UN Secretary General Announces Benefits for Employees in Legally Recognized Same-Sex Unions

(New York—7 July 2014) On Thursday, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon formally announced on iSeek, the UN Secretariat intranet, a landmark policy change, introduced through a Secretary-General’s Bulletin (official administrative directive), entitled “Personal status for the purposes of United Nations entitlements,” which he signed on 26 June 2014. This will transform workplace entitlements for employees of the UN system who are in legally recognized same-sex unions.

By specifying that, “The personal status of staff members for the purpose of entitlements under the Staff Regulations and Rules will be determined by reference to the law of the competent authority under which the personal status has been established,” the new directive entitles all employees whose same-sex unions have been legally recognized by a national authority to equal partnership benefits. The only exception known so far pertains to pension, death and disability benefits that are governed by an independent UN pension fund.

Although the UN granted recognition and partnership benefits to same-sex couples in 2004, it did so selectively. At the time, UN partnership benefits were made available exclusively to individuals whose national governments recognized their same-sex unions.  The UN Secretariat led the 2004 initiative, and most members of the family of close to 50 UN organizations then followed its lead in introducing selective partnership benefits for legally recognized same-sex couples.

Since then, some UN organizations (including UNESCO, UNAIDS, the UN World Food Program, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development) have even surpassed the Secretariat by making their own employment policies more equal. 

While the new directive will only immediately affect employees of the UN Secretariat, other UN organizations that applied the former, selective policy, are now likely to adopt the new policy of the UN Secretariat. The handful of UN organizations that still do not recognize same-sex couples will be under greater pressure to reconsider their employment policies.

UN-GLOBE, the association that has represented lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) employees of the UN system since 1996, campaigned on the issue for more than a decade.  It celebrated the change made by the UN Secretary General, though its preference was a simpler solution (an “affidavit” or sworn statement as used by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and some other international organizations), which applies a burden of proof more accessible to employees of all categories, nationalities and income levels.

“Let me reiterate UN-GLOBE's belief that the fairest policy would have been an affidavit policy, as it would have covered general service, national and even some international staff who, under the newly adopted policy, may not be able to secure visas, nor have the resources, to travel to a country where legal unions are performed,” said Hyung Hak (“Alfonso”) Nam, President of UN-GLOBE. “But for now, I would say this: at long last.  Let us just enjoy this moment, this huge victory.”

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is one of approximately a dozen LGBTI organizations worldwide to have recognized consultative status at the UN, where it regularly conducts advocacy for human rights. 

“As we know, exclusion has a cost,” said Jessica Stern, Executive Director of IGLHRC.  “Like workers everywhere, LGBTI employees of the UN must be entitled to equal workplace protections and benefits, including in the case of relocation, pension, and death. With his decision to honor legally recognized same-sex unions, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demonstrated that the UN itself can operate by the values of dignity and worthiness of all people without discrimination as enshrined in the UN Charter.  We congratulate him for this historic achievement that can help model equality throughout the UN system.” 

IGLHRC and UN-GLOBE urge all organizations of the UN system, including the Pension Fund, to immediately follow suit.  The organizations urge that the verification process with permanent missions be no more burdensome or strict for same-sex couples than for opposite-sex couples.  The organizations further urge that the UN Office of Human Resource Management take the most expansive approach possible to interpreting same-sex unions.

For Media Inquiries:

Hyung Hak “Alfonso” Nam, President, UN-GLOBE; M: + 1 718 879 0285; EM: nam@un.org

Jessica Stern, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC); M: + 1 917 355 3262; EM: jstern@iglhrc.org