26 November 2001

FICSA Update No. 62 2001

    Safety and Security of United Nations and Associated Personnel:
    Sixth Committee Proposes Working Group to Enhance Protection

  • On 19 November 2001, the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (legal matters) approved without a vote a draft resolution on the Scope of legal protection under the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel (document A/C.6/56/L.18).

  • The resolution would have the General Assembly establish an Ad Hoc Committee to consider the recommendations made by the Secretary-General last year in document A/55/637 on measures to strengthen and enhance the protective legal regime for United Nations and associated personnel.

  • The Committee would meet from 1 to 5 April 2002, and its work would continue from 7 to 11 October in the Sixth Committee within the framework of a working group during the Assembly's fifty-seventh session. The Ad Hoc Committee would be open to all Member States or members of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and would have to submit a report on its work to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session. The International Committee of the Red Cross (IFRC) would be invited to participate in the Committee's deliberations as an observer.

  • The resolution would have the General Assembly call upon all States to consider becoming parties to the Convention and to respect fully their obligations under relevant international instruments. By other provisions of the text, the Assembly would recommend that the Secretary-General continue to seek the inclusion of relevant provisions of the Convention in the status-of-forces or status-of-mission agreements concluded by the United Nations.

  • The draft resolution was introduced by the representative of New Zealand. The following countries had joined as co-sponsors: France, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland and Romania.

  • The Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel has been ratified by 55 States; the latest to ratify the Convention is Nauru.