By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 19 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has engaged in censorship and nepotism, broken the UN Staff Union while now attempting to hijack "Staff Day" - and recently lost an internal UN justice system case, Emad Hassinin v. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, see below.
Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric out of what budget line, if any, these judgments against Ban Ki-moon are paid, without answer. Instead, Dujarric on October 17 told Inner City Press that Ban's speech, in tuxedo, to the Council of Korean-Americans in Washington DC was "private." How so?
On October 19 Inner City Press asked Ban's outgoing spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the hijacking of Staff Day. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: I'd wanted to ask you about this upcoming UN Staff Day. Obviously, there's some signs around and stuff, but a number of people have raised that, in all previous years the staff union has been a part of the Staff Day. The idea is that it's Staff Day. The staff has a union. So some… here's… here's a sample comment on the UN's own Day website. "You can't hold Staff Day without a staff union, the elected staff union, that is. The event subverts everything Staff Day stands for. Shame on the UN." What's the response by management to…?
Spokesman: First of all, the issue of which staff union in New York exists is still an unresolved question. I know our colleagues in the department, the concerned departments, have been working with the full support of the global staff union federations, and I know our colleagues in Geneva and other parts have been very supportive of Staff Day, which is really a global day involving all staff working at the UN.
ICP Question: And can you confirm that the much discussed Ban Ki-moon Highlights of the Tenure of Ban Ki-moon book will, on that day, be launched? And, if so…?
Spokesman: I'm not aware of a launch in the bookstore. I think the book is already available for purchase for anyone who is interested. Carole? Put the book down.
Here is the most recent hijacking of UN "Staff" Day from any Staff Union, this time in Vienna:
"Dear colleagues,
As an expression of his deep appreciation for the tireless work, effort and contribution of all UN staff members around the globe, the Secretary-General has dedicated 25 October 2016 as UN Staff Day at all duty stations and field missions. On this day, the United Nations family will gather at all duty stations and field missions in celebration of the courage, commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who have answered the noble call to become international civil servants.
In Vienna, staff councils and management of all Vienna-based organizations have planned a fun and festive programme for all VIC staff. The local celebration will start at 12 noon and end at 3 p.m., when Vienna joins a live broadcast of a town hall meeting at UN New York, with the Secretary-General.
A detailed programme for UN Staff Day will be shared in due course prior to the event. In the meantime, please find below a brief overview:
Summary of programme
12 - 12.30 p.m.
Ceremonial presentation of the UN Flag by UNSSS Guard of Honour
Opening remarks by Heads of VBOs
Joint statement by a representative of VBO Staff Unions
12.30 - 2.55 p.m
Entertainment and lots of fun activities, live performances, tombola and much more!!!
3 - 4 p.m.
Vienna joins, directly in the Rotunda, a live broadcast of town hall meeting from UN Headquarters with Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon
Staff in Vienna
In order to receive a special discount on the UN Blue Menu and UN Blue Cocktail at the cafeteria and the bar, please wear your national costume or "UN Blue" outfit or accessory. Group aerial pictures of all participants (hopefully in UN Blue) will be taken during the event in the Rotunda and made available for download after the event.
Each staff member attending the event in person will receive a free tombola ticket (there are hundreds of prizes!) and surprise memento of the celebration.
Staff in the Field
All UNODC Field Offices are strongly encouraged to mark this UN staff holiday in a festive and celebratory manner. UNOV/UNODC colleagues in Vienna would like to mark this special day jointly, and invite our field colleagues to be present at the event. In addition to a live webcast, to which all field offices can connect via http://www.unvienna.org/webcast, all field office teams are strongly encouraged to submit photos for display on monitors at the event in Vienna. Please be creative and have fun - we'd love to see you (teams and/or individuals) at work, in your office, out doing your job, at play and with your friends and families. If you want to hold a message in your picture, feel free. "
As an expression of his deep appreciation for the tireless work, effort and contribution of all UN staff members around the globe, the Secretary-General has dedicated 25 October 2016 as UN Staff Day at all duty stations and field missions. On this day, the United Nations family will gather at all duty stations and field missions in celebration of the courage, commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who have answered the noble call to become international civil servants.
In Vienna, staff councils and management of all Vienna-based organizations have planned a fun and festive programme for all VIC staff. The local celebration will start at 12 noon and end at 3 p.m., when Vienna joins a live broadcast of a town hall meeting at UN New York, with the Secretary-General.
A detailed programme for UN Staff Day will be shared in due course prior to the event. In the meantime, please find below a brief overview:
Summary of programme
12 - 12.30 p.m.
Ceremonial presentation of the UN Flag by UNSSS Guard of Honour
Opening remarks by Heads of VBOs
Joint statement by a representative of VBO Staff Unions
12.30 - 2.55 p.m
Entertainment and lots of fun activities, live performances, tombola and much more!!!
3 - 4 p.m.
Vienna joins, directly in the Rotunda, a live broadcast of town hall meeting from UN Headquarters with Secretary-General Ban-Ki moon
Staff in Vienna
In order to receive a special discount on the UN Blue Menu and UN Blue Cocktail at the cafeteria and the bar, please wear your national costume or "UN Blue" outfit or accessory. Group aerial pictures of all participants (hopefully in UN Blue) will be taken during the event in the Rotunda and made available for download after the event.
Each staff member attending the event in person will receive a free tombola ticket (there are hundreds of prizes!) and surprise memento of the celebration.
Staff in the Field
All UNODC Field Offices are strongly encouraged to mark this UN staff holiday in a festive and celebratory manner. UNOV/UNODC colleagues in Vienna would like to mark this special day jointly, and invite our field colleagues to be present at the event. In addition to a live webcast, to which all field offices can connect via http://www.unvienna.org/webcast, all field office teams are strongly encouraged to submit photos for display on monitors at the event in Vienna. Please be creative and have fun - we'd love to see you (teams and/or individuals) at work, in your office, out doing your job, at play and with your friends and families. If you want to hold a message in your picture, feel free. "
But if your message wasn't what Ban had in mind, expect retaliation...
In that case, UN Dispute Tribunal Judge Ebrahim-Carstens found among other things that
"in addition to the Organization’s failure to fully apply staff rule 13.1 to the Applicant as a permanent staff member, the Organization also failed to give proper consideration to his status as a newly elected Vice President of the Staff Union. Had that factor been properly considered, in all likelihood the Organization would have reached the conclusion that the Applicant’s appointment could not be terminated as a result of his staff representative status under the relevant legal instruments."
In most places, this is called retaliation - like when Ban Ki-moon and his Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach had Inner City Press ousted then evicted from the UN as it covered the ongoing corruption scandals.
On October 11, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the decision. UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about a decision of the UN Dispute Tribunal. It came out on Friday. It’s Hassanin vs. Secretary-General, and it involves a… I guess a form… what I’m asking about is many cases, but this is a case in which the judge… the UN judge found that the Organization should have considered that the person that they fired and took the job from was a, quote, newly elected vice-president of the staff union. Had that factor been properly considered, in all likelihood, the organization would have reached the conclusion that the applicant’s appointment could not be terminated as a result of his staff representative status. So it’s being seen by people as… as confirming that basically there was retaliation against the staff union, which is now, obviously, in disarray. So I wanted to know, does the Secretary-General intend to appeal this case? And what’s your response to this finding by a long-time Dispute Tribunal judge that basically there was retaliation for labour organizing?
Spokesman: I don’t know whether the case will be appealed. It’s not something I’m briefed on. And, obviously, there’s a judicial process. It will be followed. People have a dispute. They go to the Tribunal. The Tribunal issues its ruling. I have no comment to make on the Tribunal’s decision.
Spokesman: I don’t know whether the case will be appealed. It’s not something I’m briefed on. And, obviously, there’s a judicial process. It will be followed. People have a dispute. They go to the Tribunal. The Tribunal issues its ruling. I have no comment to make on the Tribunal’s decision.
The goal of this retaliation and censorship appears to be to promote Ban Ki-moon himself, as he prepares to run for President of South Korea. Ban's vanity press book, which was taken offline after Inner City Press reviewed just how self-serving it was, will be "released" on October 25: "Staff Day."
Here is the UN's pitch, followed by a staff review-in-advance:
"United Nations Staff Day is less than three weeks away! The Secretary-General has dedicated 25 October 2016 as UN Staff Day at all duty stations and field missions. Calling all Staff at Headquarters! Do you have a talent like singing, dancing, performing?! UN Staff Day Event, Remarks from the SG"
Staff review: No Secretary General has ever hosted Staff Day: it's a Union function. This is total co-opting for the purpose of propaganda; it has to do with the SG's post-UN plans. At any rate, in addition to his tally of active, intentional staff-adverse decisions, this is the height of hypocrisy against the backdrop of his "selfish" staff comment a few years ago -- which he never took back or massaged, even when given opportunities to do so.
Inner City Press covered Ban's "selfish-gate" -- and then got eviction, and is now restricted to Ban's minders.
In late August Ban awarded the top UN job in Kenya to his own son in law, Siddharth Chatterjee, and did not even recuse himself.
On September 27, Inner City Press directly asked Chatterjee about it, on Periscope. here. Vine here. Chatterjee hardly answered the long-standing questions; nor did Ban's spokesman. Neither set up the requested interview.
Inner City Press was informed by whistleblowing UN staff that Ban is now attempting, contrary even to a new feather-bedding rule his issued to place his staff wherever they want in the UN system, to place his longtime personal / appointments secretary Eun Ha (Isabelle) Kim as a P-3 Professional in the UN Office of Protocol.
Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric on September 29 said he has "no idea" about such a position, while accusing Inner City Press of dragging people -- Kim? Or Mr Ban?" - through the mud. Perhaps having tried to control he'd like to write the questions.
On September 28, the UN staff union wrote to Ban:
"Thursday 28 September 2016
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
When you established the revised framework for the Staff-Management Committee, you agreed to share your draft reports with staff unions for consultation before finalizing them to send to the General Assembly for its approval. This is stated in the administrative instruction signed by the Under Secretary-General of Management, Yukio Takasu. It was designed to enable staff unions to ensure that the reports faithfully reflect agreements reached at the Staff-Management Committee.
We reminded the Department of Management of this agreement this summer. Since then, we have been waiting for your draft report. To our dismay, we note that the final report on human resources has been published and circulated without consultation with the staff unions.
Upon a careful review of the report, (A/71/323 and Add.1), we came across and noted recommendations to the General Assembly that were never discussed with staff. These will create significant and unexamined consequences for human resources management at the UN.
They include the upward revision of permitted earnings by rehired retirees from $22,000 to 125 days of last salary per year; measures that will increase the number of temporary staff in the organization; and far-reaching changes to the mobility policy that will reduce the number of posts made available for staff and external candidates to apply to.
We note with further dismay that the situation described above is a repetition of what took place last year, when changes were proposed regarding the commutation of annual leave.
We see the breaching of the terms of agreement between staff unions and your administration as a matter of grave concern to our constituents and ourselves. For the second year in a row, your administration is proposing changes to the General Assembly without maintaining your commitment to consult with the elected representatives of staff. This constitutes a deliberate attempt at concealing from those same representatives your intention to propose such changes. It also underlines a recent trend we have seen of forcing through major changes in the final months of your administration and in advance of your successor."
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
When you established the revised framework for the Staff-Management Committee, you agreed to share your draft reports with staff unions for consultation before finalizing them to send to the General Assembly for its approval. This is stated in the administrative instruction signed by the Under Secretary-General of Management, Yukio Takasu. It was designed to enable staff unions to ensure that the reports faithfully reflect agreements reached at the Staff-Management Committee.
We reminded the Department of Management of this agreement this summer. Since then, we have been waiting for your draft report. To our dismay, we note that the final report on human resources has been published and circulated without consultation with the staff unions.
Upon a careful review of the report, (A/71/323 and Add.1), we came across and noted recommendations to the General Assembly that were never discussed with staff. These will create significant and unexamined consequences for human resources management at the UN.
They include the upward revision of permitted earnings by rehired retirees from $22,000 to 125 days of last salary per year; measures that will increase the number of temporary staff in the organization; and far-reaching changes to the mobility policy that will reduce the number of posts made available for staff and external candidates to apply to.
We note with further dismay that the situation described above is a repetition of what took place last year, when changes were proposed regarding the commutation of annual leave.
We see the breaching of the terms of agreement between staff unions and your administration as a matter of grave concern to our constituents and ourselves. For the second year in a row, your administration is proposing changes to the General Assembly without maintaining your commitment to consult with the elected representatives of staff. This constitutes a deliberate attempt at concealing from those same representatives your intention to propose such changes. It also underlines a recent trend we have seen of forcing through major changes in the final months of your administration and in advance of your successor."
On September 28 Inner City Press published more, from even more complaining staff. They tell Inner City Press that Ban ALREADY broke the rules, promoting Isabelle Kim from General Service to a P-2 professional position, and now ordering the Office of Protocol to create a P-3 post for Ms. Kim. Staff are angry that the rules Ban applies to them do not apply to Ban's friends and family.
And it is family, they say, stating that Eun Ha (Isabelle) Kim is Mrs. Ban's nieces: "it's all in the family," they say.
On September 28, Dujarric told Inner City Press vaguely that there are many many to move from G to P, General to Professional. (Inner City Press previously asked Ban's deputy about UN Staff Rule 4.16 (ii) which states the following:
"Recruitment to the Professional category of staff from the General Service and related categories in the United Nations Secretariat: recruitment to the Professional category at the United Nations Secretariat of staff from the General Service and related categories having successfully passed the appropriate competitive examinations shall be made within the limits established by the General Assembly. Such recruitment shall be made exclusively through competitive examination."
"Recruitment to the Professional category of staff from the General Service and related categories in the United Nations Secretariat: recruitment to the Professional category at the United Nations Secretariat of staff from the General Service and related categories having successfully passed the appropriate competitive examinations shall be made within the limits established by the General Assembly. Such recruitment shall be made exclusively through competitive examination."
So did Ms. Kim take and pass this required competitive exam? Dujarric didn't answer, in fact ran off the podium to avoid Inner City Press' follow up question, to confirm or deny Ms. Kim is Mrs Ban's niece.Dujarric leaves no other way to ask this: he leaves entirely unanswered written questions he doesn't like.
In Ban's world, the family ties of those promoted are not to be asked about or even mentioned. Ban's son in law did a Facebook Live and referred to "the Secretary General" without saying, or being asked, that it's his father in law.
Tellingly, Dujarric once again tried to vilify questions about Ban's promotions, or favors to Han Senug-soo, or financial irregularities, by saying this is "dragging through the mud." This is what all dictators say to investigative journalism. Ban Ki-moon, his spokesman and Team, have hit a new low.
These complaints, which Inner City Press first exclusively reported, spread on September 28 to the UN GA lobby and even to a reception where Ban shook hands, including of the Press, while his director of communications (and designated evicter) Cristina Gallach, who like Ban and his Dujarric cites and uses rules that are nowhere available, posed for selfies with compliant scribes Ban doles quotes to, and a wannabe UN Director General in Europe where Ban is headed October 1-9. Watch this site.
On September 26, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I'll try to do this delicately. I wanted to know, is it your understanding that, for a General Service staff of the UN to become a, quote, Professional staff, the only way through is this G… is G to P test for a successor? And the reason I ask is that received a number of complaints that a member of the team of Ban Ki-moon upstairs that's a G level staff is being attempted to be put into a P level position in protocol. And I just wanted… maybe I'm missing something. Is there some… is there… does there remain this kind of firewall between the two? Not that it's a right wall, but if it applies to others…
Deputy Spokesman: No, I don't think there's a firewall. I've seen other G staff become Professional staff, including in our very own office. So there are different ways…
ICP Question: Sure. You take a test. Right?
Deputy Spokesman: There's a G to P test. That's one avenue. I believe there are other avenues besides that. There's… it's a complicated system, but I'm well aware even from my own office, I've seen several different Gs… G staff become Professional staff over the years.
ICP: I may have something more on this
Deputy Spokesman: No, I don't think there's a firewall. I've seen other G staff become Professional staff, including in our very own office. So there are different ways…
ICP Question: Sure. You take a test. Right?
Deputy Spokesman: There's a G to P test. That's one avenue. I believe there are other avenues besides that. There's… it's a complicated system, but I'm well aware even from my own office, I've seen several different Gs… G staff become Professional staff over the years.
ICP: I may have something more on this
Ms. Kim, we note, was with Ban (and Han Seung-soo and others) up to fifteen years ago, when Han was President of the General Assembly and Ban, his chief of staff.
Also on that dream team: current South Korean ambassador to the UN and Ban promoted Oh Joon, former Ban promotee Yoon Yeocheol, Kim Bong-hyun who previously told Inner City Press to cover Ban more positively, and others - click here for the list, still online for now.
Inner City Press also asked Ban Ki-moon's in law if he had been present at and played a role in the Jaffna Hospital massacre in Sri Lanka. He did not deny this -- rather, he said it was not "pertinent." He said he would answer at an "opportune time."
On September 28, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, Beyond the Vine video here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: the Secretary-General's son-in-law, Siddharth Chatterjee. I know I'd asked you in writing, maybe ten days ago to be able to ask him the questions that your office hadn't answered. And I did find him in the lobby yesterday, and he said to me, "Oh, we'll find an opportune time." So it wasn't clear to me… and he also said, as to some of the questions, "They're not pertinent." I don't know if that referred to whether who the selection panel was or who the other candidates were. But it led me to want to ask you, did your office, in fact, ask him ten days when I asked you whether he would answer the questions? Because it seemed like he was unaware of the request. That's how he came off.
Spokesman: I think everyone is aware of your interest in speaking to Mr. Chatterjee, and it's not… you're welcome to contact whomever you want and request an interview. Whether or not they grant you one is really up to them.
ICP Question:relatedly, because there's now… I've seen this controversy around the resident coordinator for Syria. And some people are saying it's Mr. Ali Al-Za’tari to replace Mr. [TYacoub El] Hillo. And I just wanted to know, was the same process used? Can you say a little bit more about the inter-agency panel, DOCO…?
Spokesman: The inter-agency panel… every resident coordinator goes through the same process with the inter-agency panel. A recommendation is then sent to the Secretary-General, whether it's Mr. Za’tari or any of the other ones. I told you many-a-times on his… on Mr. Chatterjee that the Secretary-General stayed away from that process. We do expect the new humanitarian coordinator, resident coordinator, to arrive in Damascus very early next month and to take up his position. There is an acting… somebody acting in that stead until his arrival.
ICP Question: But in the same way that I asked you whether UNDPA (Department of Political Affairs) and the Secretariat was… played a role in the Kenya resident coordinator, because it seems that it's clear that they did in Syria… so did they in Kenya?
Spokesman: I will not go into any further detail than I already have.
Spokesman: I think everyone is aware of your interest in speaking to Mr. Chatterjee, and it's not… you're welcome to contact whomever you want and request an interview. Whether or not they grant you one is really up to them.
ICP Question:relatedly, because there's now… I've seen this controversy around the resident coordinator for Syria. And some people are saying it's Mr. Ali Al-Za’tari to replace Mr. [TYacoub El] Hillo. And I just wanted to know, was the same process used? Can you say a little bit more about the inter-agency panel, DOCO…?
Spokesman: The inter-agency panel… every resident coordinator goes through the same process with the inter-agency panel. A recommendation is then sent to the Secretary-General, whether it's Mr. Za’tari or any of the other ones. I told you many-a-times on his… on Mr. Chatterjee that the Secretary-General stayed away from that process. We do expect the new humanitarian coordinator, resident coordinator, to arrive in Damascus very early next month and to take up his position. There is an acting… somebody acting in that stead until his arrival.
ICP Question: But in the same way that I asked you whether UNDPA (Department of Political Affairs) and the Secretariat was… played a role in the Kenya resident coordinator, because it seems that it's clear that they did in Syria… so did they in Kenya?
Spokesman: I will not go into any further detail than I already have.
Further? Ban's spokesman Dujarric has refused to provide basic information about the promotion, and about Chatterjee's military activities in Sri Lanka. Nor has he responded to Inner City Press' written request for information or to interview Chatterjee, a UN official who blocks Inner City Press on Twitter.
But Ban Ki-moon's son in law has hung around New York for more than a week, meeting with bankers and set on September 27 to meet Ban's deputy Eliasson. Ban didn't recuse himself from promoting his son in law, but does this side-step. Inner City Press at noon on September 27 asked Ban's deputy spokesman if Chatterjee, as resident coordinator, will answer questions on the way up or down. “We'll certainly convey your request.” Vine here.
While less than an hour before Chatterjee's visit to his father in law's 38th floor there was no answer, Chatterjee appeared in a staged Facebook Live, where he said “the Secretary General” without disclosing that Ban is his father in law. Vine here.
So Inner City Press went to ask Chatterjee about it. First, it told the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU), to avoid any pretextual action as in February of this year by Ban's head of communications Cristina Gallach. Then it set up in the lobby. After getting other quotes or responses from Ambassadors and a foreign minister, Chatterjee and other man came down.
Inner City Press asked, Who were the other candidates? Who was on the panel? No answer. Inner City Press asked about the Jaffna Hospital. Chatterjee turned back and said he would set up a time to talk - strange, Inner City Press has been requesting that for some time - but to “turn that off,” meaning the authorized Periscope. Vine here.
Inner City Press remained to ask more questions. At a certain point the minder(s), officers and elevator man left - and then the cars left. It was over.
But Ban's increasing lawlessness is not limited to his son in law, nor to his mentor Han Seung-soo, who despite MOONlighting as a UN official and board member of Standard Chartered Bank and Doosan, this week dodged Inner City Press' questions unlike Jacob Zuma and Sheikh Hasina, here.
Exposing or even inquiring into the ever increase irregularities in the Ban Ki-moon administration give rise, as Inner City Press found earlier this year and during this General Assembly debate week, to retaliation.
Inner City Press was ordered to leave the UN on February 19 on two hours notice by Ban's chief of "public information," Cristina Gallach - for seeking to cover an event in the UN Press Briefing Room which was nowhere listed as Closed.
Despite Ban being directly petitioned by the whistleblower protection group Government Accountability Project, on April 16 Inner City Press' investigative files were evicted from its long time office, out onto First Avenue.
Ban and Gallach are giving Inner City Press' long time work space to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar Al Yom, whose representative Sanaa Youssef rarely comes to the UN -- contrary to the stated requirement for resident correspondent accreditation, which has been stripped from Inner City Press -- and never asks any questions.
This week, Inner City Press could only cover a meeting on Yemen ifaccompanied by a minder (Gallach was asked about this, on camera)who asked who Inner City Press wanted to interview; it was locked out of the media "bullpen" then urged, mid-edit, to leave the small "focus booth" it's been reduced to using. Team Ban has been informed of all of this, responding that "time" will somehow solve it. How?
On September 23 Ban's and France's head of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous said openly, "I never answer your questions, Mister" when asked about rapes; Ladsous' UN spokesman got Ban's UNTV to keep the microphone away from Inner City Press. Video here. This is Ban Ki-moon's (and Gallach's) censorship.
After being told that Ban's son in law is in New York, Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokespeople, fully four of them:
"This is a request to interview the UN's Resident Coordinator in Kenya Siddarth Chatterjee, appointed to the job by his father in law Ban Ki-moon, in light of [him saying / Tweeting to another of his father in law's officials,] “Look forward to seeing you at UNGA." It seems he has appeared at the Princeton Club in NY.
"Since the OSSG has declined to answer several questions about Resident Coordinator Chatterjee, this is a request for the interview. Please advise asap."
So far, nothing. Chatterjee, as we've noted, blocks Inner City Press on Twitter - strange, for a UN Resident Coordinator.
Instead of answering the earlier questions, Team Ban arranged for Chatterjee's military commander Dalvir Singh to slam in Huffington Post Inner City Press' “accusations of human rights violations against Chatterjee. Major Chatterjee was a star member of my battalion, the 10th Para Special Forces, and at no time was my battalion or any member of my unit ever involved in any form of human rights violation.”
Really? What about the Jaffna Hospital Massacre? Inner City Press exposing Ban's nepotism has been covered in Sri Lanka, here - and nowin South Korea, here (translated) where Ban hopes to run for president. Here's a machine translation:
"Ban last month, his son-in-law sit da-Kenya resident coordinator of the United Nations whether the chatter in the decision to appoint. The United Nations Office of the resident coordinator as the national diplomatic missions to individual countries hit greets. Chapman, Mr. ban's youngest daughter, popping Hyun-Hee's husband. Hyun-hee and Chae was elected Secretary General of the UN ban popping were married in 2006. Hyun-Hee Mr. currently UNICEF Kenya Office is known to be being worked on.
This has never been a textbook case of ' human resources ' Office, saying the issue would be raised by the professional journalist Matthew Lee of inner city press, the media. Lee shunned the press ban this personnel (recusal) not to apply points to criticize. He said, "would call into question the qualities of chatter, nor at the UN for a long time, one of those who deny that. But he is considering ban evasion law that might have the application lies, "he said.
India is a special forces work on the chatter when the matter was a Huffington Post Moon vir Singh retired warden contributed from popping "always was a priority public than himself," and Office personnel are raised allegations of the accused journalists. He was working as a journalist for the "qualification (credential)-RI, suspicious and ethics awareness as the UN's bloggers" and not "evil?" is appealed
Not on the basis of the human rights abuses of false attacks ". Lee, the reporter himself the last few years, a series of critical reports about the ban were taken with them, and because of this, the UN resident journalists deprived of his or her eligibility status.”
On September 17, as Inner City Press covered the UN Security Council meeting on Syria, under Ban's eviction order it was first locked out of the UNSC stakeout, then told to leave the UN by a UN Security officer. This is Ban's UN. We'll have more on this.
On September 15, Inner City Press again asked Ban's spokesman about Chatterjee's record in Sri Lanka -- no answer - and the panel that "recommended" him to Ban. Vine here, UN transcript here, with the UN using many more "inaudibles" than on other questions:
Inner City Press: the last you answered about promotion of the Secretary-General’s son-in-law into the top post in Kenya was that you hoped that at least the agencies or some information about this inter-agency panel could be provided, and I think it should be. So I wanted to know do you have now any information on that…? [inaudible]
Spokesman: I don’t have an update, but if I have something, I will share it with you.
ICP Question: And I’d asked you in writing about… it goes back some time but about the son-in-law’s activities in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian peacekeeping force. And since he’s gotten his commander to write an op-ed saying that questions about this are unreasonable… [inaudible]
Spokesman: Whatever words I’ve had to say about… on this issue, I have used. I really have nothing else to add… [inaudible]
ICP Question: Right, but you said… the last thing you said was you would look into the inter-agency panel… [inaudible]
Spokesman: I have nothing… [inaudible] Yes, that I said. On the rest, I have nothing else to add.
Spokesman: I don’t have an update, but if I have something, I will share it with you.
ICP Question: And I’d asked you in writing about… it goes back some time but about the son-in-law’s activities in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian peacekeeping force. And since he’s gotten his commander to write an op-ed saying that questions about this are unreasonable… [inaudible]
Spokesman: Whatever words I’ve had to say about… on this issue, I have used. I really have nothing else to add… [inaudible]
ICP Question: Right, but you said… the last thing you said was you would look into the inter-agency panel… [inaudible]
Spokesman: I have nothing… [inaudible] Yes, that I said. On the rest, I have nothing else to add.
Meanwhile Ban's son in law is using the first place his military commander dumped his piece to run propaganda interviews linking himself to the SDGs.
Singh's / Team Ban's piece from its first version to its second picked up links to Team Ban's raid on Inner City Press' office, and material from the UN Censorship Alliance. These suggestions came from within Ban's UNHQ.
Dalvir Singh wrote “To attack the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who happens to be Chatterjee’s father-in-law, using his service in Sri Lanka is not only absurd but deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.” And then the threats began. This is a new low.
Ban's promotion of his son in law is contrary to the ICSC Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service on "Familial dealings" --
In Ban's cases, these "familial dealing" include not only the son in law promoted without recusal or transparency, now lashing out at the Press by proxy, but also the nephew, "Dennis Bahn," with a company managing UN real estate, during the name of the UN and his uncle to drum up more business, see below.
Now there is a scandal and conviction in South Korea with Ban's - and his nephew Bahn's -- fingerprints all over it. "South Gyeongsang Governor Hong Joon-pyo was found guilty Thursday of taking money from the late businessman and politician Sung Wan-jong and sentenced to 18 months in prison, ending his presidential ambitions. Hong, 62, stood trial on charges that he accepted 100 million won ($91,601) from the late Sung, former chairman of the Keangnam Enterprises."
Ban's brother Ban Ki-sang was a consultant to Keangnam for seven years; Ban's nephew Dennis "Bahn Joo-hyun said to a contact at Keangnam that he would invite his high-profile uncle to a social gathering, where members of the Qatar Investment Authority would be present."
Ban's UN scandals also include others close to Ban such as Han Seung-soo, allowed by UN to be a UN official and on the board of directors of South Korea's Doosan, and of UN bank Standard Chartered.
For alleged violation of of the ICSC Standards, UN system whistleblowers such as Moncef Kateb of WIPO have been fired. But Ban does it openly: something about a fish and from the head, see also below.
The response to Inner City Press' questioning has been, as happened in 2012, threats. To this has the UN descended under Ban.
After Inner City Press asked about the textbook case of nepotism of Ban and his son in law, video here, Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarricreplied that an inter-agency advisory panel had been involved, before Ban signed the letter appointing his own son in law to the post. But Dujarric has refused to say who was on the panel, or who the other candidates were. Nor has he provided any information about Chatterjee's activities in Sri Lanka.
This is a new low for Ban Ki-moon's UN, widely viewed as having failed in Sri Lanka in 2009, and on Yemen and Burundi and elsewhere in 2016.
In terms of answering basic questions, when Inner City Press last yearasked about the questionable real estate dealings of Ban's nephew Joo-hyun “Dennis” Bahn, with a company managing the 45th Street building of UNDP and who used the name of Ban and the UN to do dubious business, Ban's Spokespeople said they would not answer questions about Ban relatives who are not UN staff. (Then Ban and his USG Gallach evicted Inner City Press, NYT here, petition here.)
Now they won't answer basic questions about Ban relatives who ARE officials of the UN, promoted by Ban without recusal.
Now we note that a New York underwriter has put out an alert about “Joohyun Dennis Bahn” --
“Bulletin: NYSA000340
To:All New York State Agents, Office Counsel, and Managers
To:All New York State Agents, Office Counsel, and Managers
RE:Louis Cho, Joohyun Dennis Bahn, Dennis Bahn
Effective immediately, all policy-issuing offices are instructed not to accept any orders or close any transactions involving the people listed below without prior written approval of Stewart Title Insurance Company Agency Legal Services.
Louis Cho
Joohyun Dennis Bahn
Dennis Bahn
Joohyun Dennis Bahn
Dennis Bahn
In the event you have an open order on the people listed above please email,” etc. It's all in the family. So is the sense of entitlement: in the midst of this, only last month Ban's nephew posted this, about buying his (seemingly many) Mercedes:
"I have been purchasing my Mercedes from Benzel-Busch for many years especially with Giovanni Barbaro. This dealership provides great service and Giovanni is there to work with you all the time. Once he lent his own company car as a loaner when there wasn't one available. Great overall experience and I would highly recommend this dealership as well as Giovanni."
Ironically, Ban appointed a UN Special Enovy on Road Safety, Jean Todt, who is on the board of directors of a company which runs cars and even online poke, click here for that. A fish rots from the head.
When Inner City Press first reported on Ban accepting Sri Lankan military figure Shavendra Silva as an adviser, and the background to the screening of the Sri Lankan government's war crimes denial film "Lies Agreed To" inside the UN, the results included death threats and attempts to get Inner City Press out of the UN -- repeated, more disgustingly, in 2016.
In September 2016 an ally of Ban's son in law Chatterjee, Dalvir Singh, has called this series of articles, despite Ban's spokesman's stonewalling and refusal to answer, unfair -- "scurrilous, unfounded and mendacious accusations" by a "blogger."
He has re-upped his / Sid's / Ban's article on Huffington Post, saying Inner City Press - which Ban ousted and evicted -- is "a blogger of questionable credentials, poor ethics and a filthy office." Not anymore! Ban Ki-moon EVICTED Inner City Press in retaliation. NYT here;petition with links here. And see this newly edited 24-minute emerging documentary.
He has re-upped his / Sid's / Ban's article on Huffington Post, saying Inner City Press - which Ban ousted and evicted -- is "a blogger of questionable credentials, poor ethics and a filthy office." Not anymore! Ban Ki-moon EVICTED Inner City Press in retaliation. NYT here;petition with links here. And see this newly edited 24-minute emerging documentary.
Click here for Inner City Press' exclusive uploading of an attempt to move a UN office out of Kenya, reportedly to Bonn -- an attempt removed from the Internet, just as Chatterjee has gotten articles in the Indian and Kenyan media removed, while offering inducements in his father in law's Secretariat to prevent further such coverage of nepotism and his history.
Dalvir Singh wrote that Inner City Press, “a blogger of questionable credentials.... has hurled scurrilous, unfounded and mendacious accusations of human rights violations against Chatterjee. Major Chatterjee was a star member of my battalion, the 10th Para Special Forces, and at no time was my battalion or any member of my unit ever involved in any form of human rights violation.”
Thou dost protest too much. Beyond the Jaffna University heli-drop on October 11, 1987, there was the Jaffna hospital massacre ten days later on October 21, 1987. Here is the Wiki-time line (some say this may explain Ban's willingness to let the Saudi led Coalition off the UN's Children and Armed Conflict annex for attacks on health and other civilian facilities in Yemen)
"October 21, 1987 - 11h – The hospital environment came under cannon fire from the vicinity of Jaffna Dutch Fort and from overhead helicopters.
11h30 – A shell fell on the Outpatients Department (O.P.D) building.
13h – The chief consultant on duty was informed that Indian troops had been sighted at nearby Shanti Theatre Lane.
13h – The chief consultant on duty was informed that Indian troops had been sighted at nearby Shanti Theatre Lane.
13h30 – A shell fell on Ward 8, killing seven persons. The chief consultant who went out with another doctor to survey the situation spotted some empty cartridges, suggesting that persons had been firing from inside the hospital premises.
14h – The chief consultant's attention was drawn to the presence of some armed LTTE fighters inside the hospital. The chief consultant went with Dr. Ganesharatnam and asked the group to leave the premises. The leader of the group agreed and they left.
14h – The chief consultant's attention was drawn to the presence of some armed LTTE fighters inside the hospital. The chief consultant went with Dr. Ganesharatnam and asked the group to leave the premises. The leader of the group agreed and they left.
14h5 – The chief consultant was informed that another group of LTTE men had come inside. Dr. Ganesharatnam requested that the chief consultant go with another doctor to speak to the LTTE group and ask them to leave. It is not clear if the LTTE men ever left the hospital.
14h, 16h – A few staff members left the hospital for lunch through the back door.
16h – Staff heard shooting for 15-20 minutes from the vicinity of the gasoline station on Hospital Road. No retaliatory fire from the hospital was heard.
16h20 and onward – According to an eyewitness, the IPKF entered the hospital grounds through the front gate, came up along the corridor and warned everybody inside the hospital. The IPKF fired into the Overseer's office and other offices. The eyewitness saw many of his fellow workers killed, including the overseer and an ambulance driver. The eyewitness also saw a soldier throw a grenade at a man, killing several people.
According to another eyewitness, the IPKF came into the Radiology room, which was filled with people including the patients evacuated from Ward 8, and fired indiscriminately. Those who pretended to be dead by lying on the floor escaped the attack.
Throughout the night a few bursts of fire and grenade explosions were heard.
October 22, 1987 - 8h30 – Dr. Sivapathasundaram was seen walking out of the hospital with three nurses. They were walking with their hands up shouting, "We surrender, we are innocent doctors and nurses."[3] Shots were fired; Dr. Sivapathasundaram was killed and the nurses injured.
11h – An Indian Army officer turned up at one of the wards and was confronted by a doctor. The doctor explained the situation to the officer and later, with help of the officer, she called out to her colleagues and those who were injured to come out with their hands up. About 10 staff members who were alive were escorted out. They found their colleague Dr. Ganesharatnam dead. Later in the day all the dead bodies in the hospital were collected and burned."
Amnesty International's 1988 annual report cites reports of the Indian Peace Keeping Force's rapes of Tamil women and extra-judicial executions. Was it from his son in law that Ban took his advice on Sri Lanka, before sending Vijay Nambiar, brother of general Satish Nambiar, for the “finish” in 2009?
Amnesty International's 1988 annual report cites reports of the Indian Peace Keeping Force's rapes of Tamil women and extra-judicial executions. Was it from his son in law that Ban took his advice on Sri Lanka, before sending Vijay Nambiar, brother of general Satish Nambiar, for the “finish” in 2009?
More to the point, what is the relationship between Dalvir Singh's screed and Ban Ki-moon? Ban's son in law has grateful re-tweeted Dalvir Singh's article; beyond the continued stonewalling and eviction of Inner City Press, the Guardian wrote that the only time Ban got upset in their interview was in defense of his son in law Siddharth Chatterjee. So Ban Ki-moon is responsible... We'll have more on this.
Dalvir Singh says of Inner City Press "I have noted that he seems to be obsessed with Major Chatterjee since 2007 when his father-in-law Ban became the UN Secretary-General."
If true - that is, if not ghost written by Chatterjee, or his father in law's handlers, note the citation to the UN Censorship Alliance - why would this Indian military figure be "noting" Inner City Press' coverage since 2007? And doesn't this just indicate that Ban Ki-moon's ouster and eviction of Inner City Press in 2016, through Ban's USG Cristina Gallach, is blatant retaliation for coverage? This is censorship.
Dalvir Singh says of Inner City Press "I have noted that he seems to be obsessed with Major Chatterjee since 2007 when his father-in-law Ban became the UN Secretary-General."
If true - that is, if not ghost written by Chatterjee, or his father in law's handlers, note the citation to the UN Censorship Alliance - why would this Indian military figure be "noting" Inner City Press' coverage since 2007? And doesn't this just indicate that Ban Ki-moon's ouster and eviction of Inner City Press in 2016, through Ban's USG Cristina Gallach, is blatant retaliation for coverage? This is censorship.
