The United Nations is in danger of losing its sense of purpose
ByCarolina Larriera
theguardian.com
6 min
View Original
Note: This is an excerpt. Click the link above to read the article.
The United Nations headquarters in Baghdad after a bomb which left 22 people dead, 19 August 2003. Photograph: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty
The scorching sun that kept Baghdad’s temperature stuck at 50C meant that we started our mornings early. That day I went into the kitchen to make hot chocolate for breakfast, but my plans were derailed when I realised that a power outage at dawn had spoilt the milk. We had to settle for Ovaltine diluted with water. My partner took my hand and said that it didn’t matter, soon we would be leaving for Rio de Janeiro. Then he took his briefcase and, for security, we headed in a convoy of cars towards the Canal hotel, where our office was. That day various important meetings had been cancelled, but we were nevertheless very busy wrapping up loose ends. Suddenly, everything went dark. The room seemed to splinter around me before turning to dust.
The next time I saw him was hours later. Trapped in the rubble of a burning building, he struggled to maintain consciousness as I talked to him and tried unsuccessfully to pull him out of what was soon to become his grave.
The scorching sun that kept Baghdad’s temperature stuck at 50C meant that we started our mornings early. That day I went into the kitchen to make hot chocolate for breakfast, but my plans were derailed when I realised that a power outage at dawn had spoilt the milk. We had to settle for Ovaltine diluted with water. My partner took my hand and said that it didn’t matter, soon we would be leaving for Rio de Janeiro. Then he took his briefcase and, for security, we headed in a convoy of cars towards the Canal hotel, where our office was. That day various important meetings had been cancelled, but we were nevertheless very busy wrapping up loose ends. Suddenly, everything went dark. The room seemed to splinter around me before turning to dust.
The next time I saw him was hours later. Trapped in the rubble of a burning building, he struggled to maintain consciousness as I talked to him and tried unsuccessfully to pull him out of what was soon to become his grave.
During my career I witnessed the United Nations at its best: making a country independent, giving its people a voice and future – in Timor in 1999. I also experienced it at its worst – in Iraq in 2003. As the organisation nears its 75th anniversary, it’s time we talked about both.
This should have been the lesson of the Baghdad tragedy: you cannot operate to bring safety to human beings if you are yourself compromised in this way.
However, these mistakes were swept under the rug.
• Carolina Larriera is a former UN diplomat, a survivor of the Iraq bombing, widow of Sergio Vieira de Mello, and former assistant professor at the Harvard Kennedy School
This should have been the lesson of the Baghdad tragedy: you cannot operate to bring safety to human beings if you are yourself compromised in this way.
However, these mistakes were swept under the rug.
• Carolina Larriera is a former UN diplomat, a survivor of the Iraq bombing, widow of Sergio Vieira de Mello, and former assistant professor at the Harvard Kennedy School