DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL REMEMBERS MEN AND WOMEN OF INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE WHO DIED FOR CAUSE OF PEACE
Press Release
DSG/SM/15
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL REMEMBERS MEN AND WOMEN OF INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE WHO DIED FOR CAUSE OF PEACE
19980918 Staff Day Memorial Remembers Sacrifice of United Nations Staff during 50 Years of Peacekeeping and Defense of Human RightsThe following is the text of the statement of Deputy Secretary-General delivered today at the memorial ceremony on Staff Day:
This memorial ceremony, a Staff Day tradition, focuses the mind on the sacrifices made by staff in half a century of United Nations peacekeeping and half a century of efforts to fulfil the enduring vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The men and women of the international civil service who venture into the field on behalf of the United Nations, whether they wear the blue helmets of peacekeepers, work for one of our humanitarian agencies or undertake missions for other United Nations bodies, are a special breed.
They take to heart the stirring summons to global solidarity enshrined in the United Nations Charter. They leave their homes and their families for prolonged periods of time so as to contribute to our global mission of peace and development. Often, they find themselves in harm's way.
Most live to tell of their experiences, inspiring the rest of us and spurring us on in our work. No less inspiring is what happens to too many others -- our colleagues who make the ultimate sacrifice in serving the international community.
Since 1948, more that 1,500 United Nations peacekeepers have died while serving the cause of peace.
Since 1992, there has been a dramatic rise in civilian deaths; before then, no more than a handful of civilian staff lost their lives.
People wearing United Nations blue have also been targeted for detention, extortion and robbery. Those who perpetrate such attacks are almost never brought to justice.
That is why we will continue to call on Member States to sign and ratify the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. Forty-three States have signed the Convention, but there are only 19 ratifications; that is why we are taking urgent steps to improve our own security.
Today we remember our lost colleagues, friends and family members. To do so is to let our thoughts mingle with those of all people who have lost loved ones to the age-old scourge of war. During the First World War, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army wrote the following lament:
"We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders field."
But if death gives us poetry, it also makes us -- the living -- even more determined to pursue the quest for peace. In that spirit, let us pledge to do all in our power to ensure that the sacrifices of half a century -- and the sacrifices that are certain to come, even, perhaps, with the next hour's headlines -- will not have been in vain.
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