FROM “BEGGING” TO “BARGAINING”

UN Special meets Mr. Xavier Campos, Executive Secretary of the Coordinating Council, to learn more about his work, future plans and the activities of the Council he is leading.

PAOLA DEDA AND EVELINA RIOUKHINA, UNOG

It emerges a vision of a UN workplace to be improved towards the highest standards of management and conflict resolution.Thus, not only theworking life of staff could be bettered, but staff’s role and assistance to Members States could be more credible and based on the direct experience of a fair system.

Congratulations for your election as Executive Secretary. Before this election, your have often been at the opposition. Now you are in the driving seat. What will be your role as new ES and what ideas and innovations will you bring in from your former role?
Thank you. (He smiles). To be honest I think there is not a majority or a minority when it comes to staff representation. Emphasis and priorities are usually common to both sides. Fundamental issues are clear to all constituencies, and are carried over from one Council to the other. I have already been Executive Secretary years ago. What has changed since then is that now I believe I can carry things forwardmore efficiently and effectively.

I also do not feel that I amin the driving seat, as I share a common programme with the rest of the majority coalition. Also, there remains, always, a standing invitation to other groups and staff at large to join us. The more the better.

My specific role is actually to galvanize the process and coordinate action. The way I contribute the most to this role is by bringing in specific negotiation skills and my legal education at the service of the staff. In particular, I can contribute to enhancing the knowledge on standards, and legal approaches to conflict resolutions.

Several staff members are unaware of the role and assistance that the Coordinating Council could offer them. In a nutshell, can you explain to us why its role, and yours as ES, are beneficial to the staff?
We are currently at a crossroad in the UN reform, including its judicial system as related to the question of extraterritoriality. This is of extreme relevance to staff, as in their claims related to conflicts arising within the work context they cannot rely on the legal system of their country of origin or of the host country, but only refer to UN internal rules. In this context, the Coordinating council can provide two services:

1. Inform and sensitize staff about existing management and human rights standards that must be incorporated into the UN rules for the benefit of staff at large.
2. Createmeans to help staff claimtheir rights before the new UN internal jurisdiction that must start operating as of 1 January 2009.

Our role is to prevent conflict whenever possible, and promote fair and just solutions to conflicts, whenever they happen. Staff members should be well acquainted with modern conflict resolutions techniques. This way they could be in a better position to promote related values and tools outside, in their daily work with member States.

As a diverse, culturally and professionally rich community,wework in a privileged environment, which also offers unique opportunities to develop and test conflict solving solutions, which can then be exported to other organizations, countries and situations. Indeed, inside the United Nations we should endeavor to apply high standards for conflict resolution “at home”, to be able to persuasively “lead by example”. Needless to saywithin the CC itself!

Certainly we do not need to reinvent the wheel, as we can always be guided by the world’s higher standards (such as those developed by other organizations and countries), however we are offered a unique opportunity also to perfect new approaches.

The present Council is working to create awareness and promote knowledge amongst staff members on these topics (we have launched an information website to this end and a specific Programme called “informACTION”). As of September, we will also have assigned consultation days, to arrange personalized appointments with staff representatives and legal counselors. We have called this formula the “ombudsmen of proximity”.

What are the most recurrent problems you have to address daily? Can you give us a short description of what you see as the main challenges UN staff are facing?
In a community like the UN, you encounter problems of all kinds. For what concerns our mandate as staff representatives, they are primarily centered on labour, administration and respect of rights issues. Examples of the first category include breach of rules, favoritism, discrimination in appointment and promotion, etc. Unfortunately,we have seen numerous examples of how these problems can have very bad psychological effects on staff, often forcing staff members to interrupt their careers.

There ismuch frustration in professional life, also in connection with the arbitrary application of administrative rules. In general, we could come down to 10 to 12 typical situations of abuse. All of them happen because of the underlying culture of impunity in the system. Unfortunately, in our present UN System, we have no effective recourse procedure that will help avoiding the problem of impunity.

As of late, a process has been initiated by UN management to codify “prohibited conduct” and eventually to sanction the perpetrators. However, I believe that a much better approach, instead of promoting mandatory training on “prohibited conduct” alone, could have been the promotion of “preferred standards of conduct” as incorporated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international Human Rights instruments. I still hope this can happen before this year, that marks the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, is over. This is part of what the Coordinating Council will endeavour to promote through the “infomACTION Programme”. AMEN!

What are your goals, vis-à-vis staff, for this year?What in general would you like to achieve during this one year?
Most of the people in the present Council have beenmembers in previous years. There is therefore a continuumof intent and action. The work of the Council is a long process, which necessitates institutional memory and a strategic vision.

In a nutshell, the bulk of activities foreseen by the Council’s Working Programme this year are centered around a dual objective: making the «people» of the United Nations here in Geneva, and elsewhere, aware of their fundamental rights as citizens in a rule-of-law «extraterritorial» society of sorts like the United Nations and helping them claim their legitimate rights with all the support means at our disposal. In a way, one could say that, in so doing, we want UN staff representation to make a quantum leap in order to go «from begging to bargaining».

This motto will be also the theme of one of the segments of the Human Rights based Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Workshop we plan to run for staff this fall.

What do you enjoy the most about your new role and what are the main difficulties?
What I foundmost rewarding has been to put all my knowledge to the service of staff, and the feeling that this could make staff life better. Moreover, I remain fascinated with the ideals of the organization. I think the idea of an international civil service is fantastic. Perhaps it could not be established nowadays, in the present political context, but we should certainly make sure it stays alive. We have a system which presents some difficulties due to its asymmetries, and the fact that UN staff do not benefit from rule of law constitutional guarantees, as they exist in advanced countries. This is what we have to work for, to make sure the United Nations treats its “people” as real “citizens” so that the Organization does not lose its credibility.

How do you ensure your ideas and proposals are accepted within your coalition?
To have amajority coalition offers a good opportunity to test ideas and proposals. It is a constant give and take? We all must constantly remember our priorities, and two important skills to be used are flexibility and patience. Also in this context it is important to go by the way of negotiation and communication. Ah ah ah ah!

You have been dedicating your time for years to support staff. You must have found it challenging and rewarding. Looking back to it, would you do it again? If yes, what is that you found so special?
I came to the staff representation almost by accident. When I discovered more about it, I was convinced to join. I found it fascinating and challenging as well, as an area of opportunity for personal intellectual growth and commitment to others. Despite some bitter moments, I have no regrets, and I would do it again, perhaps better (he grins).

Being a staff representative is like being a lawyer, or a priest. You know that what you do is not perfect, but you still try to do something to help, and somehow you contribute to better the situation. You help pave the way for a better system, and this is a very gratifying activity.

Now one question on the UN Special. How do you think the magazine can further assist staff members? What type of information should it offer, or better offer, compared to now?
I have admired through the years how the magazine has improved, both in terms of image and topics covered. In general, I feel that UN Special should play a bigger role, by also proposing and discussing the “big” issues the UN is addressing and UN priorities. It should also become an important organ of UN staff, with a clearer more militant profile.

The magazine has already an incredible outreach amongst staffmembers, and should not competewith commercially sold publications. I admire the important contributions’ that it makes. It should grow, to combinemore versatility of information with a profile of magazine written for the UN staff, by the UN staff.

What is the most important message you would like to pass through this interview? To all staff? To the UNOG Administration?
I was deeply moved by the commemoration ceremony of the Bagdad bombing and what all the participants, particularly the relatives of our colleagues who lost their lives, said about the tremendous damage the Bagdad and Algiers attacks had caused to the “image” of the United Nation. My most fervent wish is that all concerned, and particularly the Member States, stop treating UN staff members as second rate citizens and agree to provide to us the same justice and fairness standards the Organization has proclaimed for the outside world for almost sixty years. For I fear that, if they do not, the damage to our Organization and what it stands for will be even greater than any attack fromoutside because it will be self-inflicted, gratuitous and totally self-defeating.