410 Global Ethics for Leadership
Basic Rights and Duties of United Nations Staff Members
(ST/SGB/2002/13), Regulations Governing the Status, Basic Rights and
Duties of Officials other than Secretariat Officials, and Experts on Mis-
sion (ST/SGB/2002/9), as well as numerous Secretary General Bulletins,
Administrative Instructions, Administrative Circulars, and Manuals.^318
Each of these documents was adopted in response to a specific political,
legislative, managerial, or administrative need. Each attempts to be in-
clusive, thorough and complete. And for some UN staff, all ethical con-
sideration and reflection begins and ends with these documents.
The reality differs from the original and positive intent of the
adopters of these documents. From the perspective of average staff
members, these many, varied and inconsistent documents tend to con-
fuse, rather than illuminate. More is not better, if the goal is to ensure
that all staff know and accept their rights, duties and obligations as in-
ternational civil servants.
As we examine some of these materials that purport to establish
“the” set of virtues for international civil servants, this confusion will
become apparent.
32.2.1 The UN Oath of Office
First, there is the UN Oath of Office. Each international civil servant,
usually on his or her first day of employment, is asked to read and sign
the following Oath:
I solemnly declare and promise to exercise in all loyalty, dis-
cretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as an in-
ternational civil servant of the United Nations, to discharge
these functions and regulate my conduct with the interests of
the United Nations only in view, and not to seek or accept in-
structions in regard to the performance of my duties from any
Government or other source external to the Organization.318
See the UN Ethics Office web site, at http://www.un.org/en/ethics for a full listing
of these source documents, including hyperlinks to texts.