27 September 2001

FICSA Update No. 47 2001

    UNHCR Pays Tribute to Colleagues who Lost Their Lives

  • Today, 26 September 2001, at 9 a.m., Mr. Ruud Lubbers, High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Naveed Hussain, Chairperson of the UNHCR Staff Council, and the widow and daughter of Mensah Kpognon lit together a candle on the Place des Nations in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva in memory of their colleagues killed in the line of duty.

  • Since 1992 alone, 20 staff have lost their lives while serving the cause of refugees, five of them in the past eight months. The ceremony took place under the Broken Chair monument, which symbolizes the victims of landmines, and came about one year after the brutal lynching of Samson Aregahegn, Carlos Caceres and Pero Simundza in Atambua (West Timor, Indonesia) and the killing of Mensah Kpognon in Macenta (Guinea).

  • During the whole day, the staff of UNHCR and the other organizations in Geneva, and the supporters of international solidarity and humanism could pay tribute, by bringing flowers, to those who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of the refugees.

  • As a tribute to our slain colleagues, a memorial will be created in the rotunda in front of the headquarters building in Geneva. This tribute will provide a lasting recognition of the sacrifice made by staff who lost their lives, those who have been injured, and the many staff who continue to risk their lives in the service of others. It will also serve as a constant reminder that the protection of refugees cannot happen without the protection of staff.

  • "Today, as we honour our slain friends and co-workers, I must also declare my continuing anger and frustration that true justice has not yet been served in any of these tragic cases", Mr. Lubbers said in relation to Atambua and Macenta.

  • In the case of Atambua, six men were given sentences ranging from 10 to 20 months. The sentences were recently upheld by a Jakarta appeals court. "If you want us to continue saving lives, you must protect our own, Mr. Hussain said. "We look towards governments to assume their responsibility for ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers. Stronger action must also be taken against States that fail to fulfill this responsibility. Lack of such measures against Indonesia, for example, allowed the killers to get away with the murder. This is unacceptable."

    Donations can be made to a/c no. 343140002, Citibank (Switzerland), P.O. Box 244, 8022 Zurich, Switzerland, with the reference "Memorial".