The Office of Administration of Justice (OAJ) is an independent office, based in New York, responsible for the overall coordination of the formal components of the UN’s internal justice system. It is headed by an Executive Director appointed by the Secretary-General. OAJ was established at the outset of the system with the rationale that a separate Office of Administration of Justice, with operational and budgetary autonomy, would ensure the institutional independence of the system of internal justice. Apart from the Office of the Executive Director, which is mandated to provide recommendations on any improvements to the functioning of the system, OAJ includes staff members in the Registries of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal, who support the independent judges, and the Office of Staff Legal Assistance which provides legal assistance to staff members free from any other instruction.
The Office of Administration of Justice includes:
- The Executive Director of OAJ
- The Office of Staff Legal Assistance
- The Registry of the UN Dispute Tribunal
- The Registry of the UN Appeals Tribunal
The United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal are not part of the Office of Administration of Justice. However, the OAJ provides administrative, substantive and technical support to both Tribunals, through their Registries, which are part of the OAJ.
The OAJ also ensures that the Office of Staff Legal Assistance (OSLA) functions independently in providing legal services and operates with transparency and fairness. OSLA has full operational independence as it serves UN system staff members worldwide by providing legal advice and representation before the Tribunals.
Along with its headquarters in New York, the OAJ also has a presence through the UNDT registries and branch offices of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance in Geneva, and Nairobi, and additionally, through branch offices of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance in Addis Ababa, and Beirut.
The core functions of the Office of Administration of Justice are:
- To provide substantive, technical and administrative support to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations Appeals Tribunal through their Registries.
- To assist staff members and their representatives in pursuing claims and appeals through the Office of Staff Legal Assistance
- To provide assistance, as appropriate, to the Internal Justice Council.
The Office of Administration of Justice is divided into organizational units. For more on the work of those units, and the core functions of the OAJ Executive Director and the heads of each of the Office’s units, see Organization.
In addition to core day-to-day functions, the Office of Administration of Justice also continues to
- Enhance the online search capabilities for users of the jurisprudential search engine
- Enhance the Court Case Management System for electronic filing
- Disseminate information about the system of administration of justice through this website and other means.
