GENEVA: The United States and Israel have sent complaint letters to senior United Nations officials questioning their staff’s impartiality over the Gaza war, documents showed on Thursday (Sep 18), as hundreds of UN employees protested outside the organisation’s European headquarters.
Staff carried placards saying “Peace for Gaza” and “Not a Target”. They laid more than 370 white roses beside a memorial plaque in Geneva to represent each UN aid worker killed in the nearly two-year war.
“Today, the UN staff are coming together to say that enough is enough, to say that we cannot kill our colleagues in Gaza with such impunity and to say stop to all these murders,” said Nathalie Meynet, president of the UN refugee agency staff council.
The letters highlight rising tensions between the UN and its biggest funder, the US, which has already withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council over what Washington calls its anti-Israel stance.
A parallel vigil at UN headquarters in New York was denied permission to proceed by management, according to a message seen by Reuters.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said there were “rules and regulations for staff to engage in activities outside of their normal activities which sometimes need to be applied”.
ISRAEL DENOUNCES EVENT
Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Daniel Meron denounced the Geneva protest in a Sep 10 letter to Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the UN’s Geneva office.
“UN staff are not activists or political actors. Those who incite and participate in such politically charged activities should face disciplinary measures, including suspension,” the letter said.
Séverine Deboos, one of the organisers, denied the protest was political. “The message is in honour of our colleagues in Gaza and to thank them,” she said.
Israel says it takes care to avoid civilian deaths in its war with Hamas.
