The United Nations Secretariat: The Rules and the Practice
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Description
My interest in the administration of the United Nations dates back to the early sixties when, from the vantage point of a representative on the Fifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee of the General Assembly, I could observe the fascinating process of interaction between administrative, budgetary, political, legal, economic, and social factors. In recent years, I, like many others, became increasingly concerned with the trends and the developments in the Secretariat of the United Nations. It is my belief that the future success of failure of the United Nations will be determined not only by the wisdom and sense of responsibility or lack of it—of its political and legislative organs and particularly the General Assembly and the Security Council—but also by the type and the quality of the Secretariat that will carry out the work of the Organization. I felt, therefore, that there is a need for a study of the United Nations Secretariat focusing on the examination of its personnel policies in the light of the United Nations Charter and the subsequently developed law of the United Nations. . . . The Secretary-General of the United Nations has recently referred to the goal of building up an international staff of the highest standard of efficiency, competence, and integrity, responsible only to the Organization and with as wide a geographical basis as possible. He acknowledged that the fact that the United Nations is a predominantly political organization inevitably exposes the Secretariat to pressures from many quarters although “Governments have generally made great efforts to respect the terms of Article 100, paragraph 2, of the Charter . . .” He expressed the belief that it has been widely recognized that an objective, independent Secretariat is in the long run in the best interest of all Member States. It is, however, not at all certain that the values held in 1945 by the majority of the 51 states that signed the Charter at San Francisco are shared today by the majority of the 144 Member States of the United Nations. What is clear is the fact that the Secretariat is under considerable pressure from without and from within with regard to recruitment, to promotion, and in broader terms with respect to its international character and independence. The Secretariat suffers from considerable malaise, which is due to a wide spectrum of causes such as the decline—in the United States and in some other countries—in the centrality and in the prestige of the United Nations and in its ability to attract outstanding talent for service in the Secretariat. Among other causes are doubts about the relevance and the significance of the tasks assigned to the Secretariat as a whole and to a great many members of the staff; uncertainty about tenure, career prospects; and unhappiness about the increasing politicization of personnel procedures. Rightly or wrongly the staff is under the impression that permanent missions to the United Nations have an important influence on promotion procedures relating to their nationals in the Secretariat. This results in greater vulnerability to national influences. There is also concern about the filling of a growing percentage of senior posts through recruitment from outside, which has an adverse effect on the advancement prospects of the existing staff, and that nationality and other political considerations overshadow the principle of merit. Problems relating to the professional staff of the Secretariat are usually considered in political, administrative, and budgetary terms. The author feels that the time has come to discuss them in legal terms too, or, rather, in the light of the purposes and the requirements of the Charter. Indeed, given the political and social stresses to which the staff is exposed, it is imperative to focus on, to reinvigorate the role of law, and to develop proper procedures, counterbalances, safeguards, and due process. The object of this study is to make a contribution toward these ends. A few words about the scope of this study may be appropriate. It will focus on the professional and higher categories of staff financed under the regular (assessed) budget of the United Nations and working in the Secretariat of the United Nations in New York and in Geneva, the regional economic commissions, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Th author hopes, however, that this study may also be of some relevance to the professional and higher categories of staff of other United Nations programmes and of the specialized agencies. The professional and higher categories of staff comprise the following: Under-Secretary-General (USG), Assistant-Secretary-General (ASG), Director (D-2), Principal Officer (D-1), Senior Officer (P-5), First Officer (P-4), Second Officer (P-3), Associate Officer (P-2), and Assistant Officer (P-1). In addition. The United Nations staff includes general services (secretarial, technical, and clerical staff) and other categories such as security service, field service, and manual workers with which this study is not directly concerned. The statistical data were obtained by the author from a number of sources in the Secretariat. They do not all refer to the same time and sometimes are based on differing definitions. The author has included such statistical date in this study only in order to indicate general phenomena and trends.
Publication Date
1977
Recommended Citation
Meron, Theodor, "The United Nations Secretariat: The Rules and the Practice" (1977). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 456.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/456
