INTERVENTION BY MR. PRAYONO ATIYANTO, MEMBER OF THE INDONESIAN DELEGATION SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA AT THE ADOPTION OF THE RESOLUTION ON THE REVISION OF THE STAFF REGULATIONS AND RULES WHICH IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO THE STAFF OF THE UNITED NATIONS AT THE THIRD PART OF THE RESUMED SESSION OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE OF THE FIFTY-SECOND SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

New York, 21 August 1998

Mr. Chairman,

It is with sincere pleasure that, on behalf of my colleagues members of the Group of 77 and China, I would like to express our deep appreciation to the distinguished representative of Algeria in his capacity as the coordinator of the informal consultations on the report of the Secretary-General on the proposed United Nations code of conduct. Equally important, we would like to congratulate him for his remarkable determination in enabling the Committee to make concrete progress in this relatively short third-resumed session of the Fifth Committee.

However, it is particularly true that what we achieved today was also a result of the great flexibility shown by various delegations on such a complex and delicate issue as the revision to the Staff Regulations and Rules which is applicable only to the staff of the United Nations and not other organizations.

Mr. Chairman,

The revised text of Article 1 of the Staff Regulations and Chapter 1 of the Staff Rules represents one of the important historical agreements that we have written in the 52 years of the United Nations. It provides the general principles that underline the rights, duties and obligations for all staff members of the United Nations.

As we stated in the formal meeting of the Fifth Committee on 17 August 1998, we hope that with the adoption of this resolution it would assist the United Nations in improving its management and staff performance as well as to cover problems concerning the rights and duties of the staff members, the responsibilities of programme managers and staff-management relations.

Mr. Chairman,

There are many other important elements that we still need to follow-up on in the coming years. It this context, we look forward to the results of the work by the International Civil Service Commission in reviewing and updating the 1954 International Civil Service Standards of Conduct. We would also like to await the submission of appropriate regulations and rules governing the status, basic rights and duties of the Secretary-General, officials other than Secretariat officials, and experts on mission as well as additional rules with regard to particular groups of staff such as staff members as finance officers, procurement officers and the staff of the separately funded organs in accordance with paragraph 10 of the report A/52/488.

Thank you.