Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel and Protection of United Nations Personnel

A/RES/55/175View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 20Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance, published in 2000.

What other versions does this mandate have?

28 versions · 1999–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/112

2025A/RES/80/112Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/138Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/118Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/31Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelCompare with previous version
2021A/RES/76/127Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnelCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

23 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary General on safety and security of United Nations personnel;

Urges all States to take the necessary measures to ensure the full and effective implementation of the relevant principles and rules of international humanitarian law, as well as relevant provisions of human rights law related to the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and United Nations personnel;

Also urges all States to take the necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and its associated personnel and to respect and ensure respect for the inviolability of United Nations premises, which are essential to the continuation and successful implementation of United Nations operations;

Calls upon all Governments and parties in complex humanitarian emergencies, in particular in armed conflicts and in post-conflict situations, in countries in which humanitarian personnel are operating, in conformity with the relevant provisions of international law and national laws, to cooperate fully with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies and organizations and to ensure the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel in order to allow them to perform efficiently their task of assisting the affected civilian population, including refugees and internally displaced persons;

Strongly condemns any act or failure to act which obstructs or prevents humanitarian personnel and United Nations personnel from discharging their humanitarian functions, or which entails being subjected to threats, the use of force or physical attack frequently resulting in injury or death, and affirms the need to hold accountable those who commit such acts and, for that purpose, the need to enact national legislation, as appropriate;

Urges all States to ensure that any threat or act of violence committed against humanitarian personnel on their territory is fully investigated and to take all appropriate measures, in accordance with international law and national legislation, to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are prosecuted;

Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures to ensure full respect for the human rights, privileges and immunities of United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation and to continue to consider ways and means in which to strengthen the protection of United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation, notably by seeking the inclusion, in negotiations of headquarter and other mission agreements concerning United Nations and its associated personnel, of the applicable conditions contained in the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,12 the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies13 and the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;11

Calls upon all States to provide adequate and prompt information in the event of arrest or detention of humanitarian personnel or United Nations personnel, to afford them the necessary medical assistance and to allow independent medical teams to visit and examine the health of those detained, and urges them to take the necessary measures to ensure the speedy release of United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation who have been arrested or detained in violation of their immunity, in accordance with the relevant conventions referred to in the present resolution and applicable international humanitarian law;

Calls upon all other parties involved in armed conflicts, in compliance with their obligations under the 1949 Geneva Conventions8 and the Additional Protocols thereto,9 to ensure the safety and protection of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and its associated personnel, to refrain from abducting or detaining them in violation of their immunity under relevant conventions referred to in the present resolution and applicable international humanitarian law, and speedily to release, without harm, any abductee or detainee;

Calls upon all States to consider signing and ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;10

Reaffirms the obligation of all humanitarian personnel and United Nations and its associated personnel to observe and respect the national laws of the country in which they are operating, in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations;

Calls upon all States to promote a climate of respect for the security of United Nations and humanitarian personnel;

Requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures, falling within his responsibilities, to ensure that security matters are an integral part of the planning for existing and newly mandated United Nations operations and that such precautions extend to all United Nations and its associated personnel;

Also requests the Secretary-General to take the necessary measures to ensure that United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation are properly informed about the conditions under which they are called to operate, including relevant customs and traditions in the host country, and the standards that they are required to meet, including those contained in relevant domestic and international law, and that adequate training in security, human rights and humanitarian law is provided so as to enhance their security and effectiveness in accomplishing their functions, and reaffirms the necessity for all other humanitarian organizations to provide their personnel with similar support;

Stresses the need to ensure that all United Nations staff members receive adequate security training prior to their deployment to the field, the need to attach a high priority to the improvement of stress counselling services available to United Nations staff members, including through the implementation of a comprehensive security and stress management training programme for United Nations staff throughout the system, and the need to make available to the Secretary-General the means for this purpose;

Encourages all States to contribute to the Trust Fund for Security of Staff Members of the United Nations System;

Reaffirms the need to strengthen the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator, and in this regard expresses its appreciation for the recommendation of the Secretary-General to appoint a full-time Security Coordinator so as to enable the Office to enhance its capacity in the discharge of its duties, in consultation with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat and appropriate agencies within the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and calls for expeditious consideration of the recommendation;

Recognizes the need for a strengthened and comprehensive security management system for the United Nations system, both at headquarter and field level, and requests the United Nations system, as well as Member States, to take all appropriate measures needed to that end;

Encourages all States to become parties to and respect fully their obligations under the relevant international instruments, including the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, and decides that the Sixth Committee shall consider the report at the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, under an item entitled “Scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel”;

Calls upon all States to consider becoming parties to and to respect fully their obligations under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies, which have been ratified so far by 140 States and 106 States, respectively;

Recalls the essential role of telecommunication resources in facilitating the safety of humanitarian personnel and United Nations and its associated personnel, calls upon States to consider signing and ratifying the 1998 Tampere Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations, and encourages them, pending the entry into force of the Convention, to facilitate, consistent with their national laws and regulations, the use of communications equipment in such operations;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to it at its fifty-sixth session a comprehensive, updated report on the safety and security situation of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel and on the implementation of the present resolution, including an account of the measures taken by Governments and the United Nations to prevent and respond to all individual security incidents that involve United Nations and its associated personnel.

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Safety and Security of Humanitarian Personnel and Protection of United Nations Personnel

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