Sixth Committee
12 March 2007
Administration of Justice
Statement by Ben Playle
First Secretary and Legal Adviser
of Australia to the United Nations
On behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand
(Check against delivery)
Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The Redesign Panel’s dismal portrayal of the current system of UN internal justice is unquestionably alarming. It confirms our long-held view that the system is in need of fundamental reform. We all have a duty to implement that reform quickly. UN staff members deserve a fair and more efficient system as soon as we can deliver it.
The Redesign Panel’s recommendations provide us with a well-reasoned basis for agreeing upon a new system of UN internal justice. Like others, CANZ has some questions about the Redesign Panel’s recommendations, and we look forward to hearing views on how the new system might work in practise. But we warmly thank the Redesign Panel for an outstanding report. It has done much of our work for us.
The legal aspects of the Redesign Panel’s recommendations cannot readily be discerned from their other aspects. This makes it difficult to determine an appropriate division of labour, which will make a disciplined approach on our part all the more necessary.
Perhaps the most significant role for the Sixth Committee is to ensure that appropriate standards of due process and fairness are incorporated in the new system of UN internal justice. We will best be able to fulfil this role once we see what changes the Fifth Committee proposes to the recommendations that have been made. We should carefully check that those changes do not unduly prejudice due process or fairness considerations.
The Sixth Committee also has a role in discussing legal principles that should guide the new system of UN internal justice, taking into account the circumstances of UN staff. In particular, we must remember that they do not have recourse to national legal mechanisms in the event of a dispute.
The Sixth Committee clearly should not replicate discussions which the Fifth Committee will begin next week. CANZ appreciates that a new system of UN internal justice will come at a price, and we are ready to pay our share. But, like others, we believe the price should be as low as possible, while of course maintaining the integrity of the new system. We look forward to Fifth Committee discussions on the costs involved. But they are not discussions we should have here.
Accordingly, while CANZ sees a possible role for the Sixth Committee to provide some broad guidance on legal issues to the Fifth Committee now, we consider that Sixth Committee’s most valuable role in considering the administration of justice will come later. In our view, we should all save some of our substantive discussions, and perhaps, if possible, some of the meeting time of this resumed session, until then.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.