IPS news reports appear daily in English, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. Each time a defenceless U.N. staffer dies in the line of duty, fear takes it toll on those who carry on,'' says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Addressing a U.N. Staff Union meeting on international security, Annan said the year 1992 marked a crossroad. It was almost unheard of for non-military staff to be killed. When it happened, it was a random act, caused by being in the wrong place at the wrong time,'' he added.
Violence is aimed deliberately at civilians.
Sanctuaries such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship are destroyed and desecrated. Combatants fail to respect the U.N.'s impartial presence, and instead target those wearing U.N. blue for detention, extortion, robbery and murder,'' says Annan. Prior to 1992, no more than a handful of civilian staff lost their lives in the line of duty. But numbers do not tell the full story,'' Annan notes, ''They do not measure the suffering inflicted on the families. Last week, four military observers with the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia were kidnapped by an armed group.