Madam Chair,

1. The Group of 77 and China would like to thank the Undersecretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, Ms. Fatoumata Ndiaye, and the Chair of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee, Mr. Mr. Anton V. Kosyanenko, for introducing the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and the Independent Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC).

2. The Group reiterates the important role of OIOS in strengthening internal oversight of the Organization through audit, inspection, evaluation and investigations. We reaffirm our strong support to the operational independence of the Office in line with General Assembly resolution 48/218 B, which must be fully and unselectively respected.

3. The Group welcomes the continuous coordination between the Office and other oversight entities, including the Board of Auditors and the Joint Inspection Unit, in order to enhance internal and external oversight towards a clean, healthy and efficient organization that works for all amid global challenges. We encourage maintaining and further advancing this coordination and report to the General Assembly. In addition, the Group urges the full cooperation of all relevant UN entities with the Office in discharging its responsibilities. We encourage the Secretary General to ensure continuous reporting on any impediments to the work of the OIOS, and to take measures to prevent such a situation.

4. The Group notes that OIOS issued 305 oversight reports in the reporting period, including audits, inspections, excluding those related to peace operations, and made 576 recommendations aimed at strengthening risk management, governors, and operations. We call for action to ensure timely implementation of accepted recommendations, particularly those of a critical nature.

5. The Group underlines the importance of completing the external quality assessment of all OIOS divisions. While progress has been made, several recommendations remain pending, including those concerning the Internal Audit Division and the Inspection and Evaluation Division and Investigations Division. The Group stresses the importance of their full and timely implementation.

6. The Group acknowledges that the implementation of some recommendations with financial implications resulted in the estimated savings and recoveries of $4.2 million.

7. We support the ongoing efforts to reduce the average time taken to complete an investigation, which included an end-to-end review of its investigation process. The Group wishes to reiterate its support for OIOS in the enforcement of the zero-tolerance policy for any actions of corruption, fraud or misconduct, which caused millions of dollars in losses and undermined the priceless trust towards this organization.

8. We also recall our longstanding position regarding the geographical representations of staffing, and overrepresentation of staff from a few Member States. We therefore urge the Office to take concrete measures to enhance geographical representation of the Office by recruiting staff from un- and underrepresented countries when addressing the issue of vacancy rate and prioritize equitable geographical representation as an important part of organizational culture.

Madam Chair,

9. Turning to the report of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC) on its activities, the Group would like to reiterate its appreciation for the expert advice and assistance it receives from the Advisory Committee and encourage IAAC to continue to interact with BOA, OIOS and JIU.

10. We continue to attach great value to the IAAC's observations and recommendations aimed, among other important tasks, at ensuring compliance with audit and oversight recommendations, as well as the overall effectiveness of the risk management procedures in internal control systems, prevention and addressing significant risks. It remains our view that IAAC's work should contribute to the improvement and strengthening the accountability within the Organization.

11. The Group welcomes IAAC's attention to risk management and internal control, including the revised enterprise risk register and the rollout of the Umoja risk management module. These are important tools for strengthening organizational resilience, foresight and accountability.

12. As noted before, OIOS plays an important role in improving internal controls, accountability and organizational efficiency and effectiveness. In this regard, we are of the view OIOS is well suited to also examine the issue of the occupancy level of the UN headquarters and other UN Secretariat offices as well as the issue of abuse of the Flexible Working Arrangement (FWA) caused by the absence of internal control in some field missions.

13. We reiterate that physical presence of the UN staff is fundamental for the work of the organization and meeting the requirements of member states as per the UN rules and regulations. We are deeply concerned that some UN staff take multiple FWA periods per year while intentionally breaking up prolonged periods into parts to avoid accumulating more than the limit. Moreover, those staff continue to enjoy relevant allowance and benefit, which they are absolutely not entitled to. Ironically, an evaluation report on the implementation of a flexible workplace (A/78/225) without these findings is even listed on the top of the Office's deliverables.

Madam Chair,

14. Finally, the Group reaffirms that effective and independent oversight is a cornerstone of transparency, accountability and the efficient use of resources entrusted to the Organization by its Member States. The Group of 77 and China will continue to engage constructively on this agenda item, with a view to ensuring that the United Nations oversight framework remains robust, independent, and fully responsive to the needs of Member States.

I thank you.