Secretary-General's remarks at the memorial service for fallen staff in 2004/5

As I travel around the world, I am so struck by the courage, the dedication, and the determination of our colleagues.

Last month, in Iraq, I had the opportunity of laying a wreath at the memorial set up for our colleagues who were brutally murdered in Iraq in August 2003. I cannot tell you the feelings and the emotions that went through me as I stood there and read their names on the plaque. And it brought them vividly back to life to me -- people that we all knew and worked so closely with, and loved; people who had gone to Iraq for no other reason, but to offer help and assistance. And to stand there and see what happened, and remember what happened to them, and then to look around me to see that we have other courageous and dedicated colleagues who are working in the same duty station, an almost war zone area, trying to help the Iraqis go through their political transition, trying to help the Iraqis unite, reconcile, come together, and build a stable, peaceful Iraq. You walk away and say to yourself what wonderful, dedicated, courageous colleagues I have.

When I met and spoke to them, the morale was high. They knew why they were there. They knew they were taking a certain amount of risk. As Mr. Veness said, we've taken all the measures to offer them protection.

From Iraq, I went to Pakistan. We went to Pakistan. And in fact, there too, it was an earthquake zone. We lost people, not through [a] terrorist act, but natural disaster. In fact, there was an apartment building that collapsed, and my wife, Mrs. Nane Annan, and I had to go and lay a wreath at the makeshift memorial set up at the site. The building collapsed. And we had a military observer who lived in that building. He could not find his wife and three kids. When they finally found them, when the building collapsed, they fell into the water tank and he lost all his family. Yet, he went back home and wanted to go back and continue his work, serving in Kashmir as one of the observers on the Indian-Pakistani border.

These are the types of courage our colleagues have. These are type of colleagues that we have, and I think we owe it to them to carry on the cause for which they gave their lives.

But of course, it does not mean that we should place our staff in harm's way. And that is why we've set up a department of security, which you head, David, [and you spoke about]. We live in a changed world. We don't operate in a risk-free environment. And it is important that we, the staff, are also aware that we need to be vigilant, we need to pay attention to our environment. We need to listen to the advice given to us by our security experts. And of course, we, as an Organization, have to make sure that staff operate in relatively safe environment, that we do whatever we can to offer them protection.

So as we mourn our fallen colleagues, let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals of the Organization, and the reasons most of us –all of us –are here. I don't think we should be discouraged. I think their experience, their faith should strengthen us and move us on.

So let us thank their families and those who have lost loved ones. Let us mourn with them and may their souls rest in peace.

But as we go forward, let's go forward in the knowledge that we are doing the right thing, but at the same time, take steps to protect yourselves. And we, as an Organization, must do whatever we can to protect you.

Thank you.