Hundreds of UN staff protest in Geneva against killing of colleagues in Gaza
Hundreds of UN staff gathered on place des Nations in Geneva on Thursday to protest against targeting of humanitarian workers in Gaza.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict began, some 543 aid workers have been killed in Gaza including 373 UN staff and team members, according to UN data, making it the deadliest conflict in the body's 80-year history.
The United States and Israel have sent complaint letters to top UN officials contesting the impartiality of their staff over the Gaza war, documents showed.
UN staff carried placards saying "Peace for Gaza" and "Not a Target" and lay over 370 white roses next to a memorial plaque in Geneva to represent each UN aid worker killed in the war.
"Today, the UN staff are coming together to say that enough is enough, to say that we cannot kill our colleagues in Gaza with such impunity and to say stop to all these murders," Nathalie Meynet, President of the UN refugee agency staff council, told Reuters at the protest.
On Sept. 10, Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Daniel Meron wrote to the Director-General of the UN Geneva office Tatiana Valovaya denouncing the protest which he alleged violated the ethical obligations of UN personnel.
Séverine Deboos, Chairperson of the International Labour Organization Staff Union and one of the events' organisers, denied that its purpose was political.
Several hundred people joined in the protest and a minute of silence in the bright Geneva sunshine outside the UN building.
A handful wore black and white keffiyehs- a controversial symbol of Palestinian solidarity seen by Israel as a provocation- although Reuters could not confirm if they were UN staff.
(Source: Reuters)
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