A/RES/33/119 GA

VIII. Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Fifth Committee 201 Recalling its resolution 32/197 of 20 December 1977 on the restructuring of the economic and social sectors of the United Nations system, Having received the proposed medium-term plan of the United Nations for the period 1980-1983,73 the relevant chapters of the report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination74 and the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,75 as well as the reports on evaluation sub- mitted by the Joint Inspection Unit,76 Mindful of Economic and Social Council decision 1978/84 of 8 November 1978 on the proposed medium-term plan and the report of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination, Deploring the unacceptable delay in the submission of the documents on the draft medium-term plan, which hindered its meaningful consideration by the competent intergovernmental organs in accordance with the procedure laid down in General Assembly resolution 31 /93, 1. Takes note of the proposed medium-term plan for the period 1980-1983 and requests the Secretary- General to use it in the light of the comments of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on in- dividual plan sections as the framework for the prepa- ration of the programme budget for the biennium 1980-1981; 2. Decides to consider at its thirty-fourth session, concurrently with the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1980-1981, the recommendations which the Economic and Social Council may make in 1979 concerning the orientation to be given to the pro- grammes of the Organization in the light of para- graph (e) of Council decision 1978/84; 3. Takes note with appreciation of the relevant chapters of the report of the Committee for Pro- gramme and Co-ordination;74 4. Welcomes the intention of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination to conduct an in-depth study of the programme planning process during its nineteenth session,77 expresses the wish that this study will lead to a solution to the problems stemming from the late distribution of documents and supports the recommendation of the Committee whereby the required documents should be made available at least six weeks prior to the beginning of each session;78 5. Approves the recommendations contained in the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on programming and evaluation79 . in the light of the conclusions of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination80 and the observations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,81 as well as the recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination concerning the study by the Secre- tary-General on the feasibility of establishing time- limited objectives for subprogrammes;82 73 Jbid., Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 6 (A/33/6/ Rev.1 and Corr.I). 74 Jbid., Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), chaps. I and VIII. 75 A/33/345. 76 A/33/225, A/33/226; E/1978/41 and Corr.2. 77 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), para 3. 78 J bid., para. I. 79 A/33/226. 80 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), p(,ras. 6-12. 81 A/33/226/ Add.2 and Corr. I. 82 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), para. 10. 6. Approves the recommendations contained in the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit on evaluation in the United Nations system,83 as commented on by the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination84 and the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination,80 and on evaluation of the programme on public administra- tion and finance,85 as commented on by the Secretary- General86 and the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination ;s7 7. Endorses the guidelines proposed by the Ad- visory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on financial information to be included in future medium-term plans;88 8. Takes note of the progress report submitted by the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 32/197;89 9. Endorses the recommendation of the Commit- tee for Programme and Co-ordination that the intro- ductory survey to the medium-term plan should con- stitute an analysis of the activities of the Organization and the strategy for their implementation and be prepared by the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation under the authority of the Secretary-General;90 10. Approves the recommendations of the Com- mittee for Programme and Co-ordination on further harmonization of programming in the United Nations system, including the request to the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination to submit detailed pro- posals for securing an overview of the objectives and plans of the organizations of the system;91 l 1. Endorses the recommendation of the Com- mittee for Programme and Co-ordination that the Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation be associated with preparation of cross-organizational programme analyses on the lines suggested by the Committee;92 12. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination with the necessary technical and substantive services in order that it may be able to fulfil its increased responsibilities and, in particular, carry out the programme of work it has set itself for 1979. 88th plenary meeting 19 December 1978 33/119. Report of the International Civil Service Commission The General Assembly, Taking note with appreciation of the fourth annual report of the International Civil Service Commission,98 83 A/33/225. 84 A/33/225/ Add.1. 85 A/33/227. so A/33/227 / Add.1. 87 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirtv-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), paras. 15-20. · ss A/33/345, paras. 7-11. 89 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirtv-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), para. 101. · 110 Ibid., paras. 51 and 52. 91 Jbid., paras. 46-49. 02 Ibid., para. 28. 113 Ibid., Supplement No. 30 (A/33/30) and A/33/30/ Add.1. 202 General Assembly-Thirty-third Session the report of the Secretary-General thereon94 and the related oral report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,95 Reiterating the importance of the role of the Com- mission as a central point within the common system for questions of personnel policy, Reaffirming the objective which it stated in adopting article 9 of the statute of the International Civil Service Commission, namely "the development of a single unified international civil service through the application of common personnel standards, methods and arrangements", Viewing with deep concern discordant actions taken unilaterally by several of the organizations in recent months, I 1. Urges the competent authorities of all organi- zations of the United Nations common system to refrain from actions which do not contribute to the strengthening and development of the common system; 2. Requests the Secretary-General and his col- leagues on the Administrative Committee on Co- ordination to study the feasibility of establishing a single administrative tribunal for the entire common system and to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session; 3. Calls upon Member States to ensure that their representatives in the governing organs of the spe- cialized agencies do not take, on matters of concern to the common system, positions conflicting with those which they took in the General Assembly; II 1. Expresses the hope that, notwithstanding the pressure of urgent problems concerning remuneration, the International Civil Service Commission will be able to assume progressively its functions under ar- ticles 13 and 14 of its statute and make progress in 1979 in its consideration of those aspects of per- sonnel policy other than remuneration mentioned in paragraphs 309 to 329 of the report of the Commis- sion, in particular career development and those other aspects which have occupied the General Assembly's attention at its current session; 2. Approves the Commission's intention to keep under review the effects of currency instability upon the United Nations common system of salaries and allowances, to continue its efforts to eliminate pos- sible anomalies in post adjustments at certain duty stations and to seek to improve the system; 3. Also approves the Commission's intention to make, as a matter of priority, a comprehensive exami- nation of the functioning, methods of establishment and adjustment and appropriate level of pensionable remuneration, in particular with a view to preparing, in co-operation with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board, proposals to be submitted to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session for cor- recting anomalies in the United Nations pension sys- tem brought about by the current economic and monetary circumstances; 94 A/C.5/33/37. 95 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Fifth Committee, 32nd meeting, para. 63. III 1. Notes the information provided by the report of the International Civil Service Commission on the evolution of the relationship between remuneration of the Professional and higher categories of the United Nations common system and the comparator national civil service and the Commission's conclusion on safe- guards existing against possible undue widening of the margin between the levels of the remuneration of the two services resulting from the operation of the post adjustment system;96 2. Approves the use, for the purpose of making such salary comparisons, of the table of grading equivalencies recommended by the Commission in paragraph 92 of its report and requests the Com- mission to continue its study of grade equivalencies between the United Nations common system and the comparator national civil service, in order to deter- mine the proper equivalent grades in the comparator system for the United Nations grades of Director (D-2) and Assistant Secretary-General, and to report its findings to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session; 3. Further requests the Commission to study the feasibility of identifying posts of equivalent functions and responsibilities for the post of Under-Secretary- General and to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session; IV 1. Decides that, with effect from 1 January 1979, the amount of the dependency allowances payable in local currency to staff in the Professional and higher categories shall not be less than the local currency equivalent of the dollar amount of the allowance at the time it was established or last revised; 2. Further decides that the scale of termination indemnities established by the General Assembly in its resolution 31/141 of 17 December 1976 be amended to provide that the indemnity payable to a staff mem- ber holding a fixed-term appointment with less than six years' completed service shall not exceed three months' pensionable remuneration less staff assessment; 3. Requests the International Civil Service Com- mission to give further study to the question of an end-of-service grant payable to staff members with fixed-term appointments in the context of its exami- nation of the relationship between career staff and fixed-term staff in the common system, ensuring that such a grant does not become a form of pre-pension plan, and to make recommendations to the General Assembly not later than at its thirty-fifth session; 4. Decides that payment of the repatriation grant to entitled staff members shall be made conditional upon the presentation by the staff member of evidence of actual relocation, subject to the terms to be estab- lished by the Commission; 5. Approves the rates of the payment to be made to the spouse or dependent children of a staff member who dies in service, as set out in the schedule con- tained in paragraph 194 of the Commission's report; 6. Decides that the existing age limit for eligibility to the education grant be replaced by the formula "up to the end of the fourth year of post-secondary studies 96 Ibid., Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 30 (A/33/30), para. 142. VIII. Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Filth Committee 203 or the award of the first recognized degree, whichever is the earlier"; 7. Decides also that expenses incurred by expat- riate staff members for the post-secondary studies of their children in the -country of the parent's duty station shall be eligible for reimbursement under the education grant, with effect from the beginning of the academic year in course of 1 January 1979; 8. Further decides that when, for the purpose of applying the scale of reimbursements approved for the education grant, the expenses incurred by a staff mem- ber in a currency other than the United States dollar are converted into dollars, the rate of exchange used shall be whichever is the higher of that which was in force at the date when the existing scale of reimburse- ments came into effect or that in force at the date when the reimbursement is made, the same rate being used in converting the dollar amount of the reimburse- ment into the currency in which it is to be paid; 9. Approves the extension of the provision of the education grant to include the reimbursements of the expenses incurred by staff members for the special education of their disabled children, upon the terms and conditions specified in paragraph 246 of the Commission's report and in the annex to the present resolution; 10. Invites the Commission to reconsider its in- tention to extend the assignment allowance from five to seven years; 11. Approves the amendments to the Staff Regula- tions of the United Nations necessary to give effect to the above decisions, as set out in the annex to the present resolution, and invites the Secretary-General to make such consequential changes as are necessary in the Staff Rules and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session in accordance with the provisions of regulation 12.2 of the Staff Regulations; 12. Decides that the above decisions shall enter into effect on 1 January 1979, except where otherwise specified. 88th plenary meeting 19 December 197 8 ANNEX Amendments to the Staff Regulations of the United Nations Regulation 3.2 In the first paragraph, delete the words "under the age of twenty-one" from the first sentence and insert the following text as the second sentence: "The grant shall be payable in respect of the child up to the end of the fourth year of post-secondary studies or the award of the first recognized degree, whichever is the ear- Her." Insert the following text as the third paragraph: "The Secretary•General shall also establish terms and conditions under which an education grant shall be available to a staff member whose child is unable, by reason of physical or mental disability, to attend a normal educational institution and therefore requires special teaching or training to prepare him/her for full integration into society or, while attending a normal educational institution, l'equires special teaching or training to assist him/her in overcoming the disability. The amount of this grant per year for each disabled child shall be equal to 75 per cent of the educa- tional expenses actually incurred up to $4,000, subject to a maximum grant of $3,000." Regulation 3.4 Add the following sentence at the end of paragraph (a): "The amount of either of these allowances payable in local currency shall not be less than the local curr,ency equivalent of the dollar amount at the time it was established or last revised." Annex JI/ In the schedule of termination indemnities set out in para- graph (a) of annex III, amend the wording in the last column to read as follows: "One week for each month of uncompleted service subject to a minimum of six weeks' and a maximum of three months' indemnity pay." 33/120. Report of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board The General Assembly, Having considered the report of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board to the General Assembly and to the member organizations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund for 197897 and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,98 Reaffirming that no change in the pension adjust- ment system should entail an increase in the present or future liabilities of Member States, I ADJUSTMENT OF BENEFITS IN RESPECT OF COST-OF-LIVING CHANGES Decides to revise the system of adjustment of bene- fits in payment contained in General Assembly reso- tion 3354 (XXIX) of 18 December 1974 and previous resolutions on the same subject, with effect from 1 January 1979, in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board con- tained in paragraphs 18 to 46 of its report to the Assembly for 1978 and in annex V thereto; II TRANSFER OF PENSION RIGHTS Concurs in the agreement approved by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board with the Govern- ment of Canada under article 13 of the Regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund with respect to continuity of pension rights between that Government and the Fund; III EMERGENCY FUND Authorizes the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board to supplement the voluntary contributions to the Emergency Fund, for a further period of one year, by an amount not exceeding $100,000; IV ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES Approves expenses, chargeable directly to the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, totalling $3,726,500 (net) for 1979 for the administration of the Fund. 88th plenary meeting 19 December 1978 H1 Ibid., Supplement No. 9 (A/33/9 and Corr.I) and A/33/9/ Add.l. n8 A/33/375.

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