UN says firing of adviser who didnt call Israel genocidal not unusual

The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that the United Nations made a “political choice” not to renew the contract of the Kenyan peacemaker Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide since Nov.10, 2020.

“She is being dismissed because she has stood firm in her belief that Israel’s war with Hamas isn’t genocide,” the publication’s board wrote.Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N.secretary-general, insisted during a press briefing on Tuesday that Nderitu wasn’t penalized for refusing to call Israel genocidal.“That’s false.

Ms.Nderitu’s contract is coming to an end today, but she has now fulfilled her full term, and the secretary-general certainly appreciates the work that she did,” Haq said.

“But regarding the definition of genocide, any idea that the secretary-general wanted her term to end because of that is just false.”JNS asked the U.N.spokesman to explain what went into the decision not to renew Nderitu’s contract, given that the tenures of special advisers and other U.N.

officials are sometimes extended.“Many officials — it’s not unusual for many officials to serve for a term and then go past that,” Haq said.“I believe three of her four predecessors had a single term, and that’s true about many other special advisers or special representatives.”“That’s par for the course,” he added.JNS noted that it’s not rare for the global body to extend an adviser’s term and asked Haq, again, what the secretary-general’s reasoning was in lettering her term expired.“What I’m saying is that this is part of the normal course of events.

It happens all the time, and you can look across the board.Look, for example, at the number of terms that the high commissioners for human rights have.

All of them have served for one term,” Haq said.“This is true about many senior appointments.”Jonathan Harounoff, Israel’s international spokesman to the ...