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XUNICEF NEWS & VIEWS A Quarterly Newsletter written by and for former UNICEF staff - June 2018
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RECENT NEWS
Kids, parents and the border The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Looking for a new DED Back to work at UNICEF Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs India retirees Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Getting together - the November Reunion All quiet on Baquer
WRITING(S) AND READING(S)
Boudewijn Mohr Fouad Kronfol Innocenti Kul Gautam Leila Bisharat Others
LIFE AFTER UNICEF
Horst Cerni Karin Sham Poo Neill McKee
FEATURE ARTICLES
Our Guns and our Kids - Retirees Talk “gun sense” UN Pension Fund ESG Dilemma: Invest or Divest Shaping a more open, respective and inclusive culture A Chat with Henrietta
POLICY CORNER
Recent policy announcements
Me Too and UNICEF Four priorities The Young People’s Agenda Summertime Reading and More
BITS AND PIECES
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From the editorial team:
In March we circulated an initial ‘mockup’ version of the newsletter, intended to test the concept and learn what, if anything, our members wanted in a newsletter. Soon after, we sent out a survey to our readers. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Readers, however, also told us what particular things they liked and did not like in the mockup.
In this second edition we have tried to incorporate many of the suggestions we received, including new sections on “Life after UNICEF” and recent policy developments. Instead of the summaries of discussions on the XUNICEF email network, in this edition we tried to rely as much as possible on contributions written by our members.
We hope you will continue to offer your suggestions and will send us your ideas, opinions and articles for future editions. This is your publication. Its value depends on you.
Thanks for your help.
RECENT NEWS
We depend on members of XUNICEF to call attention to recent news items we may have missed. If you read or hear something of interest, please share on the XUNICEF e-mail network and directly with the editorial team.
Kids, parents and the border The flow of comments and opinions normally shared on the XUNICEF email network fell oddly silent in May - so silent that Oscar Fernandez who administers the network had to send out a ‘radio check’ in early June to confirm that the network was still functioning. It was - and in mid June the dam finally burst with a torrent of comments by XUNICEF members on the US Administration’s policy of separating migrant and refugee children from their families.
The news reflected a larger debate in US and world media about the so called ‘zero tolerance’ decisions taken towards migrants by US authorities in April. This radical change in policy resulted in criminal prosecution of all refugee and migrant families trying to cross the US Mexico border, including those claiming legal asylum. An immediate consequence of the new policy was imprisonment of the parents and forcible separation of any accompanying children from their families. Within a few weeks at least 2,300 children were separated and sent off to
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separate detention facilities or housed with foster parents in states far from the border and far from their families. Senior US authorities made it clear that separation of children from their families was intentional and aimed at deterring other families from trying to migrate.
UNICEF USA issued a statement as early as May 31st criticizing the US policy and calling both for a change in approach and for better protection of children at the border. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the first of a series of statements on June 5th saying that the policy was “unconscionable” and clearly violates both human rights and child rights. In similar form there was a worldwide outpouring of criticism by governments and human rights organizations, including sharp criticism from Pope Francis to the American Pediatrics Society.
UNICEF’s own statement came only on June 19th, following statements by UNHCR and the Secretary-General’s spokesperson the previous day. The delay in speaking out may have been due to internal UN policy that the SG should speak first and that agencies should adopt a common position.
While waiting for some statement of UNICEF’s public position, XUNICEF members began to ask, “So where is UNICEF’s voice on this key issue of child rights?” When eventually the statement appeared, some members argued that it was a weak and tepid position on a key child issue.
An overwhelming outcry among the US public finally forced the Administration to reverse course on June 20th, opting instead for detaining whole families at military camps. Still unclear is how authorities will reunite the many children already separated with their families, including cases in which the parents have already been deported, leaving a child or children behind in custody. Also under question is the legal issue of whether children with or without their families can be kept in detention for more than 20 days.
The US is not the only country with refugee and migrant policies in disarray. European nations are locked in a contentious battle over whether and how to manage refugee flows across the Mediterranean. So far as we know, however, no country has tried to follow the US in attempting to discourage further migration by taking children away from their parents.
As happened in our earlier discussion of killings of school children in the US, a debate followed on the XUNICEF network over whether UNICEF could or should speak out on such issues in the US and in other developed countries. Some members pointed out that under previous Executive Directors too, UNICEF had been reluctant to comment on child issues in developed countries. They felt that in such circumstances, the Executive Director should be congratulated on making any statement at all.
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Several noted the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and the implicit threat that the US could withdraw from other UN agencies. Indeed, an earlier decision of the Trump Administration to cut off funding for UNWRA already threatens to end schooling and other services for Palestinian children in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Despite these concerns, a number of members felt that UNICEF’s late and weak voice on the subject represented a serious threat to its legitimacy as an international child rights organization.
Various members felt that retirees should press UNICEF to use its voice and stake its international reputation when critical child issues arise in any country, including in developed countries. Others felt that the role of UNICEF and the UN as a whole was inherently political in major donor countries, and that retiree efforts and support would be better used by other well-established human rights organizations or by some new form of retiree coalition. Still others felt that the best action retirees could take would be in their own communities and local organizations working to reunite children with their families.
The migration story and how it affects children is bound to remain a major issue for the world in coming months. What is unclear is whether UNICEF and the UN as a whole can remain engaged and relevant to those seeking a solution. Also still unclear is whether UN and UNICEF retirees can play a useful role with their governments and communities. Stay tuned as this discussion continues.
The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Thanks to Anis Salem for pointing our attention to recent news about the US Mission to the UN. It seems that a former lobbyist for the food and beverage industry has recently been appointed as a senior advisor in the US State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
According to a recent article in Foreign Affairs, the advisor, Mari Stull, has been busy reviewing the social media accounts of US officials working in the department to determine their ‘loyalty’ to the Trump agenda. As a result, many senior officials in the Bureau are said to be leaving for other jobs. While so far Stull’s work has focussed on the US Bureau and Mission, it is worrying to read that she is also said to be inquiring about Americans employed by UN agencies, asking about who appointed them and when. As a result, Diplomats are quietly advising UN staff to avoid attending ‘meet and greet’ sessions at the US Mission.
Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Thanks to Jim Mohan for calling our attention to the announcement by the US National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) that they have chosen Kul Gautam as the winner of the 2018 Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award. The award will be presented on August 24th in Shawnee, Page 4
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Pennsylvania. Several retirees are already planning to join the event. Everyone is welcome. Congrats, Kul !!
Looking for a new DED Fatoumata Ndiaye, Deputy Executive Director, Management is retiring later this year. UNICEF has advertised for candidates to fill the vacancy. Interested? Sorry - the closing date was June 17th.
Back to work at UNICEF Henrietta Fore has appointed Shahida Azfar as Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships for six months from early April. In the same announcement the ED appointed Anupama Rao-Singh as the Senior Coordinator, Young People’s Agenda until the end of 2018. See the announcement here. Congratulations to Shahida and Anupama !!
Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs Our former colleague, Ismail Ould-Cheikh Ahmed has recently been named as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Mauritania. In his last posting Ismail served as the UN Special Envoy for Yemen. Congratulations, Ismail !!
India retirees Those who have served in India might be interested in joining UNICEF Pensioners Group India (UPGI). So far as we know, UPGI is the only formal association of UNICEF retirees. Cost is just $100 for a lifetime membership and membership is open for any former UNICEF staff who have served in India. Interested? - Contact Nutan Prakash, UPGI’s President.
We at News & Views stand in awe of our elder sister-organization, UPGI and its publication LINK, edited and published by Augustine Veliath. See the latest issue of LINK here.
Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Gretchen Luchsinger, who edits Staff News, was recently looking for articles of lengths from 100 to 2,500 words from UNICEF staff on the theme of UNICEF’s culture. The closing date was May 21s, but we are sure that even if late, Gretchen would still welcome articles on this or other themes from retirees.
Getting together - the November Reunion Thanks to Sree Gururaja for reminding us that the 2018 Reunion will be held from 8 to 13 November in Bangalore / Mysore. Plans include two post reunion tours to the Kabini Wildlife Forest Reserve and the Hampa World Heritage site. Taking note of comments from the 2017 Reunion, organizers have built into the schedule plenty of free time and optional activities. Page 5
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To date 35 members have registered and paid. Registration is still awaited for a further 40 persons who indicated that they wanted to join. There were a few early problems on making bank transfers to the Thomas Cook agency, but Sree reports that these have been sorted out.
Most important - Sree notes that registration is still open and invites all of us to join. Just send a Whatsapp message to Sree at +91-997 265 0513 or an email to 650513 or an email to Sree at grsrgr@gmail.com .
All quiet on Baquer As of this date, we are happy to report that our colleague, Baquer Namazi, remains at home in Tehran, following his release from Evin Prison on medical leave in February. The leave followed a series of heart attacks Baquer suffered in the prison earlier this year. Baquer recently underwent a further examination by the Iranian State Medical Examiner who have recommended that he not be returned to prison. All are anxiously waiting to see whether the authorities accept this recommendation and will extend his medical leave.
In coordination with Baquer’s family, the retiree group campaigning for his release decided immediately following news of his medical leave to ‘go silent’. This is to avoid any public action that might focus attention on his case amidst the current tense political situation.
WRITING(S) AND READING(S)
Have your recently written or published something of interest to your fellow retirees? Or, have you read something you feel is worth sharing? Please let us know.
Boudewijn Mohr has published “A Destiny in the Making: From Wall Street to UNICEF in Africa”. Boudewijn tells us that the book includes many stories and anecdotes about Jim Grant. It also includes an in-depth analysis of the rising power of UNICEF’s national committees in those years. Boudewijn reports that Marco Vianello-Chiodo commented, “"I like it, fresh, sincere, well written. Not only interesting, but entertaining and amusing,”
Fouad Kronfol UNICEF’s and XUNICEF’s indefatigable writer and archivist, has circulated his recent “Remembering Africa Section - 1983 to 1988, Five Years that Changed UNICEF”. Fouad also has completed a revised and updated version of “ The Ties that Bind Us - a Bibliography of Publications written by UNICEF staffers and retirees, & partners, about UNICEF or related to UNICEF and its Work”.
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Innocenti has published “Essential Reading on Adolescent Development “ edited by Dr. Prerna Banati and Jennifer Lansford. Careful - this hefty one might not fit in your beach bag and costs $46.
Kul Gautam publishable Pelé Beyond Football, an article on the myRepublica website explaining the role “the greatest football play of all time” played in cooperation with UNICEF in addressing issues like the promotion of breastfeeding and other social campaigns such as protection of the environment and resolution of conflicts.
Leila Bisharat has a few reading assignments to keep you busy this summer. See Leila’s “Summertime Reading and More” in our Policy Corner below. Just what you need for the beach this summer!!
Others As you will read below in ‘Life After UNICEF’, several other XUNICEFs are working on their books. Some of us may also be preparing blog posts, podcasts or letters to an editor. Whatever the format, if you have a story to tell, let us add you to the growing list of UNICEF authors.
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LIFE AFTER UNICEF
Nuzhat Shahzadi edits this regular section of News & Views. Each issue we hope to publish short biographical sketches prepared by retirees. Please share your own stories. We all want to know what’s happening after UNICEF.
Horst Cerni
Horst started his UN career in 1964 and in 1966 he was hired by UNICEF to build up a film section.
In 1973 he was appointed as the Regional Information Officer for the Americas. In 1978 he was transferred to Geneva and in 1983 was back to New York to be in charge of the Goodwill Ambassadors’ program.
Horst retired in 1995 and lives in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, with his wife Isabel. Click on the link below to get a glimpse of his life, post retirement...
Read Horst’s story here.
Karin Sham Poo
Karin joined UNICEF in 1985 as the Comptroller. In 1987 she was appointed Deputy Executive Director, Operations, a position she held until retirement at the end of 2004.
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Post retirement, and for part of 2005 she was the Interim Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflicts. From 2005-2010 as a consultant (part time) she was UNICEF’s Special Envoy to the Caribbean.
Karin’s life’s journey embraces countless interesting strides- as a UNICEF staff and post retirement. Currently she’s writing her memoirs and spends her time in New York and Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago and normally visits Norway every second year. Read her full story in the link below.
Read Karin’s story here.
Neill McKee
Neill is a Canadian communication specialist with 45 years of experience in international development. He is author, co-author/editor of three books and many articles on communication for development. His interesting career took him to countries spread over four continents, beginning as a volunteer teacher in 1968 with Canada’s CUSO in Malaysia. He became a filmmaker for CUSO and then Deputy Director in Malaysia (1973-74).
He returned to filmmaking with IDRC, Canada (1975-1989) and then joined UNICEF-Bangladesh (1990-93) as the Chief of Program Communication and Information Section, during which time he is best known for initiating and co-creating the “Meena Communication Initiative” and “Visualization in Participatory Programmes (VIPP)” methodology. During 1994-1999, he headed the Communication Section in UNICEF-ESARO and among other things, launched the “Sara Communication Initiative.” After a brief stint in UNICEF Uganda, in 2001 he joined the Johns Hopkins University/CCP and was based in Baltimore and Moscow. From 2009-2012 he worked with AED / FHI360 in Washington DC, as Director of C-Change. He then retired and you can read what he decided to do, below.
Read Neil’s story here.
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FEATURE ARTICLES
Each quarter we hope to share here feature articles written by XUNICEF members. Think an issue deserves major attention by fellow members? Please volunteer to contribute articles for our future editions.
Our Guns and our Kids - Retirees Talk “gun sense”
By Paula Claycomb Taos, New Mexico
Following recent school shootings in Florida and elsewhere in the US, the XUNICEF network carried on a lively discussion of what UNICEF and what we retirees could do. We asked Paula Claycomb, former Chief of UNICEF’s Landmines and Small Arms Section to comment. You can contact Paula at paula.claycomb@gmail.com.
“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” That was the response by the first person I invited to a meeting of Moms Demand Action, a US grassroots NGO that works in all 50 states to reduce gun violence. I joined MOMS, as it is called, after a school shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day, February 14, left 17 high school students dead and another 17 people wounded.
Before that senseless massacre in Parkland, seven school shootings had taken place in the US in 2018 alone. Since that day, another 14 schools have had shootings, making a total of 22 school shootings so far this year. This does not include the many thousands of deaths due to domestic violence, suicide or other incidents such as home invasion or other crimes.
In the wake of the tragedy in Florida, Niloufar Pourzand, wrote to all of us on the XUNICEF mail list to suggest that UNICEF should make a statement about gun violence in the US. Niloufar’s message generated a lively discussion about whether UNICEF should speak out on critical issues of child protection and the voices of youth in the US and other developed Page 10
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countries in light of the campaign led by high-school students themselves. Many of those who participated in the discussion pointed to the rights of young people to speak as agents of change.
Adhiratha Keefe circulated an article by Carly Kabot, a UNICEF Voices of Youth blogger, written shortly after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Carly’s blog post came at a time when the Parkland students began their ongoing, highly visible movement to control dangerous firearms. These students were then often villainized by adults who characterized them as professional actors or too young to understand politics.
As the daughter of a hunter who kept his family of six children fed with venison, rabbit, grouse and other game for much of the year, I have always respected the power (and sometimes admired the beauty) of guns and rifles. As Chief of the Landmines and Small Arms Section from 2006 through 2008, I recognized the rights of hunters and gun sportsmen. I represented UNICEF in the first UN-sponsored talks on a small arms treaty which began in 2006. Even then I could sense the reluctance of UNICEF to allow my team’s participation in the forum, despite an incredible increase in adolescent deaths due to armed violence in Latin America. The treaty was finally adopted in 2013. In early 2018, the conservative Heritage Foundation called for the US to “un-sign” from the treaty in keeping with the withdrawal by the Trump administration from other multilateral agreements.
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a widely read opinion piece on March 27 that urged a repeal of the Second Amendment. That amendment states, “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Stevens eloquently argued that concern over loss of such rights is a relic of the 18th century, and quoted former Chief Justice Warren’s statement that the NRA has been perpetuating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.” That was in 1986 and the NRA’s successful propaganda machine continues today, 32 years later.
So what should or could UNICEF retirees do? Should we urge the Executive Director to take a stand on gun violence globally? Should the Executive Director issue a directive calling for country, regional and headquarters support to children and adolescents in their activism around gun violence? Our discussion unfortunately did not lead us to a conclusion about what actions UNICEF should take or what actions we should recommend to the Executive Director. That
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indecision in no way means, however, that we as individuals cannot ourselves take action on this important issue.
Working with a group of about 30 other residents in Taos, New Mexico, I am learning just how divided these days my country is around gun violence and so many other issues. We started with a small group of older people unable to march or walk for any distance but who wanted to show our support for the high schoolers campaigning for safety from guns. We line the streets on days of their marches and hold regular vigils in highly visible places. We are now joining with teachers, counsellors, fathers, town officials and others in establishing a local chapter of MOMs.
It was in that context that I was making phone calls to invite residents to an organizing meeting in mid-June. My very first call was to a 64-year-old man who lives a short distance from my house. As I explained above, as soon as I introduced the purpose of my call, his immediate response was negative. Though we had a cordial if somewhat tense conversation, I do not believe I changed his mind even a sliver. And he certainly did not convince me that the weapons themselves are responsible for the global 560,000 annual deaths by guns.
Like every issue that UNICEF deals with, even seemingly straightforward ones like childhood immunization and education, the complexities of armed violence permeate discussions to find solutions. The US is especially entrenched in its gun culture, but should be able to follow the examples of other countries where murder by guns is almost non-existent.
Please contact me at paula.claycomb@gmail.com if you would like more information on the gun sense movement in the US. Or go to one of my three favourite organizations to learn more: Gabby Giffords’ organization https://giffords.org/; Moms Demand Action https://momsdemandaction.org/ or the Brady campaign http://www.bradycampaign.org/. These and several others are worthy of financial support and of your time.
UN Pension Fund ESG Dilemma: Invest or Divest
By Carlos Santos-Tejada Panama City
The Guardian’s Global Development Site recently charged that the UN Staff Pension Fund includes over one billion dollars of investments in companies which are incompatible with the UN’s core principles.
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We asked Carlos Santos-Tejada who served for several years on the Pension Fund’s Board to comment. Carlos also formerly served as UNICEF’s Chief of Contributions. You can contact Carlos at csantostejada52@gmail.com.
Assuming the figures given in the Guardian’s article are correct, the UN Pension Fund has only about 2.34%, of its $64bn in assets invested in companies which “have been or are being prosecuted for corrupt practices, implicated in human rights abuses or in environmental catastrophes”. Even if these represent only a small percentage of its total investments, the charge that “UN staff pension fund is mired in 'dirty profits' from firms guilty of rights abuses rightfully created great concern among staff members and retirees.
Given the very dynamic nature of the financial markets, preventing investments in ‘non kosher’ assets is a real challenge (particularly if the mentioned corporations are part of an “index”). It is not clear from the article whether those questionable investments were chosen deliberately by the investment officers of the Fund or were merely part of an index. It is important to note that experts view indexes as a prudent distribution of financial risk for any investor.
Having served at the Pension Fund board for several years, l can attest that policies and guidelines on socially responsible investment exist and are carefully applied Last year the Pension Fund received an A+ rating from the organization, Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), which rates investment funds on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors of their investments.
Even so, no fund, including our Pension Fund, is totally free from from slippage. Both the League of Red Cross and the American Museum of Natural History have recently been forced to confront the issue of their own unethical investments. Despite the formidable challenge involved, the UN must take the lead in ensuring that it invests only in companies with a bullet-proof ethical behavior.
Rather than establishing any new high-level committee to oversee ethical investmenting, our Pension Fund likely needs to allocate more human resources into the Risk and Compliance Division of its investment branch. This group needs to perform constant and real time intelligence gathering to warn investment officers about possible conflicts of interest.
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Shaping a more open, respective and inclusive culture
By Ian MacLeod North of Sydney, Australia
“Since my arrival, I have pledged zero tolerance for every form of discrimination, harassment and abuse of power. They have no place at UNICEF. In our offices. In our workplaces. In the field. Anywhere.” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
Expanding the focus led by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to stamp out sexual harassment across the system, UNICEF has continued to take decisive action to ensure that the organization has a safer workplace. For staff and for xUNICEFers this is great news.
The latest step towards eliminating discrimination and abuse of power of any kind was the launching on 27th May of an Independent Task Force to review current practices and provide recommendations to effectively and systematically prevent and address workplace gender-related discrimination, harassment and abuse of power in UNICEF.
The organizational transformation is being directly led from the 13th floor by the Executive Director (who goes by ‘ED Fore’) whose first All Staff Meeting was not the welcoming introduction that was in the transition plan - it had to focus solely on the fallout from the Deputy Executive Director resignation and issues around harassment, discrimination and abuse of power.
In the first four months of 2018, the Office of Internal Audit and Investigation received 70 complaints (including multiple complainants for same issue), translating into 11 cases of alleged sexual harassment, six cases of alleged sexual assault and 36 cases of alleged harassment and abuse of authority. This compares to the 74 complaints that were received in the 12 months of 2017. This appears to indicate that staff have increased confidence in the improved systems and tools to report, investigate and address misconduct by UNICEF staff members.
All staff have been “asked” to (well, in fact told) to complete two mandatory online training courses on Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority, and on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Importantly, this extends beyond staff and individual consultants are also meant to undertake these courses. This has not filtered down yet, as my current consultancy office has not asked me to provide evidence of completion.
Very encouragingly, over 90% of staff have taken these courses. I have done so. They are far from perfect, like all such online training courses, but it is not easy to develop and deliver a one-size-fits-all course. What was well developed in the online courses was the process of
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helping staff understand and identify exactly “what is, and what is not” in very practical terms in relation to abuse of authority, gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
Offices have established ‘Speak Up Committees’ to promote and lead the organizational culture shift. Many offices are ensuring dedicated time is allocated for all staff to discuss contextual issues: differences in working culture, how words and phrases are interpreted in different settings and countries, differences in cultures in relation to physical space and touch, etc. This points to the need for continued organisational investment in guiding and orienting new international staff in their duty stations, not just leaving it to the staff member. I am sure many xUNICEFers will clearly recall arriving in a new duty station and being ‘welcomed’ with no country, culture, language, customs or norms orientation..... just a space, desk, chair, a lot of papers to read, forms to fill and hundreds of new acronyms to learn.
Many xUNICEFers will personally or professionally know the two senior Co-Chairs of the newly established Independent Task Force: Debrework Zewdie and Purnima Mane . Over the next 1 2 six months, they have been asked to lead a “thorough and unbiased examination of our systems and culture, and providing us with objective and actionable recommendations to implement meaningful changes across our organization”.
The Terms of Reference of the Independent Task Force state that it will not only be looking at current, but also historical culture and systems in UNICEF (and other organisations) in relation to harassment, discriminatory practices and abuse of power, with a special focus on gender-related dynamics.
This points to a clear contribution to the important work of the Independent Task Force that can be made by xUNICEFers. With the incredibly range of individual experiences from working in UNICEF as well as pre- and post-UNICEF life in a vast range of organizational settings, xUNICEFers can – and should – be consulted and engage with the Independent Task Force over the next six months. We can help to shape a safer organization whose mandate we all remain firmly committed to.
1 Debrework Zewdie is an Ethiopian national who has led strategy, policy implementation and management of development programs at the country, regional, and global levels for international bodies such as the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She was also the founding Vice President of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa 2 Purnima Mane is from India and is the former President and CEO of Pathfinder International, and former Assistant Secretary-General and UNFPA Deputy Executive Director of Programmes. She also has extensive experience at the country, regional and global levels in her long career in public health policy, practice and advocacy, including at the WHO and the Population Council.
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A Chat with Henrietta
By Sheila Barry Washington, D.C.
A mutual acquaintance suggested to Henrietta Fore that I would be a good person to tell her about UNICEF’s history. In response to this unexpected invitation I wrote giving her some thoughts on UNICEF 's past and on the importance of continuing a history project in UNICEF.
Yet when we spoke by phone a few days later, Henrietta’s first words were not about our history, but instead about the present. She expressed her deep concern for Baquer Namazi and his family. In addition to keeping in touch with Baquer’s wife and son, Henrietta continues to follow his situation closely through our office in Tehran. She expressed her admiration for the efforts of xunicefers to win Baquer’s freedom.
We went on to talk about the passion for the cause of children which is shared both by staff and retirees. I asked how UNICEF might utilize the experience of retirees in the days ahead. She asked if we had an association. I explained a bit about XUNICEF and the networking underway, as well as our past proposals for closer association with UNICEF itself. I went on to mention the support we had received from Kul Gautam when he was Deputy Executive Director and Richard Bridle, former Director of Human Resources. I also mentioned our meeting with Tony Lake on issues affecting retirees. At that time Adhiratha, Malika and I had proposed several actions, but sadly no actions followed.
Unspoken, but I believe clear, was the message that the dialogue opened earlier through Kul and Richard, had deteriorated in recent years. So shortly after we spoke, I was pleased to learn that Executive Director Fore had offered Nicolas Pron, Secretary of the Executive Board, a year's extension to work with retirees and on preparations for a high-level meeting to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the CRC in November 2019. The latter is linked to the Youth Agenda priority she presented to the Board.
In later talks with Nicolas I learned he had discussed the retirees/alumni with the Executive Director before the recent Board meeting and suggested she might host some form of a meeting/gathering to discuss a way forward, possibly around the September Board meeting. Nicolas is now on leave. His successor as Secretary of the Executive Board, Ms. Hai Kai Kyung, is already in place. Nicolas and I agreed to meet when he returns to New York in mid-July.
I believe we have established good lines of communication with both Henrietta and Nicolas. Now we need to establish an agenda of issues we in XUNICEF want to take up.
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THE POLICY CORNER
The Policy Corner is edited by Leila Bisharat. This ‘corner’ is your space for discussing policy developments at UNICEF. With each issue we will offer links to recent papers on the table at UNICEF. We hope you will share your views on policies both on the XUNICEF email network and here in future editions of The Policy Corner.
Recent policy announcements
Me Too and UNICEF
Henrietta Fore took up her leadership of UNICEF earlier this year facing a major challenge within her own Executive Office, the resignation of Deputy Director Justin Forsyth over allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward female staff members during his time as chief executive at Save the Children.
Following extensive discussion among staff and consultation with other agencies, Ms. Fore recently took a major step forward in announcing formation of an Independent Task Force to review and provide recommendations on how best UNICEF can systematically prevent and redress workplace gender related discrimination, harassment and abuse of power.
Read about the mandate, composition and TOR of the Independent Task Force here .
The ED also announced that UNICEF has become the first UN agency to be certified at the second level of EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) - a three-tiered business certification standard for gender equality.
See the report here.
We should note that UNICEF first set out a clear written policy on discrimination and harassment (including sexual harassment) in 1994. This policy was reinforced by additional directives in 2008 and again in 2012.
In the formation of this Independent Task Force, the EDGE certification, and the training efforts described above in Ian MacLeod’s article, the ED is clearly using the opportunity of the recent resignation to push once again for a change in UNICEF’s internal culture. The test, of course, will come in whether and to what degree such a transformation actually occurs and is sustained over time.
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Four priorities
The ED wrote to staff in early June setting out four UNICEF priorities in line with the 2018-2021 strategic plan and asking for staff thoughts on how to strengthen UNICEF’s partnerships. Perhaps retirees might like to offer their own thoughts?
The Young People’s Agenda
We would like to give major attention in the next edition of the Policy Corner of News & Views to the the Young People’s Agenda (YPA) set out by the ED. Please give us your thoughts or share them on the XUNICEF email network.
You will find the two background documents here and here..
Note also our mention above of the appointment of Anupama Rao Singh as the Senior Coordinator, Young People’s Agenda. We are sure that Anupama would also welcome hearing your views on the subject.
Summertime Reading and More
By Leila Bisharat Chebeague Island, Maine
Are you ready to kick back and make your personal list for favorites to read over the summer? Your XUNICEF colleagues have a wide range of suggestions. Here are some links for building your own list.
Start with Fuad Kronfol’s comprehensive and expanding bibliography of reflections from your XUNICEF colleagues. Its extent and breadth are quite extraordinary, reflecting the continued dedication of many staff members, including Fuad himself, to the wellbeing of children. Your recent contributions have been added.
Are you looking for a recent book reflecting on UNICEF under Jim Grant’s leadership? Check out Adam Fifield’s (2015) A Mighty Purpose: How Jim Grant Sold the World on Saving its Children. Let’s hear your take on his account.
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If you are looking for the larger picture of the United Nations as a whole, its history aspirations and ideas, you need go no farther than Richard Jolly’s UN Ideas that Changed the World , co-authored with Louis Emmerij and Thomas Weiss, with a foreword by Kofi Annan.
For those who want to take a forward look or catch up with UNICEF today, there is much to inspire your summer. Start by taking a new look at the UNICEF webpage. www.unicef.org No matter when you retired you will find your own work reflected here in the continued efforts around the world of UNICEF in the service of children, including adolescents. You can drill down into UNICEF’s databases by country in a way that might only have been a dream at the time of the review of the World Summit for Children. https://www.unicef.org/research-and-reports
A child survival revolution has happened, attested to by ample evidence by country of the historic progress in reducing deaths of children under 5. Commitments by heads of state to monitor progress for children under 5 were once only a promise. If you would like to step back and look at long-term trends mining this data and exploring misunderstandings enjoy the book by Hans Rosling (2018) Factfulness.
UNICEF’s position today is stronger than ever when it comes to defending the rights of children and helping them reach their potential through adolescence. The new horizons are adolescent development and participation, with gender equality and a continuing emphasis on girls. https://www.unicef.org/adolescence/. Stay tuned for exciting developments on gender policy and the new adolescent strategy.
Ever present in our minds and hearts is UNICEF’s motto “We never give up”. Nowhere is that more painful, and the efforts of UNICEF staff more heroic, than in Syria, Palestine and Yemen. The world’s collective failure across generations to reach and protect children, making the world a safe place for them to grow, is starkly before us in this era of abundant resources.
BITS AND PIECES
In this last section of News and Views we try to find something lighter - fun or - even better - funny. Spot something that brings a smile? Please share it.
Paulo Coelho contributed the following short story to UNICEF’s “ Tiny Stories”. See other contributions by well-known authors there.
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A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.’
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News & Views Editorial Team
Fouad Kronfol Gloria Kodzwa Ian MacLeod Isabel Austin Karin Sham Poo Leila Bisharat Nuzhat Shahzadi Sheila Barry Tom McDermott
Join us please - either as an editor or contributor or both !
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XUNICEF NEWS & VIEWS A Quarterly Newsletter written by and for former UNICEF staff - June 2018
Note that this newsletter uses links and is intended for online reading. If you choose to print it for reading, the links will not work. In this issue: (Click on any line to go directly to that page).
In this edition
Click on a link below to go directly to that page. Links within articles should take you to the referenced document. Let us know please, if you find a broken link.
RECENT NEWS
Kids, parents and the border The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Looking for a new DED Back to work at UNICEF Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs India retirees Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Getting together - the November Reunion All quiet on Baquer
WRITING(S) AND READING(S)
Boudewijn Mohr Fouad Kronfol Innocenti Kul Gautam Leila Bisharat Others
LIFE AFTER UNICEF
Horst Cerni Karin Sham Poo Neill McKee
FEATURE ARTICLES
Our Guns and our Kids - Retirees Talk “gun sense” UN Pension Fund ESG Dilemma: Invest or Divest Shaping a more open, respective and inclusive culture A Chat with Henrietta
POLICY CORNER
Recent policy announcements
Me Too and UNICEF Four priorities The Young People’s Agenda Summertime Reading and More
BITS AND PIECES
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From the editorial team:
In March we circulated an initial ‘mockup’ version of the newsletter, intended to test the concept and learn what, if anything, our members wanted in a newsletter. Soon after, we sent out a survey to our readers. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Readers, however, also told us what particular things they liked and did not like in the mockup.
In this second edition we have tried to incorporate many of the suggestions we received, including new sections on “Life after UNICEF” and recent policy developments. Instead of the summaries of discussions on the XUNICEF email network, in this edition we tried to rely as much as possible on contributions written by our members.
We hope you will continue to offer your suggestions and will send us your ideas, opinions and articles for future editions. This is your publication. Its value depends on you.
Thanks for your help.
RECENT NEWS
We depend on members of XUNICEF to call attention to recent news items we may have missed. If you read or hear something of interest, please share on the XUNICEF e-mail network and directly with the editorial team.
Kids, parents and the border The flow of comments and opinions normally shared on the XUNICEF email network fell oddly silent in May - so silent that Oscar Fernandez who administers the network had to send out a ‘radio check’ in early June to confirm that the network was still functioning. It was - and in mid June the dam finally burst with a torrent of comments by XUNICEF members on the US Administration’s policy of separating migrant and refugee children from their families.
The news reflected a larger debate in US and world media about the so called ‘zero tolerance’ decisions taken towards migrants by US authorities in April. This radical change in policy resulted in criminal prosecution of all refugee and migrant families trying to cross the US Mexico border, including those claiming legal asylum. An immediate consequence of the new policy was imprisonment of the parents and forcible separation of any accompanying children from their families. Within a few weeks at least 2,300 children were separated and sent off to
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separate detention facilities or housed with foster parents in states far from the border and far from their families. Senior US authorities made it clear that separation of children from their families was intentional and aimed at deterring other families from trying to migrate.
UNICEF USA issued a statement as early as May 31st criticizing the US policy and calling both for a change in approach and for better protection of children at the border. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the first of a series of statements on June 5th saying that the policy was “unconscionable” and clearly violates both human rights and child rights. In similar form there was a worldwide outpouring of criticism by governments and human rights organizations, including sharp criticism from Pope Francis to the American Pediatrics Society.
UNICEF’s own statement came only on June 19th, following statements by UNHCR and the Secretary-General’s spokesperson the previous day. The delay in speaking out may have been due to internal UN policy that the SG should speak first and that agencies should adopt a common position.
While waiting for some statement of UNICEF’s public position, XUNICEF members began to ask, “So where is UNICEF’s voice on this key issue of child rights?” When eventually the statement appeared, some members argued that it was a weak and tepid position on a key child issue.
An overwhelming outcry among the US public finally forced the Administration to reverse course on June 20th, opting instead for detaining whole families at military camps. Still unclear is how authorities will reunite the many children already separated with their families, including cases in which the parents have already been deported, leaving a child or children behind in custody. Also under question is the legal issue of whether children with or without their families can be kept in detention for more than 20 days.
The US is not the only country with refugee and migrant policies in disarray. European nations are locked in a contentious battle over whether and how to manage refugee flows across the Mediterranean. So far as we know, however, no country has tried to follow the US in attempting to discourage further migration by taking children away from their parents.
As happened in our earlier discussion of killings of school children in the US, a debate followed on the XUNICEF network over whether UNICEF could or should speak out on such issues in the US and in other developed countries. Some members pointed out that under previous Executive Directors too, UNICEF had been reluctant to comment on child issues in developed countries. They felt that in such circumstances, the Executive Director should be congratulated on making any statement at all.
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Several noted the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council and the implicit threat that the US could withdraw from other UN agencies. Indeed, an earlier decision of the Trump Administration to cut off funding for UNWRA already threatens to end schooling and other services for Palestinian children in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Despite these concerns, a number of members felt that UNICEF’s late and weak voice on the subject represented a serious threat to its legitimacy as an international child rights organization.
Various members felt that retirees should press UNICEF to use its voice and stake its international reputation when critical child issues arise in any country, including in developed countries. Others felt that the role of UNICEF and the UN as a whole was inherently political in major donor countries, and that retiree efforts and support would be better used by other well-established human rights organizations or by some new form of retiree coalition. Still others felt that the best action retirees could take would be in their own communities and local organizations working to reunite children with their families.
The migration story and how it affects children is bound to remain a major issue for the world in coming months. What is unclear is whether UNICEF and the UN as a whole can remain engaged and relevant to those seeking a solution. Also still unclear is whether UN and UNICEF retirees can play a useful role with their governments and communities. Stay tuned as this discussion continues.
The UN Oath? Those were the good old days Thanks to Anis Salem for pointing our attention to recent news about the US Mission to the UN. It seems that a former lobbyist for the food and beverage industry has recently been appointed as a senior advisor in the US State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
According to a recent article in Foreign Affairs, the advisor, Mari Stull, has been busy reviewing the social media accounts of US officials working in the department to determine their ‘loyalty’ to the Trump agenda. As a result, many senior officials in the Bureau are said to be leaving for other jobs. While so far Stull’s work has focussed on the US Bureau and Mission, it is worrying to read that she is also said to be inquiring about Americans employed by UN agencies, asking about who appointed them and when. As a result, Diplomats are quietly advising UN staff to avoid attending ‘meet and greet’ sessions at the US Mission.
Kul Gautam - global citizen, 2018 Thanks to Jim Mohan for calling our attention to the announcement by the US National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) that they have chosen Kul Gautam as the winner of the 2018 Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award. The award will be presented on August 24th in Shawnee, Page 4
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Pennsylvania. Several retirees are already planning to join the event. Everyone is welcome. Congrats, Kul !!
Looking for a new DED Fatoumata Ndiaye, Deputy Executive Director, Management is retiring later this year. UNICEF has advertised for candidates to fill the vacancy. Interested? Sorry - the closing date was June 17th.
Back to work at UNICEF Henrietta Fore has appointed Shahida Azfar as Deputy Executive Director, Partnerships for six months from early April. In the same announcement the ED appointed Anupama Rao-Singh as the Senior Coordinator, Young People’s Agenda until the end of 2018. See the announcement here. Congratulations to Shahida and Anupama !!
Mauritania gets a new Minister of Foreign Affairs Our former colleague, Ismail Ould-Cheikh Ahmed has recently been named as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Mauritania. In his last posting Ismail served as the UN Special Envoy for Yemen. Congratulations, Ismail !!
India retirees Those who have served in India might be interested in joining UNICEF Pensioners Group India (UPGI). So far as we know, UPGI is the only formal association of UNICEF retirees. Cost is just $100 for a lifetime membership and membership is open for any former UNICEF staff who have served in India. Interested? - Contact Nutan Prakash, UPGI’s President.
We at News & Views stand in awe of our elder sister-organization, UPGI and its publication LINK, edited and published by Augustine Veliath. See the latest issue of LINK here.
Do we have a UNICEF Culture? Gretchen Luchsinger, who edits Staff News, was recently looking for articles of lengths from 100 to 2,500 words from UNICEF staff on the theme of UNICEF’s culture. The closing date was May 21s, but we are sure that even if late, Gretchen would still welcome articles on this or other themes from retirees.
Getting together - the November Reunion Thanks to Sree Gururaja for reminding us that the 2018 Reunion will be held from 8 to 13 November in Bangalore / Mysore. Plans include two post reunion tours to the Kabini Wildlife Forest Reserve and the Hampa World Heritage site. Taking note of comments from the 2017 Reunion, organizers have built into the schedule plenty of free time and optional activities. Page 5
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To date 35 members have registered and paid. Registration is still awaited for a further 40 persons who indicated that they wanted to join. There were a few early problems on making bank transfers to the Thomas Cook agency, but Sree reports that these have been sorted out.
Most important - Sree notes that registration is still open and invites all of us to join. Just send a Whatsapp message to Sree at +91-997 265 0513 or an email to 650513 or an email to Sree at grsrgr@gmail.com .
All quiet on Baquer As of this date, we are happy to report that our colleague, Baquer Namazi, remains at home in Tehran, following his release from Evin Prison on medical leave in February. The leave followed a series of heart attacks Baquer suffered in the prison earlier this year. Baquer recently underwent a further examination by the Iranian State Medical Examiner who have recommended that he not be returned to prison. All are anxiously waiting to see whether the authorities accept this recommendation and will extend his medical leave.
In coordination with Baquer’s family, the retiree group campaigning for his release decided immediately following news of his medical leave to ‘go silent’. This is to avoid any public action that might focus attention on his case amidst the current tense political situation.
WRITING(S) AND READING(S)
Have your recently written or published something of interest to your fellow retirees? Or, have you read something you feel is worth sharing? Please let us know.
Boudewijn Mohr has published “A Destiny in the Making: From Wall Street to UNICEF in Africa”. Boudewijn tells us that the book includes many stories and anecdotes about Jim Grant. It also includes an in-depth analysis of the rising power of UNICEF’s national committees in those years. Boudewijn reports that Marco Vianello-Chiodo commented, “"I like it, fresh, sincere, well written. Not only interesting, but entertaining and amusing,”
Fouad Kronfol UNICEF’s and XUNICEF’s indefatigable writer and archivist, has circulated his recent “Remembering Africa Section - 1983 to 1988, Five Years that Changed UNICEF”. Fouad also has completed a revised and updated version of “ The Ties that Bind Us - a Bibliography of Publications written by UNICEF staffers and retirees, & partners, about UNICEF or related to UNICEF and its Work”.
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Innocenti has published “Essential Reading on Adolescent Development “ edited by Dr. Prerna Banati and Jennifer Lansford. Careful - this hefty one might not fit in your beach bag and costs $46.
Kul Gautam publishable Pelé Beyond Football, an article on the myRepublica website explaining the role “the greatest football play of all time” played in cooperation with UNICEF in addressing issues like the promotion of breastfeeding and other social campaigns such as protection of the environment and resolution of conflicts.
Leila Bisharat has a few reading assignments to keep you busy this summer. See Leila’s “Summertime Reading and More” in our Policy Corner below. Just what you need for the beach this summer!!
Others As you will read below in ‘Life After UNICEF’, several other XUNICEFs are working on their books. Some of us may also be preparing blog posts, podcasts or letters to an editor. Whatever the format, if you have a story to tell, let us add you to the growing list of UNICEF authors.
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LIFE AFTER UNICEF
Nuzhat Shahzadi edits this regular section of News & Views. Each issue we hope to publish short biographical sketches prepared by retirees. Please share your own stories. We all want to know what’s happening after UNICEF.
Horst Cerni
Horst started his UN career in 1964 and in 1966 he was hired by UNICEF to build up a film section.
In 1973 he was appointed as the Regional Information Officer for the Americas. In 1978 he was transferred to Geneva and in 1983 was back to New York to be in charge of the Goodwill Ambassadors’ program.
Horst retired in 1995 and lives in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, with his wife Isabel. Click on the link below to get a glimpse of his life, post retirement...
Read Horst’s story here.
Karin Sham Poo
Karin joined UNICEF in 1985 as the Comptroller. In 1987 she was appointed Deputy Executive Director, Operations, a position she held until retirement at the end of 2004.
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Post retirement, and for part of 2005 she was the Interim Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflicts. From 2005-2010 as a consultant (part time) she was UNICEF’s Special Envoy to the Caribbean.
Karin’s life’s journey embraces countless interesting strides- as a UNICEF staff and post retirement. Currently she’s writing her memoirs and spends her time in New York and Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago and normally visits Norway every second year. Read her full story in the link below.
Read Karin’s story here.
Neill McKee
Neill is a Canadian communication specialist with 45 years of experience in international development. He is author, co-author/editor of three books and many articles on communication for development. His interesting career took him to countries spread over four continents, beginning as a volunteer teacher in 1968 with Canada’s CUSO in Malaysia. He became a filmmaker for CUSO and then Deputy Director in Malaysia (1973-74).
He returned to filmmaking with IDRC, Canada (1975-1989) and then joined UNICEF-Bangladesh (1990-93) as the Chief of Program Communication and Information Section, during which time he is best known for initiating and co-creating the “Meena Communication Initiative” and “Visualization in Participatory Programmes (VIPP)” methodology. During 1994-1999, he headed the Communication Section in UNICEF-ESARO and among other things, launched the “Sara Communication Initiative.” After a brief stint in UNICEF Uganda, in 2001 he joined the Johns Hopkins University/CCP and was based in Baltimore and Moscow. From 2009-2012 he worked with AED / FHI360 in Washington DC, as Director of C-Change. He then retired and you can read what he decided to do, below.
Read Neil’s story here.
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FEATURE ARTICLES
Each quarter we hope to share here feature articles written by XUNICEF members. Think an issue deserves major attention by fellow members? Please volunteer to contribute articles for our future editions.
Our Guns and our Kids - Retirees Talk “gun sense”
By Paula Claycomb Taos, New Mexico
Following recent school shootings in Florida and elsewhere in the US, the XUNICEF network carried on a lively discussion of what UNICEF and what we retirees could do. We asked Paula Claycomb, former Chief of UNICEF’s Landmines and Small Arms Section to comment. You can contact Paula at paula.claycomb@gmail.com.
“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” That was the response by the first person I invited to a meeting of Moms Demand Action, a US grassroots NGO that works in all 50 states to reduce gun violence. I joined MOMS, as it is called, after a school shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day, February 14, left 17 high school students dead and another 17 people wounded.
Before that senseless massacre in Parkland, seven school shootings had taken place in the US in 2018 alone. Since that day, another 14 schools have had shootings, making a total of 22 school shootings so far this year. This does not include the many thousands of deaths due to domestic violence, suicide or other incidents such as home invasion or other crimes.
In the wake of the tragedy in Florida, Niloufar Pourzand, wrote to all of us on the XUNICEF mail list to suggest that UNICEF should make a statement about gun violence in the US. Niloufar’s message generated a lively discussion about whether UNICEF should speak out on critical issues of child protection and the voices of youth in the US and other developed Page 10
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countries in light of the campaign led by high-school students themselves. Many of those who participated in the discussion pointed to the rights of young people to speak as agents of change.
Adhiratha Keefe circulated an article by Carly Kabot, a UNICEF Voices of Youth blogger, written shortly after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Carly’s blog post came at a time when the Parkland students began their ongoing, highly visible movement to control dangerous firearms. These students were then often villainized by adults who characterized them as professional actors or too young to understand politics.
As the daughter of a hunter who kept his family of six children fed with venison, rabbit, grouse and other game for much of the year, I have always respected the power (and sometimes admired the beauty) of guns and rifles. As Chief of the Landmines and Small Arms Section from 2006 through 2008, I recognized the rights of hunters and gun sportsmen. I represented UNICEF in the first UN-sponsored talks on a small arms treaty which began in 2006. Even then I could sense the reluctance of UNICEF to allow my team’s participation in the forum, despite an incredible increase in adolescent deaths due to armed violence in Latin America. The treaty was finally adopted in 2013. In early 2018, the conservative Heritage Foundation called for the US to “un-sign” from the treaty in keeping with the withdrawal by the Trump administration from other multilateral agreements.
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a widely read opinion piece on March 27 that urged a repeal of the Second Amendment. That amendment states, “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Stevens eloquently argued that concern over loss of such rights is a relic of the 18th century, and quoted former Chief Justice Warren’s statement that the NRA has been perpetuating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.” That was in 1986 and the NRA’s successful propaganda machine continues today, 32 years later.
So what should or could UNICEF retirees do? Should we urge the Executive Director to take a stand on gun violence globally? Should the Executive Director issue a directive calling for country, regional and headquarters support to children and adolescents in their activism around gun violence? Our discussion unfortunately did not lead us to a conclusion about what actions UNICEF should take or what actions we should recommend to the Executive Director. That
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indecision in no way means, however, that we as individuals cannot ourselves take action on this important issue.
Working with a group of about 30 other residents in Taos, New Mexico, I am learning just how divided these days my country is around gun violence and so many other issues. We started with a small group of older people unable to march or walk for any distance but who wanted to show our support for the high schoolers campaigning for safety from guns. We line the streets on days of their marches and hold regular vigils in highly visible places. We are now joining with teachers, counsellors, fathers, town officials and others in establishing a local chapter of MOMs.
It was in that context that I was making phone calls to invite residents to an organizing meeting in mid-June. My very first call was to a 64-year-old man who lives a short distance from my house. As I explained above, as soon as I introduced the purpose of my call, his immediate response was negative. Though we had a cordial if somewhat tense conversation, I do not believe I changed his mind even a sliver. And he certainly did not convince me that the weapons themselves are responsible for the global 560,000 annual deaths by guns.
Like every issue that UNICEF deals with, even seemingly straightforward ones like childhood immunization and education, the complexities of armed violence permeate discussions to find solutions. The US is especially entrenched in its gun culture, but should be able to follow the examples of other countries where murder by guns is almost non-existent.
Please contact me at paula.claycomb@gmail.com if you would like more information on the gun sense movement in the US. Or go to one of my three favourite organizations to learn more: Gabby Giffords’ organization https://giffords.org/; Moms Demand Action https://momsdemandaction.org/ or the Brady campaign http://www.bradycampaign.org/. These and several others are worthy of financial support and of your time.
UN Pension Fund ESG Dilemma: Invest or Divest
By Carlos Santos-Tejada Panama City
The Guardian’s Global Development Site recently charged that the UN Staff Pension Fund includes over one billion dollars of investments in companies which are incompatible with the UN’s core principles.
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We asked Carlos Santos-Tejada who served for several years on the Pension Fund’s Board to comment. Carlos also formerly served as UNICEF’s Chief of Contributions. You can contact Carlos at csantostejada52@gmail.com.
Assuming the figures given in the Guardian’s article are correct, the UN Pension Fund has only about 2.34%, of its $64bn in assets invested in companies which “have been or are being prosecuted for corrupt practices, implicated in human rights abuses or in environmental catastrophes”. Even if these represent only a small percentage of its total investments, the charge that “UN staff pension fund is mired in 'dirty profits' from firms guilty of rights abuses rightfully created great concern among staff members and retirees.
Given the very dynamic nature of the financial markets, preventing investments in ‘non kosher’ assets is a real challenge (particularly if the mentioned corporations are part of an “index”). It is not clear from the article whether those questionable investments were chosen deliberately by the investment officers of the Fund or were merely part of an index. It is important to note that experts view indexes as a prudent distribution of financial risk for any investor.
Having served at the Pension Fund board for several years, l can attest that policies and guidelines on socially responsible investment exist and are carefully applied Last year the Pension Fund received an A+ rating from the organization, Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), which rates investment funds on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors of their investments.
Even so, no fund, including our Pension Fund, is totally free from from slippage. Both the League of Red Cross and the American Museum of Natural History have recently been forced to confront the issue of their own unethical investments. Despite the formidable challenge involved, the UN must take the lead in ensuring that it invests only in companies with a bullet-proof ethical behavior.
Rather than establishing any new high-level committee to oversee ethical investmenting, our Pension Fund likely needs to allocate more human resources into the Risk and Compliance Division of its investment branch. This group needs to perform constant and real time intelligence gathering to warn investment officers about possible conflicts of interest.
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Shaping a more open, respective and inclusive culture
By Ian MacLeod North of Sydney, Australia
“Since my arrival, I have pledged zero tolerance for every form of discrimination, harassment and abuse of power. They have no place at UNICEF. In our offices. In our workplaces. In the field. Anywhere.” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
Expanding the focus led by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to stamp out sexual harassment across the system, UNICEF has continued to take decisive action to ensure that the organization has a safer workplace. For staff and for xUNICEFers this is great news.
The latest step towards eliminating discrimination and abuse of power of any kind was the launching on 27th May of an Independent Task Force to review current practices and provide recommendations to effectively and systematically prevent and address workplace gender-related discrimination, harassment and abuse of power in UNICEF.
The organizational transformation is being directly led from the 13th floor by the Executive Director (who goes by ‘ED Fore’) whose first All Staff Meeting was not the welcoming introduction that was in the transition plan - it had to focus solely on the fallout from the Deputy Executive Director resignation and issues around harassment, discrimination and abuse of power.
In the first four months of 2018, the Office of Internal Audit and Investigation received 70 complaints (including multiple complainants for same issue), translating into 11 cases of alleged sexual harassment, six cases of alleged sexual assault and 36 cases of alleged harassment and abuse of authority. This compares to the 74 complaints that were received in the 12 months of 2017. This appears to indicate that staff have increased confidence in the improved systems and tools to report, investigate and address misconduct by UNICEF staff members.
All staff have been “asked” to (well, in fact told) to complete two mandatory online training courses on Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority, and on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Importantly, this extends beyond staff and individual consultants are also meant to undertake these courses. This has not filtered down yet, as my current consultancy office has not asked me to provide evidence of completion.
Very encouragingly, over 90% of staff have taken these courses. I have done so. They are far from perfect, like all such online training courses, but it is not easy to develop and deliver a one-size-fits-all course. What was well developed in the online courses was the process of
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helping staff understand and identify exactly “what is, and what is not” in very practical terms in relation to abuse of authority, gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
Offices have established ‘Speak Up Committees’ to promote and lead the organizational culture shift. Many offices are ensuring dedicated time is allocated for all staff to discuss contextual issues: differences in working culture, how words and phrases are interpreted in different settings and countries, differences in cultures in relation to physical space and touch, etc. This points to the need for continued organisational investment in guiding and orienting new international staff in their duty stations, not just leaving it to the staff member. I am sure many xUNICEFers will clearly recall arriving in a new duty station and being ‘welcomed’ with no country, culture, language, customs or norms orientation..... just a space, desk, chair, a lot of papers to read, forms to fill and hundreds of new acronyms to learn.
Many xUNICEFers will personally or professionally know the two senior Co-Chairs of the newly established Independent Task Force: Debrework Zewdie and Purnima Mane . Over the next 1 2 six months, they have been asked to lead a “thorough and unbiased examination of our systems and culture, and providing us with objective and actionable recommendations to implement meaningful changes across our organization”.
The Terms of Reference of the Independent Task Force state that it will not only be looking at current, but also historical culture and systems in UNICEF (and other organisations) in relation to harassment, discriminatory practices and abuse of power, with a special focus on gender-related dynamics.
This points to a clear contribution to the important work of the Independent Task Force that can be made by xUNICEFers. With the incredibly range of individual experiences from working in UNICEF as well as pre- and post-UNICEF life in a vast range of organizational settings, xUNICEFers can – and should – be consulted and engage with the Independent Task Force over the next six months. We can help to shape a safer organization whose mandate we all remain firmly committed to.
1 Debrework Zewdie is an Ethiopian national who has led strategy, policy implementation and management of development programs at the country, regional, and global levels for international bodies such as the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She was also the founding Vice President of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa 2 Purnima Mane is from India and is the former President and CEO of Pathfinder International, and former Assistant Secretary-General and UNFPA Deputy Executive Director of Programmes. She also has extensive experience at the country, regional and global levels in her long career in public health policy, practice and advocacy, including at the WHO and the Population Council.
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News & Views June 2018
A Chat with Henrietta
By Sheila Barry Washington, D.C.
A mutual acquaintance suggested to Henrietta Fore that I would be a good person to tell her about UNICEF’s history. In response to this unexpected invitation I wrote giving her some thoughts on UNICEF 's past and on the importance of continuing a history project in UNICEF.
Yet when we spoke by phone a few days later, Henrietta’s first words were not about our history, but instead about the present. She expressed her deep concern for Baquer Namazi and his family. In addition to keeping in touch with Baquer’s wife and son, Henrietta continues to follow his situation closely through our office in Tehran. She expressed her admiration for the efforts of xunicefers to win Baquer’s freedom.
We went on to talk about the passion for the cause of children which is shared both by staff and retirees. I asked how UNICEF might utilize the experience of retirees in the days ahead. She asked if we had an association. I explained a bit about XUNICEF and the networking underway, as well as our past proposals for closer association with UNICEF itself. I went on to mention the support we had received from Kul Gautam when he was Deputy Executive Director and Richard Bridle, former Director of Human Resources. I also mentioned our meeting with Tony Lake on issues affecting retirees. At that time Adhiratha, Malika and I had proposed several actions, but sadly no actions followed.
Unspoken, but I believe clear, was the message that the dialogue opened earlier through Kul and Richard, had deteriorated in recent years. So shortly after we spoke, I was pleased to learn that Executive Director Fore had offered Nicolas Pron, Secretary of the Executive Board, a year's extension to work with retirees and on preparations for a high-level meeting to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the CRC in November 2019. The latter is linked to the Youth Agenda priority she presented to the Board.
In later talks with Nicolas I learned he had discussed the retirees/alumni with the Executive Director before the recent Board meeting and suggested she might host some form of a meeting/gathering to discuss a way forward, possibly around the September Board meeting. Nicolas is now on leave. His successor as Secretary of the Executive Board, Ms. Hai Kai Kyung, is already in place. Nicolas and I agreed to meet when he returns to New York in mid-July.
I believe we have established good lines of communication with both Henrietta and Nicolas. Now we need to establish an agenda of issues we in XUNICEF want to take up.
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News & Views June 2018
THE POLICY CORNER
The Policy Corner is edited by Leila Bisharat. This ‘corner’ is your space for discussing policy developments at UNICEF. With each issue we will offer links to recent papers on the table at UNICEF. We hope you will share your views on policies both on the XUNICEF email network and here in future editions of The Policy Corner.
Recent policy announcements
Me Too and UNICEF
Henrietta Fore took up her leadership of UNICEF earlier this year facing a major challenge within her own Executive Office, the resignation of Deputy Director Justin Forsyth over allegations that he behaved inappropriately toward female staff members during his time as chief executive at Save the Children.
Following extensive discussion among staff and consultation with other agencies, Ms. Fore recently took a major step forward in announcing formation of an Independent Task Force to review and provide recommendations on how best UNICEF can systematically prevent and redress workplace gender related discrimination, harassment and abuse of power.
Read about the mandate, composition and TOR of the Independent Task Force here .
The ED also announced that UNICEF has become the first UN agency to be certified at the second level of EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) - a three-tiered business certification standard for gender equality.
See the report here.
We should note that UNICEF first set out a clear written policy on discrimination and harassment (including sexual harassment) in 1994. This policy was reinforced by additional directives in 2008 and again in 2012.
In the formation of this Independent Task Force, the EDGE certification, and the training efforts described above in Ian MacLeod’s article, the ED is clearly using the opportunity of the recent resignation to push once again for a change in UNICEF’s internal culture. The test, of course, will come in whether and to what degree such a transformation actually occurs and is sustained over time.
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Four priorities
The ED wrote to staff in early June setting out four UNICEF priorities in line with the 2018-2021 strategic plan and asking for staff thoughts on how to strengthen UNICEF’s partnerships. Perhaps retirees might like to offer their own thoughts?
The Young People’s Agenda
We would like to give major attention in the next edition of the Policy Corner of News & Views to the the Young People’s Agenda (YPA) set out by the ED. Please give us your thoughts or share them on the XUNICEF email network.
You will find the two background documents here and here..
Note also our mention above of the appointment of Anupama Rao Singh as the Senior Coordinator, Young People’s Agenda. We are sure that Anupama would also welcome hearing your views on the subject.
Summertime Reading and More
By Leila Bisharat Chebeague Island, Maine
Are you ready to kick back and make your personal list for favorites to read over the summer? Your XUNICEF colleagues have a wide range of suggestions. Here are some links for building your own list.
Start with Fuad Kronfol’s comprehensive and expanding bibliography of reflections from your XUNICEF colleagues. Its extent and breadth are quite extraordinary, reflecting the continued dedication of many staff members, including Fuad himself, to the wellbeing of children. Your recent contributions have been added.
Are you looking for a recent book reflecting on UNICEF under Jim Grant’s leadership? Check out Adam Fifield’s (2015) A Mighty Purpose: How Jim Grant Sold the World on Saving its Children. Let’s hear your take on his account.
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If you are looking for the larger picture of the United Nations as a whole, its history aspirations and ideas, you need go no farther than Richard Jolly’s UN Ideas that Changed the World , co-authored with Louis Emmerij and Thomas Weiss, with a foreword by Kofi Annan.
For those who want to take a forward look or catch up with UNICEF today, there is much to inspire your summer. Start by taking a new look at the UNICEF webpage. www.unicef.org No matter when you retired you will find your own work reflected here in the continued efforts around the world of UNICEF in the service of children, including adolescents. You can drill down into UNICEF’s databases by country in a way that might only have been a dream at the time of the review of the World Summit for Children. https://www.unicef.org/research-and-reports
A child survival revolution has happened, attested to by ample evidence by country of the historic progress in reducing deaths of children under 5. Commitments by heads of state to monitor progress for children under 5 were once only a promise. If you would like to step back and look at long-term trends mining this data and exploring misunderstandings enjoy the book by Hans Rosling (2018) Factfulness.
UNICEF’s position today is stronger than ever when it comes to defending the rights of children and helping them reach their potential through adolescence. The new horizons are adolescent development and participation, with gender equality and a continuing emphasis on girls. https://www.unicef.org/adolescence/. Stay tuned for exciting developments on gender policy and the new adolescent strategy.
Ever present in our minds and hearts is UNICEF’s motto “We never give up”. Nowhere is that more painful, and the efforts of UNICEF staff more heroic, than in Syria, Palestine and Yemen. The world’s collective failure across generations to reach and protect children, making the world a safe place for them to grow, is starkly before us in this era of abundant resources.
BITS AND PIECES
In this last section of News and Views we try to find something lighter - fun or - even better - funny. Spot something that brings a smile? Please share it.
Paulo Coelho contributed the following short story to UNICEF’s “ Tiny Stories”. See other contributions by well-known authors there.
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News & Views June 2018
A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked: ‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’
‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’
‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’
‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.’
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News & Views June 2018
News & Views Editorial Team
Fouad Kronfol Gloria Kodzwa Ian MacLeod Isabel Austin Karin Sham Poo Leila Bisharat Nuzhat Shahzadi Sheila Barry Tom McDermott
Join us please - either as an editor or contributor or both !
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