GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States and Israel have sent complaint letters to top United Nations officials contesting their staff’s impartiality over the Gaza war, documents showed, as hundreds of them protested outside the global organization’s European headquarters on Thursday.
U.N. staff carried placards saying “Peace for Gaza” and “Not a Target”. They laid over 370 white roses next to a memorial plaque in Geneva to represent each U.N. aid worker killed in the nearly two-year war.
“Today, the U.N. 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,” Nathalie Meynet, president of the U.N. refugee agency staff council, told Reuters at the protest.
The letters highlight the rising tensions between the U.N. and its top funder, the U.S., which has already disengaged from the U.N. Human Rights Council over what Washington says is its anti-Israel stance.
A parallel vigil at the U.N. headquarters in New York was denied permission to proceed by management, according to a message from the organisers to U.N. staff seen by Reuters.
U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, “There are rules and regulations for staff to engage in activities outside of their normal activities which sometimes need to be applied.”
ISRAEL’S UN AMBASSADOR DENOUNCES EVENT
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Daniel Meron denounced the event ahead of it in a September 10 letter to Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the United Nations’ Geneva office.
“U.N. staff are not activists or political actors, the letter said. “Those who incite and participate in such politically charged activities should face disciplinary measures, including suspension.”
Séverine Deboos, one of the event’s organisers, denied that its purpose 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.
‘GRAVE VIOLATION OF NEUTRALITY’
Several hundred people joined in the protest and a minute of silence in the bright Geneva sunshine outside the U.N. building.
Earlier this week, a thousand U.N. employees joined an online briefing with Francesca Albanese, a U.N. independent expert whose criticism of Israel has led to U.S. sanctions.
Both Israel’s Meron and U.S. Charge d’Affaires Tressa Finerty complained to Valovaya about the call in a September 16 email. She added that the matter had also been raised with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“This is a grave violation of the U.N.’s principle of neutrality on multiple levels,” said Finerty.
“If U.N. staff during the U.N. workday, using U.N. email addresses and U.N. computers on U.N.-supplied smartphones, participate in this Teams meeting, there can be no dodging the charge that the U.N. is systematically and uniquely anti-Israel and, because of that, antisemitic.”
A staff union member confirmed the Albanese meeting but said it involved core U.N. work.
The U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva declined to comment.
UNPRECEDENTED UN STAFF LOSSES IN GAZA WAR
Since the October 7, 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict began, some 543 aid workers have been killed in Gaza including 373 U.N. staff and team members, according to U.N. data, making the scale of losses unprecedented in the body’s 80-year history.
Under Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service adopted by the U.N., staff are advised not to take sides or express their convictions publicly on controversial matters.
U.N. staff representatives received a management note on September 17 asking them to stay impartial on the Gaza conflict, according to a confidential memo seen by Reuters.
Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Catherine Pollard acknowledged in a September 17 letter that the loss of colleagues had caused “immense suffering”.
“I want to remind you that staff associations should not organize or promote activities that may be perceived as political in nature,” the letter said, warning of risks for the organisation.
“It’s not a question of neutrality,” said Yousra Ahmed, a U.N. staff worker at the protest. “I’m just outraged that the rules of the United Nations and humanitarian law are not being applied.”
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Olivia Le Poidevin and Cecile Mantovani; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Richard Chang)
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