Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on agenda items 141 and 142.

2. The Group wishes to thank Controller, Mr. Jun Yamazaki, for introducing the first performance reports for the biennium 2010-2011of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in document A/65/578 and that of International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in document A/65/581. Further, for also introducing the reports of the Secretary-General on revised estimates relating to the budgets of ICTR and ITY contained in documents A/65/178 and A/65/183 respectively. We also wish to thank the Chairperson of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, Ms Susan McLurg, for the introduction of the related report of the Advisory Committee contained in document A/65/616.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The Group of 77 and China attaches great importance to the role of the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and security. To this extent, we affirm our continued commitment to ensure that the two tribunals are adequately facilitated and resourced to effectively discharge their respective mandates.

4. The timely arrest and trials of fugitives remains central to ensuring that the Tribunals meet the timeframes set out in their completion strategies by the Security Council. While we stress the importance of meeting these timeframes for the completion of trials, we are cognizant of multifaceted challenges to the strict adherence to these timeframes. We have observed that the high vacancy rates, the challenges emanating from issues of the retention of staff, incentives for retention of staff, the arrest of wanted fugitives, and the general dynamics of trials have the potential to adversely impact on the completion strategy. We therefore welcome the efforts made by the Secretary-General to address some of these challenges including by devising an incentive system for staff retention and will be seeking additional information on the success of this initiative during the informals.

Mr. Chairman,

5. The Group of 77 and China notes that in presenting revised estimates relating to the budgets of these two tribunals, the Secretary-General has outlined factors that have either led to an increased workload or a revision of the trial schedules and to some extend a combination of both. We will be keen to explore this during the committee's deliberations, in order to determine how best to address the current circumstances in the Tribunals as a way of safeguarding the effective implementation of their respective completion strategies.

Mr. Chairman,

6. In conclusion, the Group of 77 and China will carefully examine the Secretary-General's proposal for additional resources with a view to ensuring that the Tribunals have the necessary resources to implement their mandates in line with their completion strategies. I assure you of the Group's commitment to a timely and successful outcome in these agenda items.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.