UNDT/2017/034, Ngero et al
It was not unreasonable to infer that on 3 July 2015, having gone through the rigors of a criminal judicial proceeding and having been acquitted of all charges, the Applicants became aware that there may have been breaches of the applicable rules governing their arrest and detention as United Nations staff members and the waiver of their immunities. The Applicants’ causes of action in relation to the remedies for the alleged breaches of the procedures under A/63/331 and ST/AI/299 arose on 3 July 2015. Accordingly, pursuant to staff rule 11.2(c) the Applicants were, therefore, required to seek management evaluation of the alleged breaches of the applicable rules governing their arrest and detention as United Nations staff members and the waiver of their immunities within 60 days of 3 July 2015, that is, by 1 September but they did not do so.
At the time of the events giving rise to these applications, the Applicants were staff members of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) who had been assigned to the United Nations Regional Service Centre in Entebbe (RSCE). On 30 November 2015, they filed separate applications before the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) challenging the decisions by the Administration not to consider their requests to grant them compensation for breaches of United Nations obligations concerning their “detention and charging” by local law enforcement “without undertaking a full and proper investigation and obtaining a prior waiver of immunity.
Articles 8.1(c) and (d) of the UNDT Statute provide that an application shall be receivable if an applicant has previously submitted the requested administrative decision for management evaluation where required and the application is filed within 90 calendar days of the expiry of the relevant response period for the management evaluation if no response to the request was provided. Pursuant to art. 8.1(i)(a) of the UNDT Statute, in cases where a management evaluation of the contested decision is required, an application must be filed within 90 calendar days of the applicant’s receipt of the response by management to his or her submission. Pursuant to staff rule 11.2(c), a request for a management evaluation shall not be receivable by the Secretary-General unless it is sent within 60 calendar days from the date on which the staff member received notification of the administrative decision to be contested. The Tribunal does not have the power to waive the deadlines for management evaluation.
These applications were rejected as the Applicants failed to request management evaluation in a timely manner.