MESSAGE OF UN SECRETARY-GENERAL TO ANNUAL "STAFF EVENING" ORGANIZED BY THE STAFF COORDINATING COUNCIL IN GENEVA

Following is the message of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the annual "staff evening" organized by the Staff Coordinating Council at the Palais des Nations on 28 October, which was delivered on his behalf by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva:

"It gives me great pleasure to send my warmest greetings to the Staff Coordinating Council and to all UN staff in Geneva.

I am very glad to know that you have all come together tonight -- Secretariat and agency staff, members of permanent missions, young and old alike -- to commemorate and celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations.

While the United Nations is an organization of sovereign states, the rights and freedoms it exists to uphold and advance belong to everyone. To carry out its mission to the best of its ability, it needs the support of people everywhere. This is so whether we are fighting disease and hunger, or working to strengthen democracy; whether we are advancing human rights and the rule of law, or combating terrorism; whether we are building peace, or making the United Nations more effective and more accountable to the peoples it exists to serve.

That is why celebrating UN Day is so important. It strengthens the bonds between us. It makes us stop for a moment and realize how thrilling it is to work alongside people from every corner of the earth who share the goals of the Charter.

I thank the Staff Coordinating Council for taking the initiative to organize this event. Thank you all for being here. Thank you as well for your strong and enduring devotion to our Organization. It is up to all of us to make the United Nations, this indispensable instrument, a truly effective instrument of common progress for all humanity.

In that spirit, I wish you all a memorable evening and a happy sixtieth anniversary".

For use of the information media; not an official record

DG05039E