UNICs promote UN Issues

UNIC Bogotá and the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Colombia organized a memorial ceremony on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in 2003. The event was held in a neighbouring square to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). United Nations staff and Heads of agencies, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corp, NGOs, the media, the Muslim community and the Anglican Church attended the event.

On the first anniversary of the terror attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, UNIC Brazzaville and the Resident Coordinator arranged a commemoration ceremony on 19 August 2004 outside the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s building. The ceremony, which included the United Nations family in the Congo, was opened by UNIC's Information Assistant followed by a moment of silence, the reading the message of the Secretary-General for the occasion by the UNDP Representative, the screening of a commemorative video and the distribution of a list of the names of the victims.

On the first anniversary of the terror attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, RUNIC Brussels, jointly with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s office in Belgium and the World Food Programme (WFP) Liaison Office, held a memorial ceremony at the United Nations House. All United Nations agencies in Brussels, including retired staff members, interns and friends attended the event. It included opening remarks by the Director of the WFP Liaison Office, the screening of two videos, the reading of the message of the Secretary-General for the occasion (also translated into 7 languages) and a minute of silence.

UNIC Buenos Aires co-organized a commemoration ceremony on the first anniversary on the attack against the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad with the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Argentina. The ceremony was held on 19 August 2004 in the auditorium of UNIC in Buenos Aires. Eighty persons attended the event, including all the United Nations staff in Buenos Aires. A board with pictures of the victims and 22 roses representing them decorated the auditorium. Copies of the message of the Secretary-General on the occasion were available for those who were present.

UNIC Cairo and the Mubarak Public Library held a memorial ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of the terror attack of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The commemoration, at the Mubarak Public Library, included a minute of silence, the screening of a video produced by the Department of Public Information (DPI) for the occasion and several speeches from United Nations agencies representatives, diplomats as well as a personal friend of the late Head of the Baghdad headquarters, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Some thirty United Nations staff and representatives of the Czech Government and partner organizations assembled in the lobby of the United Nations House in Prague to pay tribute to the victims of last year's terrorist attack against the United Nations in Baghdad and to express solidarity with the families of the victims. The participants also commemorated the more-than two thousand men and women who have lost their lives in the course of their duty with the United Nations. The message of the Secretary-General on the occasion was read, two commemoration videos were screened and a poster with the names of the victims was placed next to the television set. UNIC Prague also designed a Web page to commemorate the event and issued a press release highlighting the message of the Secretary-General.

Together with the Resident Coordinator's office, UNIC Yangon arranged a simple ceremony on 19 August 2004 to honour our colleagues who fell in the terrorist attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in 2003. A copy of the message of the Secretary-General on the occasion was distributed to all local media.