Sergio Vieira de Mello Killed August 19, 2003
From Counterpunch
Victim of Terror or US Foreign Policy?
By MARJORIE COHN
But for George W. Bush's illegal and misguided war on Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, would be alive today. Mr. de Mello devoted most of his life to the U.N.'s mission to protect human rights and achieve international peace and security. He served in some of the toughest trouble spots in the world, including Lebanon, East Timor, Yugoslavia, Peru, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Sudan, Cambodia and Mozambique.
continued from Counterpunch
Sergio Vieira de Mello went to Iraq at the request of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for a four-month humanitarian commitment. One month short of his return to Geneva, Mr. de Mello was buried alive in rubble from a suicide truck bomber who targeted the United Nations in Baghdad.
Ignoring the pleas of millions of people around the world and most of the United Nations members, Bush had persisted in his march to war. Contrary to Bush's assertions, Saddam Hussein never posed an imminent threat to the United States. Until Bush unleashed "almost biblical" firepower on Iraq, al Qaeda was not operating there. Yet since the U.S.-U.K. became the occupying power, Iraq has become fertile ground for outside jihadis.
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The blast that killed Mr. de Mello and 19 others, and wounded more than 100 in the U.N. compound in Baghdad Tuesday, was likely the handiwork of the same forces that bombed the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad 12 days before, killing 11 people. Osama bin Laden has long decried the United States' role in the first Gulf War, the punishing sanctions against the people of Iraq, and the United Nations for "supporting the oppressive, tyrannical and arrogant America [in Afghanistan] against those oppressed who have emerged from a ferocious war at the hands of the Soviet Union."
In the twisted minds of the terrorists who likely executed the worst attack on a U.N. civilian operation in its 58-year history, the United States and the United Nations are linked. Yet Bush's new doctrine of "preemptive war" is a clear violation of the U.N. Charter. And in spite of intense pressure by Bush, including threats and bribes, the members of the Security Council refused to hand him a resolution sanctioning his war on Iraq. Bush accused the United Nations of becoming "irrelevant."
When he was sent to Baghdad, it was Sergio de Mello's dream "to assist the Iraqi people and those responsible for the administration of this land to achieve freedom, the possibility of managing their own destiny and determining their own future." He empathized with the Iraqi people who resented the foreign occupiers. "It is traumatic," he said. "It must be one of the most humiliating periods in their history. Who would like to see their country occupied?" He wanted "to make sure that the interests of the Iraqi people come first" as they rebuild their country.
Sergio de Mello's death is an unspeakable tragedy for the cause of world peace. "I can think of no one we could less afford to spare," observed Kofi Annan. And Salim Lone, Mr. de Mello's spokesman in Baghdad, said, "He was a wonderful guy. He was the U.N. in a way." Mr. Lone added, "I grieve most of all for the people of Iraq because he was really the man who could have helped bring about an end to the occupation. An end to the trauma the people of Iraq have suffered for so long."
We must emerge from this tragedy by redoubling our support for the United Nations. As Iraqis, Americans, and many from other countries continue to die in Iraq, Bush must relinquish control of Iraq to the United Nations. It is the arrogance of occupation that creates roiling hatred against the occupier. Mr. de Mello was confident that Iraqis distinguished between the U.N. and the foreign occupiers. The end of the occupation would empower the people of Iraq to take control of their own destiny. Then Sergio Vieira de Mello will not have died in vain.
Marjorie Cohn, a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, is executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild.
From the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Sergio Vieira de Mello: A tribute of staff upon his death
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1948, Sergio Vieira de Mello joined the United Nations in 1969 while studying philosophy and humanities at the University of Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
He spent the majority of his career working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, and served in humanitarian and peace-keeping operations, in Bangladesh, Sudan, Cyprus, Mozambique, and Peru.
In 1981 he assumed his first high-profile position, when he was appointed Senior Political Adviser to UN forces in Lebanon. Thereafter, he occupied several important functions at UNHCR's Headquarters from 1983 to 1991 (Chef de Cabinet of the High Commissioner; Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and Oceania; and Director, Division of External Relations). Between 1991 and 1996, he served as Special Envoy of the High Commissioner for Cambodia, Director of Repatriation for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), Head of Civil Affairs of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), and United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Great Lakes Region of Africa. In 1996 he was appointed United Nations Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, before being posted to New York in January 1998 as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. He briefly held the position of Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo and also served as United Nations Transitional Administrator in East Timor. On 12 September 2002 he was appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In May of 2003, he was asked by the Secretary-General to take a four month leave of absence from his position as High Commissioner to serve in Iraq as Special Representative of the Secretary-General. It was there that he was tragically killed on 19 August 2003.
"Sergio", as he was known by the scores of government officials, UN staff members, and others who considered him a good friend, was a remarkably effective international civil servant. As a result, he was asked by the United Nations to tackle some of the world's most complicated humanitarian and peacekeeping challenges. His track record of success was extraordinary, whether it was fashioning a refugee protection and resettlement scheme for Vietnamese refugees, overseeing the repatriation of 300,000 Cambodian refugees from Thailand, setting up a UN civil administration in Kosovo, or managing the political transition in East Timor. His assets included extraordinary intelligence and good judgment, graciousness and wit, and a profound dedication to the humanitarian principles that inform the UN Charter. He was the obvious choice to lead the UN effort in Iraq, to which he has given his life.
His friends and colleagues at the United Nations and elsewhere will best honor his memory by persevering in the humanitarian and human rights work to which Sergio was so committed.
