UN chief proposes special fund for UN victims, families

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday proposed to establish a special fund, with initial estimates of some 10 million U.S. dollars, to support victims and their families of the UN staff members who are killed or wounded in the wake of terrorist attacks while performing their crucial UN-mandated tasks.

The secretary-general put forward the proposal while speaking to the UN General Assembly on staff security after at least five UN staff members were killed and nine others wounded in the Wednesday terrorist attack in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.

"We must support victims and their families," Ban said. "That is why I will propose to establish a special fund to meet their needs, both in immediate emergencies and longer term."

"Our people on the ground and in harm's way deserve our fullest support -- in Afghanistan, and everywhere the UN flag flies," Ban said. "We need your full political, material and financial support."

After his speech at the General Assembly, the secretary-general told reporters here that "I have requested additional funding to augment the security and safety capacity of the United Nations premises and staff. It is absolutely necessary at this time."

"I am very much encouraged by the unreserved support and cooperation of the member states." he said. "They said that they will positively consider my additional budgetary support."

"This is not only budgetary support -- we need political, moral, logistical and financial support," he said. "This is not the issue of Afghanistan only," he said. "We have experienced such terrorist attacks all around the world."

"The United Nations, unfortunately, has been exposed, has become a sort of 'softer' target," he said. "We are working to bring hope. We are working to help those people in need."

"Therefore, it is totally unacceptable that the United Nations has become targeted by terrorist attackers," he said. "I am very much committed to continue to work. We will continue to function in Afghanistan, and I am very grateful to member states for their strong support at this time of difficulty."

In his address to the 192-member General Assembly, the secretary-general echoed his appeal on Thursday for the support of the member states to strengthen the safety and security for the UN staff members working in such countries as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Not counting (UN) peacekeepers, 27 UN civilian personnel have lost their lives to violence so far this year, more than half of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters here on Thursday after he briefed the closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council.

"Increasingly, the United Nations is being targeted. In this case, precisely because of our support for the Afghan elections," he said. "We are not deterred. But we can not do it alone, we need support of the member states."

"This is not the first time we have lost UN staff, nor will it be the last," the secretary-general told the General Assembly. "Also this month, five people working for the World Food Program (WFP) in Pakistan were killed in a suicide bomb attack on the agency's offices in Islamabad."

As with the attack on the UN election team in Kabul, who are working to prepare a Nov. 7 presidential run-off election in the country, "the UN was targeted specifically for its good works," Ban said.

"WFP provides vital food assistance to as many as 10 million Pakistanis, including to 2 million people displaced by fighting in the Swat Valley," he said. "When you attack people who are trying to feed the hungry, you are attacking the very foundations of our common humanity. This goes beyond mere terrorism."

"As we mourn the loss of our colleagues and friends, we remain dedicated to our mission," he said.

"We are in Afghanistan to help its people rebuild their lives, and we will continue to do so," he said. "Most immediately, that means carrying on our work in support of the upcoming elections, scheduled for Nov. 7."

Afghanistan held its second post-Taliban presidential elections in mid-August. However, widespread fraud allegation halted the election body to final result. The Afghan Independent Election Commission said earlier this month that the presidential election would go for a runoff on Nov. 7.

Source: Xinhua