{"id":15996,"date":"2023-02-28T15:15:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T15:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambassadornews.org\/?p=15996"},"modified":"2023-02-28T15:15:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T15:15:33","slug":"high-ranking-canadian-un-official-presses-ottawa-for-security-funding%ef%bf%bc%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambassadornews.org\/en\/high-ranking-canadian-un-official-presses-ottawa-for-security-funding%ef%bf%bc%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"High-ranking Canadian UN official presses Ottawa for security funding\ufffc\ufffc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Gilles Michaud wants to build an emergency response unit to protect UN teams on the ground<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, former Mountie Gilles Michaud came face-to-face with a man with a $10 million US bounty on his head<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his role as an under-secretary general of the United Nations, Michaud\u00a0was in\u00a0Afghanistan in 2021 to meet with the new Taliban government’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani. Their goal that day \u2014 just two weeks after the hasty and chaotic departure of American troops \u2014 was to negotiate the conditions under which UN workers would continue to operate in Afghanistan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as a deal was struck, Haqqani left. He’s on the FBI’s wanted list as a\u00a0specially designated global terrorist<\/q>\u00a0and\u00a0lives in fear of a drone attack<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michaud, 57, who runs the UN’s Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), left the meeting knowing he wouldn’t collect the reward on\u00a0Haqqani\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but confident he had done what could be done to ensure\u00a0the safety of humanitarian workers in the absence of American soldiers<\/p>\n\n\n\nTaliban acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani speaks during a graduation ceremony at the police academy in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 5, 2022. (Associated Press)PHOTO: (ASSOCIATED PRESS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The meeting with Haqqani was one of the stranger twists in the career of the former RCMP deputy commissioner. Over his 33 years in the national police force, Michaud\u00a0moved up\u00a0from small-town drug busts in the 1980s to international investigations of\u00a0Russian espionage\u00a0activities and global terrorist networks in the 2000s<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Criminals, usually, I want to put them in jail. In these instances, I’ve got to deal with them because they are the ones that will give access to our humanitarian partners<\/q>\u00a0he said in a recent interview at UN headquarters in New York<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the head of UNDSS, Michaud\u00a0\u2014 a native of Saint-L\u00e9onard\u00a0in northern New Brunswick \u2014\u00a0is responsible for protecting hundreds of thousands of UN employees and their families, the organization’s buildings across the globe, and tens of billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to high-risk areas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That last task\u00a0only gets\u00a0more complex by the day. Humanitarian crises are multiplying. When catastrophic earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria in early February, the UN was already dealing with the war in Ukraine, drought in Somalia, armed conflicts in Ethiopia and the Congo, disorder in Haiti and waves of refugees around the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michaud’s department operates with an annual budget of $300 million US that remains stable, despite a steady rise in demands for help. Rapid inflation has helped to make the situation\u00a0untenable<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent weeks, he has been hitting up potential donor countries with one-time,\u00a0extra-budgetary funding requests to modernize his department. His goal\u00a0is to build an emergency response team that can move quickly into high-risk areas and ensure more effective UN deployments<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since last November, Michaud has been urging the Canadian government to come up with\u00a0$10 million US\u00a0to get his program off the ground. That, he said,\u00a0would make it easier to convince other countries to fund his projects, which\u00a0are estimated to cost $15 million US over two years<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have been receptive to what I’m proposing, but I still don’t have an answer if they will and to what amount<\/q>\u00a0Michaud\u00a0said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no humanitarian program that can be delivered without security<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNDSS was created one year after a 2003 suicide bombing in Baghdad killed 22 people, including the organization’s representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN operations remain dangerous to this day. Every year, hundreds of employees are injured, robbed or attacked, kidnapped or killed. Five UN workers have been\u00a0held hostage in Yemen since last year. Three UN workers died in Benghazi, Libya in August 2019\u00a0when their vehicle exploded<\/p>\n\n\n\nA woman attends to her malnourished child at the United Nations Nutrition Center in Banki, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, on May 3, 2022. (Chinedu Asadu\/The Associated Press)PHOTO: (CHINEDU ASADU\/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Usually, we will invest in security when there are incidents … When there are no incidents, people do not recognize the preventive work that is done in terms of safety<\/q>\u00a0said\u00a0Michaud<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to building support in international circles for UN operations, he said, it helps to be Canadian<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, in every setting, there is one thing about presenting yourself as being from the United Nations. [People] respect that, they respect the neutrality that you bring. But as soon as they know you’re Canadian, it changes the dynamics in the room<\/q>\u00a0said\u00a0MichaudFor me, that has been very helpful<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joyce Msuya, UN assistant secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs, is a native of Tanzania who\u00a0attended the University of Ottawa. Although her own humanitarian aid programs constantly require additional funds, she said she supports UNDSS’s request for more money<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes two hands to clap. Humanitarians work very closely with UNDSS<\/q>\u00a0she saidTo have access to deliver humanitarian assistance anywhere in the world, the first and fundamental criteria, not just for the UN agencies\u00a0but also humanitarian partners such as NGOs, is security<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her own experience in countries like Yemen and Somalia, she said, UN security teams are\u00a0underrepresented<\/q>\u00a0on the ground<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Calls for humanitarian aid\u00a0are blowing up\u00a0around the world. The UN plans to spend $51.5 billion US to help 230 million people in 70 countries this year<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UN teams on the ground take risks every day. Without the input of UNDSS\u00a0\u2014 which coordinates security with other agencies and organizations, makes risk assessments and negotiates access with local authorities \u2014\u00a0humanitarian work\u00a0could grind to a halt in high-risk areas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We deal with crises daily. We cannot ourselves be in a state of crisis when we respond to crises. So we need to have a certain serenity in the management of crises and an ability to respond to these crises that is permanent and not linked to the mobilization of funds for a specific crisis<\/q>\u00a0said Florence Poussin, deputy director of regional operations for UNDSS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Going beyond guns and guards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To ensure the safety of humanitarian deployments, the UN constantly negotiates access with warring parties. In Ukraine, for example, UNDSS teams engage\u00a0with both Moscow and Kyiv to find out\u00a0when the fighting will stop each day so that they can\u00a0deliver aid to displaced populations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To convince all parties of its impartiality, the UN is barred from receiving information from any of its member states’ intelligence services. That condition may engender trust \u2014 but it also\u00a0aggravates\u00a0the risks faced by UN workers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My concern is that you will see situations where UN staff will not be able to go and deliver on the ground where they need to be. You may find that UN staff are in a country, but may sit in a bunker somewhere or in some fortified building because they are afraid to go out because the situation is too dangerous, which would completely defy the purpose<\/q>\u00a0said Esther Kuisch Laroche, director of partnerships within UNDSS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UN is active in 125 countries, including 40 that qualify as high-risk locations. Ensuring security in these countries goes beyond the presence of armed guards<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UN says it expects its humanitarian missions to draw on\u00a0knowledge of local conditions and of diplomatic dealings with authorities (including armed and terrorist groups), and to coordinate\u00a0with\u00a0various humanitarian agencies, including non-governmental organizations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we mention the word ‘security,’ it always comes back to guns, gates and guards. And it is one element of what we do, but it’s a very small element<\/q>\u00a0Michaud\u00a0saidThe real element that we do when it comes to security is enabling program delivery for UN entities<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Richard Gowan, an international affairs expert with the International Crisis Group, said the UN often finds itself virtually alone when engaging with countries in crisis<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are places like Afghanistan or Syria where you don’t have NATO forces and Western troops are not there on the ground in significant numbers, but aid agencies are. In some of these places, such as Syria, we leave it to the UN to help people who, quite frankly, we have otherwise deserted<\/q>\u00a0he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An ‘insurance policy’ for humanitarian aid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Michaud is looking for a permanent budget increase for UNDSS. In the meantime, he is proposing projects worth $15 million US over two years \u2014 better psychological services for his workers, IT modernization tools to improve communication with teams on the ground, and the planned emergency response team<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He approached Ottawa in November, saying he wanted\u00a0to give Canada\u00a0first dibs<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s turning back to Canada, knowing that Canada has a lot of investments in humanitarian assistance worldwide and they could have a more significant impact by having a small investment [in security]<\/q>\u00a0he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michaud\u00a0said\u00a0an additional investment in UNDSS would be a form of\u00a0insurance policy<\/q>\u00a0that would help to guarantee the delivery of $52 billion US in humanitarian aid planned for 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This $52 billion\u00a0is not going anywhere unless you have an agile and responsive security element to support these operations<\/q>\u00a0Michaud said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Global Affairs Canada told CBC\/Radio Canada it is studying\u00a0the UNDSS\u00a0funding request<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his five-year term ending next year, Michaud is growing impatient. While he did not take his current position with a mandate to reform UNDSS,\u00a0the idea has taken hold of him\u00a0since 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he awaits responses from potential donor countries, Michaud continues to visit operations on the ground. Every day he’s confronted\u00a0by the fact that\u00a0millions of people\u00a0depend on UN\u00a0aid in parts of the world where the normal order has broken down<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What strikes me the most is seeing how they need the United Nations to come to their assistance. We’re talking about really basic needs,\u00a0providing them with water, food, blankets. To see the children, the women, the families who are separated because of displacement, it is always touching<\/q>\u00a0he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are so many people in need that we have to take risks, because we are really talking about taking risks to save lives every day<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Taliban](\"https:\/\/images.radio-canada.ca\/q_auto,w_700\/v1\/ici-info\/16x9\/michaud-and-zelenskyy.png\")
![\"A](\"https:\/\/images.radio-canada.ca\/q_auto,w_700\/v1\/ici-info\/16x9\/_nigeria-hunger.png\")