UN SYSTEM OF INTERNAL JUSTICE - SLOVENIA DOES NOT CONCUR WITH STREAMLINED REFORMS

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000309 C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (ADD SENSITIVE CAPTION) SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO/MPR BRIAN G. HACKETT, USUN/L ELIZABETH WILCOX, USUN/MR BRUCE RASHKOW E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL AORC APER UNGA UNGAC SI SUBJECT: UN SYSTEM OF INTERNAL JUSTICE - SLOVENIA DOES NOT CONCUR WITH STREAMLINED REFORMS REF: SECSTATE 51372 (SBU) Post took action directed by reftel and on June 10, the Head of the MFA's International Law Department Simona Drenik passed Embassy a written reply (emailed to IO/MPR, USUN/L, and USUN/MR) stating Slovenia's agreement with the Report of the Redesign Panel and the Secretary Generals Notes, but stressed, however, that the new system should not lessen the existing level of rights for the staff, and thus it does not concur with several of the U.S. recommended reforms for the new streamlined internal justice system. Drenik elaborated that the GOS assesses that the UN should discuss the categories of non-staff personnel and whether the legal remedies available to non-staff personnel are an effective legal recourse. Unlike the U.S. view of appointing only one judge to hear cases at the trial level, Drenik stated that, in the GOS view, three-judge panels should be possible in exceptional cases, adn there should be grounds for appeal in cases of "clearly unreasonable decisions." In contrast to the U.S. position that pending cases be reassigned to the UN Dispute Tribunal, which will be established on January 1, 2009, Drenik said that the GOS leans toward the option of reassigning the pending cases to the newly revamped internal justice system itself. GHAFARI