Administration of Justice at the United Nations

A/RES/67/241No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 141Administration of justice at the United Nations, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

23 versions · 2004–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/238

2025A/RES/80/238Administration of justice at the United NationsLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/254Administration of justice at the United NationsCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/248Administration of justice at the United NationsCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/260Administration of justice at the United NationsCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/242Administration of justice at the United NationsCompare with previous version

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

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 topics

Administration of Justice Administrative Aspects Dispute Settlement Due Process of Law Financial Implications Judges Judicial Independence Labour Courts Mediation Personnel Management

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2013.

2013A/68/158Activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

60 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on administration of justice at the United Nations,1 on amendments to the rules of procedure of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal2 and on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services;3

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,7 subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

I.System of administration of justice

Recalls section I, paragraph 5, of its resolution 53/221 of 7 April 1999, in which it underlined its full respect for the prerogatives and responsibilities of the Secretary-General under the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirms that the resolutions of the General Assembly and the decisions of the International Civil Service Commission are binding on the Secretary-General and on the Organization;

Also recalls paragraph 6 of its resolution 66/237 and paragraph 9 of its resolution 65/251, and stresses that all elements of the system of administration of justice must work in accordance with the Charter and the legal and regulatory framework approved by the General Assembly;

Reaffirms that, in accordance with paragraph 28 of resolution 63/253, the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal shall not have any powers beyond those conferred under their respective statutes;

Emphasizes that the decisions of the General Assembly related to administrative and budgetary matters are subject to review by the Assembly alone;

Reaffirms that recourse to general principles of law and the Charter by the Tribunals is to take place within the context of and consistent with their statutes and the relevant General Assembly resolutions, regulations, rules and administrative issuances;

Notes that some decisions taken by the Tribunals may have contradicted the provisions of General Assembly resolutions on human resources management-related issues;

Reaffirms its decision, contained in paragraph 4 of resolution 61/261, to establish a new, independent, transparent, professionalized, adequately resourced and decentralized system of administration of justice consistent with the relevant rules of international law and the principles of the rule of law and due process to ensure respect for the rights and obligations of staff members and the accountability of managers and staff members alike;

Notes with appreciation the achievements produced since the inception of the new system of administration of justice, regarding both the disposal of the backlog and the addressing of new cases;

Acknowledges the evolving nature of the new system of administration of justice and the need to carefully monitor its implementation to ensure that it remains within the parameters set out by the General Assembly;

Emphasizes the importance of the principle of judicial independence in the system of administration of justice;

Recalls paragraph 36 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to make every effort to institutionalize good management practices in order to address the underlying factors that give rise to disputes in the workplace and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session;

Stresses the importance of ensuring access for all staff members to the new system of administration of justice, regardless of their duty station;

Invites all who are involved in the implementation and functioning of the system of administration of justice, including managers and staff members, to contribute to strengthening the system of administration of justice, aiming to ensure that the system has a positive impact on staff-management relations and improves the performance of both staff and managers;

Notes with concern that performance management is highlighted as the single most important cross-cutting issue in the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services;

Recognizes that sound performance management can greatly contribute to avoiding conflict in the workplace, and requests the Secretary-General to redouble his efforts to continue to develop and implement a credible, fair and fully functioning performance appraisal system;

Recalls paragraph 14 of its resolution 66/237, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly, for consideration at the main part of its sixty-eighth session, an updated report on issues relevant to its review of the statutes of the Tribunals;

Also recalls paragraph 12 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly, for consideration at its sixty-eighth session, a proposal for conducting an interim independent assessment of the formal system of administration of justice;

Decides that the assessment requested in paragraph 19 above should be conducted in a cost-efficient manner and within existing resources;

II.Informal system

Recognizes that the informal system of administration of justice is an efficient and effective option for staff who seek redress of grievances and for managers to participate in;

Reaffirms that the informal resolution of conflict is a crucial element of the system of administration of justice, emphasizes that all possible use should be made of the informal system in order to avoid unnecessary litigation, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to recommend to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session additional measures to encourage recourse to informal resolution of disputes and to avoid unnecessary litigation;

Encourages the Secretary-General to ensure that management responds to requests of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services in a timely manner;

Stresses the importance of developing a culture of dialogue and amicable resolution of disputes through the informal system, and requests the Secretary-General to propose, at the main part of the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly, measures to encourage informal dispute resolution;

Recalls paragraph 153 of the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, and requests the Secretary-General to take concrete measures to address the current organizational culture wherein there is a tendency to shift responsibility for the resolution of conflict upwards in the organizational hierarchy;

Welcomes the recommendations to address systemic and cross-cutting issues contained in the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-eighth session on progress made on the implementation of those recommendations;

Reiterates its requests to the Secretary-General, contained in paragraph 67 (a) of resolution 62/228, paragraph 21 of resolution 63/253, paragraphs 16 to 18 of resolution 65/251 and paragraph 19 of resolution 66/237, to report to it on the revised terms of reference for the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the terms of reference and guidelines for the Office are promulgated as soon as possible;

Recalls paragraph 18 of its resolution 66/237 regarding the establishment of a single integrated and decentralized office of the ombudsman for the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes, and acknowledges that progress has been made in this regard;

Also recalls paragraph 20 of resolution 66/237, welcomes the information provided informally by the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services on the financial and administrative implications resulting from settlements reached through informal dispute resolution, and requests the Office to provide to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session another informal briefing on such implications;

Recognizes the positive impact of the establishment of the seven regional offices of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, in Bangkok, Geneva, Nairobi, Santiago, Vienna, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda;

III.Formal system

Recognizes the roles of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal;

Recalls article 7 of the statute of the Dispute Tribunal and article 6 of the statute of the Appeals Tribunal, and encourages the Tribunals to continue to expand, as appropriate, their practice of consultation in the process for developing amendments to their rules of procedure;

Requests that the rules of procedure of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal be amended accordingly whenever a decision of the General Assembly entails a change in the rules of procedure;

Recalls paragraph 35 of its resolution 66/237, and notes that corresponding changes in the rules of procedure of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal have not yet been made;

Approves the amendments to article 9 of the rules of procedure of the Appeals Tribunal contained in annex II to the report of the Secretary-General on amendments to the rules of procedure of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal;

Welcomes the issuance and dissemination of guides on lessons learned from the judgements of the Tribunals;

Notes the increasing number of cases proceeding to formal adjudication;

Also notes that the authority of judges and the applicability of their judgements derive from decisions of the General Assembly, including the statute of the Dispute Tribunal and the statute of the Appeals Tribunal;

Recalls its decisions in paragraphs 30 and 31 of its resolution 63/253 that the conditions of service of the judges of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal shall be treated separately from the conditions of service of other judicial appointments in the United Nations system;

Emphasizes the importance of recruiting the candidates best able to shape the Appeals Tribunal as a pillar of judicial excellence, and invites the Internal Justice Council, with reference to the recommendation in paragraph 35 of its report,Error: Reference source not found to specify its recommendations on the stipulated qualifications for the Appeals Tribunal judges;

Recalls paragraph 52 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and approves the mechanism for addressing possible misconduct of judges proposed by the Secretary-General in section B of annex VII to his report on administration of justice at the United Nations;

Recognizes the importance of effective measures against the filing of frivolous applications, encourages the judges to make full use of those measures currently available to them, and invites the Internal Justice Council to provide its views on appropriate options in this regard;

Takes note of paragraph 18 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and decides to consider the request for an additional Legal Officer position at the P-3 level in the Management Evaluation Unit in the context of the proposed budget for the support account for peacekeeping operations at the second part of its resumed sixty-seventh session;

Stresses the need to ensure that all individuals acting as legal representatives, whether staff members or external counsel, are subject to the same standards of professional conduct applicable in the United Nations system, and requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Internal Justice Council and other relevant bodies, to prepare a code of conduct for legal representatives who are external individuals and not staff members, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-eighth session;

Decides to consider the continued need for the P-3 Legal Officer position in the Office of Staff Legal Assistance in Nairobi in the context of the proposed budget for the support account for peacekeeping operations at the second part of its resumed sixty-seventh session;

Welcomes the positive contributions of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance to the system of administration of justice, and decides to revert, at its sixty-eighth session, to the issue of the mandate and functioning of the Office;

Decides that the overall level of resources for the Office of Staff Legal Assistance shall be maintained at its current level until the General Assembly takes a decision regarding a staff-funded scheme;

Notes that the report of the Secretary-General on administration of justice at the United Nations contains a number of joint financing options for the Office of Staff Legal Assistance by the Organization and the staff, and in this regard, requests the Secretary-General, when submitting a single preferred proposal for consideration and approval by the General Assembly, at the main part of its sixty-eighth session, to do so in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including the Internal Justice Council and staff representatives;

Recalls paragraph 34 of its resolution 66/237, paragraph 46 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, article 10.7 of the statute of the Dispute Tribunal and article 9.3 of the statute of the Appeals Tribunal, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to continue to solicit responses to facilitate the submission of further information to the General Assembly, for consideration at the main part of its sixty-eighth session, on the practice of tribunals in other international organizations and in Member States regarding awards for moral damages, emotional distress, procedural irregularities and violations of due process;

Notes the importance of ensuring that all categories of personnel have access to recourse mechanisms to resolve disputes;

Takes note of the proposed expedited arbitration procedures for consultants and individual contractors developed by the Secretary-General contained in annex IV to his report on administration of justice at the United Nations, and decides to remain seized of the matter;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to include information on disputes involving non-staff personnel in the context of both management evaluation and informal mediation in his respective reports and to provide information also on existing measures to institutionalize good management practice that aim to avoid or mitigate disputes involving the different categories of non-staff personnel;

IV.Financial implications and cost-sharing arrangements

Expresses concern that the agreements on cost-sharing arrangements for the totality of the internal justice system has not yet been finalized and that the full amount of reimbursement has not yet been received by the participating entities;

Recalls paragraph 43 of its resolution 66/237, and requests the Secretary-General to make every effort to expedite the finalization of agreements on cost-sharing arrangements for the totality of the internal justice system, including on the expected reimbursement of approximately 4.5 million United States dollars from the participating United Nations entities, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-eighth session;

V.Other issues

Recalls paragraph 8 of its resolution 61/261 and paragraph 37 of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-eighth session proposals with reference to accountability of individuals where violations of the rules and procedures of the Organization have led to financial loss;

Notes with concern the delays in selecting new members of the Internal Justice Council, notes that the lack of a functioning Council jeopardizes the control mechanisms of the formal part of the system of administration of justice, requests the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly apprised of progress in appointing members to fill the remaining vacancies on the Council, and requests the Council to provide recommendations and to report on lessons learned drawn from this situation;

Recalls paragraph 45 of its resolution 66/237, stresses that the Internal Justice Council can help to ensure independence, professionalism and accountability in the system of administration of justice, and requests the Secretary-General to entrust the Council with including the views of both the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal in its annual reports;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the reports requested in paragraphs 13, 18, 19, 44, 48, 49, 54 and 55 of the present resolution in a single comprehensive report on administration of justice to be submitted to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-eighth session;

Invites the Sixth Committee to consider the legal aspects of the comprehensive report to be submitted by the Secretary-General, without prejudice to the role of the Fifth Committee as the Main Committee entrusted with responsibility for administrative and budgetary matters;

Reaffirms the need for fully equipped courtrooms and other administrative requirements for the Tribunals, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure the provision of functional courtrooms with adequate facilities as a matter of urgency.

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