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accused of preventing the substantive Departments from having the staff that they
needed, and when they were needed, in order to do their job. Another was the
relationship with the Staff Union – Aamir had more than one strike to contend with
during his term of Office. Another was the relationship with the rest of the UN system in
operating a common system of salaries, allowances, and benefits. Yet another was
relationships with national governments concerning the recruitment and treatment of
their nationals. Aamir took all this in his stride, remaining firm in his defence of the basic
principles that should govern the international civil service, but at the same time open to
discussion and dialogue on the application of those principles.

In addition to his skilful handling of all these problem areas that form part of the daily
grind of any Chief of Personnel, Aamir started to take an interest in a group of people
who had hitherto been almost completely ignored by the Office – namely the former
officials. Until Aamir came along, once an official retired he or she no longer existed as
far as the ILO was concerned, except for the staff health insurance fund (if he or she
remained a member after retirement). Aamir was convinced that the large and growing
numbers of retired officials constituted a community that should be recognized and
welcomed by the Office. In May 1976 he organized the first reception ever held for
retired officials of the ILO, an example soon to be followed by other Organizations, and
they have continued to be held twice a year ever since.

He spent ten years as Chief of Personnel – longer than most, perhaps longer than any
previous incumbent of that position – and retired in 1985. But for him retirement was not
a long period of dolce far niente. He continued to take initiatives for the community of
retired ILO officials, of which he had become a member, by launching a Newsletter for
them in 1986 which lasted for 30 years. He joined the Committee of AAFI/AFICS, and
was its Chairman for several years. His was a super-active retirement until an
unfortunate accident resulted in his becoming severely handicapped and with his wife
Clare he was obliged to move to a retirement home where he was well looked after until
his death at the age of 95 last December.

It is only a few years ago that I discovered that Aamir had in 1990 written a study on
1
The International Civil Service: The Idea and the Reality . In it he gives a full
account of the provisions concerning the independence and integrity of the international
civil service that are found in almost identical terms in the United Nations Charter and
the Constitutions of the Specialized Agencies and reinforced in the Staff Regulations of
the organizations of the UN system. They impose reciprocal obligations on international
officials (“In the performance of their duties, the Secretary-General and the staff shall
not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority
external to the Organization. They shall refrain from any action which might reflect on
their position as international officials responsible only to the Organization”) and on
national governments (“Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to respect the
exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and
the staff and not to seek to influence them in the discharge of their responsibilities”). “If

th
1 Republished in 2009 by AAFI/AFICS as part of a report commemorating the 90 Anniversary of the
International Civil Service.

42 AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 78 No. 2, 2019-06