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.”
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.
In a mail sent to all WFP staff, WFP Staff Union conveyed the grave concerns of the staff over WFP’s position in Gaza, and the perceived ambiguous stance of the Executive Director, advisors and Leadership Group on the war and on the attendance of Ms. McCain at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.
The Staff Union sent a request for clarification to the Ethics Office. Note that the Ethics Office reports to the Secretary-General who personally cleared the appointment of Cindy McCain.
The Staff Union recalled that those staff who reported misconduct in good faith should be protected from retaliation.
“Whether or not the UN itself has taken up a position the use of starvation as a weapon should not prevent WFP, which has always been a leader in the pursuit of the right to food, from continuing to fight for that right.. We invite our leadership to take up this request”
Shoutout to WFP staff who dared to denounce double standards within the Ethics Office and the United Nations.
The principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence are fundamental to humanitarian action. Humanity means that human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found, with particular attention to the most vulnerable.
In 2014, following the Gaza war, UNRWA imposed disciplinary measures for Gaza staff who posted on social media about the rights of Palestinians while Israel was indiscriminately killing their families. This was done at the request of the US Administration.
Mr. Secretary-General,
Will you direct your Ethics Office to uphold the same standard of impartiality and neutrality for Cindy McCain, or will she be absolved owing to her U.S. nationality?
As Israel continues its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, the United Nations is losing its last shred of morality.
The Israeli government has informed the UN that it will not renew the visa of Lynn Hastings, the U.N. resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli government has asked the U.N. to appoint a replacement that can gain their trust.
To put it differently, someone who wouldn’t dare to blame Israel, as Hastings bravely did. Hastings was merely fulfilling her obligations by exposing the humanitarian crisis imposed by the Israeli government.
In other words, the UN is now actively seeking an obedient and submissive official to replace Hastings to appease Israel. Someone who, according to Israel, is impartial enough to blame everything on the Palestinians, even their own Genocide.
As for UNRWA, the U.S. Administration has already nominated an American Deputy Commissioner General. The new DCG will be busy investigating the local staff of UNRWA to satisfy Israel’s latest unsubstantiated accusations of lack of neutrality. Will the new UNRWA DCG dare to investigate Israel’s bombing of 82 UNRWA schools, centers, and shelters, as well as the indiscriminate killing of some 150 UNRWA Palestinian local staff?
Yesterday, as the fiercest bombardments resumed, the UNRWA CG had one thing to say: ‘Very sad days ahead’, effectively abdicating his role as the UNRWA Humanitarian Head in Gaza.
In UNHQ NY, the Secretary-General’s Spokesman was busy fielding questions from journalists about the WFP Head, Cindy McCain, defending her fiercely, even though WFP didn’t manage to airdrop a single box of aid for the Palestinian people under her leadership.
When one journalist asked the SG’ Spokesman how worried was the SG about UN staff in Gaza, the Spokesman replied:
“Extremely”
The death toll for UNRWA staff is currently close to 150.
Yesterday, on one of the most horrific days of Israeli bombardment and indiscriminate killing of civilian Palestinians, the SG issued a two-line statement:
“I deeply regret that military operations have started again in Gaza. I still hope that it will be possible to renew the pause that was established.”
Subsequently, he was seen at COP28 telling world leaders that it was:
“Not too late to stop the climate crisis and that they could still prevent planetary crash and burn. But we need leadership – cooperation – and political will. And we need it now.”
Mr. Secretary-General,
If the United Nations cannot prevent the total crash and destruction of 365 sq km of Gaza, how can we prevent the ‘planetary crash’?
How will you prevent the “planet’s burn” if the United Nations is unable to prevent the live burning of 2 million Palestinian people?
Mr. Secretary-General,
The only place you should be in at this moment, you and your UN leaders, is Gaza. Nowhere Else.
Yesterday, the Commissioner General of UNRWA pinned a new tweet on X praising his UNRWA colleagues as the “true heroes” as they continue to “put on their UN vest and go to work every day.”
UNRWA’s senior management rushed to post many videos and statements on social media praising the dedication of UNRWA Palestinian local staff who have remained committed to their communities.
UNRWA’s local staff in Palestine are undoubtedly the true heroes.
However, the narrative of UNRWA senior management does not accurately depict the situation.
The harsh reality is that UNRWA Palestinian staff were left with no choice. Just like Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza, UNRWA senior management confined their entire 13000 Palestinian local staff to stay in the North of Gaza.
They neglected to protect them from the indiscriminate bombing, leaving them without a place to hide or a means of escape.
During the first days of the war, a few international staff quickly fled Gaza, leaving behind some 13000 staff with no information, no support, no directives, no nothing…
All 13000 Gaza staff received only one message from the Acting Deputy Commissioner General. It read,
‘In these extremely unprecedented and tough times, this is to enable staff to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances. We pray for everyone’s safety at this time.”
Pray?
This is how UNRWA senior management treated the 13000 Palestinian local staff.
They prayed.
And this is what transpired next.
Amal (name changed), an UNRWA teacher, rushed to leave her home from Jabaliya with her two kids and husband and moved without any protection to the south. She couldn’t find a place to shelter because the shelters were overcrowded and unsafe. She tried to contact UNRWA headquarters, but no one answered her. Finding no place to shelter, she slept on the streets with her family, on the pavement, and the roads.
Khaled (name changed), a social worker, received a WhatsApp message from a relative working with another UN organization informing him that his organization was relocating local staff to the South. Khaled rushed to contact his supervisor, but his supervisor was nowhere to be found. He called another UNRWA international official who shockingly told him that “he was only responsible for international UNRWA staff safety and security and not the Palestinian ones and that he was too busy to be bothered.”That night, Khaled’s house was bombed, and he died with his wife and kids in the rubble of their own home.
Alaa’ (name changed), a nurse wanted to move to the Khan Younes Training Center. According to what she heard, other UN agencies designated the center as relatively secure and the UN gave its coordinates to the Israeli side as a refuge for local staff. The journey from the North to the South was dangerous, and Israel was bombarding those fleeing on the main Salaheddin road in Gaza. Alaa’ reached out to her Director (an UNRWA international staff) to request transportation in an armored UN vehicle to the KYTC. The International Director stated that she could not assist her, and that taxis were still functioning, transporting civilians to the border. Alaa and her children took the dangerous Salaheddin road on their own. When they reached their destination later that day, she observed the International Director alone inside the UNRWA armored vehicle with ample room beside her.
Suha (name changed) and her four children left Gaza and headed towards the south. She attempted to reach out to UNRWA headquarters in search of guidance, but senior management did not give the Palestinian staff in Gaza any hotline number to call. She found no place to stay, so she hid under a tree and tied a blanket to her children’s hands to keep them together.
Throughout the war, UNRWA Palestinian staff were left alone by senior management. Their bravery in navigating alone without any advice, directive, or support during this war is heroic.
However, it came at a significant price.
All other UN agencies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories included their Palestinian local staff under the UNDSS security arrangements and provided a designated safe haven and safe transportation except UNRWA Palestinian staff.
All other UN agencies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have completed a headcount for their local staff, except for UNRWA Palestinian staff.
To date, there is no headcount of Palestinian staff at UNRWA.
The headcount for the UNRWA international staff was, however, completed. Most of them work from home abroad while receiving a daily subsistence allowance.
The number of UNRWA Palestinian staff who were killed has now reached 126, and that number is likely to go up. Many of these staff members lost their lives, along with their entire families and dependents. Many of them are still under the rubble.
It is imperative to investigate the unacceptable failures of senior management in planning for the security and safety of Palestinian staff.
The lack of emergency preparedness in an emergency-designated duty station is astounding. UNRWA Palestinian local staff were left with no protection, no directives, and no support.
Praising them on social media as “real heroes” is not sufficient.
The Secretary-General is responsible for fulfilling the rights of UNRWA Palestinian staff under the rules.
1- The UNRWA Palestinian staff are entitled to danger pay:
This allowance is payable as a monthly sum currently at 1640 USD per month to internationally-recruited and locally recruited staff whenever staff are present Gaza, whether or not they report to duty. Currently, UNRWA has only paid danger pay to its international staff, but not to its local staff in Palestine.
2- The UNRWA Palestinian staff are entitled to payment of daily subsistence allowance (DSA):
Under the UNDSS security policies, UNRWA staff should have been relocated to either the Khan Yunis Training Center or a designated safe haven in the south. The Director of Human Resources should have authorized payment of DSA for an initial period of 30 days. He has not done so. The daily rate of DSA in Gaza is currently 168 USD. This entitles each UNRWA local staff member to receive 5040 USD for the first month of the war. Instead, the Commissioner-General has granted permission to disburse 300 USD/month to each staff member. On the other hand, UNRWA international staff have been paid daily DSA even though they have been working remotely from outside Gaza in the comfort of their own homes.
3- The families of the UNRWA Palestinian staff are entitled to compensation under the Malicious Act Insurance Policy (M.A.I.P):
Under the MAIP, the families of the 126 deceased UNRWA Palestinian staff are now entitled to a total amount of approximately 15 million USD. Each bereaved family is entitled to receive roughly 120,000 USD. The bereaved families have not received a single penny from UNRWA senior management.
During the recent UNRWA Advisory Commission on November 21, the UNRWA Commissioner-General stated that UNRWA had obligations towards the host governments that it intended to fulfill. He asserted that he heard the call for action and supported it.
Unfortunately, the M.A.I.P policy cannot be applied retroactively since it is conditional on several measures such as compliance with security directives.
The Director of Human Resources and senior management must be held accountable for failing to inform the Palestinian staff of the applicable policies and excluding them from MAIP coverage.
Nothing but discrimination, incompetence, and disregard for the lives of Palestinian local staff…
In the meantime, there is a lack of transparency regarding the OCHA 1.2 billion humanitarian appeal for Gaza.
Neither OCHA nor the UN has published any figures on the total funds received so far. Yesterday, a journalist asked the SG Spokesperson about the total funds received so far, but the spokesperson was unable to provide an answer.
You can get an idea from the transcripts of the noon highlights:
Question: Okay. I’m going to ask two updates. First one, sorry. First one is the appeal… the OCHA appeal, the 1.2 billion humanitarian appeal. How does that work?
Spokesman: I don’t have the numbers with me, but as I’ve told you, I think, Dezhi, the…
Question: I tried. I even donated, but I still cannot find the figure.
Spokesman: Okay. Then we will help you find where your money went.
Question: Thank you. Yeah. Really…
Spokesman: I won’t ask you how much you donated, but we do appreciate your donation. [laughter]
Laughter.
Mr. Spokesman, I can help you figure out the places where this money sometimes goes amiss. At times, it struggles to find its way, which is towards the Palestinian refugees.
Sometimes, like in the aftermath of the 2014 Gaza war and the ensuing Emergency Appeal, when generous donors responded swiftly, the emergency funds went amiss. Part of this money was used by an UNRWA international staff member posted in Gaza to build a gym because he wanted to maintain his shape while working in a complex duty station.
There was no oversight internally or externally for how the Emergency Appeal Funds were drawn upon. Part of these funds have not gone to their destined beneficiaries: the Palestinian people.
A third of UNRWA budget is funded by the US Administration, which in turn has significant leverage on senior appointments, operations, and oversight. There are those who may question why KSA and other GCC major donors have reduced their funding for UNRWA. Despite their desire to insist on political motives, the fact is that these countries have repeatedly requested expense monitoring reports and have not received any. As a result, they reduced their funding.
UNRWA’s survival and relevance are more crucial today than ever before.
In order to fulfill its mandate, UNRWA needs to be accountable to the Palestinian refugees and to the Palestinian staff. In addition, it must decrease its reliance on US funds and strive to regain the trust of Arab and other donors.
Establishing an independent oversight mechanism and board is the only way to achieve that. The host governments and representatives of donor countries must have independent experts sitting on these boards, reviewing, inspecting, and reporting to donors.
For this to happen, there must be accountability first. UNRWA Palestinian staff have the right to receive answers and for their rights to be respected and fulfilled.
I ask the Secretary-General to establish an independent external inquiry commission to investigate the failure of UNRWA senior management to include UNRWA Palestinian staff under the UNDSS Security Policies and the M.A.I.P.
I ask the Secretary-General to publish daily updated figures for the OCHA Emergency Appeal for Gaza.
I ask the Secretary-General to compensate the families of the deceased UNRWA staff by paying them 15 million compensation from the OCHA emergency appeal fund.
I call on UNRWA Commissioner-General to pay the local staff of UNRWA their entitlements to danger pay.
I call on UNRWA Commissioner-General to pay the local staff their entitlements to DSA.
I ask the Secretary-General to uphold the principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination.
Today, November 29th marks the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
This day serves as a reminder that approximately 6 million Palestinian refugees are still dispersed throughout the region. The recent Gaza war resulted in the forced displacement of over one million Palestinians and the death of thousands of children, women, and men.
Mr. Secretary-General, the Palestinian staff of the UN are also Palestinian refugees.
The United Nations must not discriminate against its own Palestinian staff and must act swiftly to fulfill its obligations towards them.
For years, the United Nations has discriminated against the #UNRWA Palestinian local staff by excluding them from coverage under two key UN policies that apply to ALL United Nations staff in times of war.
UNRWA Palestinian local staff have been systematically excluded from the coverage under these two policies and discriminated against due to cost implications and because of their Palestinian identity.
The UN Inter-Agency Security Management Network made significant policy-related decisions and updates regarding the security of locally recruited personnel in June 2018. Furthermore, it was requested that the Designated Official at every duty station convey the policies of the UN Security Manual to all locally recruited personnel and their eligible family members.
UNRWA Palestinian local staff were not informed about the policies, resulting in them being left without vital information about their safety and protection.
The Malicious Acts Insurance Policy (MAIP) provides compensation for deaths and partial or permanent disabilities caused by acts of war and hostilities. The Palestinian local staff of UNRWA in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon are eligible for such coverage, but they have been systematically excluded from MAIP coverage.
These two policies apply to all UN locally recruited staff worldwide, except for the local staff of UNRWA in Palestine.
This week, Mr. Martin Griffiths, the OCHA Coordinator, initiated the Emergency Appeal for Gaza and appealed to member states to fulfill their obligations of USD 1.2 billion. Around 250 million dollars have already been allocated. The Emergency Appeal is expected to raise the required funds, which will likely compensate the guilt of the member states who were silent during this genocide.
Holding a minute of silence and lowering the flags is a welcome gesture, but it’s insufficient.
I ask the Secretary-General to fulfill his moral obligations and duty of care towards the 103 UNRWA colleagues who lost their lives in the service of the United Nations.
The 103 UNRWA staff killed by Israel have been enduring atrocities and suffering for decades in Gaza and despite this, they have continued to serve the United Nations with dedication, loyalty and persistence.
The UN is considering giving each bereaved family a meager $3000 USD.
Under the MAIP coverage, the families of the 103 staff killed would have been entitled to receive approximately 12 million USD, with each family receiving approximately 120,000 USD individually.
Nevertheless, the UN is suggesting that they receive $3000.
The UNRWA Palestinian local staff are being discriminated against. The MAIP covers all local staff worldwide.
The United Nations must ensure that rules and regulations are consistently applied to all staff members, regardless of their category or nationality.
It is the responsibility of the United Nations to fulfill its obligations to the families of UN staff and compensate them promptly.
A few days ago, on 11 October 2023, the Fourth Committee of the United Nations (Special Political and Decolonization) approved nineteen draft resolutions as it wrapped up its general debate on decolonization.
Unsurprisingly, the three countries that consistently voted against several of these resolutions were Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The resolution requiring the administering Powers to terminate military activities and eliminate military bases in the Non-Self-Governing Territories under their administration. Approved by a vote of 102 in favor to 3 against: Israel, United Kingdom, United States
The resolution titled “Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories requires the administering Powers to regularly transmit to the Secretary-General statistical and other technical information relating to the economic, social, and educational conditions in their Territories. Approved by a vote of 135 in favour to 2 against (United States, Israel), with 2 abstentions (France, United Kingdom).
The resolution titled “Economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories” expresses concern about activities aimed at exploiting the natural and human resources of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to the detriment of their inhabitants. Approved by a vote of 135 in favour to 2 against (United States, Israel), with 2 abstentions (France, United Kingdom).
The resolution titled “Dissemination of information on decolonization” highlights the importance of continuing and expanding efforts to ensure the widest possible dissemination of information on decolonization. Approved by a vote of 136 in favor to 3 against (Israel, United Kingdom, United States) and 1 abstention (France).
So, if there is any doubt about who advocates for a post-colonial world, Doubt No More.
The message is clear: the governments of the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom consider themselves superior colonies and would like to see that status quo extended indefinitely.
The worst is that this is happening inside the United Nations, the multilateral international organization that embodies the universal conception of progress and human rights.
It would only seem logical then that the United States will resort to its vetoing powers to torpedo any peace efforts, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Only yesterday, those same countries butchered yet another Security Council resolution that proposed a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
It should, therefore, come as no surprise that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States has provided a diplomatic shield to its main ally by casting a record veto 53 times in the UN Security Council in favor of Israel and against anti-Israel resolutions or condemnations of Israel.
Of these 53 vetoes, 21 were under former President Obama’s administration. Before he departed from the White House, Obama instructed the US representative to the UN to abstain on a resolution condemning the settlements.
The United States has been sending a clear message to all. We will never allow any resolution against Israel inside the United Nations, and the United Nations isn’t the appropriate forum to agree on peace and security in the world.
In the right of reply, we have a Secretary-General who, by his statements, fails to call for a ceasefire out of fear of upsetting the United States and Israel.
A Secretary-General who fails to act on his predecessor’s (Kofi Annan) action plan to take timely and preventive actions to avert another bloody genocide in the world.
A Secretary-General who fails to use the word “condemn” when it comes to the large-scale atrocities committed against the Palestinian people, especially the Palestinian children, or to the total illegal blockade of Gaza or the forced internal displacement of 1 million Palestinian persons.
A United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Turk slapped by Israel’s permanent representative to the UN because he dared to condemn the siege of Gaza as “prohibited by international law”.
A Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, who, when asked by journalists about the UN staff who were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, dehumanizes them only because they’re Palestinians as if Palestinian victims do not have names, as if Palestinians are destined every day to die by an Israeli airstrike.
“Question: And final question. Do you have names or at least the nationalities of UNRWA’s employees who were killed?
Spokesman: My understanding is that they’re all Palestinians. Yeah.
Question: Names? No names?
Spokesman: I will give you the… I think UNRWA has released the names. I will make sure we circulate them, if we have all of them.
A Spokesperson for the Secretary-General who attempts to diminish the role and persona of the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, because she courageously addressed the Secretary-General asking him to call for an immediate ceasefire, which he still has not done.
“Question: I want to take you back to this issue of ceasefire. Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, tweeted and directly asked the Secretary-General. She said, I’m quoting, “Secretary-General, please call for a ceasefire now. If not now, when? If not you, who?” What’s your comment?
Spokesman: I mean, Ms. Albanese is Ms. Albanese. The Secretary-General is the Secretary-General. She’s an independent rapporteur with the right to say, of course, what she feels she needs to say. The Secretary-General’s position, I think, as I’ve been explaining it with some challenge here for the last days, is what it is”
If there is anything that the #Gaza war has shown, it certainly is the death of multilateralism and the death of the United Nations.
Palestine smells of death.
The Security Council smells of death.
The United Nations smells of death.
The international system that embodies the principles of peace, security, and human rights has failed.
It’s time to change the way the world is organized.
While conflicts worldwide might still require global collaboration, they must not be entertained within a dormant body that cannot reform its anachronic veto system of World War II.
There is no reason why the Arab world should continue paying their assessed contributions to an international body paralyzed and controlled by the Western powers.
The Arab countries must realize that only a new world order reshaped around new blocs and coalitions can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and push the Middle East toward further integration and sustainable development.
There is no reason why the Secretary-General of an international organization must not pay tribute to the Palestinian United Nations staff who died from Israeli air strikes in their own homes.
To Mr. Guterres, we are reminded of the words of the former United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in his speech in May 1954.
“The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.”
Mr. Secretary-General, it is time to save #Gaza from hell.
The fact that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu was allowed in late September 2023 to publicly hold a map of the “New Middle East” inside the General Assembly of the United Nations without #Palestine showing on this map speaks volumes about the United Nations’ lack of impartiality in this conflict and its outright support to Israel committing war crimes against the Palestinian people, children, and women.
An Organization that advocates for the respect of human rights and international humanitarian law yet fails systematically to hold its member states, namely Israel, accountable for violating every article of its Charter.
An Organization that threatens its staff, namely the UN local staff in the Middle East and within #UNRWA to refrain from publishing any comment condemning the killing and ethnic cleansing of its own community under the pretext of neutrality when all the principles of neutrality have been decimated in its own General Assembly when it allowed the PM Netanyahu to wipe out the name of the state of Palestine from the Middle East Map.
An Organization that stayed silent when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s only statement when prompted by journalists to issue a statement was:
“If there is evidence that Palestinians,…..has committed crimes. Yes, we have jurisdiction …”
in total disregard of the large-scale genocide of the Palestinian people being broadcast live 24/7 on Al Jazeera news channel.
An Organization that allows Israel to dictate its war plans by swiftly evacuating its international staff out of #Gaza in response to Israel’s request to wipe out Gaza and the Palestinians from the map of the Middle East.
Israel is moving to erase Gaza and the West Bank from the Middle East, and the United Nations is its first accomplice.
On 07 April 2004, the former Secretary-General Kofi Annan addressing the Commission on Human Rights on the United Nations’ failure to avert the Genocide in Rwanda, said
“We must never forget our collective failure to protect at least 800,000 defenceless men, women and children who perished in Rwanda 10 years ago.
Such crimes cannot be reversed.
Such failures cannot be repaired.
The dead cannot be brought back to life.
So what can we do?
First, we must all acknowledge our responsibility for not having done more to prevent or stop the genocide.
When we recall such events and ask “why did no one intervene?
No one can claim ignorance.
All who were playing any part in world affairs at that time should ask, “what more could I have done? How would I react next time –- and what am I doing now to make it less likely there will be a next time?”
Mr. Annan’s words resonate clearly and loudly more than ever today.
An Organization that fails repeatedly to prevent genocide and to act decisively to stop it, is a failed Organisation.
Thirty years after the Rwanda #genocide of 800,000 people, will the United Nations allow another genocide of Gaza’s two million people while it sits idle, making useless statements?
