The General Assembly,
 
      Having considered the twenty-first annual report of the International
Civil Service Commission and other related reports,
 
      Reaffirming its commitment to a single unified United Nations common
system as the cornerstone for the regulation and coordination of the
conditions of service of the United Nations common system,
 
      Reaffirming also the central role of the Commission in the regulation
and coordination of the conditions of service of the United Nations common
system,
 
      Taking note of the statement of the Administrative Committee on
Coordination and of the introductory statement of the Secretary-General
regarding the report of the Commission,
 
 
                                         I
 
                     CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF THE PROFESSIONAL
                               AND HIGHER CATEGORIES
 
                    A. Examination of the Noblemaire principle
                                and its application
 
      Recalling its resolutions related to the study of all aspects of the
application of the Noblemaire principle,
 
      Recalling also section I.B of its resolution 44/198 of 21 December 1989,
by which it reaffirmed that the Noblemaire principle should continue to serve
as the basis of comparison between United Nations emoluments and those of the
highest-paying civil service,
 
      Taking note of chapter III of the report of the International Civil
Service Commission in respect of grade equivalencies with the comparator civil
service, the evolution of the margin, the identification of the highest-paid
national civil service and the collection of reference data from other
international organizations, as well as the views expressed thereon by Member
States in the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly,
 
      Reconfirming the continued application of the Noblemaire principle,
 
      Reaffirming the need to continue to ensure the competitiveness of the
United Nations common system conditions of service,
 
      1.    Decides to defer its consideration of chapter III.A of the report
of the International Civil Service Commission until its resumed fiftieth
session, and requests the Commission to review its recommendations and
conclusions, taking into account the views expressed by Member States in the
Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, in particular regarding the
appropriateness of reduction of dominance and the treatment of bonuses in
determining net remuneration comparisons, so as to assist in that
consideration, and to adjust its programme of work accordingly;
 
      2.    Takes note of the results of the study to identify the
highest-paid national civil service, as set out in paragraph 172 (b) of the
report of the Commission, bearing in mind the views expressed thereon by the
Member State concerned;
 
      3.    Requests the Commission and the national civil service authorities
concerned to resolve the outstanding difficulties in comparing differently
designed civil services and grading systems, within the approved methodology,
and to clarify the conclusions set out in paragraph 172 (b) (ii) and (iii) of
its report, in order to complete the study on the highest-paid national civil
service, and to report thereon to the General Assembly;
 
      4.    Takes note of the recruitment and retention problems faced by some
organizations in respect of certain specialized occupations, recalls its
endorsement in principle of the use of special occupational rates in
organizations with problems of recruitment and retention, and, in this
context, requests the organizations to collect data to substantiate those
problems, and the Commission to make recommendations regarding the conditions
for the application of such rates, as appropriate;
 
 
                            B. Post adjustment matters
 
      Recalling its request in section II.G of its resolution 48/224 of 23
December 1993, regarding place-to-place surveys conducted at headquarters duty
stations,
 
      Taking note of the decisions reached by the International Civil Service
Commission in paragraphs 280, 294, 296 and 297 of its report in respect of the
operation of the post adjustment system,
 
      1.    Welcomes the establishment by the International Civil Service
Commission of a working group to examine the post adjustment system;
 
      2.    Requests the Commission to establish in 1996, in respect of staff
members whose duty station is Geneva, a single post adjustment index which is
fully representative of the cost of living of all staff working in the duty
station and which ensures equality of treatment with staff in other
headquarters duty stations;
 
      3.    Also requests the Commission to address and refer to its working
group on post adjustment, as appropriate, the concerns raised by Member States
in the Fifth Committee regarding the operation of the post adjustment system,
including, inter alia, the issue of the post adjustment at the base of the
common system, management of the differential in net remuneration between the
common system and its comparator, developments in the comparator civil service
and the possible partial phasing out of the expatriate elements of the margin
for staff with long service at one duty station, and requests the Commission
to review all the issues relating to the post adjustment system based on the
study by its working group and to report thereon to the General Assembly at
its fifty-first session;
 
                                        II
 
              GENERAL SERVICE AND OTHER LOCALLY RECRUITED CATEGORIES
 
      Recalling section III, paragraph 1, of its resolution 47/216 of 23
December 1992, in which it endorsed the reaffirmation by the International
Civil Service Commission of the Flemming principle as the basis for the
determination of conditions of service of the General Service and related
categories,
 
      Recalling also section IV.A of its resolution 49/223 of 23 December
1994, by which it requested the Commission to proceed with the current round
of surveys at headquarters duty stations,
 
      1.    Notes that the International Civil Service Commission will provide
a further report on the methodology for surveys of best prevailing local
conditions of employment at headquarters duty stations following the
completion of the comprehensive review of the salary survey methodology in
1997;
 
      2.    Requests the Commission, as part of its review of the methodology
for salary setting for staff in the General Service and other locally
recruited categories, to resolve, to the extent possible, inconsistencies
between this methodology and the one which is applied pursuant to the
Noblemaire principle, inter alia, by examining the question of overlap in
remuneration between the two categories;
 
      3.    Takes note of the results of the salary surveys in New York,
Geneva and Rome as reported in chapter IV of the report of the Commission;
 
                                        III
 
                                  WORK PROGRAMME
 
      Recalling section V, paragraph 2, of its resolution 48/224, in which it
urged the International Civil Service Commission to devote further attention
to personnel management issues,
 
      1.    Requests the International Civil Service Commission to examine
means of reducing the costs of its studies;
 
      2.    Also requests the Commission and the executive heads of the
organizations of the United Nations common system to ensure that adequate
attention is given to all aspects of human resources management, including the
improvement of non-monetary aspects of conditions of service, as set out, for
example, in article 14 of the statute of the Commission;
 
      3.    Further requests the Commission to give priority to the matters
addressed in section I of the present resolution in its programme of work;
 
                                        IV
 
                           FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMISSION
 
      Recalling section II, paragraph 5, of its resolution 49/223, in which it
requested the staff bodies, the organizations and the International Civil
Service Commission to review with all urgency how the consultative process of
the Commission could best be furthered and to report thereon to the General
Assembly,
 
      1.    Reaffirms the validity of the statute of the International Civil
Service Commission and in particular article 6 thereof, whereby its members
shall perform their functions in full independence and with impartiality;
 
      2.    Welcomes the Commission's decision, as contained in paragraphs 54
to 56 of its report, to implement a number of measures to improve its
effectiveness and to introduce, on a trial basis, revised arrangements for the
timing and length of its sessions, and, in that context, requests the
Commission to enhance further the transparency of its work, taking into
account the relevant articles of the statute and its rules of procedure;
 
      3.    Calls upon Member States and the Secretary-General, in the context
of articles 3 and 4 of the statute of the Commission, to ensure through the
selection process of candidates for appointment that the Commission has the
requisite technical skills and broad managerial experience among its
membership;
 
      4.    Notes that the representatives of the Coordinating Committee for
International Staff Unions and Associations of the United Nations System and
the Federation of International Civil Servants' Associations have both
suspended participation in the work of the Commission, and calls upon those
bodies to resume participation in the work of the Commission in a spirit of
cooperation and non-confrontation;
 
      5.    Requests the Commission to ensure that its reports contain clear
and readily understandable explanations of its technical recommendations.