Human Resources Management

A/RES/68/252View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 139 Human resources management, published in 2014.

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.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

12 reports · 2014–2019

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2019	A/74/82	Composition of the Secretariat : staff demographics report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/68/252
2018	A/73/79	Composition of the Secretariat : staff demographics report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/68/252
2017	A/72/123	Composition of the Secretariat : staff demographics report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/68/252
2016	A/71/360	Composition of the Secretariat : staff demographics report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/68/252
2016	A/71/323	Overview of human resources management reform : towards a global, dynamic, adaptable and engaged workforce for the United Nations report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/68/252

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Administrative Reform Labour Discipline Personnel Management Staff Composition

What’s in this document?

36 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms that the staff of the United Nations is an invaluable asset of the Organization, and commends its contribution to furthering the purposes and principles of the United Nations;

Pays tribute to the memory of all staff members who have lost their lives in the service of the Organization;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,⁹ subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

⁹A/68/523 and A/68/580.

I.Human resources management reform

Affirms the distinct roles of the principal organs of the United Nations in personnel matters, reaffirms that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters, and also reaffirms the role of the Committee in carrying out an appropriately thorough analysis of human and financial resources and policies and approving them;

Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Secretary-General to develop a refined performance management framework for the Organization, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly for consideration at its sixty-ninth session a comprehensive performance management proposal, including all necessary modalities and recommendations;

Requests the Secretary-General to report on progress in preparing the comprehensive performance management proposal through an information briefing to be held no later than the end of the second part of the resumed sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly;

Emphasizes that the overarching objective of the performance management proposal should be to credibly and effectively measure performance, reward good performance and sanction underperformance and that it should be easily understood by staff and management;

Stresses that the sanctioning of underperformance is crucial to ensure the efficient and effective execution of mandates, and urges the Secretary-General to clarify and simplify policies and procedures related to underperformance, bearing in mind the lessons learned from the jurisprudence of the administration of justice system;

Emphasizes the fundamental importance of human resources management reform in the United Nations as a contribution to the enhancement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations and of the international civil service, and reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of these reforms;

Reaffirms its support for the integrity and independence of the international civil service;

Urges the Secretary-General to ensure that the lessons learned from the implementation of previous reforms are taken into consideration in the formulation of new proposals;

Requests the Secretary-General, in the context of the ongoing human resources management reforms and business transformation projects, to continue to ensure the equal treatment of candidates with equivalent educational backgrounds during the recruitment process, taking fully into account the fact that Member States have different education systems and that no education system shall be considered the standard to be applied by the Organization;

II.Composition of the Secretariat

Recalls paragraph 5 of the report of the Advisory Committee,¹⁰ and requests the Secretary-General to supplement the raw data presented in the composition report with additional analysis of demographic trends and possible underlying reasons for those trends;

¹⁰A/68/523.

Also recalls paragraph 11 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and stresses the need for greater efforts to improve the representation of women in the Secretariat, while complying with Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations;

Underlines the need for a comprehensive and robust workforce planning system as a key component of human resources management, and expresses serious concern that the current staffing structure does not reflect an existing effective workforce planning system;

Urges the Secretary-General to develop a workforce planning system as a matter of priority and to present it to the General Assembly for consideration at its sixty-ninth session, and encourages the Secretary-General to recommend future changes to the staffing structure in the light of the system that is adopted;

Recalls paragraph 7 of the report of the Advisory Committee, stresses the importance of the rejuvenation of the Secretariat, and requests the Secretary-General to continuously monitor demographic trends and report thereon in his reports on the composition of the Secretariat;

Requests the Secretary-General to develop and implement measures to accelerate the placement of successful candidates from the young professionals programme roster, and to report on progress in this matter to the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session;

Emphasizes the important role of the young professionals programme in improving the geographical representation of underrepresented and unrepresented Member States, requests the Secretary-General to continue his ongoing efforts in this regard, and notes that from some Member States no candidates have passed the examination for the programme;

III.Practice of the Secretary-General in disciplinary matters and possible criminal behaviour

Commends the Secretary-General for eliminating the backlog of disciplinary cases, and urges him to keep the management of disciplinary cases under close review, to intensify his efforts to complete such cases in a timely manner and to take additional steps to ensure that backlogs of cases do not recur in the future;

Invites the Secretary-General to provide in future reports, as far as possible, additional information on trends regarding the outcome of appeals relating to disciplinary measures;

Encourages the Secretary-General to finalize swiftly the new administrative instruction on investigations and the disciplinary process and to launch an informational campaign aimed at reminding staff members of their responsibility to report allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct through the appropriate channels;

Stresses the importance of taking all measures necessary, as appropriate, to mitigate and recoup any losses arising from relevant acts of misconduct of staff members, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly on efforts taken in this regard in his next report on human resources management;

IV.Amendments to the Staff Regulations and Rules

Approves the proposed amendments to the Staff Regulations,¹¹ and notes the amendments to the Staff Rules set out in the report of the Secretary-General;¹²

¹¹A/68/129, annex I.

¹²Ibid., annex II.

Recalls paragraph 24 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and encourages the Secretary-General to continue to make every effort to ensure that his zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse is enforced at all times by all United Nations personnel;

V.Activities of the Ethics Office

Commends the Ethics Office on its exceptional ongoing efforts to foster a culture of ethics, integrity, transparency and accountability in the Organization, and welcomes the efforts of the Office to increase awareness of ethics-related issues through outreach, training and education;

Welcomes the reduced costs of implementing the voluntary financial disclosure initiative as a result of the new contract arrangements for external review services, and in this regard looks forward to the outcome of the review of the regulatory framework of the financial disclosure initiative;

Takes note of paragraph 31 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and recalls paragraph 40 of its resolution 64/243 of 24 December 2009;

Welcomes the initiation of work by the Office on an independent and comprehensive review of the existing policy and practices for protection of staff against retaliation, and looks forward to reviewing at its sixty-ninth session the report of the Secretary-General on the modalities and recommendations for enhancing that policy;

VI.Secondment of active-duty military and police personnel

Takes note of the report of the Advisory Committee;¹³

¹³A/68/615.

Requests the Secretary-General to extend for a further three years the exceptional measures authorized in paragraph 21 of its resolution 67/287 of 28 June 2013, and to intensify his engagement with Member States with a view to identifying alternative solutions for addressing the conflicts between national legislation and the United Nations staff regulations and rules regarding the secondment of active-duty military and police personnel;

Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly for consideration at the main part of its seventieth session a report regarding developments on this issue and, if necessary, a new proposal;

VII.Placement of United Nations staff members who have been adversely affected by natural disasters, malicious acts and critical incidents

Welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to address the particular needs of staff members of the United Nations who have been adversely affected by natural disasters, malicious acts and other critical incidents;

Takes note of paragraph 1 of the report of the Advisory Committee;¹⁴

¹⁴A/68/580.

Also takes note of paragraph 8 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and decides that the scope of the proposal under consideration or of any future proposals in this regard should not be expanded to include issues such as workplace harassment, for which relevant procedures already exist;

VIII.Other matters

Decides to defer consideration of the proposal of the Secretary-General on mobility to the first part of the resumed sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly.