EU Presidency Statement - Administration of Justice

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The EU would like to thank the Secretariat, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and the Joint Inspection Unit for their reports as well as Mr. Kuznetzov for presenting the preliminary comments of the ACABQ on this item. The reports in front of us indeed address very important aspects of the Administration of Justice in the Secretariat and in the UN System as a whole.

The EU is convinced that the way the justice is administered within the Organisation has a significant impact on staff morale and productivity and ultimately on the efficiency of the Organisation itself. We attach a great deal of importance to strengthening of the administration of justice, as a way of enhancing transparency and accountability within the Organisation and improving the relationship between staff and management.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU recognises that the main problems relating to the Administration of Justice in the Secretariat are: the amount of time it takes to complete the process; the imbalance between the resources available to the staff members appealing and to the respondent (mainly the Administration); and the concentration of responsibilities in the Department of Management which could be perceived as a conflict of interests, as pointed out in the report of OIOS.

Moreover, the EU supports a more efficient justice system in the United Nations. We should address the perception of inequality and discrimination in the Administration of Justice within the United Nations family. We will carefully analyse the proposals aimed at favouring the harmonisation of the statutes of UNAT and ILOAT as a first step towards attaining this objective.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, we concur with the ACABQ opinion that, to take any decision on this matter we need a clear proposal from the Secretariat on the resources needed. We welcome its request for an addendum to the Secretary-General's report containing the resource requirements for the administration of the internal justice system.

We look forward to the presentation of this addendum as well as to the recommendations that will be provided by the ACABQ on this very important and complex item. Given the time constraints, the EU believes that it will be appropriate to consider this item at the next resumed session.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.

| Top |