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STU/66th Council/14/023
24 October 2014

Document 195 EX/13: Preliminary proposals by the Director-General
for the preparation of the budget for the biennium 2016-2017 (38 C/5)

Oral statement by the UNESCO Staff Union (STU), 24 October 2014

1. STU has studied document 195 EX/13 which presents the preliminary proposals (3 scenarios) by the Director-General for the preparation of the budget for the biennium 2016-2017 (38 C/5) and the determination of the budget envelope.

2. The third scenario (zero-real growth: ZRG) is of course the best option from a staff point of view, not only because it would guarantee current levels of employment, but, more importantly, would be in the interest of the Organization and its Member States. As has been clearly stated repeatedly in recent years by the Director-General and several representatives of Member States at the Executive Board, the General Conference and in other fora, there is a limit to how much the Organization’s budget, programmes and staff can be further reduced without largely compromising its ability to operate and even the very essence of its existence.

3. In this respect, the redeployment exercise, which caused great concern and demotivation among staff, severely slowed down implementation of programmes. Even though STU noted with satisfaction that on this occasion an open and constructive dialogue was established with the Director-General, the Deputy Director-General, the Director of the Bureau of Human Resources Management and the whole senior management team, it remains concerned about the situation of seven colleagues still without a post at the end of the exercise and the negative impact for 16 colleagues, mostly in the general service category, of redeployment to a post at a lower grade.

4. UNESCO’s Constitution places humanism at the core of the Organization’s unique mandate. Once more, STU alerts the Director-General to the fact that terminations violate UNESCO’s humanist essence.

5. Therefore, STU fully supports the Director-General's request to Member States, as stated in document 195 EX/13, for a budget large enough to enable the Organization to implement its programmes.

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