Gratis Personnel Provided by Governments and Other Entities

A/RES/52/234View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 114 Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations, published in 1998.

What else is in this group?

5 documents · 1997–2003

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2003).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2003	A/RES/57/281B	Gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities	146	–
2003	A/RES/57/281A	Gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities	100	–
1998	A/RES/53/11	Gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities	507	–
1998	A/RES/52/234	Gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities	993	–
1997	A/RES/51/243	Gratis personnel provided by Governments and other entities	809	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Financing Gratis Personnel Guidelines Organizational Reform Recommendations Recruitment

What’s in this document?

20 operative paragraphs

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that there is strict compliance with the provisions of its resolution 51/243, in particular paragraphs 4 and 9;

Reaffirms that the programme of work and mandates approved by Member States must be financed in the manner determined by the General Assembly, based upon proposals of the Secretary-General;

Recognizes that the use of gratis personnel should not be the result of poor personnel planning, and emphasizes that gratis personnel are not a substitute for staff to be recruited against authorized posts for the implementation of mandated programmes and activities;

Decides that gratis personnel should not be sought for positions kept vacant solely for financial reasons;

Reiterates that it is necessary that fully substantiated and comprehensive proposals on the total requirements from all sources of funding be presented so as to enable the General Assembly to decide on the level of resources required to implement fully all mandated programmes and activities, and requests that the Secretary-General present all future budgets and budget outlines in that manner, in accordance with Assembly resolution 41/213 of 19 December 1986;

Decides that gratis personnel shall not be considered staff members of the United Nations;

Endorses the observation of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions⁴ that lack of adequate staff resources should not give rise to the acceptance of type II gratis personnel and that in the future clearer demonstration and justification should be given that acceptance of gratis personnel meets the requisite criteria contained in paragraph 4 of resolution 51/243;

⁴Ibid., para. 4.

Also endorses the observation of the Advisory Committee⁵ that type II gratis personnel should not be accepted on the grounds of failure by the Secretariat to recruit staff in an expeditious manner;

⁵Ibid., para. 6.

Requests the Secretary-General to complete, as a matter of priority, the process of recruitment of staff to replace type II gratis personnel in accordance with resolution 51/243 by the end of February 1999, including through the redeployment of staff, recruitment of civilians, civilian police and serving military officers of Member States, as well as through changes in work distribution and methods, and to ensure adequate handover arrangements to provide the continuity of expertise and the proper and efficient functioning of all departments concerned, in accordance with Articles 97, 100 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations;

Notes the commitment of the Secretary-General⁶ to phase out gratis personnel and to replace them with United Nations-funded personnel by the end of February 1999, as presented to the Fifth Committee at its resumed 68th meeting, on 26 June 1998;⁷

⁶See A/C.5/52/54. See also A/C.5/52/54/Rev.1, circulated on 14 July 1998.

⁷See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Fifth Committee, 68th meeting (A/C.5/52/SR.68/Add.1), and corrigendum.

Emphasizes that expeditious implementation of action 3, contained in the report of the Secretary-General entitled "Renewing the United Nations: a programme for reform",⁸ is relevant to his task of managing the Secretariat in accordance with Articles 97, 100 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations, and is essential for sustaining the momentum of reform;

⁸A/51/950.

Looks forward to the comprehensive report of the Secretary-General on, inter alia, the implementation of action 3, to be submitted to the General Assembly at the main part of its fifty-third session;

Notes with concern that functions that should be performed by the staff of the United Nations are being performed by gratis personnel, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that functions such as verification of claims, processing reimbursement of contingent-owned equipment and development of personnel databases, which are considered to be core functions, are performed by United Nations personnel;

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General of 9 March 1998;⁹

⁹A/52/823.

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that future quarterly reports on the acceptance of type II gratis personnel are issued in a timely fashion and that they contain more accurate, comprehensive, complete and integrated information about gratis personnel, similar to the information provided in the first report on type II gratis personnel,¹⁰ so as to enable Member States to take informed decisions;

¹⁰A/52/709 and Corr.1.

Approves the revised guidelines on gratis personnel as reflected in the report of the Secretary-General of 21 November 1997¹¹ and the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions in paragraph 11 of its report2 and annex I thereto, as well as the explanation contained in that annex, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

¹¹A/52/698.

Decides to amend paragraph 9 of the report of the Secretary-General10 as follows:

"9. Gratis personnel may not supervise staff members in the exercise of their official duties or be involved in decisions affecting the status, rights and entitlements of staff members. The only exception to this rule would be in those cases where the gratis personnel might have managerial responsibility for staff members who provide direct support to them.";

Also decides to add at the end of the first sentence of paragraph 12 of the report10 the following words: "unless there are exceptional circumstances beyond the control of the Secretary-General, in which case the approval of the General Assembly should be sought to maintain the gratis personnel beyond this period";

Regrets the contradictory and inconsistent information provided to the Fifth Committee by representatives of the Secretary-General on this issue, which affected adversely the deliberations of the Committee and impeded informed and timely decisions;

Decides to resume consideration of the issue of gratis personnel at the third part of its resumed fifty-second session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents