A/RES/51/226 Page 5 B. Recruitment Stressing the vital importance of the recruitment of new staff to meet the needs of the Organization, 1. Reaffirms that no post should be considered the exclusive preserve of any Member State or group of States, including at the highest level; 2. Recognizes that the system of desirable ranges is the mechanism for the recruitment of staff in posts subject to geographical distribution, in accordance with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations; 3. Requests the Secretary-General to take every available measure to ensure, at the senior and policy-making levels of the Secretariat, the equitable representation of Member States, in particular of developing countries and Member States with inadequate representation at those levels, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, and to include relevant information thereon in future reports on the composition of the Secretariat; 4. Also requests the Secretary-General, in this regard, to exercise flexibility in the application of desirable ranges in individual recruitment cases, bearing in mind all parts of the present resolution; 5. Further requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity serve as the primary criteria in the recruitment of staff; 6. Requests the Secretary-General, while ensuring that the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity serve as the primary criteria in the recruitment of staff, to ensure also that the search for and the selection of candidates are conducted in accordance with the guiding principles of achieving equitable geographical distribution and providing equal opportunity for men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in the work of the Secretariat; 7. Reaffirms that secondment from government service is consistent with Articles 100 and 101 of the Charter and beneficial to both the Organization and Member States, and urges the Secretary-General to pursue this practice on a wider scale, as appropriate; 8. Notes the efforts of the Secretary-General to conduct a targeted search for candidates from Member States that are unrepresented or underrepresented and below the mid-point of their desirable ranges, and requests that he continue to expand these efforts; 9. Requests the Secretary-General to restrict the practice of making temporary appointments against regular budget posts or extrabudgetary posts of one year or more to temporary needs, for example, replacement of staff on field mission assignment and authorized leave; 10. Also requests the Secretary-General to take effective measures to prevent the placement of staff members against higher-level unencumbered posts for periods longer than three months, and further requests the SecretaryGeneral to issue vacancy announcements within a three-month period; 11. Further requests the Secretary-General to instruct all programme managers to inform the Office of Human Resources Management of all vacancies immediately and of all foreseen vacancies six months before the posts become vacant; /...