A member of the Search and Detect Team from Togo serving with United Nations Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) surveys a road in Menaka in the northeast of Mali. UN Photo/Gema Cortes
The basic principles of the COE system are simplicity, accountability, and financial and management control. Adhering to these principles requires reducing the administrative burden on troop/police contributors, the Secretariat, and peacekeeping missions; standardizing reimbursement rates on an equitable basis; and applying common standards to the provided equipment and services. Accountability and control are ensured by the system relying on an agreement (the Memorandum of Understanding) between the United Nations and the troop/police contributor.
To ensure full and consistent implementation of General Assembly decisions, the COE Manual contains policies, procedures and actions to be followed by United Nations Headquarters and peacekeeping missions. The COE Manual also provides clarification and explanations, where required, on the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly. The document is also intended to provide assistance to troop/police contributors.
The COE Manual is subject to review every three years through the COE Working Group which is a subsidiary body of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. The COE Working Group, a technical body comprising representatives of Member States, provides recommendations on the rates of reimbursement for COE and the associated policies, procedures, standards and definitions. The COE Working Group makes recommendations on the basis of proposals submitted by both the Secretariat and individual Member States in the form of issue papers. In the context of the review of COE reimbursement rates, the COE Working Group also considers national cost data provided by Member States. The recommendations of the COE Working Group are presented to the General Assembly, through its Fifth Committee (along with recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions), for its endorsement.
The recommendations of the 2023 COE Working Group as endorsed by the General Assembly are reflected in the new edition of the COE Manual. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 77/303, the 2023 version of the COE Manual has been distributed as a United Nations document in all six official languages under the symbol A/78/87.
The 2023 meeting of the COE Working Group convened in New York from 16-27 January 2023. As decided by the General Assembly in its resolution 74/279, an organizational pre-session was held in New York on 17 November 2022. The organizational pre-session meeting elected the Bureau of the 2023 COE Working Group and agreed on the agenda of the 2023 session.
The 2026 meeting of the COE Working Group will convene in New York from 19-30 January 2026. As decided by the General Assembly in its resolution 77/303, an organizational pre-session will be held in New York on 20 November 2025. The organizational pre-session meeting will elect the Bureau of the 2026 COE Working Group and will agree on the agenda of the 2026 session.