POLITICS-U.N: UN Personnel Killed with Impunity

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations says it is alarmed at the indiscriminate killing of its personnel and the wanton destruction of U.N. property in the world’s battle zones.

“Each time a defenceless U.N. staffer dies in the line of duty, fear takes it toll on those who carry on,” says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It is particularly disturbing that no one has ever been charged or brought to justice for killing or causing the death of a U.N. staff member – “such impunity must not stand.”

Addressing a U.N. Staff Union meeting on international security, Annan said the year 1992 marked a crossroad. Before then, security was not a major issue.

“It was almost unheard of for non-military staff to be killed. When it happened, it was a random act, caused by being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he added. But since 1992, a new climate has prevailed where government authority is nowhere to be found in many conflict zones.

“Violence is aimed deliberately at civilians. Sanctuaries such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship are destroyed and desecrated. Combatants fail to respect the U.N.’s impartial presence, and instead target those wearing U.N. blue for detention, extortion, robbery and murder,” says Annan.

Prior to 1992, no more than a handful of civilian staff lost their lives in the line of duty. Since then, however, 219 civilian staff have been killed while serving with the United Nations. Since 1994, “in another brazen violation of civilised norms,” hostage-taking has become a new threat: 130 staff members have been held, in 43 separate incidents.

“But numbers do not tell the full story,” Annan notes, “They do not measure the suffering inflicted on the families. They do not measure the negative effect on U.N. programmes.”

The Secretary-General lists the names of staff members who have either been killed or have long been missing and unaccounted for: Abdala Daker Hayatli, Elizabeth Assey, Tomas Ouijada and Alec Collett. One died of gunshot wounds in El Salvador; one has been detained in Rwanda since 1995; another was killed during a robbery in Tanzania one year ago; one has been detained in Lebanon since 1985; and one has been missing in Syria since 1980.

In the Caucasus, Vincent Cochetel of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is still being held following his abduction in early February. Last week, four military observers with the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia were kidnapped by an armed group. Three were released while one is still being held captive.

Annan says he sees opportunities for progress in two areas.

First, the United Nations can put pressure on governments of countries where U.N. personnel are stationed. Besides their inherent function of maintaining order and protecting persons and property, governments must also uphold the relevant articles of the U.N. charter and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations and its specialised agencies.

Secondly, the United Nations can pressure governments to sign and ratify the U.N. Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, adopted by the 185-member General Assembly in 1994, Annan says.

The Convention cannot enter into force until it is ratified by 22 member states. But so far, only 17 countries have ratified the Convention. “To their credit, member states agreed quickly on the text of this treaty; they must now finish the job.”

Meanwhile the United Nations also is concerned about the looting of U.N. warehouses and the destruction of U.N. property in several of the world’s battle zones. “It is also disturbing to me that U.N. property is now seen as fair game,” says Annan.

Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was broken into by looters who also stole irreplaceable medical records. “Such disregard, not only of the United Nations but also of one human being for another, must find an antidote.”

In early 1996, the U.N. Observer Mission in Liberia was the victim of “a frenzy of looting” when it lost all its communications equipment, furniture and fleet of vehicles following the outbreak of factional fighting in the embattled West African nation.

The world body also lost millions of dollars worth of property in a rash of robberies in its peacekeeping operations in Cambodia, Somalia, Mozambique and the former Yugoslavia. The United Nations also complained of “wanton looting” of all of its agency offices, including the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

The United Nations lost all its computers, military vehicles and electronic equipment even as its peacekeeping operations were winding down in the former Yugoslavia.

The rash of robberies with the U.N. Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was given an added political twist because some of the missing laptop computers contained data on human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia. A total of 616 U.N. vehicles were stolen from troops serving with UNPROFOR.

The largest single robbery, however, took place in April 1994 when 3.9 million dollars in cash was stolen from the U.N. peacekeeping operations in Somalia.

Although the money was never recovered – despite assistance from Britain’s Scotland Yard – the United Nations hinted the robbery may have been an “inside job.”