By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, June 13 -- With media worldwide reporting that "the UN" today reported 93,000 killed in Syria, Inner City Press has inquired further into the authorship of the new report.
Not only is it not a UN report -- the UN didn't even pay for it.
The California-based Human Rights Data Analysis Group tells Inner City Press there was no contract... we did the work pro bono because doing analysis of this kind is the mission for which we receive support from our donors."
So HRDAG's donors paid for the report. But who are they? Inner City Press asked, and Patrick Ball of HRDAG, previously (January 2013) of Benetech, replied that "Regarding our anonymous donor: I cannot tell you who they are. I can tell you that they're US-based."
Well that's re-assuring. An anonymous US-based donor paid for HRDAG's report on the Syria death toll, which the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released and many media called a "UN report."
From Patrick Ball's response:
From: Patrick Ball
Subject: your queries
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Date: Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 7:41 AM
Subject: your queries
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Date: Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 7:41 AM
dear Matthew,
-- HRDAG was not paid for this report. There was no contract, no RFP. We did the work pro bono because doing analysis of this kind is the mission for which we receive support from our donors.
-- In terms of spinning off from Benetech, here are the announcements: https://hrdag.org/welcome/
(I'm not sure why the date on Benetech's announcement is 15 Feb, I think we posted it on 18 Jan, but it might have been edited in Feb)
-- Regarding our anonymous donor: I cannot tell you who they are. I can tell you that they're US-based
If there was "no contract," can say a Russia-based or funded NGO hand in its report to Navi Pillay and get it released on the OHCHR's website? Who decided to do it this way? We have asked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and will publishing their response upon receipt.
The last report issued in January 2013 by the OHCHR used San Francisco based Benetech. Inner City Press looked into it and found Benetech was funded in part by the US National Endowment for Democracy.
Ball is one of the four authors of the new report, along with Megan Price, Jeff Klingner and Anas Qtiesh. (The last of these was not listed on the January 2013 report; we have asked.)
Watch this site.
