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STU/70th Council/24/006
20 March 2024

219th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO

Oral Statement by the UNESCO Staff Union (STU)

Thank you, Ms Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to present to you the priorities that STU wishes to address over the next biennium. These priorities are inspired by the values of the international civil service and are based on the reports and recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit of the UN System (JIU) and the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), among others.

First of all, I would like to return to the issue of the administration of internal justice within UNESCO, in light of the recommendations contained in a recent report by the JIU of the internal pre-tribunal-stage appeal mechanisms in the UN System (JIU/REP/2023/2). Convinced that their implementation would make the internal justice system not only fairer and more transparent, but also more efficient and less costly for UNESCO, we request that the Administration work without further delay on the implementation of Recommendation No. 7 encouraging the Director General to remove all restrictions on the legal representation of the staff in the internal justice processes, as well as Recommendation No. 5 requesting that the DG reports to the Executive Board on the functioning of the internal justice management mechanism by publishing an annual report including details on the number, purpose and outcome of appeals.

Ms Chairperson, Excellencies,

STU remains extremely concerned by the Mental Health and Well-being of staff. The results of a recent JIU study (JIU/REP/2023/4) indicate that more needs to be done urgently to promote and protect a mentally healthy workforce, as we are witnessing a worrying decline in the mental health of UN staff. The implementation of the new UN System Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2024 and beyond is key to embedding these issues into our organizational culture, ensuring that support is available for staff who need it, while reducing risks in the workplace. Managers in fact have a key role to play in creating and maintaining a healthy working environment, and we ask HRM to ensure that newly recruited senior officials show clear HR management skills and to train existing ones in this area.

Improving mental health also means paying more attention to the work-life balance, addressing in particular issues such as unreasonable workloads, managerial ethics and standards, stress and frustration management. STU is ready to work with the Administration to identify effective measures to promote the “right to disconnect”, as boundaries between work and personal life are becoming increasingly blurred.

STU regrets that the Organization still lags behind other UN-Agencies with respect to Flexible Working Arrangements. The 2023 JIU Report (JIU/REP/2023/6) states that UNESCO is the only Organization that does not allow teleworking away from the duty station. The situation is equally bad with regard to compressed work schedule, a mechanism that 17 Organizations foresee but is still not recognized by UNESCO. This is an astonishing discrepancy, given that the majority of UNESCO staff work well beyond the working hours set out in Staff Rule 101.3. STU calls on the Administration to set up a working group, with inclusion of the staff associations, to review its policy on flexible working arrangements and explore solutions to better align it with the provisions of the model UN system policy published by HLMC in 2021.

Similarly, STU is ready to work closely with the Administration on the outcomes of the recently published JIU Review on the Use of Non-Staff Personnel in the UN System (JIU/REP/2023/8). As the proportion of affiliated staff continues to increase at UNESCO, STU remains deeply concerned about this major transformation facing UNESCO, which risks being little or poorly governed, insofar as Member States do not seem to be really concerned about it. STU urges the Administration to undertake, in close coordination with the Sectors, a review of all contractual arrangements for affiliated staff with a view to identifying critical posts of a continuing nature that would merit the creation of staff posts.

Excellencies, dear colleagues,

STU welcomes Ms. Jennifer Linkins, the new Director of HRM, with whom our Association intends to continue its frank, determined and constructive dialogue. Our agenda is a busy one, if we add to the issues briefly discussed above the current geographical mobility exercise, which we must now conclude for the real benefit of involved staff, or the adoption of a new Parental Leave policy, which has been waited for over a year, and to the review of which STU is actively contributing in these days.

To conclude, I am very pleased to announce that, at STU's invitation, UNESCO will be hosting delegates from the staff associations of some thirty international organizations at the 78th Council of FICSA (Federation of International Civil Servants' Associations) in February 2025. This will provide us with a unique opportunity to reflect together on the profound meaning and future of the international civil service in a rapidly changing world.

I thank you for your attention.