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The Staffing of the United Nations Secretariat: A Continuing Discussion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Henri Reymond
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Extract

The Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee of the General Assembly has always devoted a considerable amount of time and attention to the problem of the tenure of appointment in the Secretariat of the United Nations. At the 21st (1966) session, however, it went deeper than usual into the question whether and to what extent the international civil service should continue to be organized on a career basis. More specifically, it discussed the ratio of career as compared with noncareer appointments. In the debate the Western countries followed their habitual course: They upheld the career principle and opposed any extension of the practice of using permanent positions for temporary appointments. The Eastern European group similarly took its traditional line against the career system. The Afro-Asian delegates for their part were as usual mainly concerned with pushing their claims for a greater share of posts in the Secretariat; to that end they pressed for an increasing number of fixed-term appointments.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , Fall 1967 , pp. 751 - 767
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1967

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References

1 In the United Nations noncareer appointments are called fixed-term and made for a maximum of less than five years.

2 General Assembly Resolution 2241 A (XXI), December 20, 1966.

3 UN Document A/6605, paragraph 21 (d). The original three-power draft was submitted in UN Document A/C.5/L.879, the revised draft in UN Document A/C.5/L.879/Rev.i. Both are contained in UN Document A/6605, the Fifth Committee's report to the Assembly on its consideration of this agenda item.

4 Contained in ibid., paragraph 36.

5 Contained in ibid., paragraph 20.

6 League of Nations Official Journal, 06 1920 (No. 4), pp. 137, 139Google Scholar.

7 Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations (UN Document PC/20, December 23, 1945). P. 92.

8 UN Document A/64, PP. 15–16.

9 Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, pp. 92–93.

10 UN Document A/C.5/331 and Corr.I, paragraph 115.

11 UN Document A/3209, paragraph 54.

12 UN Document A/5270.

13 Calculated from UN Document A/C.5/987, Table F; UN Document A/5841, Table D; UN Document A/6487, Table E.

14 “Secondment in the United Nations Secretariat: An Alternative View,” International Organization, Winter 1966 (Vol. 20, No. 1), pp. 63–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 UN Document A/6860, Annex II, Table 2.

16 UN Document A/5270, paragraph I0.

17 General Assembly Official Records … Fifth Committee (21st session), 1151st meeting, 11 21, 1966, p. 192Google Scholar.

18 International Labor Conference Record of Proceedings (45th session, Geneva, 1961), 30th sitting, 06 27, 1961, p. 504Google Scholar.

19 UN Document A/4776, paragraph 48.

20 Ibid., paragraphs 56 and 63.

21 Ibid., paragraph 90.

22 UN Document A/5377, paragraph 15. At a later stage of the session, however, the same delegate “repudiated categorically” the assertion that his proposal

was not inspired by a simple desire to improve geographical distribution, but was primarily intended to change the basic character of the Secretariat and undermine the whole concept of a career service.

(Ibid., paragraph 18.) But this denial, however categorical, does not alter the substance of the views he presented to the Committee.

23 General Assembly Official Records … Fifth Committee (21st session), 1151st meeting, 11 21, 1966, p. 192Google Scholar.

24 Ibid., 1153rd meeting, November 23, 1966, p. 207. Emphasis added.

25 Ibid., 1154th meeting, November 25, 1966, p. 213.

26 UN Document A/5918/Add.I, paragraph 68.

27 International Organization, Vol. 20, No. I, p. 75.

28 Conseil de l'Europe, Secrétariat Général, Comité Consultatif de la Fonction Publique Europénne, 6ème rapport, Statut type de la Fonction Publique Européenne, p. 9.

29 International Organization, Vol. 20, No. I, p. 68.

30 Ibid., p. 69.

31 Siotis, Jean, “The Executive Action of International Secretariats and Regional Integration—The Secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe,” Paper prepared for the Sixth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Geneva, 09 21–25, 1964Google Scholar.

32 International Organization, Vol. 20, No. I, p. 74.

33 Hammarskjöld, Dag, The International Civil Servant in Law and tn Fact (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1961), pp. 18–19Google Scholar.