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Topnews, Statements

13. September 2017

STATEMENT BY DR JOHNNY THABO PITSWANE, DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 11 SEPTEMBER 2017, VIENNA 

AGENDA ITEM 8(b): PERSONNEL MATTERS – STAFFING OF THE AGENCY’S SECRETARIAT

Chairperson

South Africa takes note of the Director General’s report, which outlines key actions taken by the Secretariat to implement GC(59)/RES/16, which called on the Director General to “continue to secure employees of the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence, and integrity and to intensify his efforts to increase accordingly, the number of staff members from developing countries and from those other Member States which are unrepresented or under-represented in the Agency’s Secretariat, particularly at the senior and policy-making levels, and for Professional posts requiring specific skills”.

To this end, we are pleased in particular with the efforts to attract young talent to the Agency through creative outreach measures undertaken in this regard, including through webinars. We note the increase in the number of Junior Professional Officers (JPOs) from 34 in 2015 to 53, which is certainly commendable. However, the pool of JPOs continues to be limited in reach, as it currently only extends to 11 Member States and does not include Member States from Africa. In this regard, my delegation would like to further engage the Secretariat in this regard.

Chairperson

Notwithstanding the increase in the number of applications received, from 107 of the 111 developing Member States, it is with regret that South Africa notes that the number of staff from these states decreased from 320 to 317, thereby reducing such representation to 28.5% as compared to 31% in June 2015. The reasons behind the decrease are unfortunately not covered in the report, which will be important to ascertain in order to decisively address this challenge.

Chairperson

While South Africa welcomes the recruitment missions to nine Member States - during which education and training on the recruitment process, as well as important information on working conditions and other related topics was provided, we however, note that this outreach is only possible with the financial sponsorship of a Member State or as part of an Agency sponsored meeting. Accordingly, it would be important that the recruitment missions are prioritized to redress the current state of affairs. This will be essential if we are to tackle the large number of projected retirements from the organization, which is highlighted in the report.

We therefore are pleased with the commitment of Deputy Director General for Management, Ms Mary Alice Hayward and her Department to engage Member States and conduct outreach activities with a view to increasing the employment and attracting young talent from all regions of the world, particularly from my region. We heartily welcome the participation of the Director of Human Resources at the South African Young Nuclear Professionals Society (SAYNPS) Nuclear Youth Summit 2017 to be held in the Eastern Cape Province in my country from 11 - 13 October 2017.  This will provide the Agency an opportunity to highlight employment opportunities within this organisation.

I thank you.

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