Farewell to Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan's term as Secretary-General of the United Nations ends on 31st December 2006. I was fortunate enough to hear one of his last speeches at the conference on eliminating sexual exploitation and abuse of UN and NGO personnel on 4th December 2006 in New York.

This was obviously a subject close to Kofi Annan's heart, as he had been in charge of the UN Department of Peacekeeping when these scandals started to break. And it appears after several years of hoping these allegations would go away, the UN is at last admitting it goes on, and is trying to do something about it.

Alas, poor Kofi and this struggle is symptomatic of the UN and its place in the global consciousness. When the world needs a whipping boy or a country wants to absolve itself of guilt it can blame it on the UN. People seem to forget the UN is made up of member states, and especially with Peacekeeping operations made up of national armies, over which the UN does not have ultimate control.

Kofi Annan has been supportive of Indigenous Peoples, and opened the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2004, stating that, 'Indigenous Peoples will always have a home at the United Nations'. However, at the end of November 2006, member states, led by African countries voted to defer the adoption of a declaration to promote and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Although, Namibia and African countries put forward the motion, it was the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, pulling the strings.

I attended the conference, representing the Indigenous Jumma People of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. I presented Kofi Annan with a traditional Chakma cloth from the Hill Tracts, and thanked him for all his hard work for Indigenous people, and also for the plight of the people of the Hill Tracts.

I did rouse his ever alert body guards as I presented him with the material, but he thanked me with a genuine smile, that made it worthwhile.