been the General Assembly and not ICSC which had established the existing scheme by resolution 2480 B (XXIII), and that that resolution had reflected the will of the Member States to preserve the pluricultural character of the United Nations and to achieve a linguistic balance. The three arguments on which the ICSC proposal was based (A/38/30, paras. 52-54) were not convincing. 74. First, according to ICSC, the conditions under which the language incentive had been considered necessary had changed over time: it was claimed that the linguistic imbalance had lessened and that the Organization would increasingly need specialists whose work did not necessarily require particular language qualifications. He pointed out that, despite the application of the principle of geographical distribution, the lanauaoe situation had not improved since there were many officials whose mother tongue was not an official language of the Organization. Although some specialist posts did not involve particular lanouaoe requirements, such qualifications continued to be indispensible for the career of regular staff in an international organization which demanded a certain geographical mobility of its ofticials. 75. Secondly, it was argued that the language incentive was an anomaly and was also applied restrictively. In his view, it was an anomaly in the opposite sense, in that the incentive was not being applied in the other organizations of the system. The incentive operated more satisfactorily for the General Services than for the Professional category: the lump sum granted to General Service staff had proved to be an effective instrument. In the case of the Professional staff, the acceleration of increments was also a positive measure. Unfortunately, the second rule relating to the Professional category in General Assembly resolution 2480 B (XXIII), under which promotion from P-1 to D-2 was conditional upon knowledge of a second language, was not being strictly observed. In that connection, he would I ... A/C.S/38/SR.31 English Page 14 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the language incentive scheme within the United Nations, which suggests that it is related to employment and organizational management rather than a specific sector or issue. The arguments presented focus on the need for language skills in international organizations and the potential effects of the language incentive on the career advancement of staff.

**Category**
Employment