Effect of Awards Case in the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations
Effect of Awards Case in the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations
1954 I.C.J. Rep
47 . By Res. 785 (VIII) of 9 December 1953 , the U.N. General Assembly requested of the
I.C.J. an advisory opinion on the following questions: (1) 'Having regard to the Statute
of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal [etc.] has the General Assembly the right
on any grounds to refuse to give effect to an award of compensation … in favour of a
staff member of the United Nations, whose contract of service has been terminated without
his assent?' (2) 'If the answer … is affi rmative, what are the principal grounds upon
which the General Assembly could lawfully exercise such a right?' On 13 July 1954 , the
Court advised (9 to 3) that the General Assembly had no such right because '[w]hen the
Secretary-General concludes a contract of service … he engages the legal responsibility of
the Organization…. If he terminates the contract of service … and this … results in a dispute
which is referred to the Administrative Tribunal, the parties to the dispute are the staff
member … and the United Nations Organization, and these parties will become bound by
the judgment…. It follows that the General Assembly, as an organ of the United Nations,
must likewise be bound': p. 53.[1]
Resources
Notes
- The entry “administrative tribunal of the united nations, effect of awards case” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press
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