Thread by @harvardchick

(start string) Nineteen yrs ago, a truck-bomb with 1-tn TNT changed my life. In the #UN office where I worked in #Iraq, it killed my spouse #Sergio and 21 friends. ‘Til today, no prosecutor or court ever gave us answers: why? B/c the #UN is #immune from prosecution

Ironically,#Sergio was #UN #HumanRights top man.Bomb survivors would like to know why immunity was never waived to bring justice. We are not alone:many withstand #abuse from international organizations’ #abuseofimmunity. Read my story in thread:

Following the impact of #Netflix ‘s movie #SergioNetflix, wanted to share a little about who #SergioVieiradeMello really was but above all, narrate what really happened after 2003 #Baghdad attack.We were a family when the bomb went off

Sergio was from #RiodeJaneiro. He loved his country & his colorful, hot & humid city of contrasts. His parents travelled the world representing Brazil as diplomats & because of the dictatorship, at 21 began his diplomatic career in #UN from the groundup #SergioNetflix

Myself, a native from Argentina who, in 90s at the age of 18, took a leap of faith to do her studies in the US, got into finance in New York, yet found a higher calling in #UnitedNationsHQ with the hope of making a contribution to improve lives of the most vulnerable

Film shows him clearly: an all-rounder UN diplomat with an immense sensitivity to suffering of destitutes. Then Sergio & I met in 1999 on a #UNPeacekeeping Mission, in a shattered yet hardy territory that we helped make independent:#TimorLeste

Early we were united by a deep bond:identified in each other, speaking the same language, anticipating each others thoughts.We dreamed of returning to Brazil to live in front of his sea.We met each others families & visited our home countries: sanctuaries that kept us grounded

But on9/11 world changed. After the #InvasionofIraq, Kofi Annan, who appointed him to #UNHumanRights changed him for a most dangerous mission: US-led transition there: he faced it stoically. I accompanied him not only as his spouse but as an Economist with 7 ys UN experience

On Aug 19 2003, worst attack on UN history took place. Never before the UN had been targeted: 200 injured, 22 died. Sergio was trapped: I tried to free him-without equipment, but he died after 4 hrs.A part of me would also remain under debris of that building & bombing

To this day I cannot recall that day & its despicable aftermath without shivering & feeling chills all over my body. In blink of an eye, shame for the attack revealed #UN #UnitedNation’s ugliest face.

Claiming we were not formally "married" & within a policy of invisibility of #UNMission’s mistake deprived me of my rights as both employee & family. What is intriguing is that even after our civil union was recognized by law, they upheld it. Why? What are they protecting?

Still shellshocked from the bomb, I suddenly found myself inexplicably removed from survivor’s lists. In addition to post-traumatic stress from the explosion & Sergio’s & my friends’ death, I had to deal with inhuman & absolute abandonment from #UN who sent us all there

Because above was Geopolitics & its nasty muscle: during #IraqWar, the real rivalry was bw Bush & Chirac. Originally on the US side, Annan quickly switched to the French after UN attack called for his resignation. An 11th hour attempt to scramble onto the right side of history

Annan’s survival meant shifting sides to Chirac’s position.The price? Sergio’s casket was inexplicably shipped to France while I and his mother were "cancelled" in these political horse-trading. @NYTimes nytimes.com/2003/12/18/opi…

Clearly, a Hollywood movie was not to deal with these issues. But these years were very tough: I returned to Brazil (Sergio’s motherland that recognizes me as his widow) & Argentina, & began to put my life together. Gilda, Sergio's mother, nursed me at her house in Rio.

Friends like @NobelPrize @JoseRamosHorta1, & loyal #TimorLeste whose country I helped build, Gilda & others helped me return to life. I found a new job,a new house, & founded the @sergiovieirade8 Center in #Brazil: it was not easy, but I persevered

I never thought that the #UN bureaucracy, which always proclaims to adhere to highest standards that our world must aspire, defending rights of the most vulnerable, would desert and "cancel" their own

One might think that as young widow & terror victim,I found sympathy. Opposite, #UN denied me help when I needed it most, routing me in a bureaucratic tangle where they are both judge & interested party. A thankless path awaits those who dare litigate for their rights before UN

Likewise I continue to fight: for myself & for survivors. #Sergio was most important person in #UN history; he left a legacy of commitment to those who suffer in conflicts that plague world

(end string) He once said to me “Let's go confidently-The rest arrives on its own”
So here I am: I needed to write these few lines to remember him, but also convey a message in these challenging times #postCOVID and share the strength to keep going.