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GB.270/PFA/16
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Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee |
PFA |
SIXTEENTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Matters relating to the ILO Administrative Tribunal
Recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction
by three intergovernmental organizations
1. Under its Statute the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO is competent to hear complaints against intergovernmental organizations which recognize its jurisdiction and Rules of Procedure and have been approved by the Governing Body. The relevant provisions of the Statute (article II, paragraph 5 and the Annex) appear in Appendix I.
2. Since the Governing Body last approved in November 1996 the recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction by one international organization, the Director-General has received declarations by the following three international organizations recognizing that jurisdiction.
1. International Organization for Migration (IOM)
3. By letter dated 8 January 1997 (see Appendix II) Mr. James N. Purcell, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, informed the Director-General of the International Labour Office that the Council of the IOM, by its resolution No. 952 of 20 November 1996, had resolved to recognize the Tribunal's jurisdiction in accordance with article II, paragraph 5, of its Statute.
4. The IOM was established on 5 December 1951 by the International Migration Conference as the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe. It became the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration a year later and, in 1989, the International Organization for Migration. The aims of the Organization are the processing and the movement of refugees to countries offering them permanent resettlement opportunities; the provision of an orderly and planned migration to meet specific needs for both emigration and immigration countries; the provision of a forum to States and other partners to discuss experience, exchange views, devise measures and promote cooperation and coordination of efforts on migration issues. The IOM's principal organs are the Council, which is the decision-making body and comprises representatives of all member States; the Executive Committee, comprising representatives of ten Members elected annually, and the Office of the Director-General, which is in charge of the Organization's administration. The IOM's membership comprises 59 States, and its secretariat employs at present 151 officials at headquarters, in Geneva, and 858 in its field offices. Under its Constitution the IOM has full legal personality in each of its member States. On 3 May 1954 the Organization concluded a Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss Government recognizing its legal personality and granting to the IOM and its staff the privileges and immunities normally accorded to intergovernmental organizations.
2. International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)
5. By letter dated 16 December 1996 (see Appendix II) Professor Arturo Falaschi, Director of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, informed the Director-General that, in accordance with its Statutes and internal administrative rules, the ICGEB had recognized the Tribunal's jurisdiction in accordance with article II, paragraph 5, of its Statute.
6. The ICGEB's Statutes, which established it as an intergovernmental organization, were adopted by the Ministerial-level Plenipotentiary Meeting of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization held in Madrid in 1983. The Statutes entered into force in 1994. The ICGEB's main purpose is to promote international cooperation in developing and applying the peaceful uses of genetic engineering and biotechnology and to stimulate, promote and assist developing countries in the application of genetic engineering techniques and biotechnology for solving problems of development. The organs of the Centre are the Board of Governors, consisting of one representative of each member State and the Executive Head of UNIDO; the Council of Scientific Advisers, composed of up to ten scientists and technologists in the substantive fields of the Centre, elected by the Board for a three-year term; and the secretariat. The Centre has 40 member States, and has offices in Trieste and New Delhi. At 1 January 1996 it had a staff of 132. Under its Statutes it has legal personality and enjoys, as do its staff, the privileges and immunities normally accorded to intergovernmental organizations.
3. Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
7. By letter dated 2 July 1997 (see Appendix II to this document), Mr. José M. Bustani, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), acting on the authority given to him by the First Conference of States Parties to the OPCW, informed the Director-General that the OPCW recognized the Tribunal's jurisdiction in accordance with article II, paragraph 5, of its Statute.
8. The OPCW was established by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, which was adopted in Paris on 13 January 1993 and entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Organization's purpose is to ensure implementation of the provisions of the Convention, including those for the international verification of compliance, namely: to prohibit all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons, and all use of riot-control agents as a method of warfare; and to ensure that each Party destroys the chemical weapons and production facilities it possesses, as well as any chemical weapons it may have abandoned on another State's territory. The OPCW's principal organs are the Conference of the State Parties of the Organization, the Executive Council, composed of 41 representatives of member States elected on a rotating basis for a two-year term, and the Technical Secretariat, which is primarily responsible for carrying out verification activities related to the Convention. The OPCW's membership in November 1996 comprised 65 States, and its secretariat employs at present 350 officials. Under its constituent instrument, the Organization enjoys on the territory of its member States legal capacity and the privileges and immunities necessary for the exercise of its functions. Moreover, the Organization concluded on 22 May 1997 a Headquarters Agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands recognizing its legal personality and granting to it and its staff the privileges and immunities normally accorded to intergovernmental organizations.
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9. The Tribunal's jurisdiction under article II, paragraph 5, of its Statute already extends, in chronological order of recognition, to 31 organizations other than the ILO, namely: the World Health Organization (WHO), including the Pan- American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization (ICITO/GATT), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the European Patent Organization (EPO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Intergovernmental Council of Copper-Exporting Countries (CIPEC), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), the International Centre for the Registration of Serials (CIEPS), the International Office of Epizootics (OIE), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPON), the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), the Court of the European Free Trade Association, the Surveillance Authority of the European Free Trade Association and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR).
10. The recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction by other organizations entails no additional cost to the ILO, since the organizations against which complaints are filed are required by the Statute to bear the expenses of sessions and hearings and to pay any award of compensation by the Tribunal. The other organizations also contribute in amounts proportionate to the number of their staff to much of the costs of the Tribunal's secretariat.
11. In the light of the foregoing, the Committee may wish to recommend that the Governing Body approve the recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction, with effect from the date of such approval, by --
(a) the International Organization for Migration;
(b) the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology;
(c) the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Geneva, 11 October 1997.
Point for decision: Paragraph 11.
Excerpts from the Statute of the ILO Administrative Tribunal
Article II, paragraph 5
The Tribunal shall also be competent to hear complaints alleging non-observance, in substance or in form, of the terms of appointment of officials and of provisions of the Staff Regulations of any other international organization approved by the Governing Body which has addressed to the Director-General a declaration recognizing, in accordance with its Constitution or internal administrative rules, the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for this purpose, as well as its Rules of Procedure.
Annex
The Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization applies in its entirety to those international intergovernmental organizations which, in accordance with their Constitution or internal administrative rules, recognize the jurisdiction of the Tribunal and formally declare that they adopt its Rules of Procedure in accordance with paragraph 5 of article II of the Statute, subject to the following provisions which, in cases affecting any one of these organizations, are applicable as follows:
Article VI, paragraph 2
The reason for a judgment shall be stated. The judgment shall be communicated in writing to the Director-General of the International Labour Office, to the Director-General of the international organization against which the complaint is filed, and to the complainant.
Article VI, paragraph 3
Judgments shall be drawn up in two copies, of which one shall be filed in the archives of the International Labour Office and the other in the archives of the international organization against which the complaint is filed, where they shall be available for consultation by any person concerned.
Article IX, paragraph 2
Expenses occasioned by the sessions or hearings of the Administrative Tribunal shall be borne by the international organization against which the complaint is filed.
Article IX, paragraph 3
Any compensation awarded by the Tribunal shall be chargeable to the budget of the international organization against which the complaint is filed.
Article XII, paragraph 1
In any case in which the Executive Board of an international organization which has made the declaration specified in article II, paragraph 5, of the Statute of the Tribunal challenges a decision of the Tribunal confirming its jurisdiction, or considers that a decision of the Tribunal is vitiated by a fundamental fault in the procedure followed, the question of the validity of the decision given by the Tribunal shall be submitted by the Executive Board concerned, for an advisory opinion, to the International Court of Justice.
Communications from the organizations
(a) International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Geneva, 8 January 1997
The Director-General
International Labour Office
4, route des Morillons
1211 GENEVA 22
Dear Sir,
At its seventy-second Session held in Geneva in November 1996, the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), by its Resolution No. 952 of 20 November 1996 (copy enclosed), resolved to recognize the jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization in accordance with article II, paragraph 5, of the Statute of the Tribunal.
I thus have the honour to inform you that IOM recognizes the competence of the Tribunal to hearing complaints alleging non-observance, in substance or in form, of the terms of employment of IOM staff members and of the provisions of the Staff Regulations and Rules which are applicable to them. IOM also accepts the Statute of the Tribunal and its Rules of Procedure.
I should be grateful if you would submit the matter to the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization and invite it, in accordance with article II, paragraph 5, of the Statute, to approve IOM's declaration of recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction and acceptance of its Statute and Rules of Procedure with effect from 1 July 1997.
The Council has already approved amendments to the staff Regulations to provide for referral to the ILO Administrative Tribunal.
Sincerely,
(signed) James N. Purcell, Jr.,
Director-General.
(b) International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)
Trieste, 16 December 1996
The Director-General
International Labour Office
4, route des Morillons
1211 GENEVA 22
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you, in conformity with paragraph 5 of article II of the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization and with the Annex to that Statute, that the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) recognizes, in accordance with its Statutes and internal administrative rules, the jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILOAT) for the purpose of hearing complaints alleging non-observance, in substance or in form, of the terms of appointment of staff of ICGEB, and of provisions of the Staff Regulations and Rules which are applicable to the staff of the ICGEB. The ICGEB likewise accepts the Rules of Procedure of the Tribunal. This recognition does not extend to the non-observance of the Regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.
The idea of setting up an International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology originated within the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) programmes and activities, following a recommendation by a Group of Experts on genetic engineering meeting at UNIDO in 1981. The ICGEB Statutes were adopted and opened for signature at a ministerial-level plenipotentiary meeting at Madrid, Spain, in 1983. For over ten years UNIDO promoted the establishment of the ICGEB as an intergovernmental organization under the guidance of a Preparatory Committee and implemented its activities through trust fund projects. The Statutes entered into force in 1994, when ICGEB became an autonomous intergovernmental organization. Forty States are now members of the ICGEB. Its main purpose is to promote international cooperation in developing and applying peaceful uses of genetic engineering and biotechnology and to stimulate, promote and assist developing countries in the application of genetic engineering techniques and biotechnology for solving problems of development. ICGEB has two components headquartered in Trieste, Italy, and in New Delhi, India. Its organs are the Board of Governors, the Council of Scientific Advisers and the Secretariat. As of 1 January 1996, ICGEB has 132 staff members.
ICGEB Staff Rules and Regulations and salary scales conform to the UN Common System of salaries, related allowances and other conditions of service; as of 1st January 1996 ICGEB is a member organization of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) and, by virtue of a Special Agreement concluded with the United Nations, ICGEB officials are subject to jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations (UNAT), with respect to applications by ICGEB staff members alleging non-observance of the Regulations of the UNJSPF.
Appropriate provisions allowing for appeals to the ILOAT and the UNAT are contained in the ICGEB Staff Rules and Regulations. In particular, Annex XII which reads as follows:
"Regulation 12.2:
(a) The Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization shall, under conditions prescribed in its statute (except for cases dealt with by the United Nations Administrative Tribunal under paragraph 12.2(b) below), hear and pass judgment upon applications from staff members alleging the non-observance of their terms of appointment, including all pertinent regulations and rules.
(b) The United Nations Administrative Tribunal shall, under conditions prescribed in its statute, hear and pass judgment upon applications from staff members alleging non-observance of the Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund."
I would be grateful if you could submit the matter to the Governing Body of the ILO and invite it, in accordance with article II, paragraph 5 of the Statute, to approve the ICGEB's declaration of recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction and acceptance of its Rules of Procedure with effect from 1 January 1996.
I hope that the present letter will pave the way for the completion by the ILO of the steps which are required to extend the jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunal to the ICGEB.
Yours sincerely,
(signed) Prof. Arturo Falaschi,
Director - ICGEB.
(c) Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
The Hague, 2 July 1997
The Director-General
International Labour Office
4, route des Morillons
1211 GENEVA 22
Dear Mr. Hansenne,
At its first session, held in The Hague, the Netherlands, from 6 to 23 may 1997, the First Conference of States Parties to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons decided to authorise the Director-General of the Organisation to recognise the jurisdiction of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation over disputes between the Organisation and its employees (Ref. Decision C-I/DEC.68, article XI, Regulation 11.3, attached to this letter).
In accordance with the above-mentioned decision and in accordance with article II, paragraph 5 of the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation and the Annex to that Statute, I have the honour to inform you that the OPCW recognises the Tribunal's competence to hear complaints alleging non-observance, in substance or in form, of the terms of the appointment of staff of the Organisation and of the Staff Regulations and Staff Rules which are applicable to them and that the Organisation likewise accepts the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure.
I should be grateful if you would submit the matter to the Governing Body of the International Labour Office and invite it, in accordance with article II (5) of the Statute, to approve the Organisation's declaration of recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction and acceptance of it's Rules of Procedure with effect from 23 May 1997.
Yours faithfully,
(signed) José M. Bustani,
Director-General.