United Nations advises staff against using ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ regarding Ukraine

The United Nations has emailed staff advising them not to refer to the situation in Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion”, in a move to balance political sensitivities as powerful member state Russia cracks down domestically on those who use the words.

Instead, UN staff have been instructed to use the terms “conflict” or “military offensive” to describe Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, which has killed hundreds of civilians and forced two million people to flee the country.

In an email to staff on Monday, the UN communications department instructed employees not to describe the situation as a war and not to add the Ukrainian flag to personal or official social media accounts or websites.

“Some specific examples of language to use/not use at the moment,” read the email which has been seen by the Irish Times.

“[USE] ‘conflict’ or ‘military offensive’ and NOT ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ when referring to the situation in Ukraine”.

It further banned staff from adding the Ukrainian flag to social media profiles or websites, something that has become a common expression of solidarity with the country since it was invaded on February 24th.

“Do NOT add the Ukrainian flag to personal or official social media accounts or websites,” the email read.

‘Reputational risk’

The communications policy was explained in the email as a way to avoid “reputational risk”.

“This is an important reminder that we, as international civil servants, have a responsibility to be impartial,” the email read. “There is a serious possibility of reputational risk that has been flagged by senior officials recently.”

The language policy has fuelled concern that the organisation is going too far to avoid offending Russia, a powerful member state that holds one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

“Quite clearly this is not just any war, but an illegal war of aggression, that should be condemned from a height by all members of the UN and the UN itself,” said TD Neale Richmond, Fine Gael spokesman on European Affairs.

“The fact is just because Russia is a big country that has an essential role in the UN, they’re influencing policy in a direction that’s simply false.”

Russian officials do not use the word “invasion”: the Kremlin’s preferred term to use is “special military operation”, and the regime of Vladimir Putin has taken efforts to enforce this language domestically.

Two days after Russia launched its offensive, media regulator Roskomnadzor ordered local news outlets to delete reporting that used the words “assault,” “invasion,” or “declaration of war”, or risk being fined or blocked.

This was followed by a new law imposing prison terms of up to 15 years for anyone who spreads news deemed to be “fake”, the arrest of thousands of people who protested against the war, the shuttering of two local independent broadcasters, and the blocking of international media websites including the BBC and Deutsche Welle.

The Soviet Union was a founding member of the United Nations when it was set up with the aim of preventing future wars in the wake of World War Two, and the Russian Federation inherited its seat and permanent UN Security Council (UNSC) membership when the bloc dissolved in 1991.

Removal of veto

As a temporary elected member of the UNCS, Ireland has lobbied for the removal of the veto system that allowed Russia as one of its five permanent members to block a council resolution that would have demanded that Moscow stop its attack on Ukraine and withdraw its troops.

A resolution demanding Russia’s withdrawal was later overwhelmingly passed by the 193-member General Assembly of the UN, something that is politically significant, but unlike UNSC resolutions cannot be legally binding.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric later issued a statement to media stating: “It is simply not the case that staff have been instructed not to use words like ‘war’ and ‘invasion’ to describe the situation”.

He described this as a “mistaken impression”, and said it was not official policy, pointing to a tweet by a senior official on Monday which used the phrase “Russia’s invasion”.

However, he conceded that an email may have been sent instructing staff not to use the words.

“All I can tell you is that no email went out to staff from NY to staff with these instructions. I don’t dispute the validity of that email but it can not be considered official policy to staff,” he said in emailed comments to the Irish Times.