Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Chumakov at the first part of the resumed 75th session of the GA Fifth Committee, agenda item 146 “Human resources management”
Mr. Chair,
I would like to start with thanking Secretary-General and the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for presenting the reports under agenda item 146 “Human resources management”.
Let me note with appreciation the work carried out both by the Secretariat and ACABQ. The Member States are going to deal with around 50 reports to be used as the basis for a Human resources management (HRM) draft resolution.
The Russian Federation is ready for a constructive engagement during all stages of the negotiation process. We have always considered Secretary General’s proposals through the lens of the necessity to make human resources management more effective, to attract qualified staff to the service in the UN, to improve Secretariat’s functioning as well as to ensure that all the ideas are well-justified from the financial perspective. We hope that our partners will stick to a similar approach. It was the 71st GA session when Member States managed to agree on a HRM resolution. Now it is the right time to provide the Secretary-General with further guidance on how to deal with human resources management in the United Nations.
We share the Secretariat’s opinion that Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations governs the selection of staff. This pivotal principle should be fully taken into account when developing new HR strategies and improving the existing ones. All together we should focus on the need to get rid of geographical imbalance between the member states in the Secretariat. The General Assembly has continually provided the Secretary-General with relevant mandates. We shall be very cautious with new approaches not yet approved by the GA. One of the examples is the so called regional diversity. We strongly believe that all the actions taken by the Secretariat to develop its own initiatives should be aligned with GA resolutions and decisions.
We remain to be concerned over the chances of external candidates to be recruited to the UN. Some of the ideas reflected by the Secretary General in his reports, for instance, a new approach to staff mobility or removing the G to P element from the YPP, may hurt their chances to join the UN service. The GA Fifth Committee has to take a lot of efforts to modify these proposals in order to ensure equal opportunities for internal and external candidates.
Let me also highlight the workforce diversity component to the HRM framework developed by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and approved by the GA during its 73rd session. Secretariat’s staff composition should reflect a workforce diverse from a variety of perspectives, including cultural, generational and multilingual ones and those of persons with disabilities. We have to note that the diversity pillar as introduced in the Secretary-General’s latest report on overview of the HR management reform has not been fully aligned with the relevant ICSC framework.
The Russian Federation is ready to discuss the reports on HRM in details during the GA Fifth Committee meetings.
Thank you.
