Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations

Statement by Mr. Park, Chull-joo
Legal Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea
Agenda Item 140: Administration of Justice at the United Nations

10 November 2010 
New York

*Check against Delivery

Mr. Chairman,

Most of all, my Delegation would like to express its appreciation to all the presentations on this agenda items this morning. They have the potentials to become a comprehensive basis for our deliberations on what we have already accomplished and what remains to be done in the future.

Mr. Chairman,

The Republic of Korea has attached great importance to the establishment of an independent, transparent, professionalized, adequately resourced and decentralized system of administration of justice inside the United Nations. In this regard, the new mechanism for resolving disputes between the Organization and its employees, which was introduced on July 1, 2009, has extreme significance in the history of internal justice at the United Nations. We believe that the new system of administration of justice will not only promote the rule of law in the UN, but will increase the efficiency of the Organization as a whole.

During its first year of operation, the new AoJ system has achieved outstanding results. The Secretary-General states in his report A/65/373 that staff have expressed confidence in the new system through the consultative mechanism. The UN Dispute Tribunal has been disposing of its cases much more efficiently than the old bodies. My Delegation wishes to join the other Delegations in acknowledging the success of the new system and we hope that in the future we are able to continue the progress made in the first year.

Mr. Chairman,

In spite of the initial success of the new system, it is true that there are some issues that require further consideration in order for the system to operate optimally. The Korean Delegation continues to emphasize that all possible use should be made of the informal resolution of disputes in order to avoid unnecessary litigation. In this regard, my Delegation shares with the ACABQ its concern over the low number of cases referred to the Mediation Service. This Delegation welcomes the key stakeholder forum, which was launched by the Office of the UN Ombudsman and Mediation Service, in order to bring systematic issues to the attention of those stakeholders for timely action on such issues.

This Delegation would like to take this opportunity to urge the expeditious conclusion of an agreement on a cost-sharing arrangement between the United Nations Secretariat and the Funds and Programmes, as approved in GA resolution 62/228. At the same time, my Delegation wishes to see in the near future concrete proposals concerning paragraph 14 of GA resolution 63/253 about a staff-funded scheme in the organization that would provide legal assistance and support to staff.

My Delegation is of the view that due consideration should be given to the Secretary-General’s proposals presented in Section IV of his report. In this regard, we are in favor of introducing an additional mechanism to address non-meritorious claims more expeditiously and also very much supportive of increased use of video-conferencing facilities.

Mr. Chairman,

With respect to recourse mechanisms for non-staff personnel who now exceed 60,000 worldwide, my Delegation recognizes that providing effective remedy to all persons who perform work for the Organization is essential for improving the credibility and transparency of the UN. However, this Delegation aligns itself with the relevant recommendation of the ACABQ that the new system continue to apply only to individuals covered by the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations. My Delegation looks forward to further discussions during this session on an dispute resolution mechanism for non-staff personnel, based upon analyses of the advantages and disadvantages of the four options in the SG’s report.

Mr. Chairman,

Turning to the issue of emerging jurisprudence in the new Tribunals, my Delegation also notes that all elements of the new AoJ system must work in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the legal and regulatory framework approved by the General Assembly and expects the Tribunals to be guided accordingly.

With regard to the future workload at the new AoJ system, my Delegation concurs with the ACABQ that it is, in general, too early to assess the system’s future workload and determine the resources necessary to support it. At the same time, we commend the Secretary-General’s willingness to actively use his budgetary discretion in order to arrange temporary support for the new system.

Finally, the Republic of Korea would like to restate its determination to continue to support the implementation of the new system of administration of justice at the UN. We will endeavor to work constructively with other Delegations on this issue. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.