SCREENING OF BBC DOCUMENTARY ‘MR. SEAN’ TO HIGHLIGHT RISKS FACED BY UN RELIEF WORKERS

                                                      Note No. 5646

                                                      22 January 2001

Note to Correspondents

SCREENING OF BBC DOCUMENTARY ‘MR. SEAN’ TO HIGHLIGHT

RISKS FACED BY UN RELIEF WORKERS

The BBC documentary "Mr. Sean", on the life and work of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) staff member Sean Devereux, killed in Somalia in January 1993, will be shown at the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium on Wednesday, 24 January 2001, at 1 p.m.

The screening of the documentary will highlight the dangers United Nations relief workers face daily around the world.  In the last nine years, 198 civilian staff members have been killed in the service of the United Nations.  Another

228 were taken hostage or kidnapped, and almost 300 were victims of violent robbery, physical assault or rape.

Sean Devereux, a 28-year old, was killed in the southern Somali port of Kismayo by a known gunman on 2 January 1993.  He was there as a logistical officer in charge of all UNICEF operations for Kismayo, and was involved in providing assistance to 50,000 internally displaced Somalis seeking refuge in the city. Earlier on, he had worked in Liberia for the United Nations and in Guinea for the World Food Programme (WFP).

Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, will make a brief introduction.

The screening is sponsored by the United Nations Staff Union’s Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service.

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