Composition of Staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

A/HRC/RES/19/3View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General, published in 2012.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2010–2019

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/42/1

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2019	A/HRC/RES/42/1	Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights	339	39%Compare
2017	A/HRC/RES/36/1	Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights	806	79%Compare
2016	A/HRC/RES/31/1	Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights	896	57%Compare
2015	A/HRC/RES/28/1	Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights	1,158	72%Compare
2013	A/HRC/RES/22/2	Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights	1,079	65%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Geographical Distribution Personnel Management Professional Staff Staffing

What’s in this document?

14 operative paragraphs

Expresses its serious concern at the fact that, despite the measures taken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the imbalance in the geographical representation of its composition continues to be prominent, and that a single region occupies almost half of the posts of the Office of the High Commissioner;

Welcomes the statement made by the High Commissioner in her report that achieving geographical balance in the staff of her Office will remain one of her priorities, and requests the High Commissioner to continue to take all measures needed to redress the current imbalance in geographical distribution of the staff of the Office;

Notes the increase in the past four years in the percentage of staff from regions identified as requiring better representation and the various measures proposed and already taken to address the imbalance in geographical distribution of the staff, while noting with concern the small increase in 2011 and no change in the status of the prominent region, and stresses the need to implement additional measures to redress the prominent imbalance in a more expeditious way;

Takes note of the progress achieved in improving the geographic diversity of the staff of the Office, and takes note also of the commitment of the High Commissioner to remain attentive to the need to maintain the emphasis on the broadest possible geographic diversity of her Office, as stated in the conclusion of her report;

Requests the High Commissioner to work on the broadest geographical diversity of her staff by enhancing the implementation of measures to achieve a better representation of countries and regions that are unrepresented or underrepresented, particularly from the developing world, while considering applying a zero-growth cap on the representation of countries and regions already overrepresented in the Office of the High Commissioner;

Welcomes the efforts made towards the achievement of a gender balance in the composition of the staff and the decision to continue to pay special attention to this issue;

Requests future High Commissioners to continue to enhance the ongoing efforts made in the fulfilment of the goal of a geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office;

Underlines the importance of continuing to promote geographical diversity in recruitment and promotion to high-level and Professional posts, including senior managers, as a principle of the staffing policies of the Office of the High Commissioner;

Affirms the vital importance of geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner, taking into account the significance of national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as of different political, economic and legal systems, to the promotion and protection of the universality of human rights;

Recalls the provisions contained in section X, paragraph 3, of General Assembly resolution 55/258 of 14 June 2001, on human resources management, in which the Assembly reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to increase further his efforts to improve the composition of the Secretariat by ensuring a wide and equitable geographical distribution of staff in all departments, and also recalls the request that he submit to the General Assembly proposals for a comprehensive review of the system of desirable ranges, with a view to establishing a more effective tool to ensure equitable geographical distribution in relation to the total number of staff of the Secretariat;

Encourages the General Assembly to consider further measures to promote desirable ranges of geographical balance in the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner representing national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as the diversity of political, economic and legal systems;

Welcomes the increase in the human and financial resources allocated to the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner and the impact it should have on the geographic composition of the Office;

Recognizes the importance of the follow-up to and implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/159 of 19 December 2006, and underlines the priority importance that the Assembly continue to provide support and guidance to the High Commissioner in the ongoing process of improvement of the geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner;

Requests the High Commissioner to submit a comprehensive and updated report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session, in accordance with its annual programme of work, following the structure and scope of her report and with a special focus on further measures taken to correct the imbalance in the geographical composition of the staff of the Office.

52nd session

22 March 2012

The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its nineteenth session (A/HRC/19/2), chap. I.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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