VZCZCXYZ0009
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #1006/01 3131635
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091635Z NOV 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7560

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001006 
 
SIPDIS 
 
IO/MPR GEORGE ABRAHAMS 
IO/MPR LYNETTE PODOLSKY 
IO/MPR BRIAN HACKETT 
IO/MPR LISA SPRATT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC ACABQ UN UNGA UNGA KUNR
SUBJECT: UNGA FIFTH COMMITTEE: GRIDLOCK ON UN COMMON SYSTEM 
 
REF: USUN1000 
 
¶1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraphs 7, 11, and 
¶13. 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY: During the last few weeks, the Fifth 
Committee of the UN General Assembly has been meeting 
informally to discuss the UN Common System of salaries and 
benefits. The Committee has been unable to adopt a resolution 
on this agenda item because of continuing disagreements 
between the G-77 and western countries regarding a proposed 
end-of-service grant for fixed-term staff. A similar 
standstill is likely to occur on the related issue of 
continuing contracts, to be addressed in the context of the 
human resources management agenda item tentatively scheduled 
to be introduced next week. END SUMMARY. 
 
UN COMMON SYSTEM 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The UN Common System of salaries and benefits is 
addressed by the General Assembly in the context of its 
consideration of the annual report of the International Civil 
Service Commission (ICSC). In its report of 2009 (A-64-30), 
the ICSC recommended the introduction of an end-of-service 
severance payment to fixed-term staff members who have served 
for at least ten years but whose contracts are not renewed. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Western delegations, which have been coordinating 
closely on human resources issues, oppose the introduction of 
the proposed end-of-service severance payment because they do 
not believe that the UN has any legal obligations to support 
a staff member after the completion of a contract. Western 
delegations have therefore introduced language to either 
reject the proposal outright (in the case of Japan, Mexico, 
and the U.S.) or to defer decision until a later date (in the 
case of the EU and CANZ). Russia and the G-77 support 
approval of the proposed benefit. As a result discussion in 
the Committee on the Common System has stalled. 
 
¶5. (U) Because of the gridlock on the end-of-service grant, 
the Committee has not had adequate opportunity to consider 
other elements of the ICSC report, including the use of 
termination indemnities. The termination indemnity is 
intended to compensate staff members for the loss of 
expectation of employment. However, the amount of 
compensation provided to staff members who have served more 
than five years is based solely on their length of service as 
opposed to the un-served remainder of their terms. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Staff union representatives confirmed to USUN that 
it was not uncommon for long-serving staff members to be 
terminated just before their contracts expired as a ploy to 
permit them to claim a termination indemnity of up to twelve 
months of pay. Upon request by the U.S. delegation, the ICSC 
secretariat provided data indicating that, since 2005, there 
were twenty-nine cases in the UN Secretariat in which staff 
members were terminated within the last three months of their 
contracts. Of these, twenty-five were terminated within 
thirty days of their contract expiration. 
 
¶7. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Unless we hear otherwise, USUN 
intends to continue opposing the end-of-service grant. If the 
current impasse continues, USUN proposes to agree to a 
deferral of this agenda item. In regards to the termination 
indemnity, USUN requests Department views on the option of 
changing the basis for granting indemnity payments to staff 
members terminated after five years of service from length of 
service to un-served remainders of terms. 
 
LOOKING AHEAD: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Last year, the General Assembly passed resolution 
63/250 on Human Resources Management which simplified the 
existing web of contractual arrangements into a streamlined 
tripartite framework of temporary contracts, fixed-term 
contracts, and continuing (open-ended) contracts. However, 
the Fifth Committee could not reach consensus on the criteria 
for awarding continuing appointments and deferred decision on 
the criteria for converting staff from fixed-term 
appointments to continuing appointments until the current 
(sixty-fourth) session. All other elements of the framework 
went into effect on 1 July 2009. 
 
¶9. (U) Introduction of the Human Resources Management agenda 
item continues to be delayed because the Fifth Committee has 
not yet received the related report of the Advisory Committee 
on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) In the past, the USG, along with the Government of 
Japan and others, have supported a limit to the number of 
conversions from fixed-term contracts to continuing 
contracts. USUN has already begun preliminary coordination 
with Western delegations such as Japan, CANZ, the EU, and 
Mexico regarding Human Resources Management. There is 
widespread agreement that the proposal put forth by the 
Secretary-General is not sufficiently robust and could result 
in automatic conversion of staff members into continuing 
appointments after five years of service. As a result, these 
Western delegations have indicated willingness to consider a 
temporary limit at least until after the Secretariat 
completes its review of performance appraisal, which is 
scheduled to be completed next year and its results presented 
to the General Assembly during the sixty-fifth session. The 
G-77 is expected both to voice its support for the 
Secretary-General's proposal as well as to push for its 
implementation by 1 January 2010. 
 
¶11. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Unless instructed otherwise, USUN 
intends to push for deferral of the implementation of 
continuing contracts until the Secretariat completes the 
review of the staff performance appraisal system requested by 
the General Assembly for next year. 
 
ASHI 
---- 
 
¶12. (U) One additional human resource-related issue scheduled 
to be considered by the Fifth Committee this session is 
financing the liabilities of the After Service Health 
Insurance (ASHI) program. ASHI is currently scheduled to be 
introduced in the Committee during the week of 9 November. 
However, this issue is likely to be deferred until a later 
session because the Fifth Committee is unlikely to have the 
time to adequately address this technically-complex issue 
given the number of other more pressing issues on the agenda. 
 
¶13. (U) ACTION REQUEST: Unless instructed otherwise, USUN 
intends to support deferral of this agenda item. 
Rice