Personnel questions.

35. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE
210. Personnel questions

The General Assembly, Conscious of the importance that Member States attach to the personnel questions of the Organization, Recalling the personnel policy and policy reform measures set out in its resolutions 1436 (XIV) of 5 December 1959, 31/26 of 29 November 1976, 32/17 of 11 November 1977, 33/143 of 20 December 1978 and 34/219 of 20 December 1979, Having examined the reports of the Secretary-General on the composition of the Secretariat[1] and on the implementation of personnel policy reforms,[2] Taking note of the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit on the implementation of the personnel policy reforms approved by the General Assembly in 1974[3] and on the status of women in the Professional category and above in the United Nations system,[4] Concerned about the limited progress achieved in the establishment of a coherent personnel policy, as well as in the implementation of the measures set out in the above-mentioned resolutions, Noting the suggestions made by Member States during the deliberations of the Fifth Committee on this question at the thirty-fifth session, Convinced that the effective and consistent implementation of the personnel policy and policy reform measures adopted by the General Assembly calls for an integrated approach to the personnel management requirements of the Organization, Reaffirming that, as set out in Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of staff at every level is the need for the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and convinced that this is compatible with the principle of equitable geographical distribution, Recalling Article 8 of the Charter on the equality of opportunity for men and women to participate in the work of the Organization,

I

1. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to establish a target of 40 per cent of all vacancies arising in Professional posts subject to geographical distribution during the period 1981-1982 for the appointment of nationals of unrepresented and under-represented countries, in order to ensure that all such countries achieve their desirable ranges during that biennium, while ensuring that the representation of countries which are within desirable ranges does not decrease;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to establish and pursue an active recruitment policy in order to raise the levels of personnel recruited from unrepresented and under-represented countries and countries below the midpoint of their desirable ranges to the extent possible towards this midpoint;

3. Reaffirms that no post should be considered the exclusive preserve of any Member State, or group of States, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that this principle is applied faithfully in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to permit replacement by candidates of the same nationality within a reasonable time-frame in respect of posts held by staff members on fixed-term contracts, whenever this is necessary to ensure that the representation of Member States whose nationals serve primarily on fixed-term contracts is not adversely affected;

5. Reaffirms the need to increase the representation of developing countries in senior and policy- formulating posts, while safeguarding the principle of equitable geographical distribution in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly;

6. Reaffirms the need to apply the regulations regarding the age of retirement and not to grant exceptions beyond six months after the established age of retirement;

II

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the geographical distribution of Professional staff in the Secretariat,[5]

1. Requests the Secretary-General to calculate new desirable ranges for all Member States, to apply from 1 January 1981, on the basis of the following initial criteria:

(a) The base figure for the calculations will be 3,350 posts;

(b) The membership factor will be based on 7.75 as the midpoint of the minimum desirable range;

(c) The population factor, to which 240 posts shall be allocated, will be directly related to the populations of the various regions and be distributed among the regions in proportion to their populations;

(d) The contribution factor will be based on the distribution of the remaining posts in proportion to the scale of assessments;

(e) The upper and lower limits of each range will be based on a flexibility of 15 per cent up or down from the midpoint but not less than 5.75 posts up or down;

2. Decides that, in future, 10 out of every additional 100 posts shall be added to the population factor, and the remaining posts shall be assigned equally to the membership and contribution factors;

3. Decides further to review at its forty-first session the question of desirable ranges, taking into account the concept of parity between the membership and contribution factors and discussions on this concept at the thirty-fifth session;

III

Conscious of the need to define objective methods of recruitment in order to ensure the full implementation of the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, Requests the Secretary-General to implement the procedures and mechanisms for recruitment and appointment described in the annex to the present resolution and to report to the General Assembly annually on their implementation;

IV

Recalling its resolution 1436 (XIV) of 5 December 1959, in which it recommended, inter alia, that the Secretary-General's endeavours to increase the number of the Secretariat staff appointed on fixed-term contracts should be continued and encouraged, Noting the growing tendency to increase the number of fixed-term appointments of staff in various organizations of the United Nations system, Concerned about the limited progress in the establishment of a policy of career development, Aware of the divergent views on such matters as various concepts of career, types of appointment and career development expressed, inter alia, in the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit and the International Civil Service Commission, Recognizing the need to study further those matters and their impact on the implementation of Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations and personnel policy reforms,

1. Requests the International Civil Service Commission and the Joint Inspection Unit to study further the subjects of the concepts of career, types of appointment, career development and related questions and to submit separate reports thereon to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session;

2. Invites the International Civil Service Commission and the Joint Inspection Unit to co-operate in the drafting of those two reports;

V

Noting resolution 24 adopted by the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women[6] and the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the status of women in the Professional category and above in the United Nations system, Expressing deep concern at the lack of progress in increasing the proportion of women in the Secretariat,

1. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to take the necessary measures to implement fully the provisions of section III of General Assembly resolution 33/143;

2. Calls upon Member States to continue their endeavours to assist the United Nations and the specialized agencies to increase the proportion of women in the Professional category and above, inter alia, by nominating more women candidates;

3. Calls upon the Secretary-General and the executive heads of the other organizations of the United Nations system to end all forms of discrimination based upon sex in recruitment, conditions of employment, assignment, training and promotion;

4. Requests the Secretary- General and the executive heads of the other organizations of the United Nations system, in pursuit of these objectives:

(a) To increase the proportion of women, particularly at the senior levels, in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution, and on personnel advisory and administrative boards, so as to meet the target set in General Assembly resolution 33 143 and in resolution 24 of the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women;

(b) To amend staff rules which inhibit the employment of spouses in the same organization or duty station and to extend the practice of part-time employment and flexible working hours as soon as possible;

(c) To ensure that staff members employed in organizations of the United Nations system are not subject to sexual harassment in their place of work or in connexion with their work;

(d) To ensure further that women employed in the organizations of the United Nations system are not discriminated against because of their sex;

(e) To intensify efforts to eliminate prejudices and other factors which work against the recognition of women's capabilities and the improvement of their status within organizations of the United Nations system;

5. Requests the Secretary- General and the executive heads of the other organizations of the United Nations system to examine additional measures that will advance the attainment of the policy directives concerning the appointment, promotion and assignment of women in the secretariats, including the possibility of designating a senior official to co-ordinate these functions;

6. Requests the Joint Inspection Unit to continue to monitor developments and to report to the General Assembly not later than at its thirty-seventh session;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, to report to the General Assembly, at its thirty-sixth session, on progress made in the organizations of the United Nations system in the recruitment, conditions of employment, career development and promotion of women in the Professional category and above-,

VI

1. Decides that the application of the provision of General Assembly resolutions dealing with mandatory retirement at the age of 60 shall not be rigorously applied to locally recruited General Service staff who were already employed by the Organization prior to December 1978 and will have less than 20 years' contributory service in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund at the age of 60;

2. Takes note of the work of the Panel to Investigate Allegations of Discriminatory Treatment in the United Nations Secretariat and requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Panel with the necessary facilities for its activities;

3. Reiterates its requests to the Secretary-General that Professional staff of the United Nations should be encouraged to work at more than one duty station and that satisfactory performance during such tours of duty should be considered an additional positive factor in evaluating them for promotion.

99th plenary meeting
17 December 1980

ANNEX Recruitment procedures for posts subject to geographical distribution in the United Nations Secretariat

I. BASIC PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS

1. All posts shall be classified at each level of grades by occupation, this concept meaning "posts having largely comparable functions and the same entrance level qualifications". This classification shall be published.

2. Distinction shall be made between:

(a) Occupations for which it is reasonable to expect several vacancies each year;

(b) Those for which recruitment will be open only at widely spaced intervals.

3. For posts falling under category 2 (a), job descriptions shall be complemented by an "occupational description", which will outline the main functions, the minimum level of qualifications and the desirable supplementary qualifications.

4. The vacancy announcement for all posts shall incorporate the existing job description. All changes in existing job descriptions and the content of job descriptions of new posts shall be submitted for approval to the Office of Personnel Services, justified by references to changes in programmes approved by intergovernmental bodies,

5. All pending departures of staff shall be made known to the Office of Personnel Services by the substantive departments as far in advance as possible of the actual departure date.

6. No prior commitments for appointments shall be made by the substantive departments.

7. In order to increase the number of candidates from unrepresented and under- represented countries and of women candidates:

(a) Timely and frequent publicity shall be made regarding vacancies and recruitment of personnel, in co-operation with Member States, through information media, United Nations offices, universities and professional organizations, including women's organizations whenever appropriate, so as to enable the Office of Personnel Services to implement the personnel and recruitment policies adopted by States Members of the Organization;

(b) Regular recruitment missions composed of officials from both the Office of Personnel Services and the substantive departments shall be sent.

II. ANNUAL WORK PLAN OF RECRUITMENT

8. In order to facilitate the search for and the appointment of qualified candidates, particularly from unrepresented and underrepresented countries and from among women, an annual work plan of recruitment shall be established. The plan shall indicate:

(a) General data on the estimated number of recruitments by grade and broad occupational groups;

(b) The targets to be reached during the year as to the number of candidates to be recruited from unrepresented and under-represented countries and among women, in accordance with the targets established by the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly;

(c) The various means by which recruitment will be undertaken, such as competitive examinations, publicity or recruitment missions.

9. The Secretary-General will report to the General Assembly each year on the implementation of the plan.

III. USE OF COMPETITIVE METHODS AT THE P-1 AND P-2 LEVELS

10. At the P-1 and P-2 levels, recruitment shall be made as a rule through competitive examinations. This principle shall be applied as follows:

(a) Movement of staff from the General Service category to the Professional category shall continue to be limited to 30 per cent of the total number of posts available for appointment at these levels and is to be regulated exclusively through competitive examinations under the conditions outlined in section I, paragraphs 1 (g) and (i), of General Assembly resolution 33/143 of 20 December 1978. No exceptions shall be authorized.

(b) For the remaining 70 per cent of posts at the P-1 and P-2 levels, a transitional plan ending 31 December 1982 shall be established for applying progressively the method of competitive examination, with due regard paid to the principle of equitable geographical distribution.

(c) Competitive examinations under the plan shall be devised on a national basis, in consultation with the Governments concerned. They shall contain measures to protect the confidentiality and objectivity of the methods of selection and to ensure that the methods of testing take into account the cultural and linguistic diversity of the membership of the United Nations. They shall be geared to candidates with at least a first-level university degree. The examinations should be based on written tests in one of the official languages of the United Nations, including a general test, specialized examination by occupational groups and personal interview. They may be organized simultaneously by groups of countries, but a given number of vacancies should be defined and offered to each country in advance, taking into account the geographical representation of each Member State. A reserve list shall be established from which all P-1 and P-2 posts will be filled.

IV. METHODS OF RECRUITMENT AT THE P-3 LEVEL AND ABOVE

11. The list of occupations for which it is reasonable to expect several vacancies each year, as stated in section I, paragraph 2 (a), above, shall be communicated to Member States, together with the corresponding "occupation description" not later than 1 October of the preceding year, and applications for candidatures shall be requested on this basis.

12. Vacancy announcements for all posts shall be issued without delay as soon as vacancies are known.

13. All applications received from candidates meeting the minimum standards established by the Office of Personnel Services for posts and occupations shall be put into the roster of external candidates. This roster shall be modernized rapidly and rendered operable and efficient. A roster of internal candidates should be developed and organized along the same lines and used in accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations.

14. For each post open to recruitment a dossier shall be established comprising:

(a) A list of all potential qualified candidates, indicating name, nationality, sex, age and qualification this list shall be drawn from the roster;

(b) Their ranking by order of preference established by the substantive department concerned in consultation with the Office of Personnel Services;

(c) A summary of the interviews of the candidates considered most suitable.

This dossier shall be made available to the Appointment and Promotion Committee and the Appointment and Promotion Board.

15. For the evaluations of the candidates, the Office of Personnel Services, in consultation with the substantive departments concerned shall take into account the targets indicated in the annual recruitment work plan.

16. If the substantive department and the Office of Personnel Services agree on the selection of one candidate, this recommended candidate will be proposed for appointment, in accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations. If there is no agreement, the matter shall be submitted for advice to the Appointment and Promotion Committee and the Appointment and Promotion Board. If no solution is found, the Secretary-General or his designated representative will take the final decision.

17. The qualifications, nationality and sex of selected candidates shall be indicated on a list to be published twice a year and communicated to the delegations of Member States.

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[1] A/35/528. [2] A/C.5/35/10. [3] See A/35/418. [4] See A/35/182. [5] A/C.5/35/36. [6]7 See Report of the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, Copenhagen, 14-30 July 1980 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.80.IV.3 and corrigendum), chap. I, sect. B.