Sixth Committee (Legal) — 69th session

Administration of justice at the United Nations (Agenda item 144)

«»

Documentation

Summary of work

Background (source: A/69/100/Add.1)

The General Assembly considered the item at its fifty-fifth to fifty-ninth and sixty-first to sixty-seventh sessions (resolutions 55/258, 57/307, 59/283, 62/228, 63/253, 64/119, 64/233, 65/251, 66/237 and 67/237 and decisions 56/458 C, 58/576, 61/503 A, 63/531, 64/527, 64/553 and 65/213).

At its sixty-second session, the General Assembly established: (a) a two-tier formal system of administration of justice, comprising a first instance United Nations Dispute Tribunal and an appellate instance United Nations Appeals Tribunal; (b) the Office of Administration of Justice, comprising the Office of the Executive Director and the Office of Staff Legal Assistance and the Registries for the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal; (c) a single integrated and decentralized Office of the Ombudsman for the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes with branches in several duty stations and a new mediation division; (d) the Internal Justice Council; and (e) the Management Evaluation Unit in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management (resolution 62/228).

At its sixty-third session, the General Assembly adopted the statutes of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal and decided that those Tribunals would be operational as of 1 July 2009 and that all persons who had access to the Office of the Ombudsman under the previous system would also have access to the new informal system (resolution 63/253).

Consideration of the item in the Fifth Committee

At its sixty-eighth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly for consideration at its sixty-ninth session a revised proposal for conducting an interim independent assessment of the system of administration of justice, to be carried out in a cost-efficient manner by independent experts, including experts familiar with internal labour dispute mechanisms, and decided that the assessment should examine the system of administration of justice in all its aspects, with particular attention to the formal system and its relation with the informal system, including an analysis of whether the aims and objectives of the system set out in resolution 61/261 were being achieved in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The Assembly stressed the importance of good management practice and requested the Secretary-General to report at the main part of its sixty-ninth session on efforts made to promote a positive and transparent work environment in order to address the underlying factors that gave rise to disputes in the workplace (resolution 68/254, sect. I).

At the same session, with regard to the informal system, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to recommend to it at its sixty-ninth session additional innovative measures to encourage recourse to informal resolution of dispute and to report to it at the main part of its sixty-ninth session on progress made on the implementation of 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. It also requested the Office to report on the financial and administrative implications resulting from settlements reached through informal dispute resolution and reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to report on the revised terms of reference for the Office and ensure that the terms of reference and guidelines for the Office were promulgated as soon as possible. The Assembly further requested the Office to set out clearly in future reports information on the number and nature of cases from non-staff personnel, as well as data on the distribution of workload among conflict resolution, systemic issues and conflict competence (resolution 68/254, sect. II).

Also at the same session, with regard to the formal system, the General Assembly recognized the ongoing positive contribution of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance to the system of administration of justice and decided that the funding of that Office should be supplemented by a voluntary payroll deduction not exceeding 0.05 per cent of a staff member’s monthly net base salary and that this funding mechanism should be implemented on an experimental basis from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015. It requested the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the mechanism and to track, on a monthly basis, the opt-out rate and the amount of revenue generated under the supplementary funding mechanism and authorized him to enter into commitments for the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015, from that revenue, in an amount not exceeding that revenue, to finance any additional resources for the Office of Staff Legal Assistance during the experimental phase of the mechanism. The Assembly also requested 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; to propose an amendment to the statute of the Appeals Tribunal, taking into account the recommendation of the Internal Justice Council relating to qualifications of Appeals Tribunal judges; and to examine the immunities of the judges of the two Tribunals and present to it at its sixty-ninth session recommendations that would not result in a change in the rank or conditions of service of the judges. It invited the Sixth Committee to consider those recommendations, without prejudice to the role of the Fifth Committee. The Assembly further requested 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 reiterated its request that he provide information on existing measures to institutionalize good management practice that aim to avoid or mitigate disputes involving the different categories of non-staff personnel. It requested that the Secretary-General present at its sixty-ninth session the code of conduct for external legal representatives, including appropriate sanctions for breaches thereof as safeguards against frivolous applications, and proposals with reference to the accountability of all individuals where violations of the Organization’s rules and procedures have led to financial loss (resolution 68/254, sects. III and IV).

At its sixty-eighth session, the General Assembly requested the Internal Justice Council to report on the impact of the request contained in paragraph 33 of resolution 67/241, taking into account the views of all relevant stakeholders. It stressed that the Internal Justice Council could help to ensure independence, professionalism and accountability in the system of administration of justice, and requested the Secretary-General to entrust the Council with including the views of both the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal in its annual reports (resolution 68/254, sects. III and IV).

At the same session, the General Assembly invited 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 (resolution 68/254, sect. IV).

Consideration of the item in the Sixth Committee

At its sixty-eighth session, as set out in a letter from the Chair of the Sixth Committee (A/C.5/68/11, annex), the Sixth Committee considered the legal aspects of the reports of the Secretary-General and of the Internal Justice Council on the administration of justice at the United Nations (A/68/346 and A/68/306, respectively) and the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services (A/68/158), and it drew the attention of the Fifth Committee to a number of specific issues relating to the legal aspects of these reports (A/C.5/68/11, annex).

Consideration at the sixty-ninth session

The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 16th and 20th meetings, on 21 and 28 October 2014 (see A/C.6/69/SR.16 and 20).

Statements were made by the representatives of: Canada (also on behalf of Australia and New Zealand (CANZ)), Costa Rica (on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC)), the European Union (also on behalf of its Member States. The Candidate Countries Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania, the country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement), Guatemala, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Tonga and the United States of America.

Delegations welcomed the reports of the Secretary-General (A/69/227) and of the Internal Justice Council (the “IJC”) (A/69/205), and acknowledged the positive contributions made by the relevant bodies working on the Administration of Justice within the United Nations. Some delegations highlighted key principles that the administration of justice should be based on, including professionalism, independence and transparency. Some other delegations welcomed the evidence of increasing efficiency of the system, while acknowledging that challenges remained.

Several delegations welcomed the stabilization in the number of new cases at the Tribunals. However, some delegations expressed concern over the high number of cases appealed to the United Nations Appeals Tribunal (UNAT), and further expressed concern that the Tribunals had not yet amended their rules of procedure to provide that judgments imposing financial obligations on the United Nations are not executable until expiry of the deadline for appeal or conclusion of an appeal.

Several delegations expressed support for and encouraged the use of the informal dispute resolution mechanisms to further enable the settlement of disputes, mentioning the important role of the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services; some delegations urged that Office to promulgate its revised terms of reference. Several delegations commended the Management Evaluation Unit, particularly for its role in identifying cases that could be settled. Delegations also acknowledged the key role of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance.

Some delegations welcomed the introduction of an automatic payroll deduction to fund the Office of Staff Legal Assistance, with an opt-out provision for an experimental two-year period, and expressed continuing support to find efficient ways to fund that office.

Delegations discussed the proposed mechanism contained in A/69/227 for addressing potential complaints under the code of conduct for judges of the Tribunals. Several delegations recalled the key role played by the IJC. Different views were expressed over the proposal to accord judges of the Tribunals full diplomatic immunities as provided for in section 19 of the 1946 General Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, and over the proposed amendment to the Statute of the UNAT relating to the qualifications of judges. On the issue of moral damages, concern by some delegations was expressed over judgments from the Tribunals that had awarded moral damages to claimants without a finding of harm. Some other delegations also recommended that the proposed code of conduct for external legal representatives be extended to all individuals acting as legal representatives.

Several delegations welcomed the revised proposal from the Secretary-General for the interim independent assessment, and discussed elements of it.

Concern was reiterated that an adequate solution for the representation of non-staff personnel had yet to be set out. Other delegations expressed the need to ensure that staff members in all duty stations be afforded access to the system of the administration of justice.

Some delegations continued to call for continuing communication and coordination with the Fifth Committee on matters relating to this agenda item.

Action taken by the Sixth Committee

At its 20th meeting, on 28 October 2014, the Sixth Committee, following informal consultations carried out on the item on 21, 22, 23 and 24 October, decided that its Chair would address a letter to the President of the General Assembly, drawing his attention to certain specific issues relating to the legal aspects of the reports submitted under the item as discussed in the Sixth Committee. The letter would contain a request that it be brought to the attention of the Chair of the Fifth Committee and circulated as a document of the General Assembly. The letter was circulated as an annex to document A/C.5/69/10.

Related links

 

Quick Links

Key Documents

Resources