UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN staff union passed a resolution highly critical of the world body's senior management while declining to pin the blame directly on Secretary General Kofi Annan.
But amid frustration bubbling since the deadly attack on the UN's Baghdad compound last year, the union said senior managers had "eroded the trust of staff" by repeatedly clearing top UN officials of wrongdoing.
The move came just days after Annan pardoned the head of the UN's internal oversight office, Dileep Nair, who had been targeted with allegations of harassment and favouritism.
The union resolution said the enquiry into Nair's case was "insufficient and constitutes a failure to properly investigate," and that it underlined "a lack of integrity, particularly at the higher levels of the organisation."
Union president Rosemarie Waters said Annan nevertheless had the support of the staff union, telling reporters: "He is in a very difficult job under very difficult circumstances. He is doing his best."
That public declaration of support came amid heavy media scrutiny after a leaked draft resolution called to send a vote of no confidence to Annan following a string of scandals that have plagued the UN chief in recent months.
Another top official, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, was cleared by Annan in July after a female member of his staff complained that he had sexually harassed her.
Earlier this year, Annan declined the resignation of his deputy secretary general, Louise Frechette, after a damning report found important security lapses surrounding the August 19, 2003, bombing of the UN's Baghdad offices.
That attack killed 22 people and injured more than 100, and claimed the life of the UN's top official in Iraq at the time, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
A report later found that UN security in Iraq was "dysfunctional" and that UN officials had failed to fully understand the animosity many Iraqis felt toward the United Nations.
According to Friday's resolution, the staff union "notes with grave concern the trend of exoneration of senior managers in a series of violations that have serious implications and have further eroded the trust of staff in the senior management."
It also cited a letter from Annan's chief of staff to the union which acknowledged that Dileep Nair had been warned by Annan to try to "minimise the risk of negative perception by staff members."
The union said that claim indicated "some validity" to the allegations against him and demanded to see the report of the internal investigation of the case.
The resolution comes with Annan already under fire over allegations of fraud and corruption in the UN programme that oversaw oil sales by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime.
Annan has publicly complained of a "campaign" against the United Nations over the so-called oil-for-food programme, which ran between December 1996 and November 2003.
The UN chief's defenders say Annan has worked hard to reform the United Nations and point to a report on revamping the UN system due to be presented in early December.
11/20/2004 - 07:47 GMT - AFP