The General Assembly’s latest pension resolution (A/RES/80/243.XII.14) “invites” the Pension Board to carry out a holistic review of the UN pension system, including looking at defined-contribution and hybrid models and ways to "lower contributions".
That phrase alone is a red flag: this isn’t about improving benefits, it’s about cutting costs. And “invitation” is a polite fiction; the Pension Board doesn’t really get to decline.
At first, I took some comfort in the language about “respect for accrued rights” and assumed any new system would only apply to new UN hires. But that assumption doesn’t hold up.
Ian Richards, staff/participant representative on the Pension Board, warned publicly on LinkedIn on 6 January 2026 that a shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) could mean lower returns and lower pensions, the closure of the DB plan to new entrants and the creation of a multi-tier system, and even new forms of taxation on 401(k)-type accounts.
Former Pension Board member, and former Pension Fund Benefits Officer, Michelle Rockcliffe, pointed out in a response to a Facebook comment I made that in real-world DB-to-DC switches, current staff are often directly affected: accrued service is frozen or recalculated, and people are pushed into DC accounts
going forward.
In other words, this is not just about newcomers. It can hit UN staff mid-career, and impact retirees as well.
Given today’s political climate, budget pressure, and liquidity crisis at the UN, a possible future (there’s a three-year time frame) recommendation to weaken or replace the current UN pension DB system is not unthinkable. And if that door opens, the risks are serious.
For current staff, it could mean losing guaranteed lifetime pensions, predictable formulas, and pooled protection against market crashes and outliving your savings, along with knock-on effects for adjustments, survivor benefits, and disability coverage.
For UN retirees, it could mean destabilizing current pension payments, weakening adjustment mechanisms, and shifting investment and longevity risks onto individuals.
From some research I've done, the only real safeguard is not rhetoric, but structure: legally locking in everything earned to date, keeping all past service under the DB formula as a closed legacy plan, separating those liabilities from any new scheme, banning conversions without consent, and subjecting the whole process to independent legal and actuarial review, with full transparency and formal staff-and-retiree participation.
Advocacy matters. Protecting accrued rights means early, technically solid engagement; unity between staff and retirees; close scrutiny of governance and risk; and having alternative transition models ready that actually protect people, not just balance sheets.
When I think about the prospect of a review of the pension system by the Pension Board, to say it doesn’t fill me with confidence is a gross understatement. I recall that the history of the Pension Fund and Board includes the shelving, under the slogan "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" of an independent report in 2019 that called for improvements in governance and transparency.
That tired slogan that's popping up again may be apt regarding this review, but certainly wasn’t in 2019 when the recommended improvements in Pension Fund and Board governance were required and long overdue.
The history of the Pension Fund and Board also includes retaliation against staff representatives on the Board over alleged breaches of confidentiality, and the firing of several senior whistleblower/investment officers. Last July, CCISUA adopted a resolution calling out non-transparency and the treatment of whistleblowers. Recall also the recent, sudden move of the former Representative of the Secretary-General for Investments to a firm doing business with the Fund --a jump that raised serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest (see these stories on this blog.
In this environment, vague assurances are not protection. That’s why those who cautioned from the start that there is little comfort in the phrase “respect for accrued rights” are correct.
And why Lowell Flanders’ (former UN NY Staff Union president) call in a Facebook comment for UN staff unions to establish a pension defense fund, so real legal expertise is available if needed, feels not alarmist, but realistic.
Still, it’s worth keeping in mind that we’re more and more living in a world where raw political power is overtaking legality.
Nor am I sharing this post to panic people. I’m sharing it because seeing the risks clearly is the only way to organize early, intelligently, and in time to protect both current staff and retiree pension interests.
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