More results from the SG’s meetings at UNHQ/NY, as announced by the spokesperson: “The Secretary-General met today with Heads of Funds and Programmes to discuss the need to ensure staff mobility…The Secretary-General told the Executive Heads he has decided to open a number of positions in his own office to expressions of interest from staff in all Funds and Programmes, in addition to Secretariat staff. He hoped the Funds and Programmes would respond with reciprocity to this initiative. The Executive Heads welcomed the Secretary-General’s initiative, and promised to respond in a reciprocal manner by examining ways to open positions in Funds and Programmes to Secretariat staff…The meeting followed Secretary-General’s announcement on Friday that he would lead by example on staff mobility with a new practice of circulating positions in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General on iSeek, the intranet site for Secretariat staff. He invited all qualified Secretariat staff, in both headquarters and the field, to submit expressions of interest. And he asked all Secretariat senior managers to follow suit and promote mobility among their staff in the same manner.  The Secretary-General thanks the Executive Heads for their support and cooperation in the work to transform the UN family so it can deliver as one.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Times reported that “U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon leaves Wednesday for his first international trip, a 10-day swing that will take him to Paris (a pledging conference for Lebanon’s reconstruction); Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (an African Union summit, where he will push for international peacekeeping efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan and in Somalia); to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (to review peacekeeping action). While he is gone, the U.N. bureaucracy is likely to issue a collective sigh of relief: Advisers to Mr. Ban say he will not make or announce any personnel changes while on the road, because he will be focusing on the work at hand.  But staff on the 38th floor, which is already starting to reflect the new boss, will continue to work on the complex task of selecting personnel for department heads and other key posts. Contracts for the 60-odd assistant secretaries-general and undersecretaries-general expire at the end of February.  ‘My intention is to finish, if possible, all the appointments at one time,’ Mr. Ban told reporters last week, raising the tantalizing image of moving vans lumbering through the U.N. compound’s gates and circling the fountain where black limousines usually idle.” http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070122-121332-2534r_page2.htm
Why do journalists take such pleasure in the thought of UN staff being fired?
Just one observation: are they all “staff” -the way that one would understand the designation of regular employees- or some are “political” appointees from their influential governments ! I do understand that some have been promoted through yrs of service in the UN System but some have not.
Well, apparently, both categories are affected. Of the 58 people required to submit their resignations by 15 January, Assistant Secretaries-General as well as Under-Secretaries-General, some are regular staff members who have risen through the ranks and gone through the normal, cumbersome, selection process. Of course, their nationalities do matter, and were taken into consideration. Also, the general view among the staff is that they would not have been promoted if they hadn’t proved that they can be relied upon to “play ball” with the Administration. But that is still different from the political appointees who are parachuted into place.
The antagonism of journalists to UN staff members in general is quite remarkable, however — and it is partly due to resentment at the high salaries UN staff are supposed to receive, in exchange for very little work.
But, very, very few people at the UN do not work very, very hard. That does not mean that they necessarily accomplish very much, because it is so difficult to deal with all the people that have to be dealt with, and with the bureaucracy. This is very little understood, and I have never seen it clearly described or explained in the press, which regularly demands this or that person’s head on a platter.