Summary
The U.S. Congress continues to be concerned about the underrepresentation of U.S. professionals in some UN organizations and that insufficient progress has been made to improve U.S. representation. In 2001, GAO reported that several UN agencies fell short of their targets for U.S. representation and had not developed strategies to employ more Americans. This report reviews (1) U.S. representation status and employment trends at five UN agencies, (2) factors affecting these agencies' ability to meet employment targets, and (3) the U.S. Department of State's (State) efforts to improve U.S. representation and additional steps that can be taken. We reviewed five UN agencies that together comprise about 50 percent of total UN organizations' professional staff.
The United States is underrepresented at three of the five United Nations (UN) agencies we reviewed, and increased hiring of U.S. citizens is needed to meet employment targets. The three agencies where the United States is underrepresented are the International Atomic Energy Agency; UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. U.S. citizens are equitably represented at the UN Secretariat, though close to the lower end of its target range. The UN Development Program has not established a target for U.S. representation, although U.S. citizens fill about 11 percent of its professional positions. Given projected staff levels, retirements, and separations, IAEA, UNESCO, and UNHCR would need to increase hiring of Americans to meet their minimum targets for U.S. representation in 2010. While the five UN agencies face some common barriers to recruiting and retaining professional staff, including Americans, they also face their own distinct challenges. Most of these barriers and challenges are outside of the U.S. government's control. The common barriers include nontransparent human resource practices, limited external hiring, lengthy hiring processes, comparatively low or unclear compensation, required mobility, and limited U.S. government support. UN agencies also face distinct challenges. For example, at the Secretariat, candidates serving in professional UN positions funded by their governments are more likely to be hired than those who take the entry-level exam; however, the United States has not funded such positions. Also, IAEA has difficulty recruiting U.S. employees because the number of U.S. nuclear specialists is decreasing. Since 2001, State has increased its efforts to achieve equitable U.S. representation at UN agencies, and additional options exist. State has targeted efforts to recruit U.S. candidates for senior and policymaking UN positions, and although it is difficult to link State's efforts to UN hiring decisions, U.S. representation in these positions has improved or displayed no trend in the five UN agencies. U.S. representation in entry-level positions, however, has declined or did not reflect a trend in four of the five UN agencies despite State's increased efforts. Additional steps include maintaining a roster of qualified U.S. candidates, expanding marketing and outreach activities, increasing UN employment information on U.S. agency Web sites, and assessing the costs and benefits of sponsoring entry-level employees at UN agencies.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Thomas Melito
Government Accountability Office: International Affairs and Trade
(202) 512-9601
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: Because equitable representation of Americans employed at UN organizations has been a high priority for U.S. interests, the Secretary of State should provide more consistent and comprehensive information about UN employment on the State and U.S. mission Web sites and work with U.S. agencies to expand the UN employment information on their Web sites. This could include identifying options for developing a benefits calculator that would enable applicants to better estimate their potential total compensation based on their individual circumstances.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: State said it has begun taking steps to provide "more consistent and comprehensive information" to potential candidates. State has examined its missions' websites, and where links do not exist to State's webpage on international organization employment, State has begun to create them. At an interagency meeting, State was to raise the idea of creating similar links on other agencies' websites. State is currently developing additional information to be included on its international organization employment webpage and is updating some of the documents that currently exist on the webpage.
Recommendation: Because equitable representation of Americans employed at UN organizations has been a high priority for U.S. interests, the Secretary of State should expand targeted recruiting and outreach to more strategically reach populations of Americans that may be qualified for and interested in entry- and mid-level UN positions.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: State said it has started researching internet-based options for automating the dissemination of international organization vacancy announcements. State's interest is in having potential candidates sign up to receive notices of international organization vacancies in selected fields of expertise they desire, with the option of narrowing these down by grade, location, and/or international organization career opportunities. State is also doing research to expand its list of professional associations, organizations, and groups in order to target particular audiences with information on international organization career opportunities.
Recommendation: Because equitable representation of Americans employed at UN organizations has been a high priority for U.S. interests, the Secretary of State should conduct an evaluation of the costs, benefits, and trade-offs of maintaining a roster of qualified candidates for professional and senior positions determined to be a high priority for U.S. interests.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: State has begun researching the concept of maintaining a roster of candidates for professional and senior positions of high priority to the United States. More work needs to be done before State can evaluate the costs, benefits, and trade-offs of this concept.
Recommendation: Because equitable representation of Americans employed at UN organizations has been a high priority for U.S. interests, the Secretary of State should conduct an evaluation of the costs, benefits, and trade-offs of funding Junior Professional Officers, or other gratis personnel, where Americans are underrepresented or in danger of becoming underrepresented.
Agency Affected: Department of State
Status: In process
Comments: State said it recently initiated a non-safeguards JPO program at the International Atomic Energy Agency (currently, funding is appropriated for 3 Junior Professional Officer positions). The cost of sponsoring such positions is significant and State plans to make a more complete assessment of the costs versus benefits of funding more of them.
