India wins election at UN's oversight body

India on Tuesday won an election to United Nations's only external oversight body, the Joint Inspection Unit, which takes care of the administrative and financial functioning of the world body system.

Ambassador A Gopinath won 106 votes against China's 77. China's Zhang Yishan was already a member of the JIU and was seeking renewal of his term.

The UN General Assembly held elections to fill the vacancies that arose upon the expiry of the term of offices of the representatives of Egypt, Russia, Peru, Cuba, China and the US. Gopinath will serve for a period of five years beginning Januray 1, 2013.

The Joint Inspection Unit is a United Nations unit established by resolution 31/192 of December 22, 1976 of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Its objective is to enhance the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations system and, to this end, it may make on-the-spot inquiries and investigations.

The Joint Inspection Unit is the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations system mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.