Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the revised estimates, UN80, relating to the proposed programme budget for 2026 and the support account for 2025/26, in New York today:
It is a pleasure to formally introduce the revised estimates report relating to the proposed programme budget for 2026 and the support account for peacekeeping operations for the 2025/26 period.
A few weeks ago, I introduced the proposed programme budget for 2026 which had been for the most part prepared before the launch of the UN80 Initiative.
As such, the initial budget proposal did not yet reflect the first outcomes of the Secretariat’s comprehensive review of its resource requirements for 2026.
The revised estimates report before you today does so — highlighting both the urgency and the ambition of the UN80 Initiative.
It responds to your call for a more effective, agile and resilient Secretariat and contains proposals to align resources with organizational priorities, modernize our internal operations and reflect a pragmatic response to the evolving fiscal context.
The report consists of two interlinked components:
First, initial measures to improve the management and operations of the Secretariat resulting from the first workstream of the UN80 Initiative;
And second, targeted efficiencies and cost reductions to the proposed programme budget for 2026 and the support account budget for 2025/26.
Building on earlier management reforms and significant investments in [Enterprise Resource Planning] ERP and [Information and Communications Technologies] ICT infrastructure, the proposals include:
- The creation of a common administrative platform to provide administrative services to Secretariat entities located in each duty station, beginning with New York and Bangkok. This represents a considerable improvement of our efficiency, putting together what is done separately by different entities with naturally much more costs.
- The consolidation of payroll processing into a single global team operating across three centres — UN Headquarters, the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, and the United Nations Office at Nairobi.
- And a systematic review by entities in New York and Geneva of functions that could be performed effectively in lower cost duty stations.
This is part of a broader strategy to reduce our commercial footprint and achieve a long-term cost reduction.
Since 2017, the Secretariat has saved $126 million from terminating commercial leases in New York.
Further consolidation in existing premises — including terminating leases in two buildings by late 2027 — is projected to save an additional $24.5 million annually from 2028.
And this naturally represents the need to progressively reduce areas that will do better in other locations than in New York.
Allow me to now turn to targeted efficiencies and cost reductions.
The review we conducted earlier in the year aimed to identify measurable efficiencies across the Secretariat, in a holistic manner and irrespective of funding sources.
The reductions therefore are not limited to the proposed programme budget for 2026, and the report includes reductions for the last six months of the support account period.
I would emphasize that we have been very deliberate in putting forward a strategic proposal, not one that takes an across-the-board approach.
While the proposed reductions are substantial, they have been carefully calibrated to preserve balance across the three pillars of the Organization — peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.
For example, I made the decision to exempt [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] UNRWA from any reductions that would have dramatic consequences on the backbone of the entire humanitarian response in Gaza.
The Development Account and advocacy for Africa’s development were also exempted from reductions that would inevitably impact directly our support to Member States, hindering efforts towards the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development], the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
We also seek to further strengthen direct support to countries, in particular the most vulnerable, in the pursuit of their development aspirations.
This includes a $1 million increase to the Regular Programme of Technical Cooperation, and a $300,000 increase to the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
These countries are the most impacted by climate action, are the ones that are in a more fragile situation in many aspects and they always corresponded [to] the priority of my mandate. The same applies, and it is the decision of the General Assembly, the African continent that we were particularly careful in creating the conditions to be more active, both in relation to the African continent and in relation to small island developing States, landlocked developing countries and least developed countries.
Overall for the regular budget, I am proposing to bring the resource requirements for 2026 down to $3.238 billion — a reduction of $577 million, or 15.1 per cent, compared with the 2025 appropriation.
The proposed staffing table is revised to 11,594 posts — including Special Political Missions — a reduction of 2,681 posts, or 18.8 per cent, compared with the approved staffing table for 2025.
To deliver these changes responsibly, the report also includes one-time costs related to separations and relocations, as well as requests for time-limited transitional capacities that will be needed in the areas of human resources, administration of justice and legal affairs.
To that end, I am requesting an appropriation in the amount of $5.4 million and a commitment authority for 2026 to cover eligible one-time costs triggered by separations resulting from approved post abolishments or relocations for the programme budget.
Given dependencies — such as incumbency status of posts proposed for abolition or relocation and the outcome of early separation programmes — the estimates for one-time costs will be updated as implementation advances.
I have to say that we had a particular concern in relation to the impact on staff. The present situation is strictly for liquidity reasons. It is a situation in which we have about 18 per cent of vacancies. But those vacancies do not correspond to a political decision oriented by a strategic priority, but simply by the fact that people left and we have not the money to pay for the replacement because of the liquidity crisis. What we are doing now is a reduction of 18.8 per cent posts — not those that are now vacant, but those that correspond to functions that, in our opinion, can be done better by others or can be reduced by efficiencies in the way that we work. But this has an advantage, and I note the concerns of the members of the Fifth Committee about the impact on staff and especially the request of the geographic distribution. The fact is that we have established already programmes for voluntary separation that are being quite successful, and at the same time, we will have a mechanism allowing for those whose posts are abolished to have the conditions to compete in a positive way to the posts that are vacant. And it is my deep belief that in the end, the number of members of the staff that will be released will be relatively small. And we are making everything in the way we handle the voluntary separation and in the way we will handle the filling of the vacancies and we are doing everything to guarantee that there will be no deterioration in relation to the necessary equilibrium of geographic distribution, and if possible, to have some improvement in relation to that geographic distribution. Two main concerns of our work: Limit as much as possible the impact on staff through the voluntary separations and the possibility of occupational vacancies; second, utilize these instruments in order to guarantee that there will not be this equilibrium that will undermine the geographic distribution which, by the way, is still far from being entirely correct. So, this is to be an absolute priority and all the instructions given to the services are in order to guarantee that this objective is attained.
For the special political missions, the revised proposed budget amounts to $543.6 million, reflecting a reduction of $96.3 million or 15.0 per cent compared with the initial proposed programme budget for 2026, and a reduction of $149.5 million or 21.6 per cent compared with the appropriation for 2025.
The proposed reduction compared to 2025 comprises: A net decrease of $84.7 million due to the closure of missions, and a net decrease of $64.8 million for continuing missions.
This would be achieved through conscious efforts to optimize staffing components, critically review needs, align with historical patterns and seek opportunities to strengthen a culture of efficiency.
For the special political missions, the revised estimates include a proposed net decrease of 1,215 posts and positions — from 4,086 approved for 2025.
This reflects both the closure of missions and efforts to streamline the staffing component and strengthen national capacity.
For the support account for the period January to June 2026, the revised estimates amount to $188.9 million, representing a decrease of $23.9 million or 11.2 per cent.
This includes a decrease of 206 posts, or 13.5 per cent, compared with the approved staffing table for 2025/26.
The staffing changes reflect an overall downward adjustment in line with the new staffing model endorsed as a framework by the General Assembly.
The revised level for January to June 2026 represents the largest share of reductions attributable to that model, with further operational efficiencies complementing the adjustment.
One-time costs for the support account will be accommodated within its 2025/26 approved budget and financial implications set out in the performance report.
The targeted reductions being proposed reflect hard choices taken across entities to streamline structures, eliminate duplication, and prioritize resources for greatest impact.
Reductions of this scale will inevitably have programmatic and operational impacts across entities and come with adjustments in the way the Secretariat delivers on mandated activities.
Accordingly, entities have identified the anticipated impact on their deliverables and put forward how they are planning to adapt their activities and their mitigation strategies.
These measures constitute substantial budgetary reductions that affect real people, families and futures — and we must never lose sight of this human dimension.
In your engagements with us, you have stressed the importance of maintaining our efforts to advance equitable geographical distribution in our workforce.
I wish to assure you again that we will make every effort to mitigate the impact of reductions in the overall composition of our workforce, and to ensure that colleagues affected are supported through the transition.
To advance these objectives, we have launched two early separation programmes, which will generate additional vacancies for placement and for accommodating staff — through lateral placements within their entities, and then across entities and duty stations.
These mitigation measures will allow us to significantly reduce the number of involuntary separations and that will also diminish the impact on the overall geographic balance and reduce the cost of terminations.
This will mean that, once triggered, the downsizing policy will be applied to a smaller number of staff, and will help ensure fairness and due process.
Looking ahead, Workstreams 2 and 3 of the UN80 Initiative are also under way.
To ensure a coherent organization of the different actions across all three workstreams and the UN system, the UN80 Initiative Action Plan was released three weeks ago.
This coordination framework, developed following extensive consultations across the UN system, is also a planning and an accountability tool, which will allow us to align responsibilities and actions.
I welcome the establishment of the ad hoc working group of Member States and its ongoing work to carry forward the process in Workstream 2 — on improving every step in the mandate life cycle.
The process will provide an important opportunity to enhance mandate implementation — and my team will continue to provide full support.
Simultaneously, I have committed to 15 actions focused on enhancing mandate visibility, improving our reporting, strengthening how we manage mandate delivery and harmonizing how results are measured and communicated across the UN system.
And allow me to say something that I believe is very important to all the members of the Fifth Committee: We are reducing the budget. Is that going to have a negative implication in the capacity to deliver our mandate? Well, unfortunately our reduced budget is still bigger than the expenditure we are forecasting for 2025 because of the liquidity crisis. With one difference — with the present situation, we are spending less than we will spend next year if the budget is fully funded, and on the other hand, the staff that is missing is not based on solid criteria in relation to optimization of the distribution of the staff for the different functions and for the implementation of the mandate, but result of the vacancies created by people that leave — which means that I am absolutely sure that there will be a considerable improvement in mandate implementation with these revised estimates than what we have in 2025 and they were exactly designed in order to guarantee that there will be no negative implications in relation to the implementation of mandates. Obviously, we will fully respect the work of […] and eventually there will be changes in the mandate, and if there are changes in the mandate, there will be changes in the way we implement them. But what we are now [doing] is preparing a budget that is prepared to guarantee the full implementation of the mandates that we have at the present moment.
On Workstream 3 focusing on changing structures and realigning programmes, I have presented a report which reflects a system-wide effort with a single purpose: to change how we work.
The proposals span across the Secretariat, funds, programmes, specialized agencies and related organizations.
They represent a paradigm shift — within pillars, across pillars and through the enablers that support our work — to reduce fragmentation, duplication and inefficiency.
Any budgetary implications arising from Workstreams 2 and 3 will be assessed rigorously and reflected in future budget proposals for your consideration for 2027.
The revised estimates report before you is not a routine technical revision.
For the first time, the revised estimates reduce global regular budget resource requirements compared to what was originally proposed, and reductions for the support account for a period already approved by the Assembly.
I want to repeat that this is a deliberate and considered adjustment to an already conservative proposal for 2026.
It reflects both the urgency and ambition of the reforms we are undertaking, while also emphasizing a particular sense of responsibility to the most vulnerable in need of UN support.
The goal is not temporary adjustment — but lasting cost reductions and modernization of Secretariat operations.
That also means ensuring capacities needed for the future — for example in technology, data and protection safeguards.
The United Nations operates in a world of great political and financial uncertainty.
Resources are shrinking across the board — and have been for years.
Meanwhile, the needs of Member States and the people we serve are increasing, making our mission even more urgent and more relevant.
The proposals contained in the revised estimates represent our commitment to rebuild trust — by demonstrating that every contribution is well-used and every decision delivers results for the people we serve.
Liquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the final budget approved by the General Assembly — given the unacceptable volume of arrears.
We ended 2024 with $760 million in arrears, of which $709 million is still outstanding from 2024. We have also not received $877 million of 2025 dues, and so, thus, arrears now stand at $1,586 million.
I have repeatedly appealed to Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time.
We continue to manage cash flows carefully, well below budget levels, and have proposed temporarily suspending the return of credits to safeguard liquidity and avoid disruption of programme implementation.
It is difficult for us to give back money that we have not because we didn’t receive it, and so it is very important to find a solution for this question — a temporary solution — based on an account in which the rights of Member States are clearly established and returns will be paid as soon as our liquidity situation allows.
The UN80 Initiative is our blueprint for a stronger, more effective, results-oriented and cost-effective UN — one that is more agile, responsive and resilient.
Together, we can ensure that the United Nations is not only fit for purpose — but also fit for the future.
Once again, I extend my profound gratitude for your engagement, your expertise, your partnership in this shared endeavour and the considerable effort to review these proposals on a compressed schedule. Thank you.
https://press.un.org/en/2025/sgsm22937.doc.htm
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