The Staff Regulations embody the fundamental conditions of service and the basic rights, duties and obligations of the United Nations Secretariat. They represent the broad principles of human resources policy for the staffing and administration of the Secretariat. For the purposes of these Regulations, the expressions “United Nations Secretariat”, “staff members” or “staff” shall refer to all the staff members of the Secretariat, within the meaning of Article 97 of the Charter of the United Nations, whose employment and contractual relationship are defined by a letter of appointment subject to regulations promulgated by the General Assembly pursuant to Article 101, paragraph 1, of the Charter. The Secretary-General, as the chief administrative officer, shall provide and enforce such staff rules consistent with these principles as the Secretary-General considers necessary.

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Secretary-General’s bulletin

Staff Regulations and Staff Rules

ST/SGB/2024/1

24 April 2024

Under Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly establishes staff regulations which set out the broad principles of human resources policy for the staffing and administration of the Secretariat and the separately administered funds and programmes. The Secretary-General is required by the staff regulations to provide and enforce such staff rules, consistent with these principles, as the Secretary-General considers necessary.

Articles 8, 97, 100, 101 and 105 of the Charter of the United Nations, which relate to the service of the staff, are included in the introductory part of the present edition of the Staff Regulations and Rules, on page 6.

The Secretary-General promulgates the following with respect to the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, established by the General Assembly in accordance with Article 101 of the Charter:

Section 1

Revised edition of the Staff Regulations and Rules

1.1 By its resolution 78/275, the General Assembly approved the following amendments to the Staff Regulations and annexes thereto:

(a) Editorial changes were made to simplify and streamline the Staff Regulations, to improve the user-friendliness and clarity of the text, and to eliminate duplication;

(b) New regulation 1.3 on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities was added. This new regulation is introduced under article I (Duties, obligations and privileges). The regulation complies with General Assembly resolution 73/273 and is based on the elements currently included in the Secretary-General’s bulletin on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities in the United Nations Secretariat (ST/SGB/2014/3);

(c) In regulation 3.2 (a), flexibility was introduced to allow the payment of tuition for the teaching of the mother tongue of either parent to a dependent child, irrespective of whether the parent whose mother tongue is taught is a staff member. The entitlement remains limited to the payment of tuition for the teaching of only one mother tongue. The eligibility criterion according to which the staff member must be serving in a country whose language is different from the staff member’s own language remains;

(d) New regulation 5.1 on hours of work and official holidays was added in order to group all provisions relating to attendance and leave under article V of the Staff Regulations and chapter V of the Staff Rules, by moving text from the previous staff regulation 1.3 to the new staff regulation 5.1. Accordingly, the title of article V was amended to read “Attendance and leave”, rather than referring only to two types of leave (annual and special leave, as reflected in the previous article V)

(e) Regulation 6.2 on social security was amended: in accordance with General Assembly resolution 77/256 B, in which the Assembly welcomed the establishment of the new parental leave framework, the phrase “maternity and paternity leave” was replaced with “parental leave”.

1.2 By its resolution 78/275, the General Assembly took note of the following amendments to the Staff Rules and appendices thereto:

(a) Editorial changes were made to simplify and streamline the Staff Rules, to improve the user-friendliness and clarity of the text, and to eliminate duplication;

(b) In staff rule 1.2 (Basic rights and obligations of staff), paragraph (e), on specific instances of prohibited conduct, the reference to the marriage of a staff member with a person who is under the age of 18 but over the age of majority or consent in his or her country of citizenship was removed in line with General Assembly resolution 73/153 on child, early and forced marriage, in which the Assembly called upon States to develop and implement measures at all levels to end child, early and forced marriage;

(c) New rule 1.3 (Employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities) was added. The rule is in accordance with General Assembly resolution 73/273 and is based on the elements currently included in the Secretary-General’s bulletin on employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities in the United Nations Secretariat (ST/SGB/2014/3);

(d) New rule 3.7 (Rental subsidy) was added for the purposes of additional consistency and clarity in the Staff Rules;

(e) New rule 3.16 (Deductions and contributions), paragraph (c), was added to provide a clearer basis for the Organization to make voluntary deductions from salaries and other emoluments in accordance with the amounts reflected in family support court orders in cases in which staff members have failed to meet family support obligations;

(f) Rule 4.4 (Staff in posts subject to local recruitment), paragraph (b), on the recruitment of National Professional Officers, reflects the increased flexibility in the use of National Professional Officers in accordance with the guidelines approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 72/255;

(g) Rule 6.3 (Parental leave) reflects a change in the parental leave entitlement pursuant to General Assembly resolution 77/256 to replace the current maternity, paternity and adoption leave provisions with a parental leave provision of 16 weeks for all parents, and to provide an additional period of 10 weeks for the birth mother;

(h) Rule 7.2 (Official travel of staff members and their eligible family members), paragraph (c), allows staff members and their eligible family members to repatriate to either the place of recruitment or the recognized place of home leave, provided that the staff members hold an appointment other than a temporary one and regardless of the duration of their appointment of service with the Organization;

(i) Rule 7.3 (Dates, mode, route and standard of accommodation for travel), paragraph (f), reflects that, for all official travel by air, the Deputy Secretary-General, the Under-Secretaries-General and the Assistant Secretaries-General and their eligible family members shall be provided with a standard of accommodation for travel immediately below first class, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 72/262 B, unless economy class transportation is otherwise provided for under conditions established by the Secretary-General;

(j) Under rule 9.8 (Termination indemnity), paragraph (c), a termination indemnity is payable to staff members whose normal age of retirement is 60 or 62 and whose appointments are terminated as a result of abolition of posts or reduction of staff prior to their mandatory age of separation of 65 years. This is a direct consequence of implementing the new mandatory age of separation of 65 years effective 1 January 2018 as decided by the General Assembly in its resolution 70/244.

Section 2

Updates to the scales on salary and pensionable remuneration, and pay protection measures

2.1 By its resolution 79/252 A–B, the General Assembly approved an update of the salary scale and pay protection measures for staff in the Professional and higher categories, as set out in annex I to the Staff Regulations.

2.2 The salary scale and pay protection measures for staff in the Field Service category, as set out in appendix A to the Staff Rules, were updated pursuant to General Assembly resolution 79/252 A–B.

2.3 The pensionable remuneration scales in appendix A to the Staff Rules were also updated in accordance with the regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.