Whistleblower returns to UN

New Zealand doctor Andrew Thomson is back at work at the United Nations in New York - four months after being effectively sacked for co-authoring a book highly critical of the UN and its peacekeeping operations.

"My smile couldn't be broader," says Dr Thomson, 41, once a front-line worker in strife-torn countries such as Rwanda and Bosnia who now works as a doctor to UN staff.

"Staff who risk their lives every day on the front lines have a right to dissent, and I hope my case helps break down the code of silence that prevails throughout the organisation."

Supporting Wellington-born Dr Thomson as he fought his case through various UN appeals boards was the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington group which ensured the case garnered headlines and support from senators.

GAP brokered a confidential settlement between the UN and Dr Thomson, which included him returning to work just over a week ago. It was "really nice" to see colleagues again, he says. "There's huge support from the rank and file."

Dr Thomson, who has been a high-performing UN staffer for 12 years, remains committed: "The organisation's got so much potential. I'm loyal to the ideals of the organisation."

The doctor, UN administrator Heidi Postlewait and Ken Cain, a human rights lawyer and former UN staffer, published Emergency Sex (and Other Desperate Measures) in June last year.

The raw, diary-style book records the UN's failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda and drug-taking and corruption by UN personnel. It claims Bulgarian peacekeepers sent to Cambodia were convicts and psychiatric patients who raped locals.

Last November, Dr Thomson's contract expired and he applied for a more senior post for which he had been recommended by his superiors, but the post was suddenly withdrawn.

"The decision to throw me out of the organisation was a political one from [UN secretary-general] Kofi Annan's floor, and the decision to reinstate me was political as well."

For the four months he has been fighting his case, Dr Thomson has been based in Geneva with his Swiss wife Suzanne and their daughter Clara; without an income he had to give up his New York apartment.

Dr Thomson hopes that his victory will ensure that Ms Postlewait will not be treated similarly and that it will encourage disclosure by UN staffers involved in the Iraq "oil-for-food" and Congo "sex-for-food" scandals.