The United Nations is drowning in reports and other paperwork. This is according to Secretary-General António Guterres in response to a new report on the efficiency improvements to be made within the UN. According to Guterres, the reports are also hardly read.
Guterres said in a statement on Friday that the various UN organizations held 27,000 meetings last year. The UN Secretariat has produced at least 1,100 reports for this, 20 percent more than in 1990. In addition, the reports have also become increasingly voluminous. According to Guterres, the number of words has increased by 40 percent.
“The number of meetings and reports is driving the system – and all of us – to the breaking point,” said a critical Guterres, who also fears that the reports are hardly read. “One in five reports has been downloaded less than a thousand times. And that says nothing, because that is no guarantee that it will be read.”
To combat the “costly” paperwork, the UN80 Reform working group was created earlier this year. In the run-up to the UN’s eightieth anniversary – in October of this year – this working group must make recommendations to make the organization more efficient.
For example, there are too many differences in the way UN organizations work. In addition, a “result-oriented management method” must be introduced in the departments that do not yet have one. There must also be better accountability. According to Guterres, 60 percent of organizations within the UN operate without a strategic plan.