Improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat, G.A. res. 51/67, 51 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 197, U.N. Doc. A/51/49 (Vol. I) (1996).
The General Assembly, Recalling Articles 1 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as Article 8, which provides 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, Recalling also its resolutions 45/125 of 14 December 1990 and 45/239 C of 21 December 1990, as well as the relevant paragraphs of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on 15 September 1995, Concerned at the serious and continuing underrepresentation of women in the Secretariat, particularly at the D-1 level and above, where the numbers of women remain unacceptably low, 1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General; 2. Also welcomes the achievement of the goal of 35 per cent overall participation rate of women in posts subject to geographical distribution; 3. Reaffirms the goal of 50/50 gender distribution by the year 2000, and expresses its concern that this goal may not be met, especially at policy- making and decision-making levels (D-1 and above); 4. Calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure full and urgent implementation of the strategic plan of action for the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat (1995-2000) in order to achieve the goal contained in the Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women for overall gender equality, particularly at the Professional level and above, by the year 2000; 5. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that individual managers are held accountable for implementing the strategic plan within their areas of responsibility; 6. Also requests the Secretary-General to continue his work to create a gender-sensitive work environment, including through training and implementation of all appropriate administrative procedures, in particular the special measures outlined in his report, and through further development of a policy on sexual harassment; 7. Further requests the Secretary-General to enable the Focal Point for Women within the Secretariat effectively to monitor and facilitate progress in the implementation of the strategic plan; 8. Strongly encourages Member States to support the strategic plan and the efforts of the United Nations and the specialized agencies to increase the percentage of women in Professional posts, especially at the D-1 level and above, by identifying and regularly submitting more women candidates and by encouraging women to apply for posts within the Secretariat, the specialized agencies and the regional commissions; 9. Urges the Secretary-General to increase the number of women employed in the Secretariat from developing countries, including at the D-1 level and above, particularly those that are unrepresented or underrepresented and from countries that have a low representation of women, including countries with economies in transition; 10. Requests the Secretary-General to report on progress made on the status of women in the Secretariat to the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-first session and to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session. |