Poland wins by vote. Russia will not get a key position in the UN

According to the permanent representative of the Republic of Poland to the UN, Krzysztof Szczerski, the competition was for one place, and the result was very even.

The competition was very fierce, we won by one vote - he said in an interview with PAP.

Szczerski emphasized that Poland is returning to this institution after over 20 years, while Russia is losing the place it had occupied for several decades.

This shows that the UN is a global democracy in which every vote counts, said the ambassador.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland has received the support of 95 UN member states. The vote was secret, so it was not announced which countries supported the Polish candidacy.

Jakub Chmielewski is the representative of Poland

The Polish representative in the Joint Audit Unit will be Jakub Chmielewski. His five-year term will run from 2028 to 2032.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assessed that the selection was an expression of the trust of member states in the competences of the Polish expert and confirmed Poland's involvement in activities for the transparency, accountability and effectiveness of the UN system.

In the years 1991–2002, Andrzej Abraszewski served as inspector from the Central and Eastern Europe region.

What does the Joint Audit Unit do?

The Joint Inspection Unit was established in 1966. It is the only independent external oversight body covering the entire United Nations system.

JIU has 11 inspectors appointed by the UN General Assembly for five-year terms. It conducts inspections, evaluations and investigations aimed at improving management, operational efficiency and cooperation between UN organizations.

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out, members of the unit have great independence in choosing areas of analysis and control. Thanks to this, they can actually influence the functioning of institutions belonging to the United Nations system.

In Wednesday's vote, the UN General Assembly also selected Botswana from the African Group and Japan and China from the Asia-Pacific Group as the countries that will nominate their candidates for JIU.