PESHAWAR: People working with COMNet, an organisation associated with social mobilisation to address polio vaccination refusals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have expressed concern over the new recruitment policy and demanded an opportunity to run for the newly-advertised positions in light of their extensive relevant experience.

They said the new criteria had closed the door on their re-appointment.

Around 30 employees of COMNet, who serve mostly in southern districts as the advocacy communication officers (ACOs), communication response team officers (CRTOs) and community communication officers (CCOs),have declared the new “restructuring policy” in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as discriminatory and declared it an encroachment on their recruitment right.

They insisted that COMNet Pakistan had reportedly been sold to CTG, an Afghanistan-based organisation, with several experienced and qualified Pakistanis and development organisations being overlooked.

Demand permission to apply for advertised positions

The employees said the move had triggered widespread concern regarding compliance with national laws, donor standards and Unicef’s internal procurement and human resource policies.

Sources said the crisis deepened following the recent advertisement for positions of ACOs, CRTOs, CCOs and other roles on CTG’s recruitment portal, which reportedly included conditions that restricted eligibility to Unicef Pakistan employees and only those who received or would receive a “unique candidate code” via email.

Those, who are already working on such positions or whose contracts have expired, have termed these conditions discriminatory, arguing the new policy will exclude qualified Pakistani professionals from applying for those posts.

The affected employees maintained that applying for those positions was a legal right of all candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience in the “hardest areas”.

They demanded clarity on the Unicef human resources’ rules or policies under which these recruitment restrictions have been imposed on the people already holding the positions.

The employees said that the criteria and mechanism used to issue “unique candidate codes” was questionable.

They wondered when, where and how CTG conducted any assessment or survey to identify selected candidates for unique codes and on whose directions or approvals, CTG is implementing these “questionable” recruitment practices in Pakistan.

The employees insisted that they reserved the right to initiate legal proceedings under Article 199 of the Constitution against CTG and Unicef for the “unlawful restriction on open applications”.

They demanded a free, fair and transparent inquiry into the recruitment process launched by Unicef through CTG.

The employees warned if those concerns weren’t addressed, the province could witness polio campaign boycotts. They insisted that it was illegal, discriminatory and non-transparent to realign the COMNet programme under Unicef Pakistan.

The employees said the matter had been formally brought to the attention of the officer (Internal Audit and Investigations) at Unicef headquarters as well as the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication, National Emergency Operation Centre (Polio) and provincial emergency operation centres coordinators for intervention. Senior Unicef officials didn’t respond to this correspondent’s phone messages on the issue.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2025