United Nations- UN staff union’s Standing Committee for Security and Independence of International Civil Service said working for UN proved especially deadly in 2014 as personnel continued to be subjected to deliberate attacks and hazardous environments.
A document made available to UN correspondents in New York on Tuesday said at least 61 UN and associated personnel were killed in 2014 alone.
It added that 33 peacekeepers, 16 civilians, nine contractors and three consultants were also killed dring the year.
It stated that at least 58 personnel were killed by deliberate attacks in 2013 and that out of the 58, 33 were peacekeepers and 25 were either civiliansor associated personnel.
The Committee document noted that in 2012, 37 UN personnel were killed, made up of 20 civilians and 17 peacekeepers, two of them police officers killed in the line of duty.
It added tht the incident with the most casualties took place in Northern Mali where nine peacekeepers were killed on Oct. 3,2014 when their convoy was ambushed.
The UN committee said Northern Mali was the most deadly place for UN personnel as 28 peacekeepers were killed there between June and October 2014, while Gaza was the most deadly place for civilian personnel, with 11 killed in July and August.
It stated that South Sudan was the country with the highest number of national staff members detained or abducted.
In May, it said, alleged members of South Sudan’s security forces assaulted and illegally detained two staff members in separate incidents in Juba.
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On Aug. 26, 2014, it added, South Sudan’s National Security Service detained two national staff.
On Oct. 16,2014, eight armed men wearing plain clothes seized a World Food Programme (WFP) staff member who was waiting in line for a flight from Malakal airport and drove him to an unknown location.
It added that scores of UN staff and associated personnel were also subjected to hostage-taking, kidnapping and abductions, noting that the worst incidents took place in the Golan Heights, where 44 Fijian peacekeepers were detained by armed opposition elements between Aug. 28 and Sept. 11, 2014.
It said UN personnel were abducted in Yemen, Sudan’s Darfur region, Pakistan and South Sudan, while an international contractor from India working for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) was released on June 12, 2014, after 94 days of captivity.
The document further showed that contracted personnel working alongside UN staff were equally targeted, saying a contracted deminer, along with two civilians, was killed in Afghanistan on March 7, 2014 by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) fixed to a motorcycle.
It further showed that three contracted vaccinators were killed in Afghanistan on March 11,2014 when their vehicle struck an IED.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Mr Ian Richards, the President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions, had highlighted increased dangers faced by staff and called on the General Assembly to do more to protect lives.
Richards made the call at a memorial service at the UN headquarters on Jan. 8 to honour personnel who died in the service of peace, saying “we are asked to work in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous places.
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“The work is fulfilling and we do it willingly. All we ask in return is that the organisation should do its best to protect us, look after our families and hold those who attack us, including governments, responsible for their actions.
“Partly for this reason we presented the Secretary-General with a proposal to set up an independent UN coroner so that the death of every colleague is investigated, the results published, lessons learned and lives saved.
“Families also need to be kept informed of how and why their loved one died,;; Richards said. (NAN)