Georges Tadonki Still Awaiting Justice

This week my office has been abuzz with the news that our law firm won a pro bono award, but the first person I called was the client in said case, Dr. Georges Tadonki, who is still awaiting justice in the case.

Despite the extremely strong 104-page ruling from the U.N. Dispute Tribunal in his favour, the other side decided to prolong the anguish that Dr. Tadonki has suffered by lodging an appeal against the decision.  It was a very disappointing turn of events, in that Georges simply wants to move beyond this dispute and let everyone involved continue forward onto the next.

The appeal from the individuals involved is particularly upsetting given the strength of the ruling. According to the Tribunal’s judgment, “This case has brought to light not only managerial ineptitude and highhanded conduct but also bad faith from the top management of OCHA. This mismanagement and bad faith were compounded by a sheer sense of injustice against the Applicant who was hounded right from the beginning by the RC/HC for not doing his work according to the RC/HC’s methods but according to his own style of management and leadership.”

The Tribunal, which was overseen by three judges, noted that Tadonki’s reports on the Zimbabwe crisis and the UN unpreparedness “stepped on some big toes by stating the obvious,” and that his unlawful removal in response was an indication that “clearly, humanitarian considerations only played second fiddle to political issues.”

While we await the appeal and continue hoping that Dr. Tadonki is finally absolved of this long nightmare, below is the full text of the ruling for anyone who may wish to review it.

Tadonki vs. Secretary-General of the United Nations