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2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

1. International Organizations and Alleged Duty of Care Breaches: A Growing Ethical, Reputational and Financial Challenge

Authors : Gaia Aurora Armenes, Abraham Jesus Arvizu III, Sami Aswad, MariaSole Fanuzzi, Fabio Frettoli, Alessia Moratto, Valentina Strippoli

Published in: The Duty of Care of International Organizations Towards Their Civilian Personnel

Publisher: T.M.C. Asser Press

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Abstract

The interest of the international community in the duty of care of international organizations towards their employees has continually increased over the course of the last decade. As field operations become more complex, the security environment more volatile and the dangers and risks more diversified, greater attention has been paid to duty of care principles. The overall objective of this chapter is to present evidence of the growing ethical, financial and reputational challenges that international organizations face as a consequence of alleged breaches of their duty of care towards their civilian personnel. The chapter gives a quantitative and qualitative account of the rising trend of the international jurisprudence in addressing issues related to breaches of the duty of care obligation, provides a general overview of the literature devoted to the topic and a quantitative analysis of persons injured and/or fatalities. Furthermore, it addresses the reputational impact on the organization in the aftermath of an alleged breach and the financial consequences. It also explores the issues of safety, health, well-being, stress and work/life balance handled by the Office of the UN Ombudsman and Mediation Services. Specific datasets regarding the type of insurance provided by international organizations to their employees working in dangerous areas are, for the most part, not publicly available. Their circulation is therefore a calling to a higher responsibility that would allow international organizations to adopt common standards and better understand the main trends regarding the implementation of duty of care practices and guidelines.

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next chapter Comparative Analysis of International Jurisprudence and Relevant International Practice Related to the Duty of Care Obligations Incumbent on International Organizations Towards Their Mobile Workforce
Footnotes
1
UN Dispute Tribunal: http://​www.​un.​org/​en/​oaj/​dispute/​judgments.​shtml. Accessed 14 November 2017.
 
2
UNDT, Buckley v. Secretary-General of the United Nations, 28 September 2017, Judgment No. UNDT/2017/078.
 
3
NATO Administrative Tribunal Judgments. https://​www.​nato.​int/​cps/​en/​natohq/​topics_​114072.​htm. Accessed 14 November 2017.
 
4
ICRC (1994) Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief. https://​www.​icrc.​org/​eng/​assets/​files/​publications/​icrc-002-1067.​pdf. Accessed 21 February 2018.
 
5
People in AiD 2003, p. 20.
 
6
WANGO 2004.
 
7
Global Center for Healthy Workplace 2017.
 
8
ENTRi Handbook 2016; Klamp & Associates 2008; Claus 2009; Humanitarian Practice Network 2010; worth to be mentioned is also the contribution of Governmental Organisations like Irish Aid which developed a guide for NGOs, Irish Aid 2013 and ECHO, who published a Generic security Guide for Humanitarian Organisations in 2004; InterAction Security Unit Security Risk Management, NGO Approach. https://​www.​interaction.​org/​sites/​default/​files/​2581/​NGO_​SRM_​APPROACH_​FINAL_​SAG_​APPROVED.​pdf. Accessed 21 February 2018; EISF 2017.
 
9
Merkelbach and Kemp 2016; The legal proceeding against the NRC called the attention of further scholars. See Hoppe and Williamson 2016.
 
10
Mathiason 2013.
 
11
Gjerdrum and Peter 2011; Fuentes et al. 2011; Williamson 2007; Raz and Hilson 2005.
 
12
Herstein 2010.
 
13
Mathiason 2013; Pafford and Macpherson 2012; Spamann 2016; Cassel 2016.
 
14
de Guttry 2012; de Guttry 2015; Security Management Initiative 2011.
 
15
de Guttry 2012; de Guttry 2015; Security Management Initiative 2011.
 
16
Chief Executives Board for Coordination (UN) 2014; Chulkov 2011.
 
17
UN Peacekeeping, Fatalities. https://​peacekeeping.​un.​org/​en/​fatalities. Accessed 30 January 2018.
 
18
Ibid.
 
19
The Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), Security incident data. https://​aidworkersecurit​y.​org/​incidents/​search. Accessed 30 January 2018.
 
20
Ibid.
 
21
Ibid.
 
22
The UNDSS, established on 01/01/2005 by the UNGA Resolution A/RES/59/276 (2004), is responsible for providing leadership, operational support and oversight of the security management system to enable safe and efficient conduct of the programmes and activities of the UN System.
 
23
UN Department of Safety and Security, Security Environment. https://​www.​un.​org/​undss/​content/​security-environment. Accessed 20 February 2018.
 
24
Ibid.
 
25
Daugirdas 2016.
 
26
Daugirdas 2014, pp. 991–1018.
 
27
de Guttry 2012, p. 263; de Guttry 2015, p. 673.
 
28
Katz J M (2016) U.N. Admits Role in Cholera Epidemic in Haiti https://​www.​nytimes.​com/​2016/​08/​18/​world/​americas/​united-nations-haiti-cholera.​html. Accessed 30 January 2018.
 
29
Pavoni 2015, pp. 19–41.
 
30
Joint Letter of Allegation from the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, the Independent Expert on Haiti, the Special Rapporteur on Health, and the Special Rapporteur on Water and Sanitation, 25 September 2014, Case No HTI 3/2014.
 
31
Letter dated 5 July 2013 from Patricia O’Brien, Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, addressed to Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Available at: http://​www.​ijdh.​org/​wp-content/​uploads/​2013/​07/​20130705164515.​pdf. Accessed 31 January 2018.
 
32
US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Georges et al. v. United Nations et al., Opinion and Order, 9 January 2015, 13-CV-7146 (JPO).
 
33
Pavoni 2015, pp. 19–41.
 
34
Pavoni 2015, p. 30.
 
35
Daugirdas 2016.
 
36
Katz 2016.
 
37
The Guardian (2016) UN admits for first time that peacekeepers brought cholera to Haiti. https://​goo.​gl/​vSbUvw. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
38
UN Secretary General (2016) Secretary-General’s remarks to the General Assembly on a New Approach to Address Cholera in Haiti. https://​goo.​gl/​tZoyts. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
39
The World Bank. https://​goo.​gl/​SntXAz. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
40
UN Enterprise Search. https://​goo.​gl/​mtJaGz. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
41
OSCE. https://​goo.​gl/​7Fuh6n. Accessed 4 February 2018.
 
42
CoE. https://​goo.​gl/​nCb8Wj. Accessed 4 February 2018.
 
43
OAS. https://​goo.​gl/​TPqE8c. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
44
African Union. https://​goo.​gl/​1PkeqY. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
45
EU. https://​goo.​gl/​mVA3te. Accessed 4 February 2018.
 
46
NATO. https://​goo.​gl/​x36TR7. Accessed 4 February 2018.
 
47
IRIN News (2015) NRC kidnap ruling is ‘wake-up’ call for aid industry. https://​goo.​gl/​VhmUh1. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
48
Harriet G (2016) Attack on aid workers in South Sudan: There was incredible naivety. https://​goo.​gl/​29hREZ. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
49
Hayden S (2016) Petition urges U.N. to protect aid workers in conflict zones. https://​goo.​gl/​s3K4HK. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
50
Ibid.
 
51
de Freytas-Tamura K (2017) For 2 Experts Killed in Congo, U.N. Provided Little Training and No Protection. https://​goo.​gl/​4rGDYp. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
52
de Freytas-Tamura K (2017) U.S. Urges U.N. to Conduct ‘Full Investigation’ Into Killings of 2 Investigators in Congo. https://​goo.​gl/​CtPvzT. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
53
UN Security Management System Board of Inquiry (2017) Executive Summary United Nations Security Management System Board of Inquiry on the critical security incident resulting in the deaths of two members of the Group of Experts in Kananga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. https://​goo.​gl/​6N1ru7. Accessed on 27 January 2018.
 
54
Ibid.
 
55
Ibid.
 
56
Ibid.
 
59
The New York Times. https://​goo.​gl/​mSEv6W. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
60
The New York Times. https://​goo.​gl/​AtPsW7. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
61
The Guardian. https://​www.​theguardian.​com/​international. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
63
Al Jazeera. https://​goo.​gl/​bthnJo. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
64
Federation Internationale de l’Automobile.
 
65
Jaine C (2011) Extreme Strategists. https://​blogs.​worldbank.​org/​publicsphere/​extreme-strategists. Accessed 27 January 2018.
 
66
The UN Ombudsman and Mediation Services is an informal third party that helps staff to resolve workplace conflicts, by seeking mutually acceptable solutions, with the aim of maintaining a harmonious workplace environment. An important part of Ombudsmen’s function is to define systemic malfunctions in the organization and to make recommendations for change in policies and practices to address such malfunctions.
 
67
UNGA 2006, para 67 (Caring for the psychological well-being of staff); UNGA 2007, para 53; UNGA 2009, paras 88–91 (Coverage for trauma and post-crisis care); UNGA 2010, paras 94, 96, 97; UNGA 2011, paras 87–92 (Safety, health, well-being, stress and work/life).
 
68
UNGA 2013, para 99: ‘the Office recognizes the need for staff and management to find mutually acceptable solutions to the ongoing issues of long-serving staff in hardship duty stations and stands ready to facilitate the process’.
 
69
UNGA 2014, para 58: ‘In particular, the Office drew the organisation’s attention to the need to strengthen the institutional support system for staff injured in service and surviving family members’.
 
70
UNGA 2015, paras 74–79: ‘the Secretary General is to seek to ensure, having regard to the circumstances, that all necessary safety and security arrangements are made for staff carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to them. […] the inclination for the Organization to stay and deliver in the face of escalating violence exposes staff to higher risks than before and raises the question whether staff serving in dangerous regions are adequately protected. […] In addition, staff members may not be fully informed of the risks that are involved before going to serve in dangerous regions. Indeed, even if they are aware, they may not have a realistic assessment of their ability to cope’.
 
71
UNGA 2015, paras 15–21.
 
72
UNGA 2016, paras 58–65: ‘Increasingly, the Organization is deploying staff members to high-risk environments, where they are exposed to a host of tangible threats, such as violent attacks, insecurity, accidents and disease. When such exposure continues over an extended period of time, it also presents a risk to mental health and well-being owing to high stress, lack of social support systems, inadequate medical care and extremely rudimentary living conditions. […] In its most recent report, the Office welcomed the establishment by the High-Level Committee on Management of a working group tasked with making recommendations on the duty of care towards staff in high-risk duty stations’.
 
73
European External Action Service (EEAS)—Directorate General for Budget and Administration (2017).
 
Literature
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Chulkov N (2011) Review of the medical service in the UN System. Joint Inspection Unit, UN Doc. JIU/REP/2011/1
Daugirdas K (2014) Reputation and the Responsibility of International Organizations. EJIL 25(4):991–1018
Daugirdas K (2016) The United Nations’ Efforts to Restore a Reputation Tarnished by Cholera. EJIL: Talk! December 9, 2016
de Guttry A (2012) Duty of Care of the EU and its member states towards their personnel deployed in international missions. VII Studi sull’Integrazione Europea 263
de Guttry A (2015) Introducing a new Set of Guidelines to Implement the Duty of Care of the EU Institutions and Agencies Towards their Internationally Mobile Workforce. European Journal of International Management 9(6):673–689
Fuentes C, Lizarzaburu E, Vivanco E (2011) Norms and International Standards related to reduce risk management: a literature review. Risk governance & control: Financial markets & institutions 1:58–73
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Herstein O (2010) Responsibility in Negligence: Why the Duty of Care is not a Duty ‘To Try’. XII Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 12:403–428
Mathiason T (2013) Are You Part of the Global Workforce? An Examination of the “Duty of Care” to Business Travelers and International Assignees under the ILO Occupational Health and Safety Conventions and as Emerging International Customary Law. American University International Law Review 28-3:873–904
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Williamson D (2007) The COSO ERM Framework: A critique from systems theory of management control. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 7:1089–1119
Metadata
Title
International Organizations and Alleged Duty of Care Breaches: A Growing Ethical, Reputational and Financial Challenge
Authors
Gaia Aurora Armenes
Abraham Jesus Arvizu III
Sami Aswad
MariaSole Fanuzzi
Fabio Frettoli
Alessia Moratto
Valentina Strippoli
Copyright Year
2018
Publisher
T.M.C. Asser Press
Book
The Duty of Care of International Organizations Towards Their Civilian Personnel

Print ISBN: 978-94-6265-257-6

Electronic ISBN: 978-94-6265-258-3

Copyright Year: 2018

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-258-3_1