Human Resources Management

A/RES/49/222View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1995.

What else is in this group?

22 documents · 1995–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/79/280	Human resources management	194	–
2023	A/RES/77/278	Human resources management	4,540	–
2018	A/RES/72/254	Human resources management	501	–
2017	A/RES/71/263	Human resources management	2,644	–
2014	A/RES/68/252	Human resources management	1,762	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What’s in this document?

36 operative paragraphs

Reiterates its full support for the Secretary-General as the chief administrative officer of the Organization, and underlines its full respect for his prerogatives and responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations;

Expresses its support for the efforts of the Secretary-General towards the development of a management environment and culture in the Organization that is supportive of having staff members contribute to their maximum potential, effectiveness and efficiency;

I. Human resources management planning

Welcoming the integrated approach adopted by the Secretary-General to human resources management planning as reflected in his strategy for the management of the human resources of the Organization,

Concerned about the existing problems in vacancy management,

Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Joint Inspection Unit,⁴

⁴A/49/219, annex.

Endorses the strategy for the management of the human resources of the Organization contained in the report of the Secretary-General;⁵

⁵A/C.5/49/5.

Approves the establishment of a planning unit within the Office of Human Resources Management, authorizes the use of general temporary assistance funds in the amount of 496,100 United States dollars for this purpose in 1995, and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon in the context of the final performance report for the biennium 1994-1995 and to submit a comprehensive proposal for the continued funding of this planning unit in the context of his proposed programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997;

Also approves the proposals of the Secretary-General for implementation of the Performance Appraisal System and requests him to make every effort to implement them from within existing overall resources, if necessary concentrating on the P-4 level and above world wide in 1995, and to ensure that from 1 April 1996 the system is implemented at all levels;

Notes that the strategy proposes to explore alternative ways of recruiting staff and that the Secretary-General intends to implement them on a limited and experimental basis, but requests the Secretary-General to ensure that such projects are monitored and evaluated closely and in a timely manner for both effectiveness and cost;

Expresses its concern about the potential adverse effects of the use of retirees on recruitment and promotion in the Secretariat, and requests the Secretary-General in this regard to submit detailed information to the General Assembly at its resumed forty-ninth session on the practice of the use of retirees in the Secretariat, including information on their effectiveness, number, nationality, gender, fields of work, remuneration, the duration of their contracts and the reasons for their employment;

Requests the Secretary-General to implement the Performance Appraisal System, including at the Under-Secretary-General level, and to ensure that equal employment opportunities for staff selection and advancement, career counselling for staff and appropriate staff training and development are identified as specific performance indicators in the performance appraisal of all managers;

Welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to develop and strengthen the internship and fellowship programmes, regrets that there may be a need temporarily to postpone the implementation of these programmes, and requests the Secretary-General to make every effort to identify resources for this purpose and would welcome the contributions of Member States to that end;

Notes that the strategy for the management of the human resources of the Organization requires the active implementation, as a management tool, over a period of several years beginning in 1995, of an enhanced attrition programme, and requests the Secretary-General to report on the initial phase of implementation of the programme in the context of the agenda item on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997, together with proposals on the longer-term management of separation and retention, and the future use of agreed separation arrangements after the current programme has been completed, with a view to avoiding the need for such programmes in the future;

Notes also that the strategy calls for mobility on the part of all new internationally recruited staff, that staff regulation 1.2 gives the Secretary-General the authority to assign all internationally recruited staff to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations, and therefore urges the Secretary-General to apply the mobility elements of the new strategy to internationally recruited staff;

Requests the Secretary-General to give particular attention to effective vacancy management in implementing the new strategy for the management of human resources;

Endorses the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions contained in paragraph 7 of its report,⁶ requests the Secretary-General to integrate, for budgetary presentation and management purposes, Professional posts P-1 and P-2, and P-3 and P-4, and requests that these recommendations be implemented on an experimental basis in his proposed programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997;

⁶Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 7A, document A/48/7/Add.11.

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to hold national competitive examinations at the P-1 and P-2 levels as a useful tool to select the best-qualified candidates;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to hold national competitive examinations at the P-3 level, with due regard to the promotion prospects at the P-2 level and a maximum of efficiency and economy;

Urges the Secretary-General to take all the necessary measures to ensure that successful candidates at the P-2 and P-3 levels are offered positions within one year after their selection, subject to the availability of approved posts;

Requests the Secretary-General to give due priority to training and implementation of the strategy in drafting the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997;

II. Composition of the Secretariat

Bearing in mind the report of the Working Group on the equitable geographical representation of Member States in the Secretariat,⁷

⁷A/C.5/48/45.

Reiterating the need for the full implementation of the principle of equitable geographical distribution when appointing staff in the Secretariat,

Concerned that the Secretary-General did not resume the annual publication of the list of staff of the United Nations as at 30 June 1993,

Reaffirms that no post should be considered the exclusive preserve of any Member State or group of States, and trusts that the Secretary-General respects this principle when appointing staff members, including at the highest level;

Recognizes that the system of desirable ranges is the principal guideline for the recruitment of staff for geographical representation of Member States in posts subject to geographical distribution in accordance with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations;

Urges the Secretary-General, whenever making appointments at all levels to posts subject to geographical distribution, to continue his efforts to ensure that all Member States, in particular the unrepresented and underrepresented Member States, are adequately represented in the Secretariat, bearing in mind the need to increase the number of staff recruited from Member States below the mid-point of their desirable ranges;

Requests the Secretary-General in this regard to exercise flexibility in the application of desirable ranges in individual recruitment cases, keeping in view all parts of the present resolution;

Also requests the Secretary-General to sustain the present ratio between career and fixed-term appointments, and to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session specific proposals on what proportion of appointments should be made on a fixed-term basis;

Welcomes the publication of a comprehensive list of staff of the Secretariat as at 30 September 1994,⁸ and requests the Secretary-General to update it annually for the regular session of the General Assembly;

⁸See A/C.5/49/L.8.

Requests the Secretary-General to increase his efforts in improving the composition of the Secretariat by ensuring a wide and equitable geographical distribution of staff in all departments;

Decides to continue its consideration of this issue at the resumed forty-ninth session, inter alia, in the light of the report to be submitted by the Joint Inspection Unit;

III. Status of women in the Secretariat

Recalling Articles 8 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibility for administrative, budgetary and human resources management matters, including, inter alia, the issue of the representation of women in the Secretariat,

Taking note with appreciation of the report of the Joint Inspection Unit,⁹

⁹A/49/176, annex.

Expresses its concern that the goals set in its resolution 45/239 C of 21 December 1990 may not be met;

Urges the Secretary-General to implement fully the strategic plan of action for the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat 1995-2000;¹⁰

¹⁰A/49/587 and Corr.1, sect. IV.

Requests the Secretary-General to include full implementation of the strategic plan of action as a specific performance indicator in the performance appraisal of all managers;

Appeals to all Member States to support the efforts of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and related organizations to increase the participation of women in posts in the Professional category and above, by identifying and nominating more women candidates with the requisite qualifications, especially for senior policy-level and decision-making posts, encouraging more women to apply for vacant posts and to sit for the national competitive examinations where applicable, and creating and maintaining national rosters of women candidates to be shared with the United Nations, the specialized agencies and related organizations;

Notes the intention of the Secretary-General to include the activities of the Focal Point for Women in his proposed programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997;

Requests the Secretary-General to enable, from within existing resources, the Focal Point for Women effectively to monitor and to facilitate progress in the implementation of the strategic plan of action;

Urges Member States to make voluntary contributions to that end;

IV. Administration of justice in the Secretariat

Welcoming the intention of the Secretary-General to strengthen the internal justice system of the Organization,

Noting the intention of the Secretary-General to achieve this by facilitating the earlier resolution of disputes before they become formal appeals and professionalizing the appeals and disciplinary machinery,

Welcomes the intention of the Secretary-General to consult fully with the staff representatives in the development of a new system of internal justice;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit a detailed proposal covering, inter alia, the specific institutional, legal and procedural changes required in this regard during the resumed forty-ninth session of the General Assembly in early 1995, and decides to continue its consideration of this issue during the resumed session;

V. Reporting

Requests the Secretary-General, in the light of the information on staff representation provided to the Fifth Committee during the forty-ninth session of the General Assembly, to issue a corrigendum to its report on the costs of staff representation activities¹¹ and to report separately to the General Assembly, at the earliest possible opportunity, on the modalities and costs of staff representation since 1992;

¹¹A/C.5/47/59.

Also requests the Secretary-General to report comprehensively to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session on the implementation of all issues covered in the present resolution;

VI. Amendment to the Staff Regulations

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General,¹²

¹²A/C.5/49/14.

Approves the amendment to staff regulation 11.1 as set forth in the annex to the present resolution.

Amendment to the Staff Regulations of the United Nations

Regulation 11.1

For the existing text, substitute:

"The Secretary-General shall establish administrative machinery with staff participation to advise him in case of any appeal by staff members against an administrative decision alleging the non-observance of their terms of appointment, including all pertinent regulations and rules."

Human Resources Management

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