Reaffirming 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 Articles 97, 100 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling its resolution 2715 (XXV) of 15 December 1970, in which it first addressed the question of the employment of women in the Professional category, and all relevant resolutions that have continued to focus on this area since then, particularly its resolution 40/258 B of 18 December 1985, in which it welcomed the action programme to improve the status of women in the Secretariat for 1985-1990,

Noting with satisfaction that the question of the improvement of the status of women in the secretariats of the United Nations system continues to be a standing item on the agenda of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination,

Taking account of the relevant part of the report of the International Civil Service Commission,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat and section II.G of the report of the Secretary-General on the composition of the Secretariat,

Noting with concern that, although there has been a slight increase in the percentage of women in the Secretariat, women fill only 7.1 per cent of posts at the D-1 level and above,

Reaffirming that the Fifth Committee is the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly entrusted with responsibility for administrative, budgetary and personnel matters, including, inter alia, the issue of representation of women in the Secretariat,

1.Reiterates its full support for the Secretary-General as the chief administrative officer of the Organization and his prerogatives and responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations;

2.Urges the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to increase the number of women in posts subject to geographical distribution, particularly in senior policy-level and decision-making posts, in order to achieve an overall participation rate of 30 per cent by the end of 1990 and, to the extent possible to 35 per cent by 1995, taking into account the principle that the paramount consideration shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity with full respect for the principle of equitable geographical distribution;

3.Also urges the Secretary-General, all things being equal and to the extent possible, to accord priority to the participation of women at the D-1 level and above with a view to increasing the participation rate of women in posts at the D-1 level and above to 25 per cent of the total within the overall participation rate of women in 35 per cent of posts subject to geographical distribution by 1995;

4.Reiterates its request that the Secretary-General make every effort to increase the representation of women from developing countries, in particular at the D-1 level and above;

5.Requests the Secretary-General to make every effort to increase the representation of women from those countries with a low representation of women;

6.Also requests the Secretary-General, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 44/185 C of 19 December 1989, to develop an action programme for the advancement of women in the Secretariat for the period 1991-1995, incorporating as necessary the unfulfilled points of the 1985-1990 action programme and to report thereon to the Assembly at its forty-sixth session;

7.Further requests the Secretary-General to include in the action programme for the advancement of women in the Secretariat for the period 1991-1995:

1. a comprehensive evaluation and analysis by the Secretariat of the main obstacles to the improvement of the status of women in the Organization;

2. proposed measures to overcome the underrepresentation of women from certain Member States; and

3. a detailed programme of activities, including monitoring procedures and a timetable for their completion;

8.Requests the Secretary-General to maintain the existing Secretariat machinery and to consider the adequacy of the existing machinery to implement the action programme, taking account of the work-loads in the relevant offices, and to report thereon when submitting the action programme for the period 1991-1995;

9.Requests Member States to continue to support the efforts of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and related organizations to increase the participation of women in the Professional category and above by, inter alia, nominating more women candidates, especially for senior policy-level and decision-making posts, by encouraging women to apply for vacant posts and by creating national rosters of women candidates to be shared with the Secretariat, specialized agencies and related organizations.

72nd plenary meeting
21 December 1990