Opening Statement by Ms. Lalla Ben Barka Deputy Executive Secretary on
the occasion of the
XIVth
Assembly of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and
Associations (CCISUA)
24 March 1999, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Mr. Chairman
Distinguished
Guests
Ladies and
Gentlemen
A warm welcome to you
all, particularly to those of you who have travelled long distances to Addis Ababa to
attend this meeting. This is the first time that the Coordinating Committee of
International Staff Unions and Associations is meeting in Africa. As such, we are indeed
pleased that the Economic Commission for Africa is the first UN duty station in the
continent to break the ice.
A defining
characteristic of the United Nations is that major policy and programme issues are
developed on the basis of consultations between management and staff representatives. As
the highest organ of the staff representative system, the CCISUA is therefore an important
instrument of consultation and consensus building in the development of United Nations
policy.
Annual CCISUA
Assemblies are convened to focus on reviewing the Committee’s past mandates,
including those of the preparatory for the next Staff Management Coordinating Committee
meeting.
In the context of the
Secretary-General’s ongoing reforms, the CCISUA has a clear role to play not only in
consolidating staff positions vis-à-vis the new direction, but also in communicating to
staff the imperative for reform towards greater effectiveness of the Organization. The
CCISUA can also advocate effectively that reform and restructuring are not limited to
Headquarters, but also involve and affect duty stations thousands of miles away from New
York.
As we are all well
aware, no process of system wide reform can be a hundred per cent trouble free. That said,
the driving force for us here at ECA – and this has been accepted by staff and
management alike – is that the Commission is aiming to serve Africa better. Its
objective is to become a leading catalyst for ideas, a forger of consensus around key
African policy issues, and a networker of development expertise. To bring such a vision to
life requires the full commitment of staff as well as of management. It also implies that
the two units work, and are seen to work, in tandem and in the same direction. I am
pleased to inform the 14th Assembly of the CCISUA that the ECA Administration
and the Staff Union Committee are working hard towards the same objective.
One of the issues on
which there is clear collaboration is the effort to address the serious effect of currency
devaluation on the salaries and pensions of General Service staff at ECA. Together with
the SUC, the ECA Administration has noted the implications of this devaluation on staff
morale and performance. The Executive Secretary has himself appealed directly to the
Secretary General as well as to the Pension Board to look at the possibility of remedial
measures, as agreed at SMCC XXII.
I am pleased to note
from your agenda that the pension issue is one of the items you shall consider. I am aware
that CCISUA initiated this matter in Jerusalem last year. Given the fact that the problem
is not unique to Addis Ababa, but affects several duty stations, it is clearly in the
CCISUA’s interest and mandate to keep this issue firmly on the system wide agenda.
Rest assured of the ECA Administration’s continued support for your efforts towards
an appropriate remedy.
Let me conclude by
welcome you all once again. We have spared no effort to make you feel at home in our new
UN Conference Centre, and look forward to hearing the results of your deliberations.
Here’s wishing you a fruitful and successful Assembly.
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