International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members

Context

The United Nations observes the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members on 25 March every year.

Key-highlights

• In 1945, the United Nations was established and, since then, hundreds of brave men and women have lost their lives in its service. 
• During the 1990s, the growing number and scale of UN peacekeeping missions put several at risk. 

• More people died in the 1990s than in the previous four decades combined.

• Therefore, at that time, awareness began to rise among the Member States and staff that the more active the UN became in the future, the more it was going to be targeted.
• So, in September 1993, the first resolution on staff security was adopted by the UN Security Council. 
• In the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the General Assembly, complex negotiations took place on an international legal convention to protect UN personnel. 
• The result of those negotiations was the Convention on the Safety of the United Nations and Associated Personnel. 
• In December 1994, it was adopted by the UN General Assembly.

History

• The day is observed on March 25 to mark the anniversary of the abduction of Alec Collett. 
• He was a former journalist who worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
• In  1985, he was abducted by armed gunmen. 

• In 2009, his body was found in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

Objective

• In recent years, the day has taken on greater importance as attacks against the United Nations intensify. 
• The day is observed to mobilise action, demand justice, and strengthen the resolve to protect UN personnel and peacekeepers, as well as colleagues in the non-governmental sector and the press.