Avoid Lanka: UN union tells staff

NEW YORK - The United Nations Staff Union is expected to advise its 13,000 members worldwide to avoid assignments in Sri Lanka because it is "among the world's most dangerous places for aid workers." "Recent attacks and accusations are affecting the ability of the United Nations to carry out its mission," warns the Staff Union's Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service.

After a visit to Sri Lanka last August, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes expressed similar sentiments, incurring the wrath of the government. Expressing "great concern at recent events in Sri Lanka that represent a breach of the independence of the international civil service," the Staff Union says, "this growing trend of deliberate attacks is affecting the ability of the United Nations to carry out its mission, and "undermines the fundamental principle that allows the Organization and its staff to cooperate.''More worrisome is "the lukewarm response by UN officials in supporting their own staff," says the Union, in a statement due to be released next week.

Pointing out that there has been a series of accusations directed against the UN and its Funds and Programmes, the union says Sri Lanka has called for "appropriate action" against UNICEF staff members who participated in a "peaceful protest" to condemn the killing of two Red Cross workers.

"It should be noted that the killing of the two Sri Lankan Red Cross workers was universally condemned by all UN agencies and the international community." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned "the brutal killings and voiced his deep concern about the security of civilians and aid workers in Sri Lanka."

Justifying the participation of UN staffers in the controversial demonstration, the union says: "While cognizant that UN staff must remain neutral and refrain from actions that jeopardize their status as international civil servants, the union believes that actions in these circumstances do not warrant such a response."

Instead of targeting the UN and its staff, the union says the government should spend its time and efforts in a thorough investigation of the events surrounding the abduction and killings of these Red Cross workers, and the murders of 17 Action Contre la Faim aid workers who were killed in 2006. Asked to comment, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona dismissed the Staff Union threat as inconsequential.

''In any event the Staff Union will find it really difficult to dissuade UN staffers from applying to be posted to Colombo judging by the long lists of applicants for positions here," said Dr. Kohona, who spent more than 10 years in the UN Secretariat in New York as Chief of the UN Treaty Section.

Despite the cacophony of orchestrated negative publicity, Colombo continues to attract hoards of UN and NGO staff, he told The Sunday Times.