United Nations Common System

A/RES/73/273View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 143 United Nations common system, published in 2019.

What else is in this group?

19 documents · 1992–2025

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

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/236 A-B	United Nations common system resolutions	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252[B]	United Nations common system	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252 A-B	United Nations common system resolutions	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252[A]	United Nations common system	—	–
2023	A/RES/77/256[B]	United Nations common system	—	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

International Civil Service Personnel Management Post Adjustment Salaries and Allowances Working Conditions

What’s in this document?

22 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the work of the International Civil Service Commission;

Takes note of the report of the Commission for 2018;1

Reaffirms the role of the General Assembly in approving conditions of service and entitlements for all staff serving in the organizations of the United Nations common system, bearing in mind articles 10 and 11 of the statute of the Commission;²

²Resolution 3357 (XXIX), annex.

Recalls articles 10 and 11 of the statute of the Commission, and reaffirms the central role of the Commission in regulating and coordinating conditions of service and entitlements for all staff serving in the organizations of the United Nations common system;

Reminds executive heads and governing bodies of the United Nations common system that failure to fully respect the decisions taken by the General Assembly on the Commission’s recommendations could prejudice claims to enjoy the benefits of participation in the common system, including organizations’ participation in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, as stated in article 3 (b) of the Fund’s regulations;

Notes with concern that with regard to the mandatory age of separation for staff having joined the organizations prior to 1 January 2014, while many of the organizations have implemented the mandatory age of separation as approved, some organizations have decided to use different implementation dates;

Reiterates its request to the Commission to recommend appropriate measures that would deal with those organizations not in compliance with the Commission’s decisions and recommendations and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Expresses serious concern at the decision of the World Intellectual Property Organization to pay an organizational performance bonus to all staff members, and urges organizations to fully and faithfully implement decisions of the General Assembly and the Commission in a timely manner;

Reaffirms paragraph 1 of section I.B of its resolution 72/255, in which it approved the principles and guidelines for performance appraisal and management for the recognition of different levels of performance, urges the organizations to abide by these principles and guidelines, and requests the Commission to report on their implementation to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Invites the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to ensure that decisions of the General Assembly are implemented in full and without undue delay across the common system;

I.Conditions of service applicable to both categories of staff

A.Review of pensionable remuneration

Approves, with effect from 1 January 2019, the recommendations of the Commission contained in paragraph 47 of its report;

B.Framework for human resources management

Recognizing the importance of the organizations of the common system having a workforce that truly represents and benefits all the people served by those organizations,

Welcomes the work undertaken by the Commission regarding the updated human resources management framework and the decision of the Commission, contained in paragraph 76 of its report, to approve the inclusion of the workforce diversity component in the human resources management framework;

Requests the Commission to continue to provide information to the General Assembly on the progress made by organizations of the United Nations common system in the implementation of existing gender policies and measures towards achieving the goal of 50/50 gender balance and strengthening geographical distribution, bearing in mind Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, within the common system, including at senior levels;

Encourages the organizations of the United Nations common system to regularly measure and monitor key workforce diversity metrics, such as geographical distribution and gender parity, and to report thereon to their governing bodies;

Welcomes efforts by the United Nations to improve accessibility of United Nations premises and conferences and to provide reasonable accommodation in the workplace, including for recruitment, and encourages organizations to continue to improve accessibility;

Recalls its resolution 66/229 of 24 December 2011, and encourages the Secretary-General to include the elements contained in the Secretary-General’s bulletin on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities in the United Nations Secretariat³ in the staff rules and regulations of the Organization;

³ST/SGB/2014/3.

Requests the Secretary-General to consult with the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination on ways to strengthen the protection and integration of staff with disabilities employed by the funds, programmes and specialized agencies and to report to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session on the shortcomings of current provisions and possible remedies;

II.Conditions of service of staff in the Professional and higher categories

A.Base/floor salary scale

Recalling its resolution 44/198, by which it established a floor net salary level for staff in the Professional and higher categories by reference to the corresponding base net salary levels of officials in comparable positions serving at the base city of the comparator civil service (the United States federal civil service),

Approves, with effect from 1 January 2019, as recommended by the Commission in paragraph 83 of its report, the revised unified base/floor scale and updated pay protection points for staff in the Professional and higher categories, as contained in annex VI to that report;

B.Evolution of the margin and margin management around the desirable midpoint

Recalling section I.B of its resolution 51/216 and the standing mandate from the General Assembly, in which the Commission is requested to continue its review of the relationship between the net remuneration of the United Nations staff in the Professional and higher categories in New York and that of the comparator civil service (the United States federal civil service) employees in comparable positions in Washington, D.C. (referred to as “the margin”),

Reaffirms that the range of 110 to 120 for the margin between the net remuneration of officials in the Professional and higher categories of the United Nations in New York and officials in comparable positions in the comparator civil service should continue to apply, on the understanding that the margin would be maintained at a level around the desirable midpoint of 115 over a period of time;

Notes that the margin between net remuneration of the United Nations staff in grades P-1 to D-2 in New York and that of officials in comparable positions in the United States federal civil service in Washington, D.C., for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 is 113;

Recalls its decision contained in resolution 70/244 that, if the margin trigger levels of 113 or 117 are breached, the Commission should take appropriate action through the operation of the post adjustment system;

Notes the Commission’s decision to continue monitoring the level of the margin and to take the necessary corrective action under the operation of the post adjustment system should the trigger levels of 113 or 117 be breached;

C.Post adjustment issues

Requests the Commission to continue its efforts to improve the post adjustment system in order to minimize any gap between the pay indices and the post adjustment indices, and in this context welcomes the review of the post adjustment system methodology and operational rules governing the determination of post adjustment multipliers so as to enhance the accuracy, stability and predictability of salary adjustments;

Welcomes the establishment of a working group to consider the feasibility of more frequent reviews of post adjustment classifications of duty stations, and requests the Commission to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

III.Conditions of service in the field: duty stations with extreme hardship conditions

Decides to grant, on a pilot basis, an amount of 15,000 United States dollars for staff members with eligible dependants in duty stations with E hardship classification conditions only, as specified in paragraphs 156 (a), (c) and (d) of the report of the Commission for 2018, and requests the Commission to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session a recommendation on this payment, including on its continuation, based on a review of the impact thereof, including workforce planning, in different categories of duty stations, including non-family duty stations, and the actual cost to the organizations.