STU/69th Council/20/022
7 December 2020

210th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO
Document 210 EX/5.IV

ORAL STATEMENT OF THE UNESCO STAFF UNION (STU)

Thank you, Mr Chairperson, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The STU regrets that UNESCO has made only minimal improvements to the imbalances in geographical distribution and gender balance inequalities in the professional categories and above. Too many Member States are indeed still under- or non-represented. Furthermore, it would be useful to know which categories of posts are occupied by staff of different nationalities and at which levels and grades.

Likewise, to say that UNESCO has the best gender balance, or even an over- representation of women among its staff, is irrelevant if these women are mostly in General Service categories.

STU is surprised that the proposed measures are only in relation to external recruitment. Distribution by type, gender and level of employment of the existing staff should also see improvement.

Regarding mobility , STU has always pronounced itself in favour of this policy and appreciates HRM’s efforts to implement several IOS recommendations concerning timing, mandatory handover process and the reintroduction of a phase of internal advertisement of posts to allow colleagues to apply for posts at a higher grade.

However, STU still calls for the implementation of clear, fair and transparent criteria. STU also insists that the expertise of staff members is duly considered and reminds HRM that mobility should serve career development. Furthermore, STU would like mobility exercises to take place every two years , and not every year. Lastly, STU underlines the absolute necessity of updating AC/HR/65 circular on mobility to take into account all of the 9 IOS recommendations.

Thank you for your attention.