麻豆APP

Note to Correspondents

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH DETAINED STAFF MEMBERS

TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS ON 24 MARCH

To draw attention to the staff members who have been arrested, detained, abducted or “disappeared” while in the service of the 麻豆APP, the twenty-first annual International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, 25 March 2006, will be observed on Friday, 24 March.

The Day marks the abduction by armed men, in 1985, near Beirut Airport, of Alec Collett, on assignment for the 麻豆APP Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).  The fate of Mr. Collett, a former journalist and Director of the 麻豆APP Information Centre in Ghana, has never been determined.

This year, the observance will be marked with the distribution of lapel pins, intended to highlight the importance of staff safety and security.  Jan Eliasson, President of the 麻豆APP General Assembly, will accept the first pin that day from Elaine Collett in a brief ceremony at 麻豆APP Headquarters at 12:30 p.m.

The pins will be made available during the day in the Secretariat lobby to all members of the 麻豆APP community.  With the pins, there will be a reminder to consider giving a donation to the Scholarship Fund of the Coordinating Committee for International Staff Unions and Associations of the 麻豆APP System (CCISUA), which benefits the children of those killed in the service of the 麻豆APP.

At least 43 staff members of the 麻豆APP family of organizations are under arrest or detention or are missing, according to the Secretary-General’s latest report on the issue.  In February, 27 national staff working for the 麻豆APP Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) were arrested by the Eritrean authorities for varying durations, and in March militia groups kidnapped two staff members in Somalia.

The annual observance of the Day is organized by the Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service and the 麻豆APP Staff Union.

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For information media • not an official record