Seconded personnel

The Secretariat makes use of seconded active-duty military and police personnel at Headquarters and in peace operations in functions previously performed by military and police personnel provided by Member States as gratis personnel. Seconded military and police personnel recruited against posts remain in active-duty status with their national Governments while at the same time serving as United Nations staff members appointed under a letter of appointment signed by them and by, or on behalf of, the Secretary-General.

Note that the term "secondment" is used to refer to both seconded military and police personnel as well as staff from other organizations of the common system seconded under the inter-organization agreement on transfer, secondment or loan. This article deals only with the former.

Selection
Seconded military and police personnel are selected through a competitive selection process. Member States are invited to nominate active-duty officers against specified job openings. A tripartite agreement is concluded between the United Nations, the Government and the active-duty officer selected for service with the United Nations. Following the conclusion of the tripartite agreement, the seconded officer signs a letter of appointment with the United Nations.

Once selected, seconded military and police personnel serve normally for two years, up to a maximum of four years.

Issues
In some cases, national legislation applicable to seconded officers conflicts with the Staff Regulations and Rules.

For example, seconded personnel, as United Nations staff members, are remunerated in the same manner as other staff members (e.g. salary, post adjustment, benefits). However, some seconded officials continue to receive salaries and/or benefits from their governments. In some cases, national legislation of some Member States prohibits active duty personnel from receiving remuneration from other organizations and therefore. At the same time, staff regulation 1.2(j) stipulates that "No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any Government."

This issue was first raised to the attention of the Assembly in the context of the 2013/14 budgets for peacekeeping operations. Although proposals have been made to resolve the issue, these have not been adopted by the General Assembly, therefore necessitating the use and extension of exceptional measures (e.g. payment of salaries to the T/PCC instead of to the seconded active duty officer) to allow all Member States to participate.