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".
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