By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 14, more here -- When the UN's envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura met in Geneva with US Secretary of State John Kerry, what the two said was issued not by the UN but by the US:
In the US transcript, de Mistura is quoted of the conflict in Syria, “this is the fourth year, and we need to find a solution and a political solution. I will continue, I can tell you, pushing for Aleppo because Aleppo has become an iconic example of where things could start sending the best signal. In other words, that bombing, shelling, barrel bombing, mortar shelling would stop, and bring some humanitarian aid, which means giving some hope to the Syrian people... The Syrian people are just saying, enough. And we should not let them down.”
Does the UN stand by this transcript? Did the UN sign off on it? The question is asked because last July the US transcribed the UN's Ban Ki-moon saying, of his decision to accept free private jet travel from Qatar, "we do not have much time to weigh the rule."
When Inner City Press, which had first reported on July 19, 2014 Ban's acceptance of free private jet travel from Qatar, pursued this quote at and about the UN, suddenly the transcript was changed, to have Ban saying "We do not have much time to wait and lose."
Now after meeting with de Mistura, Kerry said "we hope that the UN efforts led by Special Envoy de Mistura can have effect, and we wanted to meet today to talk about this, and I wish him well. He’s heading to Damascus next week.”
One might ask, is the UN accepting gifted travel for all this, too? Despite the previous controversy and requests, the UN refused to set up a system to disclose its acceptance of such gifts, or to implement a Freedom of Information Act for the UN Secretariat, as long urged by theFree UN Coalition for Access, which continues to ask:
Does the UN, while claiming to abide by its own stated ethics rules, simply not have time for them and waive them? And then manipulate and "correct" transcripts to cover it up -- and reply to questions about it by saying, "You're not entitled to be at the noon briefing?" Video here from Minute 4:26.
Based on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's answer in Jerusalem on July 23, as initially transcribed by the US State Department, that "we do not have much time to weigh the rules," it appears confirmed that the UN's rules were waived for Ban to take a Qatar-funded jet on his Middle East tour.
But at the UN's July 23 noon briefing when Inner City Press asked, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq insisted Ban had not said what the US State Department said he had, and said he has an audio file to this effect -- an audio file that for some reason also did not include the question about the Qatar funded plane that preceded Ban's now altered response.
Inner City Press requested the audio file, which as of 6:00 pm has not been provided.
But, the UN got the US State Department to put up a "corrected" transcript, to modify the online version without notice the change, to Ban having said "We do not have much time to wait and lose." So much for "the rules."
Haq also denied that there is any conflict of interest in accepting the Qatar-funded travel, but did not say when or how an opinion was sought from the UN's Ethics Office. Video here and embedded below. Inner City Press has asked, in writing:
"This is a request for the the entire audio file of the Secretary General's press availability in Jerusalem at which the US State Department transcribed the question, “Mr. Secretary-General, do you think it’s appropriate for Qatar to be paying for your flight here” and this answer:
SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN: No – ladies and gentlemen, this is the 15th day since the crisis began. We do not have much time to weigh the rules.
See, http://www.state.gov/
[since changed on State Department website from this archived version, here]
[since changed on State Department website from this archived version, here]
"This is also a request to be informed if, when and how the UN Ethics Office was asked about the Secretary General accepting the gift of travel on the Qatar-funded, and the UN's estimate of the value of the gift; a statement of all rules applicable to receipt of this gift, and how much has been spent on Secretary General travel in the past two years. On deadline."
Here is the UN's "response," with neither the audio file, nor the budget or financial information:
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 4:59 PM
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 4:59 PM
The State Department has acknowledged that its transcription was in error and has corrected the record, please see link below.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/07/229662.htm
The Ethics Office has agreed on the need to use the chartered plane because of the Secretary-General's need to travel to a number of locations in the Middle East at short notice, The Ethics Office notes that the Secretary-General interacts with all 193 Member States, and he is scrupulous at maintaining the independence of the UN when engaged in his political and diplomatic undertakings.
This does not answer "when and how the UN Ethics Office was asked about the Secretary General accepting the gift of travel on the Qatar-funded, and the UN's estimate of the value of the gift; a statement of all rules applicable to receipt of this gift, and how much has been spent on Secretary General travel in the past two years." Watch this site.
On July 21, the UN belatedly answered Inner City Press' July 19 inquiry about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accepting a free Qatar-funded, British registered private jet for his current travel about Gaza. Video here and embedded below.
On July 23 in Jerusalem, Ban Ki-moon was asked,"do you think it’s appropriate for Qatar to be paying for your flight here?"
And Ban Ki-moon responded, "No – ladies and gentlemen, this is the 15th day since the crisis began. We do not have much time to weigh the rules."
And Ban Ki-moon responded, "No – ladies and gentlemen, this is the 15th day since the crisis began. We do not have much time to weigh the rules."
Inner City Press, and now the Free UN Coalition for Access, have been pursuing this question, including with Transparency International which answered "it would seem that the Secretary General would have had to have been previous clearance to undertake such a paid trip by the Qatari government. This question should be posed to the Office of Ethics."
And so on July 22, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if the UN Ethics Office was asked about accepting the free Qatar-funded private jet flights.
Haq replied:
“I'm aware that as a standard policy, we inform the Ethics Office of all such offers...I don't know about this particular case. I know it for past cases, every time I have asked the Ethics Office about this, they have talked about being informed about this... They do approve these on the case of exceptional circumstances.”
Inner City Press asked Haq to get an answer from the Ethics Office, if they were asked before Ban began his current trip in the Qatar-funded jet.
Haq said, “I can do this... This is what has happened several times in the past.”
But apparently not this time. Ban said, "We do not have much time to weigh the rules." We'll stay on this.
Watch this site.
