A/RES/33/143 GA

VIII. Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Fifth Committee 205 reports with reports on specific problems common to the United Nations system. B The General Assembly, 90th plenary meeting 20 December 197 8 Taking note with satisfaction of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the administrative co-ordination of elec- tronic data processing and information systems,102 Concerned about the growing need for effective co- ordination of the activities of United Nations organiza- tions in the field of information systems and with the necessity to minimize duplication and to secure the most effective use possible of all available resources, 1. Approves the conclusions and recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions as contained in its report;103 2. Requests the Secretary-General to take such remedial action as may be necessary in the light of those conclusions and recommendations; 3. Transmits the report of the Advisory Commit- tee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions to the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination, bearing in mind the decision of that Committee to consider in depth the question of information systems in the United Nations at its nineteenth session in 1979.104 90th plenary meeting 20 December 1978 33/143. Personnel questions The General Assembly, Having examined the reports of the Secretary- General on the composition of the Secretariat105 and on the implementation of personnel policy reforms,106 Concerned that the reforms of personnel policy as well as the implementation of the various resoluti~ns on the composition of the Secretariat are proceedmg too slowly and a coherent personnel policy has not yet been realized, Concerned about the urgent need to secure an im- proved representation of develop!ng c<;mntries at _sen~or and policy-making levels and re1teratmg the obJective of achieving adequate representation of hitherto un- represented and under-represented countries, Reaffirming that the paramount consideration in the employment of staff at every level is the need for the highest standards of efficiency, competence and in- tegrity and convinced that this is compatible with the principles of equitable geographical distribution, Taking note with appreciation of the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit on the implementation of the personnel policy reforms approved by the General Assembly in 1974,107 on women in the Professional category and above in the United Nations system108 102 A/33/304. 10s I bid., sect. VIII. 104 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/33/38), para. 41. 105 A/33/176. 100 A/C.5/33/2. 101 See A/33/228. 10s See A/33/105. and on General Service staff of the United Nations and Geneva-based specialized agencies, 109 Welcoming the intention of the Secretary-General to launch a plan of action to improve the geographical distribution of the Secretariat during 1979-1980, Concerned about the need to improve the proportion of women in the Secretariat within the context of equitable geographical distribution, Calling upon the Secretary-General and all the United Nations organizations to put an end to any form of discrimination based on sex, as laid down in Article 8 of the Charter of the United Nations, in con- ditions of employment, recruitment, promotion and training and to ensure that the opportunities for em- ployment and promotion of women in the United Nations system are equal to those of men, I l. Requests the Secretary-General to adopt the following measures and guidelines regarding recruit- ment of Professional staff: (a) Bulletins containing a statement of all existing vacancies as well as all those expected to arise in the course of the following year should be issued every six months, in order to facilitate the submission by Member States of candidates for recruitment; ( b) Publicity should be given regarding recruit- ment of personnel in co-operation with Member States, inter alia through United Nations offices, universities and professional organizations, including women's or- ganizations whenever appropriate, to fulfil the recruit- ment policies outlined in the present resolution; ( c) Composition of the roster of candidates should be improved, in order to make it more geographically representative and make it better reflect the recruit- ment needs of the Secretariat among various occupa- tional groups as well as to increase the number of women on the roster, and, prior to filling a vacancy, a thorough search should be made of the roster for suitable candidates; (d) Professional staff of the United Nations should be encouraged to work at more than one duty station and satisfactory performance during such tours of duty should be considered an additional positive factor in evaluating them for promotion; ( e) Information on the over-all results of the staff performance review should be made available to the General Assembly; (/) Definition of occupational groups together with criteria for new definition of such groups should be established and a list of occupational groups for General Service and Professional categories along with standards for entry. promotion and rotation of staff should be drawn up; (g) Movement of staff from the General Service category to the Professional category should be limited to the P-1 and P-2 levels and be permitted up to 30 per cent of the total posts available for appointment at those levels and such recruitment should be con- ducted exclusively through competitive methods of selection from General Service staff with at least five years' experience and post-secondary educational quali- fications; (h) Competitive methods of recruitment should be used in consultation with the Governments con- 109 See A/32/327. 206 General Assembly-Thirty-third Session cemed, organized on a national, subregional or re- gional basis, for selection of staff at the P-1 and P-2 levels with a view to making the geographical distribu- tion of posts in the Secretariat more equitable; (i) Necessary measures should be devised to pro- tect the confidentiality and objectivity of the methods of selection described above and to ensure that the methods of testing take into account the cultural and linguistic diversity of the membership of the United Nations; 2. Requests the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the above measures, with detailed numerical data wherever appropriate, to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session; II 1. Requests the Secretary-General to establish a target of 40 per cent of all vacancies arising in Pro- fessional posts subject to geographical distribution during the period 1979-1980 for the appointment of nationals of unrepresented and under-represented coun- tries in order to ensure that all such countries achieve their desirable ranges during that biennium, while ensuring that the representation of countries which are within desirable ranges does not decrease; 2. Reaffirms that no post should be considered the exclusive preserve of any Member State, or group of States, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure that this principle is applied faithfully in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution; 3. Requests the Secretary-General to apply the regulations regarding the age of retirement and not grant extensions beyond the established age of retire- ment except for the minimum time required to find a suitable replacement, which shall be initially until the end of 1979 and thereafter not normally for more than six months after the established age of retirement; 4. Requests the Secretary-General to take further steps to increase the representation of developing countries at senior and policy-making levels during 1979-1980 in implementing the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly; 5. Requests the Secretary-General to reduce the average age of staff at the P-1 and P-2 levels to thirty- five by taking necessary measures for recruitment of young professional persons and the enhancement of their career opportunities within the United Nations; 6. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a progress report to the General Assembly at its thirty- fourth session and a final report to the Assembly at its thirty-fifth session on the implementation of the steps described above; 7. Expresses its appreciation for the work of the Panel to Investigate Allegations of Discriminatory Treatment in the United Nations Secretariat and requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Panel with the necessary facilities for its activities; III 1. Requests the Secretary-General to take the nec- essary measures to increase the number of women in posts subject to geographical distribution to 25 per cent of the total over a four-year period in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribu- tion and requests other United Nations organizations similarly to establish targets for this purpose; 2. Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the executive heads of the other organiza- tions within the United Nations system to issue, in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution, policy statements and directives necessary to foster equal employment and career development opportunities for women; 3. Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the executive heads of the other organiza- tions within the United Nations system, in pursuit of these objectives: (a) To ensure that women are henceforth fairly represented on personnel advisory and administrative boards; ( b) To review existing recruitment literature, pub- licity and promotion procedures, internal training pro- grammes and staff rules in order to ensure that women and men enjoy equal opportunity for promotion and career development; (c) To review and revise, as necessary, staff rules and procedures covering assignments of married coup- les to the same duty station, maternity leave, part-time employment and flexible working hours; 4. Invites the Administrative Committee on Co- ordination to review the situation regarding recruit- ment of, and career development opportunities for, women in the secretariats of the organizations within the United Nations system and to submit periodic reports to the General Assembly incorporating specific proposals to achieve this objective, from the thirty- fourth session of the Assembly onwards; 5. Calls upon Member States to assist the United Nations and the specialized agencies to increase the proportion of women in the Professional category and above by nominating more women candidates and co-operating with the Secretary-General in the recruit- ment measures outlined in the present resolution; 6. Requests the Joint Inspection Unit to continue to study and report on the implementation of the provisions of the present resolution dealing with per- sonnel policy reforms and the improvement of the representation of women in the Professional category and above in the United Nations system, from the thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly onwards; IV 1. Requests the Secretary-General to establish the entrance level qualifications and maximum levels of grades for various occupations of the General Service category at Geneva on the basis of the levels of equivalent grades for the same occupations in New York and to finalize the classification of posts in the General Service category at Geneva before 30 April 1979; 2. Further requests the Secretary-General to im- plement the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit contained in its report on General Service staff of the United Nations and Geneva-based specialized agencies109 which will improve the efficiency of recruit- ment and effectiveness of the work of the General VIII. Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Fifth Committee 207 Service category at Geneva, in co-operation with the agencies, with due regard to the need for economy as suggested in the report of the Administrative Com- mittee on Co-ordination110 and taking into account the comments of the Advisory Committee on Administra- tive and Budgetary Questions in paragraphs 43 to 4 7 no See A/33/129. of its first report to the General Assembly at its thirty-third session.111 90th plenary meeting 20 December 1978 111 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 7 (A/33/7 and Add.1-39), document A/33/7. 33/180. Interim action regarding the programme budget for the biennium 1978-1979 A REVISED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE BIENNIUM 1978-1979 The General Assembly Resolves that for the biennium 1978-1979 the amount of $US 985,913,300 appropriated by its resolution 32/213 A of 21 December 1977 shall be increased, as an interim measure, pending the consideration at its resumed thirty-third session of the balance of such additional appropriations as may have been proposed, by $10,459,600 as follows: Section 1. 2. 3. PART I. Over-all policy-making, direction and co- ordination Over-all policy-making, direction and co-ordination TOTAL, PART I PART II. Political and peace-keeping activities Political and Security Council affairs; peace-keeping activities ................................ . TOTAL, PART II PART III. Political affairs, trusteeship and de- colonization activities Political affairs, trusteeship and decolonization .. TOTAL, PART III PART IV. Economic, social and humanitarian activities 4. ~o_li_cy-making organs ( economic and social ac- tiv1t1es) ................................. . SA. Department of Economic and Social Affairs .... . SB. United Nations Centre on Transnational Corpora- tions ................................... . SC. Department of International Economic and Social Affairs .................................. . SD. Department of Technical Co-operation for Develop- ment ................................... . SE. Office of Secretariat Services for Economic and Social Matters ............................ . SF. Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation .................... . 6. Economic Commission for Europe ............ . 7. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific .................................. . 8. Economic Commission for Latin America ..... . 9. Economic Commission for Africa ............. . Amount appro- priated by resolution 32/213 A 20 109 300 20 109 300 48 096 600 48 096 600 9 732 600 9 732 600 5 803 100 43 926 900 6 196 300 333 600 37 500 22 700 482 500 19 014 200 19 404 800 24 370 900 23 679 000 Increase or (decrease) (US dollars) 1 067 100 1 067 100 1 724 300 1724300 27 000 27 000 36 400 649 100 44 300 Revised appropriation 21 176 400 21 176 400 49 820 900 49 820 900 9 759 600 9 759 600 S 839 500 43 926 900 6 196 300 982 700 37 500 22 700 482 500 19014200 19 404 800 24 370 900 23 723 300

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