Workplace Equality in International Organizations: A Way Forward

Abstract

In this contribution, I am interested in how discrimination issues are manifested in employment relations in the United Nations (UN), a public forum to all states political leaders to advance their concerns, the World Bank, a financial organization that promotes economic development, mainly in developing countries, and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the eldest and largest global public program of the World Bank with a strategic network of diverse stakeholders that harnesses the best in science to produce more and better food, reduce poverty and sustain environments. Considering the immunity and privileges granted to international organizations, what are the current available legal procedures, at the national or international level, for workplace equality? How accountable and transparent are they, based on the practice of these organizations? Can discrimination biases that go beyond the known individual-based discrimination claims be identified? If so, how can they be challenged and changed? Based of the special position of international civil servants in international organizations and the duty to protect their fundamental rights, I claim that the limitation of opportunity by discriminatory biases and the psychic burden on the individual staff member, on daily basis, qualify for a workplace wrong and call for independent and impartial legal procedures that would ensure due process and fair treatment.