18 December 1981

Respect for the privileges and immunities of officials of the United Nations and the specialized and related agencies

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 35/212 of 17 December 1980,

Recalling the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations of 13 February 1946, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies of 21 November 1947, the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Atomic Energy Agency of 1 July 1959 and the agreements between the respective host Governments and the United Nations and the specialized and related agencies,

Noting the report of the Secretary-General,

Noting the position consistently upheld by the the United Nations in the event of the arrest and detention of United Nations staff members by governmental authorities, Reaffirming the responsibility and authority of the Secretary-General as the Chief Administrative Officer of the United Nations under the Charter,

Mindful of Article 100 of the Charter of the United Nations, under which each Member State has undertaken to respect the exclusively international character of responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities,

Mindful also that under the same Article of the Charter, the Secretary-General and the staff shall not, in the performance of their duties, seek or receive instructions from any Government or from any other authority external to the Organization,

Recalling that the International Court of Justice has held that international organizations have the power and responsibility to protect members of their staff,

Recalling also the obligations of the staff in the conduct of their duties to observe the laws and regulations of Member States,

Reaffirming the relevant staff regulations, Aware of the absolute necessity that staff members be enabled to discharge their tasks as assigned to them by the Secretary-General without interference on the part of any Member State or any other authority external to the Organization,

Realizing that staff members of the specialized and related agencies enjoy similar privileges and immunities in accordance with the provisions of the second preambular paragraph above,

1. Appeals to any Member State which has placed under arrest or detention a staff member of the United Nations or of a specialized or related agency to enable the Secretary-General or the executive head of the organization concerned, in accordance with the rights inherent under the relevant multilateral conventions and bilateral agreements, to visit and converse with the staff member, to apprise himself of the grounds for the arrest or detention, including the main facts and formal charges, to enable him to assist the staff member in arranging for legal counsel and to recognize the functional immunity of a staff member asserted by the Secretary-General or by the appropriate executive head, in conformity with international law and in accordance with the provisions of the applicable bilateral agreements between the host country and the United Nations organization or the specialized or related agency concerned;

2. Requests the Secretary-General and the executive heads of organizations concerned to ensure that the staff observe the obligations incumbent upon them, in accordance with the relevant staff rules and regulations, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies and the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Atomic Energy Agency;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all specialized and related agencies of the United Nations system, with the request that they furnish information to him on cases where there are clear indications that the principles expressed in paragraph 1 above or the status of the staff members of such an organization have not been fully respected;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to submit, on behalf of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, an updated and comprehensive annual report to the General Assembly at each regular session relating to cases in which the Secretary-General or the competent executive head has not been able to exercise fully his responsibility in respect of the protection of staff members of the United Nations or of a specialized or related agency in accordance with the multilateral conventions and applicable bilateral agreements with the host country.