In progress at UNHQ

SG/SM/6705

SECRETARY-GENERAL REMINDS STAFF OF 'CALL' OF UNITED NATIONS SERVICE, URGES THEM TO STAY 'UNITED BEHIND THE GOAL OF A BETTER WORLD'

18 September 1998


Press Release
SG/SM/6705


SECRETARY-GENERAL REMINDS STAFF OF 'CALL' OF UNITED NATIONS SERVICE, URGES THEM TO STAY 'UNITED BEHIND THE GOAL OF A BETTER WORLD'

19980918 Following is the address of Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered on the occasion of Staff Day at Headquarters on 18 September:

It gives me great pleasure to be with all of you -- including staff in Geneva and Vienna joining us through teleconference -- for this annual tradition. I am also pleased to welcome Madame Louise Fréchette to her first-ever Staff Day as Deputy Secretary-General, as my right-hand woman. I can assure you she has made a difference in my life and in my work. With the opening of the fifty-third session of the General Assembly, another busy season is upon us. Let us draw strength for it from our togetherness today.

Since taking office as Secretary-General, I have spoken often about human security in the broadest sense of the idea; about how a broader understanding of human well-being is taking hold and what this means for our work at the United Nations. Today, I would like to say a few words about staff security in the broadest sense of the idea and about the link between staff security and human security.

Staff security begins with security of person; the ability to go about your work free from threats, harassment and violence. The past year has been just dreadful in this regard. We have had a fatal helicopter crash in Guatemala and a plane crash that took the lives of 8 of our staff serving in Angola, including the Special Representative. And it was only last Friday that we came together to mourn nine other members of our family who perished in the crash of Swissair flight 111. Staff members have been murdered in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. And Vincent Cochetel of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) remains a hostage, held captive for no reason other than that he is among the many people worldwide who are proud to represent the United Nations.

Much of our work carries inherent risks. But we are doing what we can, where we can, to improve this most basic element of staff security. The United Nations Security Coordinator's Office has issued a handbook containing a wealth of valuable information. In November, staff in three of our most dangerous mission areas -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan -- will receive training from security experts and stress management counsellors.

Remarkably, no designated official for security has ever been through a systematic programme of training in this most vital responsibility.

I have been a designated official, when I was stationed in the former Yugoslavia. I have also been the United Nations Security Coordinator here in New York, and established the office as a full-time, stand-alone unit for United Nations and inter-agency cooperation. So, I know that security is complex and expensive. The bottom line, however, is that this is the price of doing business.

The primary responsibility for the security and protection of staff rests with host governments. I appeal to them to contribute to the trust fund we have established for training. I also call again on them to sign and ratify the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. So few States have done so that it sends a message -- that they do not care. To them I say, these are your own citizens going into the field. Why not give them the same training -- the same respect -- that they give to the military personnel they provide to the United Nations? I will also be appealing to United Nations bodies, especially the Security Council, to take some difficult decisions about the relative risks and payoffs of United Nations action. Civilians are being encouraged to go to places where governments do not want to expose their troops.

This speaks volumes about our humanitarian imperative. The sad truth is that it also means that unless more care is taken, from measures in the field to political decisions at Headquarters, we can expect more heartbreaking news.

Staff security also means job security. Job security is more than the fact of having a job; it is also a matter of what staff feel to be possible in that job. Who wants a job with little definition, few duties and even less direction? I recently learned of a disturbing trend: that for the first time in United Nations history we are seeing more resignations than retirements. I repeat, more resignations than retirements. Even worse, two thirds of those resignations are occurring at the P2 and P3 levels. It is as if, having glimpsed the future, those people had decided to try their luck elsewhere.

This is yet another sign that we must improve the way we manage such key human resources issues as career development, conditions of service, mobility, accountability, management and vision. These are the considerations that give real meaning to the idea of job security. That is why a task force on human resources was established and why I regard reform of human resources management as central to the overall reform process. The task force has just submitted its report. I will share with you my own proposals for change in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, I have listened carefully to your views and concerns, most recently at a meeting the Deputy Secretary-General and I held with the

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staff representatives this past Monday. We had a lengthy discussion on the delegation of authority and other issues. I was able to tell staff that I will be proposing the establishment of a management review panel to address the concerns they expressed about the accountability of managers.

I was pleased with the constructive spirit that pervaded our meeting and I would like to thank all staff for their contributions to the task force proceedings and the reform effort in general. Without your cooperation, without your ideas, it would not have been as successful as it has been. More than 1,000 of you responded to the staff survey on reform with valuable ideas and opinions on our future. Even more important, there is a convergence of views that is sometimes obscured by rumour, frustration or fear.

We agree, for example, on the need for a Secretariat-wide skills inventory. The Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) has embarked on such an assessment. We agree that mobility across functions, departments, duty stations and organizations of the United Nations system should be part of a United Nations career. I am proposing to the General Assembly that managed reassignments throughout the Secretariat be standard during the first five years for all entry-level professional staff. I benefited from that kind of reassignment during my career.

We agree on the need for training that goes beyond computer and language skills. OHRM now offers a menu of staff development programmes covering everything from administration and mission readiness to management of human and financial resources, collaborative negotiation, and gender and diversity issues in the workplace. And, in consultation with staff, the Performance Appraisal System has been completely revamped, making it less complicated and time-consuming and more closely linked to staff development.

I hope we can continue in this fashion on the many other issues we still need to address. I know there are those who fear the changes coursing through the system. But I have heard even more of you say that change is not happening quickly or dramatically enough. A lot has been achieved in administrative and managerial reform. I want to thank you again for your support and involvement, which have made this possible and have been crucial in bringing us this far along. I will continue to look to you as the process continues.

Let me turn now to a third element of staff security, which I think of as security of mind. This is difficult to quantify but crucial to grasp. I have said on many occasions that service with the United Nations is more than just a job; it is a calling. Security of mind means being secure in that calling. I want us to feel deeply the relevance of the Charter and our role as servants of the world community. I want us to be able to feel at all times that each of us is part of something bigger than ourselves.

I want us to be able to look at long-time staff and new arrivals, at colleagues in duty stations far and near, at those above and below us in the chain of command and know that we are unified, that a sense of common purpose

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prevails wherever the United Nations flag is flown. If personal security and job security are working properly, this security of mind can be achieved. But security of mind is also dependent on each staff member bringing his or her best to the job. This is a responsibility and a challenge, and I count on you to rise to it just as you can rely on me to do my part.

Staff Day 1998 is a day on which personal security, job security and security of mind merge and become one. To speak of personal security is to remember that today is the thirty-seventh anniversary of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld. Next month, his name will grace the medal to be introduced at the ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping -- and the anniversary of the first death of a UN staff member in the line of duty. To speak of job security is to recall Hammarskjöld as an eloquent defender of our international civil service.

And to speak of security of mind is to remember a man of profound spirituality. Among his many gifts to the United Nations was the creation of a meditation room, which he personally planned and supervised in every detail. It gives me great pleasure to announce today the reopening of the meditation room after a long period of closure due to abuse of those premises, which were vulnerable because of the room's location in the public lobby.

Hammarskjöld intended the meditation room as "a place where the doors may be open to the infinite lands of thought and prayer". At a time of uncertainty in international affairs, and at a time when we continue to grieve for lost colleagues, I commend to you the room as a place to contemplate the mission on which we are all embarked.

We have yet to attain acceptable levels of either human security or staff security. Our solace and saving grace is that we keep trying. To me, this General Assembly session opens with every bit as much promise as the first. So, let us seize that opportunity and let us do so as a staff united behind the goal of a better world for all. But first, have a wonderful staff day.

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For information media. Not an official record.