Administration of Justice at the United Nations

A/RES/73/276View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 147Administration of justice at the United Nations, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

23 versions · 2004–2025

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

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2 entities

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What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Administration of Justice Grievance Procedures Labour Disputes Legal Remedies Legal Services

What does this mandate say?

50 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on administration of justice at the United Nations1 and on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services,2 the report of the Internal Justice Council on administration of justice at the United Nations3 and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions;4

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

ISystem of administration of justice

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

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

Acknowledges the evolving nature of the 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;

6‎

Reaffirms its decision, contained in paragraph 4 of its 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 that staff still appear to have limited awareness of the system of administration of justice, and urges the Secretary-General to further strengthen and increase his outreach activities, with a view to raising awareness of the role and functioning of the various parts of the system and the possibilities that it offers to address work-related complaints, paying particular attention to field missions and offices;

Recalls paragraph 27 of its resolution 71/266, further stresses the importance of continuing to implement a comprehensive outreach and communication strategy for all staff members covered under the formal and informal parts of the system of administration of justice, and in this regard invites the Secretary-General to take further measures, within existing resources, in line with paragraph 44 of the report of the Internal Justice Council, to address the need for improving staff knowledge and understanding of the system;

Welcomes the analysis of the root causes of conflict included in the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, stresses the importance of improving management performance and staff communication, urges the Secretary-General to continue to address the systemic issues identified in the report in order to improve upon the policies and procedures of the Organization, and requests the Secretary-General to provide information on changes resulting from the actions taken in the context of his next report;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure a strong culture of accountability throughout the Secretariat and that all categories of personnel who may have been subjected to prohibited conduct in a work-related situation have access to effective remedies;

Notes the new revised policy on protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations and the ongoing efforts to annually review and assess the terms and implementation of the policy, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to report in the context of his next report on the system of administration of justice on how retaliation against staff members who lodge cases before the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal or who appear as witnesses is being addressed;

IIInformal system

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

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, without prejudice to the basic right of staff members to access the formal system, and encourages recourse to the informal resolution of disputes;

Welcomes with appreciation the high resolution rate of cases mediated, encourages the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services to continue its efforts in informal dispute resolution, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide detailed information on the activities of the Office, including statistical overviews of mediated cases;

Encourages the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services to intensify its outreach activities to encourage informal dispute resolution;

Recalls paragraph 37 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to establish, within existing resources, the pilot project to offer access to informal dispute-resolution services to non-staff personnel;

Decides that the pilot project will not affect the mandate of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, and recognizes that the Office may decide to conduct outreach to non-staff;

Requests the Secretary-General to establish, in assessing the current and projected workload arising from services to non-staff personnel, both quantitative and qualitative analysis, including type of grievances and the efficiency of case management, and requests the Secretary-General to provide this information and, if necessary, further recommendations in the context of his next report;

IIIFormal system

Recognizes the ongoing positive contribution of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance to the system of administration of justice;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure the accountability of managers whose decisions have been established to be grossly negligent, according to the applicable Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, and which have led to litigation and subsequent financial loss, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Notes with concern the number of pending applications to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal;

Recalls paragraph 10 of the report of the Advisory Committee, notes the continuing variations in the number of cases received by different parts of the formal system from year to year, underscores the need for continued analysis of the trends in new cases received, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to collect statistics pertaining to the caseload of the different entities within the system and to include observations on these statistics in future reports;

Requests the Secretary-General to invite the Internal Justice Council to monitor and report on the timely delivery of judgments, in line with its terms of reference, and to provide its views on the implementation of the system of administration of justice;

Recalls paragraph 14 of the report of the Advisory Committee, requests the President of the Dispute Tribunal and the Principal Registrar of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal to work together to develop and implement a case disposal plan with a real-time case-tracking dashboard and performance indicators on the disposal of caseloads, takes note of recommendations 7 to 11 on judicial and operational efficiency contained in the report of the Internal Justice Council, stresses the need to improve administrative efficiency, and requests the Secretary-General to report on progress made to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to track the data on the number of cases received by the Management Evaluation Unit and the Dispute Tribunal in order to identify any emerging trends and to include his observations on those statistics in future reports;

Notes the continuing increase in the workload of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance, expresses its satisfaction that the majority of requests for legal assistance received by the Office were settled or otherwise disposed of without recourse to any formal mechanism, and acknowledges that the Office should be adequately resourced;

Also notes the continuing high degree of self-representation before the Dispute Tribunal, requests the Secretary-General to take forward, within existing resources, his proposals to provide guidance to self-represented applicants and to enhance their understanding and ability to utilize the system and mitigate efficiency concerns, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to continue to monitor this issue and report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Takes note of paragraph 30 of the report of the Advisory Committee, decides to extend the voluntary supplemental funding mechanism for the Office of Staff Legal Assistance for a period of three years, from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021, and requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide updates in the context of future reports;

Underscores that any changes to the voluntary staff funding mechanism shall not affect the nature of the funding of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance;

Notes the continuing high opt-out rates from the voluntary staff funding mechanism, and in this regard encourages the Secretary-General to continue to strengthen incentives for staff not to opt out, particularly in locations and United Nations entities where the participation rate is low;

Stresses the need to continue to explore means to raise awareness among staff of the importance of financial contributions to the Office of Staff Legal Assistance, and requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to encourage the executive heads of the United Nations system to communicate with their staff in this regard;

Takes note of paragraphs 20 and 21 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and approves the addition of four half-time judges in lieu of the three ad litem judges to the Dispute Tribunal, to be deployed as required by caseload and any absences affecting the work of the Tribunal;

Decides to amend article 4.1 of the statute of the Dispute Tribunal as follows:

Also decides to amend article 5 of the statute of the Dispute Tribunal as follows:

“1

The three full-time judges of the Dispute Tribunal shall exercise their functions in New York, Geneva and Nairobi, respectively.

“2

The half-time judges of the Dispute Tribunal shall be deployed up to a cumulative period of six months per year, as decided by the President based on the caseload and any judicial absences affecting the work of the Tribunal.

“3

The Dispute Tribunal may decide to hold sessions at duty stations other than New York, Geneva and Nairobi, as required by its caseload”;

Encourages the Dispute Tribunal to make full use of telecommuting in the deployment of half-time judges so as to promote efficiencies in the use of resources, and requests the President of the Tribunal, following consultations with the Principal Registrar, to decide on a quarterly basis whether and where to deploy half-time judges;

Underscores that the half-time judges may not be deployed in a particular year or may be deployed less than a cumulative period of six months a year if their deployment is not justified by the Dispute Tribunal’s caseload;

Decides to extend the positions of the two ad litem judges in Geneva and Nairobi and the current incumbent judges, pending the nomination of candidates by the Internal Justice Council and the appointment of the aforementioned four half-time judges by the General Assembly, which should take place no later than 31 December 2019;

Also decides not to extend the ad litem judge position in New York, which expires on 31 December 2018;

Takes note of paragraph 26 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and invites the Internal Justice Council to provide more detailed information regarding the unexpected judicial vacancies, including information on the scope of a formal roster of candidates to the General Assembly in the context of its next report;

Approves the proposal of the Secretary-General to amend article 7 of the rules of procedure of the Appeals Tribunal, as contained in paragraph 120 (g) of his report on administration of justice;

IVOther issues

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

Welcomes further views of the Internal Justice Council in its next report to the General Assembly on possible ways to improve judicial and operational efficiency;

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 to include the views of both the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal in its reports;

Also stresses that all elements of the system of administration of justice, including the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal, must work in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the legal and regulatory framework approved by the General Assembly, and emphasizes that the decisions of the Assembly related to human resources management and administrative and budgetary matters are subject to review by the Assembly alone;

Reaffirms that, in accordance with paragraph 5 of its resolution 67/241 and paragraph 28 of its resolution 63/253, the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal shall not have any powers beyond those conferred under their respective statutes;

Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, from within existing resources, and with a view to informing the discussions at the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly, a comprehensive analysis, in the context of his next report, of the remedies available to non-staff personnel, including their effectiveness, efforts that could be made to prevent disputes and to resolve existing disputes inter partes, as well as the identification of good practices, drawing on information and proposals contained in his reports submitted to the Assembly at its sixty-sixth, sixty-seventh, seventy-second and seventy-third sessions;

Also requests the Secretary-General to provide, to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session, an in-depth assessment, from within existing resources, on the impact of the new measures introduced in the present resolution.

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