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A/RES/45/125 



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General Assembly

Distr: General
14 December 1990
Original: English

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Forty-fifth session
Agenda item 102

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

45/125. Improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat

The General Assembly,

Recalling Articles 1, 8, 97 and 101 of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling also 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,

Recalling further the report of the Secretary-General of 8 November 1985 on the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat, which was submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 39/245 of 18 December 1984,

Recalling the relevant paragraphs of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, in particular paragraphs 315, 356 and 358 thereof,

Recalling also the recommendations for action contained in the fourth report, of 30 June 1988, of the Steering Committee for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the Secretariat, and realizing that they have not all been implemented,

Noting that the Steering Committee has resumed its work and will soon be submitting a report with recommendations to the Secretary-General,

Noting also that the Office of Human Resources Management of the Secretariat has implemented some special emergency measures pursuant to fulfilling the mandate found in paragraph 27 of the report of the Secretary-General of 8 November 1985 and subsequent resolutions on this topic,

Noting with appreciation that the report of the Secretary-General of 1 October 1990 on the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat was submitted also under the item entitled "Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women to the year 2000",

Noting with concern that, although there has been a slight increase in the percentage of women in the Secretariat, women still constitute less than 30 per cent of the Professional staff and that there has been a decrease in the number of women at the level of Assistant Secretary-General and above in the past twelve months,

Taking note of Economic and Social Council resolution 1990/3 of 24 May 1990,

1.Urges the Secretary-General to continue, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, all possible efforts to increase the number of women employed throughout the United Nations system, particularly in senior policy-level and decision-making posts, and particularly from the developing countries in view of the small proportion of women from these countries in such posts, in order to achieve an overall participation rate of 30 per cent by the end of 1990 and 35 per cent by 1995, with due regard to equitable geographical distribution, in accordance with the report of the Secretary-General of 8 November 1985, all relevant subsequent resolutions and the proposed medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997;

2.Requests Member States to continue to support the efforts of the United Nations, the specialized agencies and the regional commissions to increase the percentage 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, the governing bodies of the specialized agencies and the regional commissions;

3.Requests the Secretary-General to continue to address the unfulfilled points of the action programme for the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat, which aims at the creation of a framework for the advancement of women as an integrated component of the United Nations policy-making process, and by so doing to fulfil the goal of the action programme to secure and maintain the attitudinal changes and the management commitment required for the full participation of women in the work of the Secretariat under conditions of equality;

4.Also requests the Secretary-General to include in his report to be submitted to the General Assembly and the Commission on the Status of Women an action programme for the advancement of women in the Secretariat for the period 1991-1995, further to the request made in paragraph 5 of its resolution 44/75 of 8 December 1989, which should also include a comprehensive evaluation and analysis by the Secretariat of the main obstacles to the improvement of the status of women in the Secretariat and should propose solutions to overcome those obstacles;

5.Further requests the Secretary-General, within existing resources, to ensure that adequate machinery, with the authority of enforcement and the responsibility of accountability, and including a senior-level official devoted to implementation of the action programme, is maintained and, to the extent possible, strengthened during the course of the programme for the period 1991-1995;

6.Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that his annual report on progress achieved and future strategies to implement action programmes on the status of women in the Secretariat and the relevant mandates adopted by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and the recommendations of the Steering Committee for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the Secretariat are submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-fifth session and to the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session for consideration under the item entitled "Forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women to the year 2000".

68th plenary meeting
14 December 1990