Administration of Justice at the United Nations

A/RES/76/242View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 147Administration of justice at the United Nations, published in 2021.

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).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Administration of Justice Grievance Procedures Labour Disputes Legal Remedies Legal Services

What does this mandate say?

22 operative paragraphs

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

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee;

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;

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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;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to ensure a strong culture of accountability throughout the Secretariat, in particular with proactive and transparent application of the United Nations three-pillared approach to the management of misconduct, namely, prevention, enforcement and remedial action, and to ensure access to effective remedies for all categories of personnel;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to hold managers accountable when their decisions have been established to be grossly negligent according to the applicable Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and have led to litigation and subsequent financial loss, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session;

Commends the Secretary-General for ensuring the availability of outreach documents in all six official languages, requests the Secretary-General to continue to take measures to implement multilingualism within the system of administration of justice, and also requests the Secretary-General to report on his efforts to continue to promote multilingualism in the system of administration of justice in the context of his next reports;

Reiterates that retaliation against complainants or staff appearing as witnesses constitutes misconduct, notes with appreciation the policy on protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations as well as the efforts to continuously improve the framework for protection from retaliation, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to provide information on the implementation of the policy for all categories of personnel covered in his next report;

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;

Also reaffirms the importance of the informal dispute resolution process in the Organization, which represents an effective method of dispute resolution as compared with the formal process, and the central role of mediation, and emphasizes that all possible use should be made of the informal system;

Notes the efforts of the Secretary-General to promote knowledge and awareness of and action on racism within the Organization, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to include information on racism and cases involving racial discrimination in the context of his next report on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services;

IIIFormal system

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

Recalls paragraph 27 of its resolution 75/248, appreciates the efforts of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the Office of Administration of Justice to develop and implement the case disposal plan, and welcomes the launch of the real-time case-tracking dashboard;

Notes with concern the impact of dual employment of the full-time judges on the prompt and efficient performance of their judicial duties, and urges the full-time judges of the Dispute Tribunal not to hold any other employment so as to ensure the credibility and efficiency of the internal justice system;

Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal, to include, in the context of his next report, his views regarding the recommendation of the Internal Justice Council for the appointment of a president for a term of seven years;

Also 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 report thereon in the context of his next report;

Notes the continuing high opt-out rates from the voluntary staff funding mechanism, and in this regard encourages the Secretary-General to intensify his efforts to strengthen incentives for staff not to opt out, particularly in locations and United Nations entities where the participation rate is low, and to report on measures taken in this regard in the context of his next report;

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;

Decides to approve the proposed amendments to articles 8.2 (a) and 9.2 (a) and to articles 24, 25, 26 and 27 of the rules of procedure of the Appeals Tribunal, as adopted by the Appeals Tribunal on 24 October 2019 and 19 October 2020, respectively.

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