U.S. EFFORTS TO REFORM UN HUMAN RESOURCES

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000011

SIPDIS

FOR IO/MPR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMGT AORC APER PREL UNGA UNGA
SUBJECT: U.S. EFFORTS TO REFORM UN HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES BRING MIXED RESULTS

REF: 08 STATE 129988


1. SUMMARY: The recently concluded main session of the
sixty-third United Nations General Assembly adopted a
resolution on human resources management (HRM) reform that
will result in significant changes in hiring mechanisms and
conditions of service for field staff. The resolution (to be
issued as A/RES/63/250) also addresses a number of other
personnel management areas, including recruitment and
staffing, geographical and gender representation, and ethics.
The new system is structured somewhat differently and is more
costly than what we proposed (reftel) but generally reflects
the compromise on which there was near consensus during the
resumed session last March, except for the U.S. and Japan
(and a few others who did not speak up, e.g., Russia and
Mexico). In the face of opposition by the same states that
were prepared to join consensus last March, including the EU
and CANZ, to alternatives raised by the U.S. and Japan, and
given the importance of taking action on this critical
matter, after consulting the Department, we joined consensus
on the resolution. Post did obtain a number of key
concessions that addressed USG concerns that underpinned our
proposals, including abuses in the use of temporary contracts
at Headquarters, the wholesale conversion of 300 and 200
Series contracts to 100 Series, and the need for a
disciplined approach to implementing continuing contracts.
END SUMMARY.

STREAMLINING OF CONTRACTS AND HARMONIZATION OF CONDITIONS OF
SERVICE APPROVED


2. These were the two principal HRM issues before the Fifth
Committee and were directly related to problems with
recruitment and retention of international staff in field
missions. Attempts to reach consensus on HRM reform began
last March, during the first resumed session of the 62nd
UNGA, but were put off when the U.S. and Japan (with silent
support from Mexico and Russia) could not agree to measures
supported by the Secretariat and other Member States
(European Union, CANZ, G-77 and China). We said we would
develop other options for the Fifth Committee to consider and
presented our proposal prior to the start of the 63rd UNGA.
We proposed the same overall contract structure as the
Secretariat but tied length of service to allowances and
benefits, i.e., the longer a person stayed with the
organization the more allowances and benefits would they
accrue. Although a number of Member States, including Japan,
Russia, Singapore, and some small European countries,
expressed support for our proposal, the overwhelming majority
rejected our approach.


3. Efforts to obtain wider support for our proposal (reftel)
were not successful. However, we did succeed in eliminating
longstanding and costly abuses in the use of temporary
contracts at UN Headquarters that should also result in some
significant savings (See A/RES/63/250, Section II, paras. 7
and 8). In addition, we were able to include measures to
ensure that staff holding fixed-term contracts under the new
100 Series will have no expectation of their contract being
renewed or extended (Section II, para. 21). This will give
the organization greater flexibility in terms of workforce
planning and prevent automatic conversion to a continuing
(i.e., open-ended) contract.


4. We also obtained assurances that the thousands of staff
currently on short term temporary contracts, e.g., 300
Series, would not immediately receive unrestricted 100 Series
contracts. Instead, they would receive 100 Series
mission-specific contracts with the opportunity to compete
for the unrestricted 100 Series contracts. We obtained a
similar concession regarding staff serving in Headquarters
under 200 Series contracts (Section II, paras. 10 and 11).


5. Finally, even though the new system will go into effect on
July 1, 2009, we obtained a delay in implementation of a
continuing contract regime until January 2010, pending
fleshing out and agreement on details on how continuing
contracts would be awarded (Section II, paras. 3 and 4). We
also obtained agreement to a number of our proposals on
enhancing career development, e.g., how and where P-1
positions (i.e., the lowest entry level for professional
staff) might be used more effectively and development of a
strategy for training and development in the context of the
next biennium budget submission (Section VIII, paras 3 and 4).


6. The next step toward implementation of the new contract
structure will be consideration of draft regulations; the
Fifth Committee will take this up in the first resumed
session in March. In the sixty-fourth UNGA, the Fifth
Committee will have an opportunity to consider many factors
related to continuing appointments, including criteria for


eligibility, the strengthening of the performance appraisal
system, and the financial and management implications of
converting fixed-term to continuing appointments and whether
to establish a ceiling on such conversions. The
Secretary-General's proposal to create a cadre of civilian
career peacekeepers, which the Secretariat maintains would
not be necessary under the new regime, will, nonetheless, be
reconsidered in the sixty-fifth session (Section II, para.
19).


7. The new contract regime and the harmonizing of conditions
of service for staff in field duty stations are designed to
attract and retain qualified staff. There is an expectation
that the new regime would obviate the need for special
allowances and it is in our interest to work with the
Secretariat and member states to reduce staffing gaps at
Special Political Missions (SPM's) and Peacekeeping
Operations (PKO's). We are hopeful this resolution will have
its intended effect. In any event, there is nothing in the
resolution that abolishes the concept of special allowances,
and we are free to raise that concept if the new regime fails
in particular instances, such as UNAMI or UNAMA, to address
this concern.

ROSTER SYSTEM NOT ADOPTED


8. In considering ways to expedite the UN's recruitment and
staffing process, the Fifth Committee decided not to approve
implementation of a new pre-screened roster system, citing
design flaws in existing rosters. The current resolution
calls for the Secretariat to improve its outreach efforts, to
continue to advertise all specific vacancy announcements, and
to ensure the transparency of the recruitment process. A
report on efforts to improve the length of time it takes to
fill a position (currently 160 days) will be part of the
Secretary-General's report on human resources management at
the sixty-fifth UNGA.

GENDER BALANCE AND GEOGRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION: HIGH
VISIBILITY BUT NO CHANGE IN COURSE


9. During the Fall session the Fifth Committee devoted a lot
of time to the issues of gender balance and geographical
representation, with the EU and CANZ leading discussion on
the former and Japan and the G-77 making a case for the
latter. In the end, no major changes in policy or practice
were incorporated in the resolution. The Fifth Committee
requested the Secretary-General to report on measures to
achieve gender balance and increase the number of staff from
under-represented and un-represented countries at the
sixty-fifth UNGA.

ROLE OF ETHICS OFFICE TO BE CLARIFIED


10. The Fifth Committee, with post playing a leading role,
devoted considerable time to the Secretary-General's report
on the activities of the Ethics Office, established in 2006
to promote integrity within the organization. As part of its
resolution on HRM, the Fifth Committee requested the
Secretary-General to clarify the roles of the Ethics Office,
Office of the Ombudsman, Office of Internal Oversight and
other related offices and report at the sixty-fifth session
on measures taken to avoid overlapping of mandates (Section
XII, para. 3). At post's request, the Committee also called
for the annual ethics report to include information on
system-wide Ethics Committee activities (Section XII, para.
5).

Khalilzad