By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 15, updated
– Thirty eight
stories above
Manhattan,
more
than a dozen
UN officials
signed
“compacts” for
their work on
Friday
morning. Photos
here.
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
told them it
was an
agreement not
only with the
UN but with
the world's
people.
But the
documents will
not be
published on
the UN's
external
website, only
the UN's
in-house
intranet.
Why? [UN
response below.]
What
is
published on
the UN's
external site
are the
supposed “public
financial
disclosure”
forms of the
senior UN
officials.
But many of
them have
filed a form
saying only “I
have chosen to
maintain the
confidentiality
of the
information
disclosed in
my financial
disclosure
statement.”
Seated
across from
Ban Ki-moon at
Friday's
ceremony
was his chief
of
peacekeeping Herve
Ladsous -- who
refused to
make public
financial
disclosure,
click here to
view.
After
the signing
Ban Ki-moon
genially came
over to Inner
City Press,
which
asked about
the public
financial
disclosures.
Ban said the
next round
will be filed
in March. Will
Ladsous
disclose then?
Several
officials
appeared by
video; to Yuri
Fedotov, Ban
joked, “two
compacts, one
salary.” Then
he signed for
other
officials.
Navi
Pillay and
Valerie Amos
(who also
declined
public
financial
disclosure)
were listed as
“on official
mission.”
The
ombudsperson
was “on annual
leave;”
Jeffrey
Feltman, not
yet
listed on the
public
financial
disclosure
page, was said
to have a
“private
appointment.”
Will he
disclose in
March?
Ban's
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra said
there had been
no ceremony
last
year due to
changes among
the senior
officials. But
there are
imminent
changes this
year as well.
Patricia
O'Brien
of the Office
of Legal
Affairs, for
example,
signed a
compact
even though
she has been
named
Ireland's
Ambassador to
the UN in
Geneva. Who
will Ban's
next chief
lawyer be? And
will they not
only
make public
financial
disclosure,
but hold press
conferences,
as
Patricia
O'Brien
refused to do?
After
the ceremony,
Inner City
Press headed
to the North
Lawn Building
for
an “Arria
formula”
meeting on
climate
change. (Click
here for Feb
11 Inner
City Press
story.)
Despite the
morning's call
for
transparency,
there was no
notice of this
meeting
in the UN
Journal or even
the sign in
front of
Conference
Room 2. A
range of
diplomats
asked Inner
City Press,
“Where is it?”
A
small island
state's
Permanent
Representative
left in
disgust,
telling Inner
City Press,
“They are not
even letting
us speak, and
we sponsored
it. They are
downgrading
it, it's not
even in the
Journal.”
Germany's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Miguel Berger
was more
emphatic,
telling Inner
City Press of
the secrecy,
“This should
not be.”
Berger is
chairperson of
the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee.
There he could
raise
not only this
excessive
secrecy, but
also some
oversight of
those
refusing to
make public
financial
disclosure but
still seeking
big
money for
their
Department's
budget -- like
Ladsous and
DPKO. Watch
this site.
Update
of 3:30 pm --
Inner City
Press at
Friday's noon
briefing asked
why the
compacts will
only be on the
i-Seek
intranet and
not the UN's
external
website. This
came back:
The
Senior
Managers
Compacts and
end of year
performance
assessments
together form
unique
management
tools at the
disposal of
the
Secretary-General
and Senior
Managers
themselves.
Their
publication on
iSeek is an
unprecedented
level of
transparency
and
accountability
for public
sector
institutions.
These tools
are work in
progress; the
Secretariat
continues to
improve and
fine-tune them
each year. The
Secretariat
will use
lessons
learned from
this
experience to
determine the
pros and cons
and whether
and how to
publish them
externally in
the future.
While appreciating the response, we ask: What was that again, about the compacts being agreements not just with the UN but the public at large? Watch this site.
