‘YOU ARE ALL THE NOBEL LAUREATES,’ SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO UN STAFF, IN REMARKS AT STAFF DAY HEADQUARTERS OBSERVANCE

‘YOU ARE ALL THE NOBEL LAUREATES,’ SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO UN STAFF,

IN REMARKS AT STAFF DAY HEADQUARTERS OBSERVANCE

Following are the remarks of Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered to a Headquarters observance of Staff Day in New York on 30 November:

It is a pleasure to see you all here on this Staff Day.

We gather today on the eve of a big day for our United Nations:  the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.  You and your colleagues around the world -- from clinics to ceasefire lines, from conference rooms to refugee camps -- should be proud of this recognition.  In a very real sense, you are all the Nobel laureates.  And I am very pleased that five staff union presidents, representing staff organizations all over the world, will be part of the delegation to Oslo.

But let us remember, too, that this prize endows us with even greater responsibilities.  I do not doubt that you will rise to the occasion –- indeed as you have in response to the extraordinary events of the past two and a half months.

The attacks and their aftermath have taxed all of us -– our emotions, our working lives, our sense of security.  But you have pulled through together admirably.  You have donated generously to the staff fund created to help the New York City victims of the attacks.  You have helped colleagues adjust to new tensions.  You have been as stalwart and inspiring as the other residents of our beloved host city.

Of course, that spirit is nothing new.  After all, this year’s Nobel prize may be the first given to the United Nations as a whole, but let us not forget that the Nobel Committee has previously recognized our peacekeepers, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Labour Organization (ILO), Ralph Bunche and, posthumously, my predecessor Dag Hammarskjöld.

I still believe we can and must do even better.  You might say that each Nobel raises the stakes that much higher.

One test by which we will surely be judged is our performance in Afghanistan.  Winter has arrived in parts of the country, making an already daunting humanitarian challenge even more difficult.  And as political talks continue in Bonn, it seems

likely that the United Nations will play a major role in helping the people of

Afghanistan pull together their lives and put together a credible government, and

continue to build the infrastructure and institutions any society needs to function.  Many of you, I hope, will make the choice of field service in these very difficult circumstances.

At the same time, as I have stressed to the General Assembly, the situation in Afghanistan and the struggle against terrorism are not the only items on our agenda.  And none of those other issues -- conflict, poverty, AIDS and environmental degradation, to name just a few -- has become any less urgent.  Moreover, we have at least four major conferences next year:  on financing for development, sustainable development, ageing and children.  So we have our work cut out for us even if no new crises or emergencies erupt -- and as experience has shown, that is a very big if.

Therefore, there can be no let-up in our ongoing task of creating a new United Nations for the new century.  We must build on what works, and discard the bad habits that don’t.  We must put modern management practices in place.  We must enhance our enormous in-house talents, and provide more and better opportunities for career development, while bringing in fresh young people and skills that are the key to the success of a varied enterprise such as ours.

In the last several years we have made considerable progress in the way we manage our human resources, and I would like to thank you for your ideas and for your constructive participation in the process.  Of course, this is a work in progress.  More challenges will come.

A constant concern along the way is staff security.  Since Staff Day last year, 74 military and civilian personnel have lost their lives in the line of duty.  Many others were kidnapped, injured or otherwise harassed.  I wish to assure you that we will continue to do our utmost to improve staff security, here at Headquarters and particularly in the field.

Often, the reports and rhetoric that fill these halls and our offices tell us about things that have not happened -- children who have not been immunized, women whose basic rights have not been respected, laws left unenforced, treaties left unimplemented, and commitments left unfulfilled.

This intense focus on human despair is quite justifiable, but it also has the effect of obscuring what has happened in the past half century.  Slowly, we have seen poverty decline, life expectancy grow, awareness of human rights spread, and peace accords come to outnumber new conflicts.  Year by year, generation by generation, we do move forward, even if slowly.

If the United Nations has played any role in achieving this progress, it is because of your dedication.  Your spirit is also what has made these last five years such a joy for me -- and for Nane, too, I should stress.  Here and in our travels, we have been inspired almost daily by all that the United Nations does, and all that others do to support our work.

Now, an unfinished agenda awaits us -- of external challenges, and internal change.  I look forward to working with you to make our United Nations the very best it can be.