Annan urges all countries to ratify treaty on safety of UN personnel
In the most recent of his continuing efforts to improve the safety of United Nations staff in the field,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged all nations to sign on to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and
Associated Personnel.
In a letter addressed to the Heads of State or Government and Foreign Ministers who are expected to attend the General
Assembly later this month, Mr. Annan invited countries that have not already ratified or acceded to the Convention to do
so at a high-level treaty event that will take place at UN Headquarters in New York from 23 to 26 September, concurrent
with the Assembly's general debate.
As of yesterday, the Convention, adopted in 1994 after an increase in the number of attacks on personnel working in UN
operations worldwide, had 66 States parties. Efforts are continuing to ensure that all States that have significant
numbers of UN or associated personnel will accede to it.
The instrument provides a framework of internationally accepted rules that criminalize attacks on UN and humanitarian
personnel. It also imposes legal obligations on States parties to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety and
security of such workers.
Though UN staff have been targeted before, last month's attack on the world body's Baghdad headquarters - which left 22
people dead and at least 100 others wounded - was the most deliberate and devastating.
The Security Council denounced the "criminal terrorist attack" as an assault on "the international community as a whole"
and quickly passed a resolution reaffirming the obligation of all parties involved in armed conflict to comply fully
with the rules and principles of international law "related to the protection of humanitarian personnel and United
Nations and its associated personnel, in particular, international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law."