RES/10/5 Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Human Rights Council

Tenth Session

Resolution 10/5. Composition of staff of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling paragraph 5 (g) of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, in which the Assembly decided that the Council should assume the role and responsibilities of the Commission on Human Rights relating to the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as decided by the Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993,

Taking note of all relevant resolutions on this issue adopted by the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and the Council,

Taking note also of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner (A/HRC/10/45),

Taking note further of the reports of the Joint Inspection Unit on the follow-up to the management review of the Office of the High Commissioner (A/59/65-E/2004/48 and Add.1) and on the funding and staffing of the Office (JIU/REP/2007/8),

Bearing in mind that an imbalance in the composition of the staff could diminish the effectiveness of the work of the Office of the High Commissioner if it is perceived to be culturally biased and unrepresentative of the United Nations as a whole,

Expressing its concern that, despite the repeated requests to correct the unbalanced geographical distribution of the staff, the situation remains that one region accounts for more than half of the posts of the Office of the High Commissioner and for more posts than the four remaining regional groups combined,

Reaffirming the importance of continuing the ongoing efforts to address the imbalance regarding the regional representation of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner,

Underlining that the paramount consideration for employing staff at every level is the need for the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and taking into account Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, expressing its conviction that this objective is compatible with the principle of equitable geographical distribution,

Reaffirming that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters,

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1. Welcomes the statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in her report that achieving geographical balance in the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner will remain one of her priorities, and requests the High Commissioner to continue to take all measures needed to redress the current imbalance in geographical distribution of the staff of the Office;

2. Notes the increase in the percentage of staff from regions identified as requiring better representation and the various measures proposed and already taken to address the imbalance in geographical distribution of the staff, while stressing that the imbalance in geographical distribution is still prominent;

3. Takes note of the progress achieved towards improved geographic diversity in the staff of the Office, and takes note also of the commitment of the High Commissioner to remain attentive to the need to maintain the emphasis on the broadest possible geographic diversity of her Office, as stated in the conclusion of her report;

4. Requests the High Commissioner to work on the broadest geographic diversity of her staff by enhancing the implementation of measures to achieve a better representation of countries and regions that are unrepresented or underrepresented, particularly from the developing world, while considering applying a zero-growth cap on the representation of countries and regions already overrepresented in the Office of the High Commissioner;

5. Welcomes the efforts made towards the achievement of a gender balance in the composition of the staff and the decision to continue to pay special attention to this issue;

6. Requests future High Commissioners to continue to enhance the ongoing efforts made in the fulfilment of the goal of a geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office;

7. Underlines the importance of continuing to promote geographical diversity in the recruitment of and promotion to high-level and Professional posts, including senior managers, as a principle of the staffing policies of the Office of the High Commissioner;

8. Affirms the vital importance of geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner, taking into account the significance of national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as of different political, economic and legal systems, to the promotion and protection of the universality of human rights;

9. Recalls the provisions contained in section X, paragraph 3, of General Assembly resolution 55/258 of 14 June 2001, on human resources management, in which the Assembly reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to increase further his efforts to improve the composition of the Secretariat by ensuring a wide and equitable geographical distribution of staff in all departments, and also recalls the request that he submit to the General Assembly proposals for a comprehensive review of the system of desirable ranges, with a view to establishing a more effective tool to ensure equitable geographic distribution in relation to the total number of staff of the Secretariat;

10. Encourages the General Assembly to consider further measures for promoting desirable ranges of geographical balance in the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner

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representing national and regional specificities and various historic, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as the diversity of political, economic and legal systems;

11. Welcomes the significant increase in the human and financial resources allocated to the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner and the impact it should have on the geographic composition of the Office;

12. Recognizes the importance of the follow-up to and implementation of General Assembly resolution 61/159 of 19 December 2006, and underlines the priority importance that the Assembly continue to provide support and guidance to the High Commissioner in the ongoing process of improvement of the geographical balance in the composition of the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner;

13. Requests the High Commissioner to submit a comprehensive and updated report to the Council at its thirteenth session, in accordance with its annual programme of work, following the structure and scope of her report and with a special focus on further measures taken to correct the imbalance in geographical composition of the staff of the Office.

42nd meeting 26 March 2009

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 33 to 12, with 2 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour: Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Uruguay, Zambia;

Against: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

Abstaining: Chile, Republic of Korea.]

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