UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13: A top Indian diplomat will be re-appointed to the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations system following his endorsement as the sole candidate of the Asia-Pacific Group.
Ambassador A Gopinathan is to be re-appointed to the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations by the General Assembly, the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations system mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide.
Gopinath’s re-appointment follows his nomination by India and endorsement as the sole candidate of the Asia-Pacific Group. He will serve from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2022.
Gopinathan was first appointed to the UN body for a term from January 2013 to December 2017. At that election, he had secured 106 votes out of 183 votes and had defeated Ambassador Zhang Yan of China, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN said in a statement.
He is currently serving as Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit.
India also won elections to key UN organs during the past few days. First Secretary in India’s Permanent Mission to the UN Mahesh Kumar was elected last week by acclamation to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). The committee plays a crucial role in helping the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which deals with administrative and budgetary issues, examine the organisation’s budget and numerous management initiatives.
The Investments Committee appointed eight members to serve three-year terms of office, beginning January 2017.
The eight members included India’s Madhav Dhar, Japan’s Masakazu Arikawa, China’s Simon Jiang and Germany’s Achim Kassow among others.
Kumar’s election came just a day after 33-year-old Indian lawyer Aniruddha Rajput won a hotly-contested election in the UN General Assembly for membership to the International Law Commission, the United Nations organ tasked with the progressive development of international law and its codification.
Rajput got 160 votes, topping the Asia Pacific group in voting that was held by way of secret ballot. (PTI)
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