Dear Colleagues,
Please note the following letter (See PDF) addressed to the governing body of WIPO calling for the reinstatement of the President of the WIPO Staff Association, Moncef Kateb, after he was suspended without pay in advance of WIPO’s annual governing body meeting.
As the letter explains, Mr. Kateb had blown the whistle on several occasions in the past, including on the shipment of sophisticated IT equipment to North Korea, and Mr. Gurry is currently the subject of a preliminary investigation for two different charges, one for improperly influencing a procurement process, the other for improperly using the Geneva police to obtain the DNA of WIPO staff so as to identify the author of a letter against him.
The letter is signed by the leaders of the three federations of staff unions, representing 120,000 international civil servants around the world. The letter also calls for the identification of a new Director-General capable of inspiring all Member States and staff. The federation that represents your union, CCISUA, is playing a strong role in this campaign and strongly reiterates the importance of ensuring that staff, not management, be able to choose who represents them.
As a member of CCISUA the ILO Staff Union has been of course very involved in the latest developments and present in all preparatory meetings for possible action next week. The Staff Union has sent a letter of solidarity (See PDF) in order to support our colleagues in these very hard times.
We already know that WIPO’s Staff Association has called for an Extraordinary General Assembly next Monday and a delegation from the ILO Staff Union will be present.
We will keep you updated on how this campaign progresses.