The United Nations must come to terms with the fact that many of its staff and members of its wider family disagree with its leadership and stance on the Gaza war.
To what extent can United Nations staff remain silent when the tenets of the Organization they have sworn office to are decimated and violated daily?
The principles of international humanitarian law and human rights are nonexistent.
The principles of independence and impartiality have been trampled upon.
Asha Bradley a member of the World Food Programme family, writes:
“The trauma of having a genocide livestreamed to us was compounded by our Western governments’ and media support for horrendous violence under a false narrative of ” Israel’s right,” but I was also becoming aware that the abandonment of the people of Gaza had infected the humanitarian sphere, well at least, THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME.
WFPs sole duty is to uphold people’s right to food and provide food assistance. In the case of Gaza where 100% of the population is facing starvation, WFP has been uncharacteristically quiet.”
It is the mission of the WFP to rescue the Palestinians from starvation. Its Chief was busy instead attending a ceremony where Israel was presented with an award for pursuing human justice.
How ethical, impartial, and moral is Cindy McCain?
WFP staff thinks she is not and they are demanding her resignation.
In response to staff protests, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson reiterated the SG’s complete confidence in Cindy McCain.
In the meantime, Israel has now canceled the visa of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Lynn Hastings because she made a statement highlighting the catastrophic situation in Gaza.
The SG’s spokesperson reiterated the Secretary-General’s complete confidence in Lynn Hastings.
There is a significant difference, however, between McCain and Hastings.
Hastings was fulfilling her obligations as an international civil servant for the United Nations.
McCain was serving the interests of other countries.
In doing so, McCain was directly violating the standards of conduct of the international civil service, namely Article 8:
“If the impartiality of the international civil service is to be maintained, international civil servants must remain independent of any authority outside their Organization; their conduct must reflect that independence. It cannot be too strongly stressed that international civil servants are not representatives of Governments, nor are they proponents of their policies.
and Article 42:
“There may be situations in which the behavior of an international civil servant may reflect on the Organization. International civil servants must therefore bear in mind that their conduct and activities outside the workplace, even if unrelated to official duties, can compromise the image and the interests of the organizations.”
Mr. Spokesman,
Confidence must be well-earned and well-placed.
A UN official who has lost the confidence of his staff must leave.
