UN
Memorializes
Killed Staff,
Does Not
Answer on
Impartiality,
Union Qs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 19,
updated -- As
the UN
marked the
tenth
anniversary of
the
bombing of its
Iraq
headquarters
at the Canal
Hotel in
Baghdad,
there
were many
uncomfortable
questions
either not
raised or not
answered.
There
was talk of
impartiality,
but the UN is
taking sides
even more now
than ten years
ago, for
example with
its "Force
Intervention
Brigade" which
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous says
will
"neutralize"
groups
disliked by
Joseph Kabila
- with the
support of
drones.
The
Vice-President
of the
Staff-Management
Committee, Ian
Richards,
spoke
and delivered
a letter to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
office.
Inner City
Press has
obtained the
letter. It
says
Families
of
our deceased
colleagues
should not be
left behind.
Surviving
family members
need a better
defined
package of
care. Children
should
receive
medical and
educational
support as an
official
entitlement,
not as an act
of charity.
The
UN needs an
independent
judicial
coroner to get
a fair and
honest
answer for
bereaved
relatives
about why a
spouse,
parent, son or
daughter dies
in the field.
More
must be done
to protect
colleagues
whose mental
health has
suffered
as a result of
witnessing or
being the
victim of
malicious
attacks.
Sick leave,
disability and
selection
policies need
to be reviewed
so
that we aren't
unfairly
terminated or
find that our
contracts
aren't
renewed on
health
grounds.
Training
is
also required
to ensure we
can understand
these
challenges and
do
our best to
reintegrate
affected
colleagues.
There
should an
annual,
internationally-recognized
memorial day
for fallen
staff. A
permanent
memorial
should be
established
and a list
kept of
all colleagues
who have died
or been
affected by
malicious acts
against them
whilst working
for the United
Nations.
Strict
criteria must
be developed
for situations
where we may
be deployed to
the 103 member
states that
have not
ratified the
1994
Convention on
the Safety of
United Nations
and Associated
Personnel or
the 165
countries that
have not
signed the
2005 Optional
Protocol to
the
Convention.
There
are still many
ways we are
vulnerable and
face ongoing
risks in our
working lives
a decade on
from the
Baghdad
bombing. In
2012 alone,
for instance,
200 United
Nations
colleagues
were detained
and
arrested by
national
authorities
and some 30
were abducted,
in many
cases leading
to hostage
situations.
We
believe that
union rights
save UN lives.
In order to
help ensure
the
safety of
colleagues who
serve in the
field, a
credible
negotiating
framework
between
representatives
of staff and
management is
essential.
Without the
ability to
challenge
decisions that
may prove
to be harmful
to them or
even to speak
up for
themselves,
our
colleagues are
helpless.
Far-reaching
institutional
change has
become
a necessity.
We
call on you to
reopen the
channels of
communications
with your
staff
unions which
you closed
down in June,
so that we
might work
together
to ensure a
safer future
for UN staff.
Whilst it is
commendable
that
you will
honour the
lives of our
fallen
colleagues
today, by
refusing
to meet with
your staff to
negotiate
their rights
and working
conditions,
the lives of
those who work
selflessly on
the front line
every day are
needlessly
jeopardized
further.
Inner
City Press
exclusively
wrote about
this "break
down" in
June 2013,
here. Answers
are few and
far between -
and now
Ban
Ki-moon's
"press
encounter" at
12:30 is
downgraded to
a
"press
stakeout." But
the questions,
including by
the Free
UN
Coalition for
Access, @FUNCA_info, will continue.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
the
above-quoted letter
was also signed
by:
Dorani
Salah Omar,
Chairperson of
the Staff
Council, UNHCR
Djibouti
Ahmed
Abdullahi
Farah, UNHCR
staff
representative
in Somalia
Assadullah
Amin, SC-Field
Office in
Gardez,
Afghanistan
Abdul Basir
Sediqyar,
SC-Filed Unit
Maimana,
Afghanistan
Hamed Mardan,
Protection
Associate and
staff
representative,
Sub Office
Herat,
Afghanistan
Mohammad Azim
Naqibullah,
SC-UNHCR FO
Bamyan,
Afghanistan
All staff
representatives
of the Staff
Council of
UNHCR Malaysia
Ahmad Suhail
Akbari, UNHCR
SO,
Mazar-i-Sharif
Jackline
Lollis, Staff
Association
Chairperson,
UNHCR South
Sudan
Samuel Francis
Paul, former
field staff
member, UNHCR
South Sudan
Abid Wadid
Mufti, staff
representative
at UNHCR
Peshawar
Tanveer ul
Haq, staff
representative
at UNHCR
Peshawar
Wajiha Afzal,
staff
representative
at UNHCR
Peshawar
, 
