U.N. 'Whistleblower' Loses Job 
Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com
Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2004 

A doctor employed by the United Nations for the past 12 years says he is losing his job after co-writing a book highly critical of U.N. peacekeeping operations in conflict zones.

New Zealander Andrew Thomson told a radio station in his home country that his contract had been renewed every year up to now, but he recently received a letter saying it would not be renewed at the end of this month. No reasons were given, but he said he was not surprised. Last June, Thomson and two other authors caused a stir at the world body when they published a book revealing corruption, rape and drug use among peacekeeping forces, and alleging serious failures of leadership. 
Entitled Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures - a True Story from Hell on Earth, the book dealt with crises in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Liberia, Somalia and Haiti during the 1990s. 
Thomson accused the U.N. of failing to stop atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia. 
During some of the time covered, peacekeeping operations fell under the current secretary-general, Kofi Annan. 
On the one hand you can be in charge of the peacekeepers, as he was in the 90s when these catastrophes happened, and get promoted to the top job in the organization, Thomson told New Zealand's National Radio, in reference to Annan. 
But if, like myself, you work in those mass graves with the result of those catastrophes, and then write about it, with the stories of all the victims and survivors I worked with, you get fired. 
If that's the message they're sending then I have more concerns for the United Nations than I have for myself. 
Thomson said the decision not to renew his contract was a classic case of trying to shoot the messenger. 
He said he was accused of being disloyal to the U.N. by the very people responsible for allowing the worst abuses to take place. 
Thomson and co-authors Kenneth Cain and Heidi Postlewait have sought the services of the Government Accountability Project, a U.S. law firm specializing in whistleblower cases. 
Cain left the U.N. in 1996 and is an author, while Postlewait remains in her job in the peacekeeping operations section. Her contract reportedly comes up for renewal in 2006. 
Earlier this year, Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard described the book as sensationalist and said its publication was not in the U.N.'s interest. He also confirmed that Thomson and Postlewait had been reprimanded for not seeking prior approval from the U.N. 
Thomson said at a news conference last September that the book was being turned into a television drama series.