POLITICS: U.N. Formulates Strict Code of Conduct for Staff

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations has set a new Code of Conduct for staff members barring them from taking instructions from their home governments or accepting gifts, honours, favours or decorations.

The proposed code, which improves on existing staff rules and regulations, is one of the most comprehensive documents governing the rights and obligations of U.N. staff members who number 4,700 in New York and about 30,000 worldwide in 170 duty stations.

Under the new code, all senior U.N. officials will, for the first time, be called upon to bare their financial assets, along with those of their spouses and dependent children. Secretary- General Kofi Annan, however, may require other staff to file disclosure statements, either on occasion or periodically.

“The United Nations is a public service institution; no staff member is here in order to make a fortune,” says Annan.

Rafiah Salim, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, says the Secretariat is also in the process of formulating a separate code for the Secretary-General and a code for officials and U.N. experts sent out on overseas missions. She said the draft code was the result of extensive consultations between staff and management. Since the original draft was released in February 1997, there have been 52 changes.

Last week Annan was critical of an ongoing practice by some rich nations – particularly Germany, Japan, Britain, the United States and some Nordic countries – who supplement the U.N. salaries of their nationals on the ground that the United Nations is a poor paymaster.

“The Secretary-General would like to recall that any such payments or subsidies are not permitted under staff regulations adopted by the General Assembly, with which all staff are expected to comply,” Senior Associate Spokesman Juan Carlos Brandt said.

Brandt said this principle is also reflected in the new Code of Conduct under which all Under-Secretaries-General and Assistant Secretaries-General will be required to file financial disclosure statements on appointment, and at intervals prescribed by the Secretary-General. This illegal practice came out into the open last month when German newspapers revealed that the recently appointed Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Topfer of Germany, was receiving subsidies from his home government.

Brandt said that the alleged payment was made to Topfer, a former German cabinet minister, before he joined the United Nations. “As such, it was a purely internal German matter that does not directly concern the United Nations.”

As a result of critical media reports, Topfer announced last week that he would voluntarily repay the 280,000 dollars in subsidies he had already received from the German government to help ease the hardship of his four-year assignment with UNEP in Nairobi.

Friedrich Bohl, an official spokesman, said that although the German government respected Topfer’s decision, it still considered the payment had been right. “It was an appropriate amount, legally correct and necessary to secure a man of Mr. Topfer’s ability for the U.N. post,” Bohl said.

Meanwhile, Annan has asked the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, to review all aspects of these government subsidies and compensations to high-ranking U.N. officials by their home governments.

Annan said he intends to pursue this issue with member states both in the context of the upcoming discussion on the Code of Conduct in the General Assembly, as well as during the ongoing discussions on the conditions of service of U.N. staff members. The new code, which is currently being discussed by the U.N.’s Administrative and Budgetary Committee, is expected to go before the 185-member General Assembly later this year.

The code also bars sexual discrimination in the U.N.system, outside employment and press interviews by U.N. staffers, particularly if they relate to activities or interests of the world body.

“Staff members may exercise the right to vote but shall ensure that their participation in any political activity is consistent with, and does not reflect adversely upon, the independence and impartiality required by their status as international civil servants,” the code says.

Hannah Puhlmann, of the Federation of International Civil Servants Association, told the Committee said the code used stronger mandatory terms for staff members and weaker language for management. “Furthermore, codes of conduct should be more than simplistic statements of rules if they were to answer the complex ethical dilemmas faced by staff,” she said.

The present document regrettably relied heavily on statements of rules and an oversight mechanism to ensure compliance, she added. The Federation did not feel that the proposed document reflected a balanced approach to the issue of promoting ethical conduct within the United Nations and doubted therefore whether the proposed changes would fully achieve that aim.

Puhlmann pointed out that her Federation did not believe that the rights of staff representatives were sufficiently well protected by the document. A strict interpretation of certain provisions would violate the right of association and representation, including the right to demonstrate.

“Internationally recognized labour rights, in particular, the right to freedom of action, expression and criticism, must be accorded to staff representatives,” she added.

The Federation has proposed that the Code of Conduct should be submitted to the U.N.’s Legal Committee and the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) for their comments, before it is adopted by the General Assembly.