Equitable Human Resources Practices

There is solid statistical evidence that the United Nations remains an organization where many forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination, are still present.

What Human Rights and Environmental Principles Promoted by the UN Are At Stake:

UN Charter

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Global Compact

Major ILO conventions including conventions 029, 087, 098, 111 and 122

Millennium Declaration

Other human rights treaties and conventions such as the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CERD

What Needs to Be Done:

The UN should:

• Continue its on-going efforts to promote concrete affirmative action measures designed to combat existing gender and other forms of discrimination.

• Ensure that those administrative mechanisms available to employees and contractors of the UN provide adequate and meaningful redress when violations do occur on the part of the UN system.
  

Who Can Do It:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
OSAGI
Global Compact Office
Individual agency/organization heads

If You Want to Know More:

As is the case with many large organizations employing tens of thousands of employees, the UN system is confronted with a broad array of complex situations when hiring, employing, promoting and dismissing its employees. This is further compounded by the fact that UN employees hail from over 191 countries.

The United Nations has declared the applicability of the principle of equity in employment, notably with regard to gender. Article 8 of the United Nations Charter states that "the United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs."

However, despite considerable improvements since the arrival of Kofi Annan as Secretary-General, there is statistical evidence that the UN is an organization where gender discrimination still persists in some areas.

For example, as of 2003, the overall proportion of women in the professional and higher categories was only 35 percent. In Peacekeeping Operations, women accounted for less than 30 percent of the staff and they comprised only 23.2 percent of professional staff with appointment of one year or more.

In the area of same-sex benefits, despite the generally sympathetic attitude of Secretary-General Kofi Annan toward gay and lesbian rights, the UN does not currently extend benefits to gay and lesbian couples.

Finally, because of its unusual legal status, the UN provides only limited remedies when it comes to gender discrimination and other types of labor violations.

The UN should:

• Continue its on-going efforts to promote concrete affirmative action measures designed to combat existing gender and other forms of discrimination.
• Ensure that those administrative mechanisms available to employees and contractors of the UN provide adequate and meaningful redress when violations do occur on the part of the UN system.

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