Chapter VI. Selected legal opinions of the secretariats of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

Extract from:

UNITED NATIONS JURIDICAL YEARBOOK

2009

Part Two. Legal activities of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

. Selected legal opinions of the Secretariats of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

Copyright (c) United Nations

xvi UNITED NATIONS JURIDICAL YEARBOOK 2009

4 Decision No. 403 (7 October 2009): Shohreh Homayoun v International

Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Effect of national court order within the organization—Venue for claiming spousal support—Failure by staff member to elect withdrawal

of pension—Retirement provisions became payable only after staff member elected to receive the pension—Absent any rules applicable in the case where a staff member omits to make an election, the Tribunal found no warrant to impose an election where none had

been made—If a staff member’s obligations to provide retirement benefits to a former spouse are established and ordered by a court

of competent jurisdiction but are not respected by him, it is open

to the former spouse to seek redress through that court 382 5 Decision No. 424 (9 December 2009): Farah Aleem & Irfan Aleem v

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Effect of national court orders on the organization—Conflicting divorce

orders by judicial authorities of two countries—Dispute to be resolved applying rules and policies of the Staff Retirement Plan— Amendment made to Staff Retirement Plan to protect interest of

former spouses of staff members and to prevent staff members

from evading domestic court orders—No legal basis for Applicant

to avoid order from court in the host country 384 F Decisions of the Administrative Tribunal of the International

Monetary Fund

Judgement No. 2009–1 (17 March 2009) Mr. S. Ding, Applicant v

International Monetary Fund (IMF), Respondent

Inadmissibility of an application challenging a regulatory decision predating the entry into force of the Tribunal’s statute—Comparison

of the text of the pre-existing rule and that of the rule currently administered by the Fund—Invitation to the Fund to reconsider

the policy on education allowance for children with birthdays falling within and outside the academic year 386

Chapter VI Selected legal opinions of the secretariats of the united nations and related intergovernmental organizations

A Legal opinions of the Secretariat of the United Nations

1 Privileges and immunities

(a) Note to the Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, regarding request for a conference call with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 389

(b) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Legal Support Office,

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), regarding privileges and immunities issues related to “Delivery as One” and

United Nations Volunteers 391

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2 Procedural and institutional issues

(a) Note to the Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services regarding oversight authority over the United Nations

Staff Union 394

(b) Note regarding the borrowing authority of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 395

(c) Note to the Under-Secretary-General, Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management concerning the request by [State] for a supplementary item to be included in the agenda of the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly 396

(d) Interoffice memorandum to the Assistant Secretary-General for

Disaster Risk Reduction concerning a draft agreement with the Government of [State] 397 (e) Interoffice memorandum to the Under-Secretary-General for

Internal Oversight Offices and the Director of the Ethics Office regarding investigations conducted pursuant to the Secretary-General’s Bulletin “Protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits investigations” (ST/SGB/2005/21) 399 (f) Interoffice memorandum to the Under-Secretary General, Department of Field Support (DFS), with regard to a dispute between the

United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) regarding service charges and indemnities 402 (g) Note to the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination

and Strategic Planning regarding the United Nations University accreditation process 403 (h) Note to the Under Secretary-General and Chef de Cabinet, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, concerning General Assembly resolution 63/301 on Honduras 407 (i) Interoffice memorandum to the Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Field Support, regarding the legal status of military

drivers provided by the Governments of India and Pakistan 411 3 Procurement

(a) Interoffice memorandum to the Chief, Procurement Operations

Service, Procurement Division, concerning a request for reimbursement of value added tax (VAT) charges from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) 411 (b) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Procurement Division,

and the Officer-in-Charge, Logistics and Support Division, regarding a contract for the supply of aviation and ground fuel and the provision of distribution and support services for the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad 414

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(c) Interoffice memorandum to the Chairman of the Headquarters

Committee on Contracts regarding accountability of the Committee with respect to procurement actions 416 (d) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Procurement Division,

Office of Central Support Services, regarding the participation of

a vendor in the competitive solicitation for the build phase of the

United Nations Enterprise Resource Planning Project 421 (e) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Procurement Division, regarding the use of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Standard Agreement for Construction Contracts in the solicitation of bids from construction contractors 424 (f) Interoffice memorandum to the Officer-in-Charge, Procurement

Operations Service, Procurement Division, regarding the termination of a food rations contract 426 4 Liability and responsibility of the United Nations

(a) Interoffice memorandum to the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Programme Planning, Budgets and Accounts, regarding ex gratia payment to an injured civilian Haitian 428 (b) Note to the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General for Programme

Planning, Budget and Accounts, regarding requests for reimbursement for infrastructure installed by the European Union in Chad 430 (c) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Medical Services Division, concerning emergency response services provided to areas outside the Secretariat building 434 (d) Note to the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Programme Planning, Budgets and Accounts, regarding a claim for damage to property situated in Monserrado County, Liberia 438 (e) Interoffice memorandum to the Chief of NGO Relations, Department of Public Information (DPI), regarding a draft letter of agreement between the United Nations and the NGO/DPI Executive Committee concerning transfer of funds for the organization of the

62nd Annual DPI/NGO Conference 441 (f) Interoffice memorandum to the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts, concerning a claim for compensation for damages to a vehicle owned by

the Permanent Mission of [State] to the United Nations 442 (g) Interoffice memorandum to the Officer-in-Charge, Procurement

Operations Service, Procurement Division, regarding a dispute

arising from an en-route deviation during the sea shipment of contingent-owned equipment from Liberia to Pakistan 444 (h) Note to the Controller, Assistant Secretary-General for Programme

Planning, Budget and Accounts, regarding a third-party claim for accommodation by United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire 447

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5 Other issues relating to peacekeeping operations

(a) Interoffice memorandum to the Office of Military Affairs, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, regarding a request to award the

United Nations Medal to national support element personnel under

the [State] contingent in the United Nations Mission in Sudan 449

6 Treaty law

(a) Interoffice memorandum to the Executive Secretary of the United

Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat regarding questions posed by the Joint Inspection Unit 450 7 Personnel questions

(a) Interoffice memorandum to the Legal Adviser of the Office of the

High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concerning membership in the Human Rights Committee 453 (b) Interoffice memorandum to the Acting Chief, Policy Support Unit,

Human Resources Policy Service, regarding a request for an exception to section 3 of the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants or Individual Contractors 457 (c) Interoffice memorandum to the Officer-in-Charge, Accounts Division, Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts, regarding payments of proceeds under the Malicious Acts Insurance

Policy pursuant to Administrative Tribunal Judgment No 1388 458 (d) Letter to the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon concerning a proposal to establish a United Nations Service Medal 460 (e) Interoffice memorandum to the Secretary of the Advisory Board

of Compensation Claims regarding a claim for compensation under Appendix D of the Staff Rules 460 8 Miscellaneous

(a) Proposed use of the name of United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOPS) by two non-UN non-profit organizations that are providing pro bono legal and policy advisory services to certain governments under a UNOPS project for UNDP 462

(b) Interoffice memorandum to the Director, Mine Action Service,

Department of Peacekeeping Operations, regarding a United Kingdom Department for International Development open mine

action competition 464 (c) Note to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General...