The co-chairs of the Informal Ad Hoc Working Group on the Mandate Implementation Review of the UN80 reform initiative have been consulting with Working Group members on a revised draft resolution. The co-chairs aim to achieve consensus on the text.

Permanent Representative of Jamaica Brian Wallace and Permanent Representative of New Zealand Carolyn Schwalger held a round of consultations on 12 March and 17 March 2026 to tackle issues on which Working Group members had asked for additional clarification and where common positions still needed to be found.

These discussions focused on the operative paragraphs of the revised draft resolution, including the proposal to use concept notes for every resolution to sharpen mandate creation and implementation for enhanced delivery and impact. Informing the Working Group’s deliberations was a non-paper on concept notes the co-chairs had developed to highlight this best practice, used by the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). As explained in a letter dated 5 March 2026, the non-paper includes “an indicative template and an example of how this would have applied to the [revised draft] resolution.”

Discussions also focused on provisions relevant to mandate creation, implementation, and review, system-wide coordination and coherence, and next steps – a major focus for many delegations. The revised draft resolution proposes the Informal Ad Hoc Working Group on the Mandate Implementation Review continue as the Working Group on Mandate Reform, with a view to support effective implementation of the resolution.

The proposed Working Group on Mandate Reform would conclude its work by the end of the UNGA’s 81st session, to ensure effective follow-up. The revised draft resolution spells out a broad range of tasks in this regard, including: a toolkit to support Member States decision making across the mandate lifecycle; criteria to guide decisions on the renewal, adaptation, merger, replacement, or retirement of mandates; and modalities to guide review of the existing stock of mandates.

The co-chairs will continue consultations with Working Group members over the coming days. According to the production phase roadmap, the final meeting of the Informal Ad Hoc Working Group on the Mandate Implementation Review is scheduled for 24 March 2026, to allow time for the preparation of the text for adoption by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on 31 March.

The negotiations on the mandate implementation review are conducted under Workstream 2 of the UN80 Initiative, which also aims to achieve efficiencies and improvements (Workstream 1) and introduce structural changes and programme realignments (Workstream 3). [UN80 Initiative]