquarters the host country should defray the additional cost.

The Committee incorporated its major recommendations into a draft resolution that the Fifth Committee of the 31st General Assembly approved by consensus on December 9 and the Assembly subsequently adopted, also by consensus, on December 17.

20/ Resolution 31/140.

201

UN ACCOMMODATIONS

Headquarters, New York

The Secretary General, in his report to the 31st General Assembly on the UN space problem in New York recommended, inter alia: (1) asking the liaison offices of the specialized agencies and the IAEA to move from the Headquarters building; consulting with the missions of three member states occupying offices there on the possibility of their doing likewise; and relocating the World Federation. of United Nations Associations, the Association of Former International Civil Servants, and the Women's Guild in a nearby building; (2) establishing three categories of rental rates in the UN premises--full market, actual cost, and concessionary--and charging on a gross rather than net square footage basis; (3) reallocating office space so that not more than one-half of the junior professional staff are assigned individual offices; and (4) reducing the rate of staff growth at Headquarters through transfer, as appropriate, of selected units to other locations.

This report, together with a concurring report by the ACABQ and other related documents, was considered by the Fifth Committee at three meetings between November 24 and December 8 and transmitted to the plenary Assembly. On December 22, the General Assembly decided without objection to take note of the report.

In accordance with recommendations of the ACABQ, the Fifth Committee, by a vote of 62 (U.S.) to 9, with 3 abstentions, also approved a draft resolution authorizing a 3-year renovation program encompasssing expansion of the General Assembly Hall, the Trusteeship Council Chamber, four conference rooms, and the Security Council area. The resolution was adopted by the plenary Assembly on December 22, by a recorded vote of 121 (U.S.) to 10, with no abstentions..

Donaupark, Vienna

After considerable debate on December 17 and 20, the Fifth Committee approved by consensus a draft resolution approving recommendations of the Secretary General for a 5-year phased plan to utilize space in Vienna's Donaupark that had been offered to the United Nations by the Government of Austria. The United States supported the Secretary

21/ Resolution 31/195.

General's recommendations because it is committed to insuring that full use is made of the accommodations available at Donaupark, and it believes that determining the method by which this is to be accomplished is the responsibility of the Secretary General. The resolution authorizes the transfer to Vienna in 1978 of the Center for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs (from New York) and the Social Affairs Division (from Geneva), and the transfer in 1979 of the Division of Narcotic Drugs, the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board, and the secretariat of the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control (all from Geneva) and the International Trade Law Branch of the Office of Legal Affairs (from New York). The Secretary General was also asked to submit to the 33rd General Assembly concrete proposals for completing UN occupancy of the Donaupark office space, which will house approximately 500 professional staff and 500 general services staff.

The General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus on December 22.22/

INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

The 15-member International Civil Service Com23 mission, established by the 29th General Assembly in 1974, held its third session in New York from March 8 to 26 and its fourth in Rome from June 28 to July 16, 1976. The main item on the agenda for both meetings was the continuation of the review of the UN salary system which began in 1975 at the request of the 29th Assembly. The Commission's findings and recommendations were incorporated in its second annual report, which was submitted to the 31st General Assembly.

One of the conclusions reached by the Commission was that the level of UN remuneration for professional and higher categories should continue to be established by comparison with that of the highest paying national civil service (the Noblemaire Principle), which the Commission concluded continued to be the U.S. civil service. In addition the Commission recommended a number of changes affecting remuneration for the professional and higher categories.

22/ Resolution 31/194.

23/ Members, who serve in their personal capacities, are appointed by the General Assembly for 4-year terms. Robert E. Hampton, Chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, was a member in 1976.