SAFETY OF UNITED NATIONS STAFF DEPENDS ON MORE THAN BARRICADES, SHATTERPROOF

 

GLASS, BUT ON BETTER EXPLAINING ORGANIZATION’S ROLE, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the Baghdad bombing in New York, today:

Thank you for your participation this morning in this very solemn gathering, honouring the victims and wounded colleagues during the terrorist bombing five years ago in Baghdad.

I particularly take note of the presence of His Excellency Zacarias Albano da Costa, the Foreign Minister of the [Democratic] Republic of Timor-Leste.  Thank you very much for your participation.

Five years have passed since the terrorist attack on our United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including Sergio Vieira de Mello.  We lost some of our best and bravest staff.

Their children have grown without a parent.  Their other loved ones, many who are with us now, feel their absence every day.  We, too, mourn them all.

They were heroes.  They faced danger to help people in need.  They did their job in its largest and most noble sense.

We grieve at their tragic deaths, yet we take heart from their courage.  Their legacy endures.  The concert we will listen to in a few minutes is but one of many, many artistic, academic and humanitarian tributes inspired by the lives of those we remember today.

Their ideals survive.  Through them, so do ours.

Over the past five years, the United Nations has continued to help the people of Iraq –- and others throughout the world -– who suffer from violence, disease and want.

This work is often dangerous, but it must go on.  Those who died on August 19th 2003 would have it no other way.

The United Nations helped organize historic elections and draft a new Constitution in Iraq.  As violence spiraled, our humanitarian agencies aided those in need.  Today, we are working hard to encourage political compromise and achieve an enduring peace.

But the risks remain.  The attack on our offices in Algiers last December is a reminder.

Recently, our Independent Panel on Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel and Premises completed its worldwide review.  It found that, and I quote:  “Total security has not been achieved anywhere by anyone in the past and will not be achieved by anyone in the future.  But security conditions can and must be constantly improved.”

We are doing that.  We think every day about how to ensure that our staff can operate under the best possible conditions.  How we can provide state-of-the-art equipment, the strongest protection and the most extensive safety measures.

Protecting ourselves requires more than barricades and shatterproof glass.  We must continue to explain, clearly and consistently, what we do and who we are.  We must tell the world in a strategic manner why the United Nations matters, and that we play an impartial and objective role wherever we operate.

We shall keep alive the memory of these talented, selfless, compassionate and irreplaceable people.  They represent the best of all we stand for.

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For information media • not an official record