ISLAMABAD: The United Nations plans to temporarily relocate some of its international staff outside of Pakistan for security reasons following attacks that have killed at least 11 personnel in the country this year, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
Around 20 percent of UN expatriate workers will either leave the country for six months or be relocated to safer areas within Pakistan, said UN spokeswoman Ishrat Rizvi. The world body will reevaluate the security situation in six months to determine when the staff can return.
“We will review programs and projects and we will see whether we need to bring back those international staff members and which programs are to resume,” Rizvi said.
She refused to specify how many international employees work for the UN in the country or will be affected by the decision.
“We are focusing more on the more urgent programs and needs according to the government’s priorities and needs,” she said. As militant violence has escalated in Pakistan, the UN has suffered a string of attacks this year, including a bombing in October targeting the World Food Program’s office in Islamabad that killed five people.
