International Civil Service Advisory Board

(1) The origin of ICSAB lies in a resolution of UN General Assembly on 13 February 1946 (GA/RES/13(I) Section III) calling for the establishment of an "International Civil Service Commission" with advisory functions. Following further discussions in committees of the General Assembly, of the Economic and Social Council, and in ACC, ACC established the Board, with nine members, appointed by ACC, and with terms of reference related chiefly to questions of recruitment and certain matters of personnel administration. The matters to be referred to ICSAB were discussed in CCAQ, as were the Board's reports in most cases.

(2) At its 4th session (January 1949: CC/A.4/7 and COORD-PREP/98) CCAQ agreed that the costs of the Board would be borne as to one-half by UN and the other half by the specialized agencies jointly. (This agreement was superseded by the agreement (1961) reported in section 16.6, para. 1).

(3) In 1956, the Salary Review Committee proposed (see chapter XV of UN document A/3209) that the Board's terms of reference (Annex J, A/3209) should be amended to give it certain responsibilities in connection with the determination of conditions of service. The recommendation was not acted on at the time but in 1962 ACC informed the UN General Assembly (see UN document A/C.5/934) that it favoured the adoption of the Salary Review Committee proposal, and intended to consult ICSAB itself on the matter (see section 1.2, para. (6) above).

(4) At its XIth session (May 1963) ICSAB considered ACC's proposals for amendment of the Board's own terms of reference, and suggested a few modifications, which were accepted.

(5) At its 25th session (1964: CO-ORDINATION/R.451, para. 10) CCAQ noted that the revised terms of reference for ICSAB had been endorsed by the UN General Assembly and other legislative bodies (see UN document A/C.5/970 and General Assembly resolution No. 1981 (XVIII) B).

(6) At its 27th session (1966: CO-ORDINATION/R.532, paras. 26-28) CCAQ agreed on a procedure for the preparation of ACC statements on ICSAB reports. This called for (see Annex E, R/532) (a) inter-organization agreement on which ICSAB reports needed published statements of ACC's views before being transmitted to the appropriate authorities as required by ICSAB's terms of reference; (b) drafting of the ACC statement by the Secretary of CCAQ and its clearance by correspondence or otherwise as might be appropriate. Where no published ACC statement was deemed necessary, but it nevertheless seemed desirable to have ACC views on the record, a draft would be prepared by the Secretary of CCAQ, and after clearance by correspondence the final text would be communicated to the Secretary of ICSAB by the Secretary of ACC. A copy of this letter would go to the Secretary of CCAQ, who would send copies of it to all organizations.

(7) With the establishment of the International Civil Service Commission (see Section 1.6) the International Civil Service Advisory Board (ICSAB) ceased to exist as of 31 December 1974.

(8) Details on ICSAB, which met normally once a year, can be found in its yearly reports (reference numbers in Annex I).