Erskine Barton Childers: Difference between revisions

Erskine B. Childers (11 March, 1929–25 August, 1996) was a writer, BBC Correspondent and United Nations senior Civil Servant. He was the eldest son of Erskine Hamilton Childers and Ruth Ellen Childers. His grandfather, Robert Erskine Childers and grandmother Mary Alden Childers, were both Irish Nationalists involved heavily with the negotiation of Irish independence; which ultimately led to his grandfather's execution during the Irish Civil War. His great uncle was Robert Barton and his great aunt was Gretchen Osgood Warren.

Born in Paris, Childers grew up in a multi cultural atmosphere which was to influence his whole life ^[1]. From an early age, he had an obvious fascination with history and world affairs. He studied at famous Newtown School, Waterford^[2] and much later on at Trinity College, Dublin and Stanford University. At Stanford University he was actively involved with the National Student Association and rose to Vice President of the organization by 1949.

By 1960, Childers was in London working for the BBC in both Radio and Television ^[3]. His broadcasts from the famous BBC World Service ranged on varying topics from the Suez Crisis and Palestine to the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1962. The Suez Canal and Palestine issues would later form the basis of his often quoted writing and extensive research on the subjects ^[4] , ^[5].
He was distinguished as one of the first mainstream writers in the West to systematically challenge the contention that Palestinian Arab refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli wars (see The Palestinian Exodus) fled their homes primarily from Arab broadcast evacuation orders (see Broadcasts ), rather than the use of force and terror by armed forces of the newly forming state of Israel.

He specialized in UN issues, even serving as a periodic consultant including a special mission in the Congo for Secretary-General U Thant. In 1967, he entered into service with the United Nations where, as a result of his dedication and devotion, he rose to senior positions in the Organization. He worked with most of the organizations of the UN system at all levels and in all regions, and has especially studied UN problems of co-ordination, development operations, and public communication and constituency building. He retired in 1989 as Senior Adviser to the UN Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation after 22 years as a UN civil servant.

After his retirement, he continued to strive relentlessly for the ideals for which he had worked so hard. He co-authored several notable books for the Ford Foundation on the reform of the United Nations^[6] with his colleague and equally devoted United Nations civil servant, Sir Brian Urquhart. The best known of these publications being A World in Need of Leadership. He continued writing on United Nations matters whilst traveling constantly; lecturing on the Organization and the many challenges confronting it.

He became Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations in March 1996. He served for only five months, and died on August 25, 1996 during the organization's fiftieth anniversary congress. He is buried in Roundwood, Ireland.

• Erskine B Childers "Renewing The United Nations System " (Dag Hammarskjöld (1994) ISSN 0345-2328
  
• Erskine B Childers "In A Time Beyond Warnings : Strengthening The United Nations System" (Catholic Institute For International Resources) (1993) ISBN 1852871180
• Erskine B Childers and Sir Brian Urquhart A World in Need of Leadership: Tomorrow's United Nations The Ford Foundation , (New York) 1996
• Erskine B Childers and Sir Brian Urquhart Renewing the United Nations System The Ford Foundation , (New York) 1994
• Erskine B Childers and Sir Brian Urquhart Toward a More Effective United Nations, Reorganization of the United Nations Secretariat: A Suggested Outline of Needed Reforms, Strengthening International Response to Humanitarian Emergencies The Ford Foundation , (New York) 1992
• Erskine B Childers "Where Democracy Doesn't Work Yet" Harpers Magazine, April 1960 |http://www.harpers.org/archive/1960/04/0009271
• Erskine B Childers "Il Mondo Arabo : Volume 20" (Cose D'Oggi) (Milano) Valentino Bompiani (1961)
• Erskine B Childers "Challenges To The United Nations : Building A Safer World" (St. Martin's Press) New York (1994) ISBN 0-312-12575-5
• Erskine B Childers "The Road To Suez" (MacGibbon & Kee) (London) (1962) ASIN B000H47WG4
• Erskine B Childers "Common Sense About...The Arab World" (Macmillan Publishers) (1960) ASIN B0000CKLZK
• The Other Exodus, his much quoted article in The Spectator, May 12, 1961
• [1] Ford Foundation Page on his contribution to UN Reform.

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