CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Statement by Jorge Cumberbatch, First Secretary, Cuban delegate to the 5th Committee of the General Assembly. Main part of the 65th Session of the General Assembly. Item 134: Human resources management.New York, 28 October 2010.

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to thank the statements this morning by the Deputy Secretary-General Mrs. Asha-Rose Migiro; the Under-Secretary-General for Management Mrs. Angela Kane, and the Director of Ethics Office Mrs. Joan Elise Dubinsky. Likewise, we thank the Chair of the Advisory Committee, Mrs. Susan McLurg, for the remarks of that body on our topic today.

Our delegation associates itself with the statement by the distinguished delegation of Yemen on behalf of the G-77 and China.

Mr. Chairman,

Human resources management is essential for the work of the United Nations, organization, which is the depository of the universal instruments of the International Law. Therefore, the decisions about the conditions of service of the UN staff are fundamental in its work, both in the headquarters and in the ground and other workstations.

For that reason, the Cuban delegation engaged actively, as a member of the G-77 and China, in the negotiations on General Assembly resolution 63/250, which gave a path forward to a long series of consultations on the human resources management reform.

In this session, we must conclude the legislative decisions completing the process and proceed to implement harmonized conditions of service for all UN organizations of the common system.

Mr. Chairman,

Our delegation calls for a reasonable solution to the topic of conclusion of decisions on the streamlining of contractual arrangements, particularly, in regards to the implementation of continuing contracts.

However, such solution to the contractual arrangements must include more concrete efforts on an old problem of the Organization. I am referring to the equitable geographical distribution of its staff, particularly in the entities of the Secretariat, where this factor plays a key role in their work.

That is the case of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose staff composition is one of the less balanced in the Secretariat. The actions carried out in order to solve this problem have been insufficient, despite the decisions taken by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council itself. Our delegation will request additional information on this particular matter during the informal consultations.

Another aspect to bear in mind is the way the Head Executives with higher ranks are selected. Some of the proposals given in advance by the Joint Inspection Unit on this matter deserve particular attention and we are prepared to call for them during the informal consultations.

Mr. Chairman,

The issue of the human resources management reform is a complex and sensitive topic, due to the need to attract and keep skilled personnel, and ensure the institutional memory of the Organization.

At present, the UN Secretariat staff comprises around 40,000 people, 30,000 of them in the field. If we add the staff of the funds and programmes and the specialized agencies, we will have the complete picture over the implications this matter has.

In this context, our delegation has observed with concern the serious differences between the Management and the representatives of the staff unions on human resources management, as well as between the Management and those responsible for some funds and programmes concerning the recommendations of the International Civil Service Commission on the harmonization of the conditions of service.

This is a serious problem of governance inside the Organization and it seems that the necessary measures to bring an order to what is happening are not being taken. In that regard, we agree with the assessment just presented by the African Group and we will be paying attention to the responses to the clarification requested by the Río Group.

During all first part of this year, particularly during the debates on the system-wide coherence, we were given all kinds of assurances that, both at the Chief Executive Board level and in other instances, the internal consultations on the harmonization of business practices, including those referring to the harmonization of the conditions of service, were going well. We were also assured that both the Secretariat at the central level, and all funds and programs and specialized agencies, would respect the intergovernmental mandates on this matter. The General Assembly resolution 64/289, on system-wide coherence, ratifies this approach in its operative paragraph 45.

It is inexplicable that just now, in the face of a final decision on this topic, some funds and programs disregard the comprehensive consultations that took place in the framework of the common system, bringing to the intergovernmental debate a discussion in which they participated and accepted the recommendations of the ICSC.

The first informal consultations on the common system already point to strong disputes within the Membership. Some have already sided with their preferred entities, when the proposals were presented, in principle, as agreed by consensus among all those involved.

This situation will only bring about a more complicated decision-making process on the matter and a possible collapse of the reform, to which we Member States have dedicated considerable time and effort after the request made by the Secretariat itself several years ago. We demand a minimum of respect to our work.

Mr. Chairman,

Our delegation reiterates its interest that the human resources management reform ends with an agreement satisfactory for all the involved.

Nevertheless, the consistency of in the information coming from all parties involved in the debate is essential. We will follow closely the informal consultations on this topic and we hope sanity and common sense prevail under the present circumstances.

Thank you.