Editors:

Since June of this year the UNTAC Field Hospital has been working to serve UNTAC

staff with medical care, sending many specialists from different medical disciplines

with a good reputation.

However, up to now-five months later-UNTAC has not delegated any gynecologists to

care for the sizeable number of female staff among UNTAC personnel. It is deplorable

that UNTAC has not provided at least one gynecologist. The 438 United Nations Volunteers

(UNVs) alone are 26 percent women, not to mention the considerable quantity of female

employees in administration and also in the military.

We regard it as serious negligence that UNTAC has not provided for special medical

care for an important group of UNTAC staff. Even though one gynecologist might be

coming some time in December-as we are now told-we wonder how it could happen that

UNTAC ignored all the women working for UNTAC for all these months.

- Claudia Decker, Caroline van den Broek, Kristin Jaeger, Tomolso Wada

United Nations Volunteers