UN dilemma: safety vs. mission

In the 1990s, UN aid workers and peacekeepers found themselves in complex war zones, with ambiguous mandates open to interpretation, or in chaotic conflicts amid multiple rebel groups, where one side might perceive the UN as favoring the enemy.

Attacks on the UN have climbed. Since 1992, 196 UN personnel have been killed in the field: victims of random violence or street crime, caught in the crossfire, or targeted simply for being UN, according to a report Annan released earlier this month.

Then came the Aug. 19 attack, which killed 22 in all, including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and injured 150. Mr. Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian enormously popular with staff, reputedly insisted on unarmed guards, a symbolic contrast with the occupation forces. "We assumed that distinction would be clear to Iraqis," says one official. Vieira de Mello's last words reportedly were that the UN must not abandon Iraq. But a second blast at the UN, by a suicide car bomber on Sept. 22 that killed an Iraqi security guard, convinced the UN to scale down dramatically.

From a prewar high of 600 international staff, just 30 remain. Most of the workload now falls to the roughly 4,000 Iraqi UN staff.

UN personnel Friday speak of improving security by providing personal training, beefing up overall organizational security, and putting pressure on governments to end the perception of impunity for attacking the UN.

At the UN's World Food Program, which alone has seen 50 colleagues killed since 1963, officials have required more safety training. As a result, fatalities dropped sharply in the 1990s.

"You learn what precautions to take, when you shouldn't expose yourself to danger and when you can," says Trevor Rowe, a spokesman for the WFP, which has downsized its staff from 150 to 10 in Iraq. "It's not a science, but something that demands consideration."

There's now a move toward consolidating UN agencies, which are sometimes spread out across a city. Relocating to one compound may make it a more inviting target, some say, but it also allows agencies to pool their resources and build new safeguards.

And one week after the Aug. 19 attack, Annan and the Security Council reiterated the call for member-states to implement the "Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel." The nine-year-old convention requires countries that host UN personnel to provide for their protection, work to prevent attacks, pass legislation that would make attacks on the UN criminal, and prosecute violators.

"The UN is a highly motivated, service-oriented institution, generally willing to go anywhere, any time, to some of the most challenging places on earth," says Steven Dimoff of the United Nations Association, a New York-based think tank. "It's not too much to expect that the international community will back them up and provide for their safety."

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