FN-intervju med Staffan de Mistura
I podcasten ”Awake at NIght” på FN:s webbsida 25 november intervjuar Melissa Fleming FN-sändebudet Staffan de Mistura under rubriken ”Harnessing constructive outrage” (Att utnyttja konstruktiv vrede)
I 48 år har den svensk-italienske diplomaten Staffan de Mistura arbetat för FN. Han har tagit på sig arbetet som FN-sändebud i Afghanistan, Irak, Syrien och just nu gäller det Västsahara. Han är känd för att använda kreativa lösningar i svåra konflikter samt att inte ge upp.
I den långa intervjun ger han på slutet några korta kommentarer om sitt nuvarande uppdrag som FN:s generalsekreterares sändebud i Västsahara.
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Melissa Fleming:
Okay, well, we hope for that. These days, you’re still working as the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. What is your job there?
Staffan de Mistura:
Well, my job is to try to facilitate any avenue. One, for people who are affected [inaudible] to actually be in a better condition. And “B”, for the actual issue to be solved in one way that is just and according to UN resolutions. And here is where it’s difficult. It has been going on, you know, how long for? 47 years.
Melissa Fleming:
Almost as long as you have been serving the UN.
Staffan de Mistura:
Exactly. And there again, I’m sure there are formulas, and ways. I met in the camps in Tindouf – which is a camp where the refugees are in the desert in the northern part of Algeria – I met a woman. No two of them, who said, ‘We were teenagers, and we are now grandmothers. We need a solution that would provide us with a future for our own children.’ Facilitating that, which is not obvious after 47 years, but remember never give up is my mission.
Melissa Fleming:
What is keeping you awake at night these days?
Staffan de Mistura:
Two things. The first one is the security of my colleagues, because there are many young people – I’m, you know, 75 – but there are so many young people who are joining and have been working with the UN in the field and elsewhere. And they deserve to make their choices where to go, but also to be not in danger. They deserve it. And the second one. Have I used all the possible creativity, any possible means to actually make a difference? Or do I have to think tonight about some new ways, new avenues? And that keeps me awake quite a lot. The two.
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Hela intervjun kan höras eller läsas här: https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/S6-E2-staffan-de-mistura-harnessing-constructive-outrage
Melissa Fleming är the United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications.
