Draft agreement between the United Nations and the International Refugee Organization Resolution of 24 August 1948 (document E/1063)

E/RES/164 (VII)

The Economic and Social Council,

Having considered the draft agreement entered into between its Committee on Negotiations with Inter-governmental Agencies and the Negotiating Committee of the Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization,

Recommends to the General Assembly that this agreement be approved by it without change.

DRAFT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ORGANIZATION

PREAMBLE

Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations makes provision for bringing the specialized agencies, established by inter-governmental agreement and having wide international responsibilities as defined in their basic instruments in economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related fields, into relationship with the United Nations.

Article 3 of the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization (hereinafter called "the Organization") provides that the relationship between the Organization and the United Nations shall be established in an agreement between the Organization and the United Nations as provided in Articles 57 and 63 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Therefore the United Nations and the Organization agree as follows:

Article I

The United Nations recognizes the Organization as the specialized agency responsible for taking such action as may be appropriate under its Constitution for the accomplishment of the purposes set forth therein.

Article II RECIPROCAL REPRESENTATION

1. The United Nations shall be invited to send representatives to attend the meetings of the General Council, the Executive Committee and any subsidiary organs of the Organization and such conferences as the Organization may convene, and to participate, without vote, in the deliberations of these bodies.

2. The Organization shall be invited to send representatives to attend meetings of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and of its commissions and committees, and to participate, without vote, in the deliberations of these bodies with respect to items on their respective agendas relating to matters within the competence of the Organization.

3. The Organization shall be invited to send representatives to attend, in a consultative capacity, meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Such representatives shall be afforded full opportunity for presenting to the Assembly the views of the Organization on matters which lie within its competence.

4. The Organization shall be invited to send representatives to attend meetings of the main committees of the General Assembly when questions within the scope of the Organization are under discussion and to participate, without vote, in such discussions.

5. The Organization shall be invited to send representatives to attend meetings of the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations and to participate, without vote, in the deliberations thereof relating to items on its agenda within the competence of the Organization.

6. Upon the request of the Organization, written statements submitted by the Organization shall be distributed by the Secretariat of the United Nations, as soon as practicable, to all members of the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations, their commissions and committees, as appropriate. Similarly, written statements presented by the United Nations shall be distributed by the Organization to all members of the General Council or the Executive Committee thereof, as appropriate.

Article III PROPOSAL OF AGENDA ITEMS

Subject to such preliminary consultation as may be necessary, the Organization shall include in the agenda of the General Council or Executive Committee of the Organization, as appropriate, items proposed to it by the United Nations. Similarly, the Economic and Social Council and its commissions and the Trusteeship Council shall include in their respective agendas items proposed by the Organization.

Article IV RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

1. The Organization, having regard to the obligation of the United Nations to promote the objectives set forth in Article 55 of the Charter and the functions and powers of the Economic and Social Council under Article 62 of the Charter to make or initiate studies and reports with respect to international economic, social, cultural, educational, health and related matters and to make recommendations concerning these matters to the specialized agencies concerned, and having regard also to the responsibility of the United Nations, under Articles 58 and 63 of the Charter, to make recommendations for the co-ordination of the policies, and activities of such specialized agencies, agrees to arrange for the submission to its appropriate organ, as soon as practicable, of all formal recommendations which the United Nations may make to it.

2. The Organization agrees to enter into consultation with the United Nations upon request with respect to such recommendations, and in due course to report to the United Nations on the action taken by the Organization or by its members to give effect to such recommendations, or on the other results of their consideration thereof.

3. The Organization affirms its intention of co-operating in whatever measures may be necessary in order to effect co-ordination between the activities of specialized agencies and those of the United Nations. In particular, it agrees to participate in, and to co-operate with, anybody or bodies which the Council may establish for the purpose of facilitating such co-ordination, and to furnish such information as may be required for this purpose.

Article V EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS

1. Subject to such arrangements as may be necessary for the safeguarding of confidential material, the fullest and promptest exchange of information and documents shall be made between the United Nations and the Organization.

2.

(a) The Organization agrees to transmit to the United Nations regular reports on its activities and programmes of its operations for each ensuing year;

(b) The Organization agrees to comply to the fullest extent practicable with any request which the United Nations may make for the furnishing of special reports, studies or information;

(c) The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall, upon request, consult with the Director-General of the Organization regarding the provision to the Organization of such information as may be of special interest to the Organization.

Article VI PUBLIC INFORMATION

Having regard to the fact that it is essential to the success of the Organization to have the s of an informed public opinion, the Organ requires special facilities for keeping the public informed of its aims and activities. To compement the facilities of the Organization in this field, the United Nations will make available to the Organizations its machinery for informing the general public on matters of interest to the United Nations.

Article VII ASSISTANCE TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL

The Organization agrees to co-operate with the Economic and Social Council in furnishing such information and rendering such assistance for the maintenance or restoration of international peace and security to the Security Council as the Security Council may request.

Article VIII ASSISTANCE TO THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

The Organization agrees to co-operate with the Trusteeship Council in the carrying out of its functions and in particular agrees that it will, to the greatest extent possible, render such assistance as the Trusteeship Council may request in regard to matters with which the Organization is concerned.

Article IX NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES

The Organization agrees to co-operate within the limits of its functions with the United Nations in giving effect to the principles and obligations set forth in Chapter XI of the Charter of the United Nations with regard to matters affecting the wellbeing and development of the peoples of non-self-governing territories.

Article X RELATIONS WITH THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

1. The Organization agrees to furnish any information which may be requested by the International Court of justice in pursuance of article 34 of the Statute of the Court.

2. The General Assembly of the United Nations authorizes the Organization to request advisory opinions of the International Court of justice on legal questions arising within the scope of its activities other than questions concerning the mutual relationships of the Organization with the United Nations or with other specialized agencies.

3. Such request may be addressed to the Court by the General Council of the Organization, or by its Executive Committee, acting in pursuance of an authorization of the General Council.

4. When requesting the International Court of justice to give an advisory opinion, the Organization shall inform the Economic and Social Council of such request.

Article XI REGIONAL OFFICES

Any regional or branch offices which the Organization may establish shall, so far as practicable, be closely associated with such regional or branch offices as the United Nations may establish.

Article XII PERSONNEL ARRANGEMENTS

1. The United Nations and the Organization recognize that the eventual development of a single unified international civil service is desirable from the standpoint of effective administrative co-ordination in order to avoid serious discrepancies in terms and conditions of employment, to avoid competition in recruitment of personnel, and to facilitate interchange of personnel so as to obtain the maximum benefit from the services of such personnel.

2. The United Nations and the Organization agree to co-operate to the fullest extent possible in achieving these ends and, in particular, they agree:

(a) To participate in the International Civil Service Advisory Board established to advise on the means by which common standards of recruitment in the secretariats of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies may be ensured;

(b) To consult together concerning other matters relating to the employment of their officers and staff, including conditions of service, duration of appointments, classification, salary scales and allowances, retirement and pension rights and staff regulations and rules with a view to securing as much uniformity in these matters as shall be found practicable;

(c) To co-operate in the interchange of personnel, when desirable, on a temporary or permanent basis, making due provision for the retention of seniority and pension rights; and

(d) To co-operate in the establishment and operation of suitable machinery for the settlement of disputes arising in connexion with the employment of personnel and related matters.

Article XIII STATISTICAL SERVICES

1. The United Nations and the Organization agree to strive for maximum co-operation, the elimination of, undesirable duplication between them and the most efficient use of their technical personnel, in their respective collection, analysis, publication and dissemination of statistical information. They agree to combine their efforts to secure the greatest possible usefulness and utilization of statistical information and to minimize the burdens placed upon national Governments and other organizations from which such information may be collected.

2. The Organization recognizes the United Nations as the central agency for the collection, analysis, publication, standardization, dissemination and improvement of statistics serving the general purposes of international organizations.

3. The United Nations recognizes the Organization as the appropriate agency for the collection, analysis, publication, standardization, dissemination and improvement of statistics within its special sphere, without prejudice to the right of the United Nations to concern itself with such statistics so far as they may be essential for its own purpose or for the improvement of statistics throughout the world.

4. The Organization recognizes the responsibility of the United Nations to develop administrative instruments and procedures through which effective statistical co-operation is secured between the United Nations and the agencies brought into relationship with it.

5. It is recognized as desirable that the collection of statistical information should not be duplicated by the United Nations or any of the specialized agencies whenever it is practicable for any of them to utilize information or materials which another may have available.

6. In order to build up a central collection of statistical information for general use, it is agreed that data supplied to the Organization for incorporation in its basic statistical series or special reports should, so far as is practicable, be made available to the United Nations.

Article XIV ADMINISTRATIVE AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

1. The United Nations and the Organization recognize the desirability, in the interest of administrative and technical uniformity and of the most efficient use of personnel and resources, of avoiding, whenever possible, the establishment and operation of competitive or overlapping facilities and services among the United Nations and the specialized agencies.

2. Accordingly, the United Nations and the Organization agree to consult with each other concerning the establishment and use of common administrative and technical services and facilities in addition to those referred to in articles XII, XIII and XV, in so far as the establishment and use of such services may from time to time be found practicable and appropriate.

3. Arrangements shall be made between the United Nations and the Organization with regard to the registration and deposit of official documents.

Article XV BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS

1. The Organization recognizes that the administration of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies should be carried out in the most efficient and economical manner possible, and that the maximum measure of co-ordination and uniformity with respect to administration should be secured.

2. The United Nations and the Organization agree to co-operate to the fullest extent possible to achieve these ends.

3. If at any time either party should consider it desirable, the parties shall consult together concerning the inclusion of the administrative budget of the Organization within the general budget of the United Nations. Any arrangements to this effect shall be defined in a supplementary agreement between the two Organizations.

4. Pending the conclusion of any such agreement, the following arrangements shall govern budgetary and financial relationships between the United Nations and the Organization:

(a) In the preparation of the estimates for the administrative budget of the Organization, the Director-General of the Organization shall consult with the Secretary-General of the United Nations with a view to achieving, in so far as practicable, uniformity in presentation of the administrative budgets of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies for the purpose of providing a basis for comparison of the several budgets.

(b) The Organization agrees to transmit its budget to the United Nations by such date as may be agreed upon by the United Nations and the Organization. The General Assembly shall review the administrative budget of the Organization and may make recommendations to the Organization concerning any item or items contained therein.

(c) Representatives of the Organization shall be entitled to participate, without vote, in the deliberations of the General Assembly or any committee thereof or established by it at all times when the administrative budget of the Organization or general administrative or financial questions affecting the Organization are under consideration.

(d) The United Nations, at the request of the Organization, may undertake the collection of contributions from those members of the Organization which are also Members of the United Nations in accordance with such arrangements as may be defined by a later agreement between the United Nations and the Organization.

(e) The United Nations shall, upon its own initiative or upon the request of the Organization, arrange for studies to be undertaken concerning other financial and fiscal questions of interest to the Organization and to other specialized agencies with a view to the provision of common services and the securing of uniformity in such matters.

(f) The Organization agrees to conform, as far as may be practicable, to standard practices and forms recommended by the United Nations.

Article XVI FINANCING OF SPECIAL SERVICES

1. In the event of the Organization being faced with the necessity of incurring extra expense as a result of compliance with any request which the United Nations may make for special reports, studies or assistance in accordance with articles V, VII, VIII, or with other provisions of this agreement, consultation shall take place with a view to determining the most equitable manner in which such expense shall be borne.

2. Consultation between the United Nations and the Organization shall similarly take place with a view to making such arrangements as may be found equitable for covering the cost of central administrative, technical or fiscal services or facilities or other special assistance provided by the United Nations to the Organization.

Article XVII LAISSEZ-PASSER

Officials of the Organization shall have the right to use the laissez-passer of the United Nations in accordance with arrangements to be negotiated between the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of the Organization.

Article XVIII INTER-AGENCY AGREEMENTS

The Organization agrees to inform the Economic and Social Council of the nature and scope of any formal agreement contemplated, and to notify the Council of the conclusion of any formal agreement, between the Organization and any other specialized agency or inter-governmental organization.

Article XIX LIAISON

1. The United Nations and the Organization agree to the foregoing provisions in the belief that they will contribute to the maintenance of effective liaison between the two Organizations. They affirm their intention of taking whatever further measures may be necessary to make this liaison fully effective.

2. The liaison arrangements provided for the foregoing articles of this agreement shall apply as far as appropriate to the relations between such branch or regional offices as may be established by the two Organizations as well as between their respective central headquarters.

Article XX IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT

The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of the Organization may enter into such supplementary arrangements for the implementation of this agreement as may be found desirable in the light of the operating experience of the two Organizations.

Article XXI REVISION

This agreement shall be subject to revision by agreement between the United Nations and the Organization.

Article XXII ENTRY INTO FORCE

This agreement shall come into force on its approval by the General Assembly of the United Nations and the General Council of the Organization.