31 May 2001

General

1. The Ad Hoc Inter-Agency Meeting on Security met in Paris, at the UNESCO headquarters from 14 to 18 May 2001, under the chairmanship of Ms. Diana Russler, Deputy United Nations Security Coordinator.

2. FICSA General Secretary André J. Heitz attended the meeting. He was the only representative of the staff. FICSA Vice-President Marielle Richon was also due to attend but was not released from her normal duties.

   The highlights...

   Revision of the United Nations Field Security Handbook

3. From the perspective of the staff, this was the most important issue. The draft submitted to the meeting already represented considerable progress over the current text. The meeting decided on some structural changes which entail a further round of consultations. The following is of importance:
   • There would be an introduction by the Secretary-General highlighting that security is of concern to all organizations, including those that are only or essentially headquarter-based.

   • The text maintains that "the primary responsibility for the security and protection of staff members [...] rests with the host government". It will, however, set out in plain words that the organizations have a responsibility towards their staff at all times.

   • The responsibilities of Executive Heads, and of the support services at both the field and headquarters.

   • There will be a subsection on the responsibility of staff for their own security.

   • At Phase Three - Relocation - the Designated Official (DO) and the Security Management Team (SMT) may initiate a "temporary concentration and/or internal relocation of all nationally-recruited staff and eligible dependants, if they wish to avail themselves of this option".

   • At Phase Four - Emergency Operations - the DO will have to ensure that the staff remaining at the duty station is limited to the minimum required and that means to evacuate them are available. She/he will also have to continue the relocation of locally-recruited staff and their dependants.

4. As regards the security of residences of internationally-recruited staff, there is now provision to cover the cost of hiring/installing electricity generators in certain instances.

   Training

5. The meeting reiterated the decision of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) that participation of staff in security training sessions is mandatory.

   Field Security Officers (FSOs)

6. The meeting held lengthy discussions on various issues of human resources management relating to FSOs. One of the decisions/recommendations will start with "in order to establish a staff development mechanism for FSOs".

7. At the request of FICSA, the next meeting will consider the issue of the contractual status of the FSOs and the length of their contracts (now limited to one year).

   Minimum Operating Security Standards (MOSS) and Minimum Telecommunication Standards (MITS)

8. "Strongly reiterating that the safety and security of staff operating in the field cannot be compromised, the meeting endorsed both the MOSS and MITS for implementation."

   Assistance to families

9. The meeting made strong recommendations to the organizations in this respect. FSOs should receive sensitivity training to enable them to provide such assistance.

   Aircraft safety

10. FICSA submitted a paper prepared by Mr. Reinhard Menzel, an Accident Investigation and Prevention Expert from ICAO and long-standing supporter of FICSA. His recommendations were picked up by the meeting, which also recommended that the procurement sections should ensure that compliance with aircraft safety standards be a contractual clause when chartering aircraft.

    Staff detained in Rwanda

11. FICSA submitted a paper calling for more energetic and coordinated action to assist our (former) colleagues who are still detained in Rwanda. The meeting agreed to bring the matter to the attention of the Deputy Secretary-General for urgent action.

    ...and now the Gloomy reality

12. It was reported that the recruitment of the eight new UNSECOORD officers authorized by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 55/238 might be suspended if no office space is found for them.

13. For the purposes of the revision of the Handbook and also of the definition of the scope of the Malicious Acts Insurance, the agencies had been requested last year to provide UNSECOORD with an update of the types of contracts that they were issuing to their personnel. The following organizations replied: ICAO, IFAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, ITU, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNON, UNOPS, WFP, WHO. We leave it to you to find those which did not care to reply. Among them is the organization which recorded the highest number of casualties in the last few months.

14. In several instances, some participants attempted to let financial or legal - and even parochial - considerations prevail over security considerations.

15. The MOSS had been proposed for immediate implementation in all Phase Three and above countries following its ratification by ACC, with a three-month grace period where the security needed upgrading. The conclusion of the document was: "There are no fines for non-compliance, in those cases non-compliance usually results in death or serious injury to a colleague." This did not prevent one organization with extensive humanitarian programs in dangerous areas to plead for implementation over at least one budget cycle. FICSA asked them to count in terms of body-bags.