Administration of Justice at the United Nations

A/RES/79/254View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 152Administration of justice at the United Nations, published in 2024.

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?

6 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Administration of Justice Grievance Procedures Labour Disputes Legal Remedies Legal Services Mediation

What does this mandate say?

29 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report 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, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Notes with appreciation the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the review of the internal pre-tribunal-stage appeal mechanisms available to staff of the United Nations system organizations, and stresses that its findings shall not result in changes to the system of administration of justice, established by the General Assembly in resolutions 61/261, 62/228 and 63/253;

I

System 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;

7‎

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;

Stresses that the system of administration of justice must work in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the legal and regulatory framework approved by the General Assembly, and reaffirms that the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal shall exercise their powers according to their respective statutes;

Welcomes the comprehensive assessment of the functioning of the system of administration of justice, and requests the Secretary-General to undertake comprehensive assessments and reviews of the system of administration of justice on a five-year cycle and to submit cost-efficient proposals on establishing a single database for collecting and analysing data from various justice system mechanisms, entities, funds and programmes in the context of the next report;

Notes that the majority of staff grievances are addressed at early stages by the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, the Office of Staff Legal Assistance and the management evaluation function and that the data fluctuate from year to year and over time, with some periods showing more stability, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure continuous identification of additional relevant trends in the context of more systemic collection of data from all entities and various actors of the system;

Notes with appreciation that the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services, the Management Advice and Evaluation Section and the Office of Staff Legal Assistance have contributed significantly by enabling the resolution of work-related disputes and by serving as filtering mechanisms to reduce litigation before the Tribunals;

Recalls paragraph 8 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and requests the Secretary-General to intensify his efforts 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 future reports;

Also recalls paragraph 36 of its resolution 75/248, and reaffirms the requirement for the Internal Justice Council to provide a detailed programme of work for each calendar year as part of its annual report, for approval by the General Assembly;

Further recalls paragraph 38 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and encourages the entities of the system of administration of justice to enhance consultation and communication across the system, aimed at fostering a comprehensive understanding, and improving overall operational efficiency;

Welcomes the continued and increased efforts related to outreach activities reported by the different parts of the system of administration of justice, and urges the Secretary-General to provide information on the role and functioning of the various parts of the system of administration of justice, and the possibilities it offered to address work-related complaints;

Reiterates its requests to the Secretary-General to refine the strategic action plan for addressing racism and promoting dignity for all in the United Nations Secretariat and stresses that continuous learning and dialogue on racism is essential to embed an anti-racist awareness culture in the Organization and transform organizational culture, encourages the Secretary-General to continue working closely with the Anti-Racism Office, and requests the Secretary-General to continue providing observations and data on the trends and patterns of racism and racial discrimination and remedial actions taken within the Organization;

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;

II

Informal 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;

Recognizes mediation as a core part of the work of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services and as a cost-effective method of informal conflict resolution, underlines the importance of increasing the use of mediation services, and encourages improved communication between all parts of the system of administration of justice;

Notes the informal first approach within the system of administration of justice;

III

Formal system

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

Welcomes the efforts made by the United Nations Dispute Tribunal to reduce the number of pending and ageing cases, stresses the importance of continued implementation of all measures to avoid backlog of cases, with priority for cases which are pending for over 400 days, and requests the Secretary-General to continuously monitor cases via the case disposal plan and real-time case-tracking dashboard;

Recalls paragraph 30 of the report of the Advisory Committee, decides to extend the voluntary funding mechanism for 10 years, and requests the Secretary-General to provide a detailed overview every 5 years of the functioning of the mechanism, including opt-out rates, total contributions received from staff, services provided and satisfaction thereof, without prejudice to the current reporting arrangements, to ensure its continued efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability;

Notes the recommendation of the Internal Justice Council to initiate an 18-month pilot programme on judicial mediation, and requests the Secretary-General to evaluate possible cost-efficient procedural optimization mechanisms, in a manner consistent with article 19 (1) of the rules of procedure of the Dispute Tribunal, such as conciliatory hearings conditional on the agreement of both parties to a complaint, within existing resources, while integrating the views of all relevant stakeholders, including the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal;

IV

Other 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;

Notes the recommendation of the Internal Justice Council on the issuance of reinstatement, and requests the Secretary-General to include, in the context of his next report, information on the current use of reinstatement and compensation where the contested administrative decision concerns appointment, promotion or termination;

Recalls that the respective views of the Appeals Tribunal and the Dispute Tribunal had previously been included as annexes to the report of the Internal Justice Council, notes the usefulness of such information and stresses that the Council can help to ensure independence, professionalism and accountability in the system of administrative 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 report at the future sessions of the General Assembly.

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