UN chief in South Sudan says outsourcing of security guards will continue

June 10,2013 (JUBA) – The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, Hilde F. Johnson said Monday that she cannot change global body’s policy of hiring contractors to protect UN buildings.

Johnson was reacting to a strike by local staff members, which the mission employed as security guards against outsourcing security services. She said that according to a resolution of the General Assembly of the UN, the current policy is to outsource the protection of UN premises.

She said in the case of South Sudan, at the request of UN headquarters in New York and following the budget decisions of member states, the decision to outsource security to a private company was taken a long time ago.

However, following the oil shutdown and subsequent economic difficulties, implementation of this decision was delayed by a year and a half in the interest of the South Sudanese employees and the individual contractors themselves.

The new contract, which will enter into force shortly, will absorb all guards and individual contractors currently employed by the mission.

“Subject to satisfactory performance, everyone will be employed. There will be no loss of jobs. The guards on strike are individual contractors who were hired on short term contracts and on an interim basis,” an UNMISS statement reads in part.

As their contracts expire, they will be absorbed by the company that has been given the overall contract. The company is fully registered in South Sudan and is partly owned by South Sudanese nationals.

With these new arrangements, the individual concerned will have better job security, while their salaries will remain above the average in South Sudan, it added.

(ST)