By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 27 1999 (IPS)

United Nations staffers at the organisations headquarters in New York, along with affiliated offices in more than 175 countries, have their fingers crossed that there will be no major breakdown of the UN system comes midnight Dec 31.

“The United Nations has developed contingency plans and is confident about its internal system but it cannot control its external environment,” Bertrand Juppin de Fondaumiere, director of UN Management Policy, told reporters here.

The UN system could, however, face problems associated with the so-called “Y2K bug” in the early months of 2000, he admitted.

The problem stems from some computers around the world being unable to recognise the “00” in the dating systems as the year 2000 and, instead, will revert to 1900.

To cope with this, an International Y2K Centre has been set up in Washington DC, with World Bank assistance, to coordinate requests from UN member states seeking remedial action, with the assistance of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and other UN agencies.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance will maintain and update – on its website (http://www.notes. reliefweb.int) – information on humanitarian emergencies worldwide.

The UN Secretariat has been working with a “Year 2000 Management Group,” supported by a “Year 2000 Team,” to coordinate the development of contingency plans.

“A key element of the Organisation’s Y2K strategy was the identification of its mission-critical activities,” said Juppin de Fondaumiere.

These included the UN Security Council’s ability to conduct its business, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s ability to maintain telecommunication links with heads of state, governments, and offices away from headquarters, he added.

Another element of the UN’s Y2K strategy, was the Organisation’s ability to provide safety and security to staff, and its ability to carry out financial transactions.

If the Y2K problem resulted in computer glitches in the first few minutes of Jan. 1, the UN system could remain non-functional in its day-to-day operations – from doling out development aid and relief supplies to the needy to paying salaries to its 33,000 staffers spread around the globe.

Juppin de Fondaumiere said the year 2000 was also a leap year, a fact that not all computer programmers had foreseen. As a result, he said, some computers would not be able to recognise Feb. 29.

The UN Secretariat, the Un Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)- which are headquartered in New York – will close for three days and re-open only Jan 4.

The closure is both to celebrate the New Year as well as for testing and servicing Y2K-related contingency plans.

No unauthorised people will be allowed into any of the UN buildings and all staff have been requested to turn off their personal computers, printers and other electronic devices before they leave the building on Dec. 31. For additional precaution, they have also been asked to unplug them.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard noted recently that the United Nations had been dealing with the Y2K problem for more than a year. “We asked all our suppliers to give us in writing their assurance that they are Y2K compliant, ” he said.

“We have also done this with all our overseas missions, all peacekeeping operations and all foreign offices.”

Eckhard also said that he expects the entire UN system to be Y2K compliant. “I am not saying that we’re not nervous that something might still go wrong, but we feel we’ve done everything we can to become compliant,” he added.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) – a UN agency based in Montreal – said almost all the world’s air traffic systems are ready for Y2K – or will be by Friday.

Nearly 99.5 percent of the world’s international air traffic indicates a “very high level of readiness,” ICAO said.

“The extraordinary level of global cooperation demonstrated by Contracting States (to ICAO) and the airport industry in dealing with this unique challenge ensures that safety will not be compromised during the rollover to the year 2000,” Assad Kotaite, president of the ICAO Council, said last week.

Data received from the world’s top 25 airports and top 50 airlines, representing respectively 84 percent of aircraft movements and 85 percent of passenger traffic, also confirmed Y2K readiness, ICAO said.

Mohamed El-Baradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – a UN body based in Vienna – said his agency had continued its Y2K assistance programme by organising missions to nuclear power plants and medical facilities, which requested such assistance.

He said, however, there was concern that some nuclear power plant operators had fallen behind in their efforts to complete the necessary Y2K tasks because of late actions and shortage of funds.

The concern, he said, is not directly related to safety, as to updating computers to monitor radiation.

Addressing the General Assembly last week, Ambassador Trevor Hughes of New Zealand said his country would be the focus of attention in the early hours of the year 2000 since it will be one of the first countries to welcome the new year.

New Zealand, he said, could provide insight into the possible effects of the millennium bug on a computer-reliant infrastructure, and possibly give others a few hours vital notice of what they may expect.

A resolution unanimously adopted by the 188-member General Assembly last week called on member states to share experiences, skills and knowledge in ensuring “a timely and effective response to the challenge” posed by the millennium bug.

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