Global Policy Forum

By Mithre J. Sandrasagra

Senior U.N. officials today criticised the international community for its failure to give high priority to the safety and security of both civilian and military personnel working for the United Nations in far corners of the world.

A 1994 U.N. convention on the safety of U.N. personnel and relief workers has been ratified only by 33 of the 188 U.N. member states. The number of new ratifications fell from 25 in the 1998-1999 period to just eight since then. These eight countries -- Bangladesh, Botswana, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Senegal, Uruguay and France -- were applauded at a meeting today, billed as the Third Summit on U.N. Staff Security.

The convention, which condemns violence against U.N. personnel working in the common interest of the international community, also calls on states parties to safeguard humanitarian workers.

The President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab saying that "the U.N. is our family of nations and its staff our own citizens," appealed to all states who have not yet ratified the Convention to do so as quickly as possible.

Patrick Hughes, a Human Rights Officer in Angola, pointed out that most of the work of a field officer is conducted outside U.N. compounds, thus these officers must rely on local police, military and agreements with rebel groups for their security.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette emphasized that member states must by more aggressive in investigating attacks on staff which have included kidnapping, robbery, false arrest, car- jacking, rape and murder. "There are dozens of unresolved cases of detained U.N. staff, so even as we sit here comfortably some of our colleagues may well be suffering or languishing in obscurity," Frechette added.

Between 1992 and January 2000, 184 civilian staff members were killed and 228 were taken hostage or kidnapped. In addition in 1999, the Office of the U.N. Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD) recorded 292 violent security incidents against U.N. humanitarian staff round the world.

Mona Hammon, Director of the World Food Program's (WFP) New York Office said that hunger is increasingly being used as a weapon and humanitarians providing food assistance have become targets - 53 WFP officers have fallen in the line of duty.

Mark Powe, U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) Security Coordinator, told participants at the Summit of an incident on Mar. 3 in southern Sudan where a U.N. staffer and three associates were taken hostage, beaten, subjected to mock execution, given dirty water and deprived of food before being released.

On June 6 the UNICEF compound in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo, was shelled by mortars; four staffers were wounded. One un- detonated mortar remains in the courtyard there.

U.N. peacekeepers, working in remote corners of the world, far from families and the comforts and conveniences of home are usually deployed in conditions that governments consider unfit for their better equipped military personnel, Antonio Monteiro, President of the European Union said.

Staff Council President, Mehri Madarshahi decried a lack of financing for security, a concern that was echoed by UNSECOORD Coordinator Benon Sevan, who pointed out that his office had "six professionals to take care of some 70,000 U.N. regular and peacekeeping personnel."

Powe, highlighting the urgent need for more resources to be allocated to Security, noted that there were only about 100 security professionals in the entire U.N. system.

Speaking on behalf of the President of the Security Council, M. Yves Doutriaux of France which ratified the 1994 Convention on June 14, emphasized that, "security must figure as a budgetary item."

Frechette appealed to all member states to contribute to the Trust Fund for the Security of U.N. personnel. As of last week, only five member states had done so - Finland, Japan, Monaco, Norway and Senegal. The $ 1.2 million these countries have contributed has allowed UNSECOORD to implement urgently needed security training at a number of high-risk duty stations, Frechette added.

Hammon pointed out that WFP now budgets for staff security in all humanitarian projects, emphasizing that more than 5,000 WFP staffers have received security training.

Those present at the Summit also emphasized that the ratification process of the Statute of the International Criminal Court - which defines attacks on peacekeeping and humanitarian personnel as war crimes - needs to be quickened. Furthermore, there is very little attention paid to the safety of local civil staff who make up more than 70 percent of U.N. staff in the field. Doutriaux stressed that recently local civilians had suffered higher casualties than military personnel.

Makarim Wibisono, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) said that, "there has been a general erosion of respect for humanitarian personnel" and pledged ECOSOC's willingness to play its part in increasing dialogue with all those involved in staff security.

In the past, violent incidents involving humanitarian personnel were accidental. Today, U.N. personnel is deliberately attacked, Madarshahi pointed out, adding that the U.N. flag has become a target rather than a shield.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has initiated an internal review with a view to strengthening policy, legal and operational aspects of security in the field.