RITA Reddy, former Director of the Cambodian Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights (COUNHCR) has been officially terminated by the UN

due to concerns about her performance in Cambodia.

Reddy, who left

Cambodia on November 28 two days before the end of her official UN contract

expired, has now been frozen out of the UN system and it is unlikely she will

ever hold a UN position again.

"She was indirectly fired," a UN source

familiar with Reddy's case told the Post on December 7.

"There already

had been a lot of dissatisfaction with her previous performance in Geneva, and

she was given a one-year contract to head the COUNHCHR office as a last chance,

which failed. Really you could say she was fired before she even got

here."

The UN source said that Reddy's lack of management ability

"confused" her COUNHCHR staff and infuriated UN volunteers posted in the

provinces,who bombarded UN offices in Geneva with complaints about her

leadership and her ignorrance of Cambodian affairs.

Om Yen Tieng, who as

head of the Government's official human rights committee worked closely with

Reddy, limited comment regarding her departure to the observation that "she was

a tough person".

Kek Galabru, President of the Cambodian League for the

Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) expressed surprise about Reddy's

exit and said she hoped the UN would "send us someone concerned about human

rights issues".