The General Assembly,
Recalling Articles 1 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations,
Recalling also Article 8 of the Charter, 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 further the relevant paragraphs of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, especially paragraphs 79, 315, 356 and 358,
Recalling the relevant resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other bodies that have continued to focus on this area since the adoption of Assembly resolution 2715 (XXV) of 15 December 1970, in which the question of the employment of women in the Professional category was first addressed,
Taking note of the progress report of the Secretary-General,
Recalling the goal set in its resolutions 45/125 of 14 December 1990, 45/239 C of 21 December 1990, 46/100 of 16 December 1991 and 47/93 of 16 December 1992 of a 35 per cent overall participation rate of women in posts subject to geographical distribution by 1995,
Noting with concern that the current rate of increase in the appointment of women is insufficient to achieve the objective of a 35 per cent participation rate of women in posts subject to geographical distribution by 1995,
Recalling the goal set in its resolution 45/239 C of a 25 per cent participation rate of women in posts at the D-1 level and above by 1995,
Noting with concern that the participation rate of women in posts at the D-1 level and above remains unreasonably low, although some welcome improvements have been made,
Aware that a comprehensive policy aimed at preventing sexual harassment should be an integral part of personnel policy,
Commending the Secretary-General for his administrative instruction on procedures for dealing with cases of sexual harassment,
Bearing in mind that a visible commitment by the Secretary-General is essential to the achievement of the targets set by the General Assembly,
Welcoming the commitment of the Secretary-General, expressed in his statement to the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly on 6 November 1992, to bringing the balance in policy-level positions as close to fifty-fifty as possible, and his commitment, expressed in his message on the occasion of International Women's Day, 1993, to see that the number of women in Professional posts in the Secretariat reflects the world population as a whole by the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations in 1995,
Welcoming also the development by the Secretary-General of a plan of action for 1993 and 1994 to improve the status of women in the Secretariat by 1995,
1. Urges the Secretary-General to implement fully the plan of action to improve the status of women in the Secretariat by 1995, noting that his visible commitment is essential to the achievement of the targets set by the General Assembly;
2. Also urges the Secretary-General to examine further existing work practices within the United Nations system with a view to increasing flexibility so as to remove direct or indirect discrimination against staff members with family responsibilities, including consideration of such issues as job-sharing, flexible working hours, child-care arrangements, career break schemes and access to training;
3. Further urges the Secretary-General, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to accord greater priority to the recruitment and promotion of women in posts subject to geographical distribution, particularly in senior policy-level and decision-making posts and within those parts of the United Nations system and its specialized agencies where representation of women is considerably below the average, in order to achieve the goals set in its resolutions 45/125, 45/239 C, 46/100 and 47/93 of an overall participation rate of 35 per cent by 1995 and 25 per cent in posts at the D-1 level and above by 1995;
4. Strongly urges the Secretary-General to make further use of the opportunity offered by the United Nations reorganization process to promote more women into senior-level positions;
5. Calls on the Secretary-General to strengthen, from within existing resources, the focal point for women within the Secretariat to ensure authority of enforcement and responsibility of accountability and to enable it more effectively to monitor and facilitate progress in the 1995 action programme;
6. Urges the Secretary-General to increase the number of women employed in the Secretariat from developing countries, particularly those which are unrepresented or underrepresented, and from other countries that have a low representation of women, including countries in transition;
7. Strongly encourages Member States to support 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 submitting more women candidates, encouraging women to apply for vacant posts and creating national rosters of women candidates to be shared with the Secretariat, specialized agencies and regional commissions;
8. Requests the Secretary-General further to develop comprehensive policy measures aimed at the prevention of sexual harassment in the Secretariat;
9. Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that a progress report on the status of women in the Secretariat containing, inter alia, policy measures aimed at the prevention of sexual harassment in the Secretariat, is presented to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-eighth session, in accordance with the relevant rules on the delivery timetable for documentation, and to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session.
85th plenary meeting
20 December 1993
