By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, May 24 – At the UN, even the Security Council's website is a prize to quietly be given to a top official's spouse, with no competition or transparency. Inner City Press is exclusively informed by whistleblowers that Department of Political Affairs chief of staff Kyoko Shiotani's husband John van Rosendaal has been brought in to run the Council's website, as if the UN and its Security Council were a small business suffused in nepotism. On May 24, as part of its exclusive reporting, Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press: people that work in your UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) have been confused and surprised to see, according to them, that the husband of the Chief of Staff, Kyoko Shiotani, a John van Rosendaal, has been designated to run the Security Council's website. They… they found it kind of strange because there was… there was no need for it. He was brought in without any competition, according to them, and it seemed like a classic case of nepotism and affecting the Security Council itself. So, I'm wondering… maybe you don't have the information at your fingertips, but can you find out how it is that… that it's… I've seen this thing. He's now called a senior programme officer after being a self-employed consultant.
Spokesman: I'm not aware of the case, and I'm sure all the rules were followed. Carole?
Inner City Press: How are you so sure?" This was not answered. On LinkedIn, van Rosendaal lists himself as “Strategic Communications Consultant at United Nations” as well as Self-Employed, Photographic Wanderings.
Spokesman: I'm not aware of the case, and I'm sure all the rules were followed. Carole?
Inner City Press: How are you so sure?" This was not answered. On LinkedIn, van Rosendaal lists himself as “Strategic Communications Consultant at United Nations” as well as Self-Employed, Photographic Wanderings.
Here is van Rosendaal's website, Photographic Wanderings dot com: “Professionally, I’ve worked as a journalist, media company manager and communications consultant. I plan to combine my passion and my expertise to build this site into something interesting, useful and entertaining. I’m originally Dutch but left Holland in 1989. Since then I’ve mostly lived in or close to New York, with stints in Switzerland, Cyprus and Austria.”
He's a communications strategist with 39 Twitter followers. Now he's to run the Security Council's website. Why not?
Inner City Press asks, how did this "self employed communications consultant" (with 39 Twitter followers) become, as his signature block now says, "Senior Program Officer, Security Council Affairs Division"?
This is the UN of Antonio Guterres. Rosemary DiCarlo has just taken over at DPA. Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric banned Inner City Press from covering the ceremony where Dicarlo presumably pledged to serve the public. It is impossible to know since UNTV did not film it and Inner City Press was then and now banned from its own livestream Periscope broadcast on Guterres' 38th floor.
Now what will DiCarlo, or perhaps despite his spokesman's knee-jerk defenses of and evictions for anything the UN does Guterres who is already charged with overseeing cover ups of sexual harassment in the IAEA, do? Watch this site.
