The United Nations civil servant: an important role in international relations

Abstract

Many factors play positively and negatively in international relations. International civil servants are among the most important. They are appointed to work in an international organization (regional or global) to carry out various types of assignments and to influence the conduct of international relations between the country concerned and the organization where they work or between the Member States at other times. Sometimes international civil servants help to maintain international peace and security (here we are not talking about the peacekeepers). They encourage \development in different countries of the world, as it can unfortunately be the cause of bad relations between countries. They may even commit serious violations qualified as criminal offenses in the exercise of their functions, invoking professional immunity granted by the 1946 United Nations Convention on Privileges and Immunities. Therefore, the need for a legal framework of their position within the international organisations is of the utmost importance, the same applying to the need to reassess their immunities, since the number of international civil servants has reached tens of thousands in these organizations around the world. The way the European Union has addressed the question of international civil servants is one of the best to date and an example that other organizations should follow.