The Internal Dispute Resolution Regime of the United Nations – Has the Creation of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and United Nations Appeals Tribunal Remedied the Flaws of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal?

Abstract

Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 59/283 dated 2 June 2005, the Secretary-General established the Redesign Panel on the United Nations system of administration of justice, which was charged with redesigning the system of the administration of justice at the UN. It was created to address the gravity of the issues that arose out of the immense challenges posed by the management of internal disputes at the UN. The Redesign Panel found that the system of internal justice at the UN was unprofessional, lacked independence, was ineffective, did not accord staff members their due process rights, and the staff had little confidence in the system. The UN is the body charged with the protection of the global order, and it is ironic that its internal justice system was found to be in manifest violation of the rights of its own employees. After years of efforts to reform the internal justice system, a new system of the administration of justice became operational at the UN on 1 July 2009. This paper discusses the establishment and the working of the newly established UN internal dispute resolution machinery. The paper is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 sets out the context within which international administrative law works, and discusses two issues in particular, the rule of law and due process, and immunities. Chapter 2 deals with the old regime, and Chapter 3 deals with the newly established system. Chapter 2 and 3 not only discuss the working of the now abolished United Nations Administrative Tribunal, and the newly established United Nations Disputes Tribunal and United Nations Appeals Tribunal, but attempt to analyze the dispute resolution process from its very inception. The paper concludes that the newly established machinery at the UN is a genuine attempt to improve the internal dispute-resolution mechanism. However, in addition to a change in the machinery and rules, attitudes of managers and relevant UN staff, including the Secretary-General must change if significant improvement in the manner in which internal disputes are handled at the UN is to be achieved.