For any matters relating to health insurance and ASHI, please rely on the official sources of information through the United Nations Health and Life Insurance Section, (HLIS) website. Retirees | Health & Life Insurance Section and not on other sources.

This message is sent on behalf of the Co-Chairs of the AFICS/NY Communications Committee. Dear AFICS/NY Members worldwide, We are pleased to announce that the AFICS/NY Communications Committee is launching its call for contributions to the Winter 2026/27 Bulletin. We are writing to request your contributions of brief stories, achievements, and news in your lives that you feel will be of interest to your fellow members. In addition to updating you on how AFICS/NY is wor

Message from FAFICS President Darshak Shah, 7 October 2026 Dear colleagues, First of all, I wish to thank all of you who have provided valuable comments and suggestions on how to make our future Council sessions more focused, engaging and productive. As I have mentioned in my previous communication about this, I have asked Vice President Clemens Adams supported by Secretary Delia Barcelona, to lead the Working Group to design and prepare for the next Council. The idea f

The message below is sent on behalf of Clemens Adams, FAFICS Vice President, and WG Chair for FAFICS 57 preparations Dear Colleagues, Hope all is well. We are writing to follow up on the letter from President Darshak Shah about this subject, sent on 31 August 2026, in three languages (links below.) In that letter, we were asking for your feedback on past Councils and suggestions for the next one. Attached once again is the brief google survey form you can use to send us your

This message being is sent on behalf of President Emeritus Jerry Barton, the Presiding Officer of the 56th Council, Jacques Rao, and President Darshak Shak We are pleased to share with you the report of the 56th Council Session of FAFICS, held from 19-24 July 2026 in Vienna. Attached is the full report in English and the Executive Summary in English, French and Spanish. Once the full report is also translated, we will post it on the FAFICS website. The report has been final

The message below is from the Department of Operational Support, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 8 September 2026 Time is running out to register for Term 4 language and communication courses! Secure your spot by Monday, 14 September. Offered to all eligible participants from 28 September to 11 December 2026, courses include online, in-person, and hybrid learning opportunities tailored to various skills and topics. If you are seeing a “waitlisted” status on your enrol

Dear colleagues and friends, Since the changes to the UN Headquarters-administered health insurance plans took effect on 1 July 2026, many of your members have written to your Association and/or to me directly. Your concerns are legitimate, and I want to address them directly, and to tell you plainly what FAFICS is doing about them. What changed. The changes are described in two UN Information Circulars — ST/IC/2026/2 and ST/IC/2026/3 — an increase in premiums across every UN

Dear Colleagues, Six weeks ago, we successfully concluded the 56th FAFICS Council session. Thanks to your active participation, the meeting yielded productive discussions and important decisions that will help guide the Federation's work. We are now beginning preparations for the 57th FAFICS Council Session, tentatively scheduled to take place in Geneva from 19 to 23 July 2027, the week before the meeting of United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) Board. The decision

Dear Member Associations and colleagues, I would like to thank you all for making the 56th Session of the FAFICS Council such a success. Once again, the Council demonstrated the strength of our Federation through constructive dialogue, thoughtful decision-making, and our shared commitment to protecting the interests of retired staff, surviving spouses, and other beneficiaries. It was an excellent meeting in which we addressed the critical issues facing FAFICS, regarding pensi

As is customary, please note that AFICS/NY office will be closed for business from: Monday, 17 August to Labor Day, Monday, 7 September 2026, and will re-open for business on Tuesday, 8 September 2026.

The UN is currently seeking volunteers with language skills at or near UN Level I and II of the UN Language Framework to participate in an important UN educational project. Your participation will also provide you with a valuable opportunity to assess your language skills at this level. The project The UN is currently developing an innovative Computer Adaptive Language Test for all UN personnel to help them assess their language proficiency levels. To ensure the quality and r

This communication, from the United Nations Health and Life Insurance Section, (HLIS) provides important information regarding changes in the benefit provisions, monthly premiums, and after-service health insurance (ASHI) contribution amounts that came into effect on 1 July 2026. In addition, a statement is being sent to your home address with your ASHI contribution amount effective 1 July 2026 Health Insurance Premium Increases effective 1 July 2026 All premiums for UNHQ adm

Darshak Shah, President of AFICS New York, elected as President of FAFICS at the 56th Annual Council. The FAFICS 56th Council Session has elected a new President... Darshak Shah, current President of AFICS NY. Darshak will be taking over the responsibility from Jerry Barton (current Pres of ARICSA Vienna). Three new VPs were also elected, Nancy Hurtz-Soyka (AFICS NY) Maria Machicado (AFICS Bolivia) and Aye Win (AFICS Myanmar). The meeting also elected a new Treasurer, Peter

Author: Aysel Toprakli Aysel Toprakli served in the Information Communication Technology Division of UNICEF as Senior Production Associate. For me a sustainable life starts with the environment I inhabit. This is my home, my city, and my country. We can extend this to our planet Earth which is home for all humanity, nature, and other creatures. How can we sustain our environment? It starts with being mindful of using our resources such as water, electricity, transportation, a

Author: Stephen Schlesinger Author of Act of Creation about the UN’s founding, American historian, political commentator, and international affairs specialist. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Schlesinger worked with UN Habitat. The American presidency has played a central role in the operations of the United Nations for all 80 years of the Organization’s existence. There are obvious reasons for this: the United States was the original architect and mastermind behind the founding of the

Delia Barcelona is the Secretary of the Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants (FAFICS) Author: Delia Barcelona Many Member Associations of the Federation of the Association for Former International Civil Servants (FAFICS) engage in outreach initiatives usually aimed at helping marginalized and disadvantaged groups and often mobilizing not just their members but other volunteers from the community. Sometimes, these activities are also intended to as

Author: Mac Chiulli Fundraising on Red-Nose Day/Mac Chiulli For decades, my identity was defined by my career. From the age of 16 until my mandatory retirement from the UN, I was a dedicated "workaholic." I loved the hum of the international atmosphere and the challenges of the private and public sectors. Honestly, the prospect of retirement was frightening; had it not been mandatory, I might still be at my desk today. However, I’ve discovered a beautiful secret: there is abs

Author: Olivier Adam Olivier Adam is a retired UNDP staff member and former Executive Coordinator of UN Volunteers. Many of us who spent our careers in the United Nations system were drawn to it by a sense of purpose—a belief that our work could contribute to something larger than ourselves. We moved across duty stations, adapted to new countries and cultures, and gave decades to the pursuit of development, peace, and human dignity. When that chapter closes, the transition in

Author: Gail Bindley-Taylor Toily Kurbanov with Darshak Shah/Toily Kurbanov An Interview with Toily Kurbanov The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, now in its fifty-sixth year, may be less widely known than some other UN programmes and agencies, yet it has become an increasingly important part of the Organization’s development, humanitarian and peacebuilding work. Established by the General Assembly on 7 December 1970 at the initiative of then Secretary-General U Than

Formerly UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications, candidate for UN Secretary General and currently an Indian Member of Parliament, author and diplomat. Author: Shashi Tharoor When the United Nations marked its 80th anniversary last October, reports described the mood at the General Assembly in New York as anything but celebratory. The hall that once echoed with the optimism of postwar reconstruction, decolonisation and peacekeeping, instead reverberated with uncertainty