By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive follow up
UNITED NATIONS GATE, October 10 – At the UN of Secretary General Antonio Guterres, even the Security Council's website is a prize to quietly be given to a top official's spouse, with no competition or transparency. In May prior to being banned from the UN in July by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Inner City Press was 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. After its reporting, Inner City Press was approached by a senior UN person and told to drop the story, or else. Now, with Guterres having banned Inner City Press even from entering the UN, this update: Dear Matthew, There is credible information that Kyoko Shiotani, the ousted chief of staff of Department of Political Affairs head Rosemary di Carlo, is now being investigated by OIOS [the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, which has yet to respond to detailed complained of abuse by UN Security and the UNSG].
"Spared so far is the head of DPA Security Council Affairs Division, Hasmik Egian, who is Shiotani’s best friend in the UN and owes her D2 job to her, as well as being Shiotani’s husband’s employer. The one who gave the job to him on Shiotani’s urging.
"Why has there been no action taken against Egian? She is as much to blame for this as Kyoko. So far DiCarlo has taken no disciplinary action against her. Meanwhile Kyoko is telling everyone that she is on medical leave. Wrong. She was pushed out by DiCarlo to control the damage to DPA’s reputation caused by five years of Shiotani’s favoring of friends, and bullying of people she didn’t like. Keep up the (good) work, A concerned staff member." We'll have more on this. In the middle of a speech by Guterres on June 22, Inner City Press was pushed out of the UN by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and four UN Emergency Response Unit officers who, equipped with automatic weapons, refused to give their names. On July 3, after a written alert by Inner City Press to Guterres and his team including about "irregularities in even how the UNSC's website is run," a more violent ouster and 73 day ban since. (The ban was, without hearing or appeal, ostensibly made permanent by Guterres' head of "Global Communications" in an August 17 letter ruling that said written questions would still be answered. So on September 13, Inner City Press asked: "September 13-4: Please confirm that the husband of DPA's chief of staff, of whom Inner City Press has previously asked you and reported, did not have his contract renewed - since your office said his employment was entirely legitimate, this update should be given - and state who has replaced him, the nationality and how selected." And on September 14 from Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, this which we publish in full: "Regarding question 13-4, on the consultant, he was working on a project and his assignment ended. A position opened up to continue the project based on the work already done and there was an internal recruitment." From whistleblowers in DPA given anonymity due to fear of retaliation, this: "Love your blog. Keep it coming. Just to update you on what’s going on at DPA. The ordeal with the Security Council website continues and took an ironic twist. After you reported about the husband of the chief of staff getting the unnecessary P-5 job running the website, he is now apparently out. Word is that Di Carlo wanted the Dutchman gone, even after the spokesperson told you he was properly hired. Apparently, Di Carlo forced SCAD to hire an even less-qualified American, without interviewing that person. Di Carlo is American. So, DPA went from a Dutch scam to an American scam. There’s also still talk of getting OIOS or DSS to go after the people who leak(ed) to you, so be careful. A DPA staffer." We're always careful - anonymity assured, even as Guterres' guards rough us up. Note that DSS - Guterres' Department of Safety and Security - has still not acted on Inner City Press' formal complaint to USG Peter Drennan about targeted harassment and assault by Lt Ronald E. Dobbins but is said to have a role, without transparency or accountability, in banning Inner City Press from covering #UNGA73 - this after Inner City Press has written stories based on leaked documents about Drennan, about Matthew Sullivan, and others. Today's UN is corrupt, and unaccountable: there is no due process or transparency, only abuses of power. Earlier information from sources about the UN website corruption: "Further to your article, let me inform you that van Rosendaal was hired at a P5 level (something that takes a lifetime for career UN staff to accomplish). And that he won't be even making the web site, that will be done by another department, he will just show up to meetings from time to time. He has absolutely no expertise in design or development of web sites and will not make any contribution to the actual web site. His contract was again extended, and will probably get another extension after the new year. Similar sites done by DPI in the past were done with internal resources, no extra cost and usually by lower P level staff or G level staff. In addition to this he is asking for additional money to hire external contractors that are suppose to do some of the actual work." Inner City Press, from the bus stop in front of the UN Delegates Entrance where is it working since banned by Guterres, asked a follow up question, as it cannot due to UN Spokespeople given Guterres ban: "what has USG Rosemary DiCarlo (or anyone else) done about this, since it was exposed?" The reply: "Nothing much was changed. I believe only you reported it and they don't consider that as much negative exposure. So pretty much business as usual. This project is financially supported by the Dutch government and John is Dutch so... The total cost with his P5, the other offices involved and external contractors that John is hiring could reach probably close to half million dollars" or, we're told, double that. So it was simple for Guterres' (and it seems DiCarlo's) UN: do nothing about the blatant corruption, just rough up and ban the Press which alone reported on it. Finally on July 30, with Inner City Press still banned from the UN by Guterres for the 27th day in a row, Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq after the noon briefing Inner City Press could not attend emailed this, which we publish in full: "If there are allegations of misconduct they should be taken to the internal oversight offices and mechanisms. Unfounded allegations do not constitute a formal complaint. Mr. Van Rosendaal was hired via proper channels in accordance with standard procedures. He is fully qualified for the job. The Security Council website has not been “given” to anybody. Mr. Van Rosendaal is the project manager for SCAD. Other UN offices are also involved in this project. We will leave it up to the Member State to announce its involvement, but Mr. Van Rosendaal’s position is outside the budget provided by the Member State. His nationality had nothing to do with his hiring." So it seems that the information provided to Guterres and his team on July 25 was not even passed on by him or his team to OIOS. We'll have more on this OIOS - watch this site. Back on May 24, before it was banned from the UN noon briefing by Guterres, Inner City Press asked his 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.
"Why has there been no action taken against Egian? She is as much to blame for this as Kyoko. So far DiCarlo has taken no disciplinary action against her. Meanwhile Kyoko is telling everyone that she is on medical leave. Wrong. She was pushed out by DiCarlo to control the damage to DPA’s reputation caused by five years of Shiotani’s favoring of friends, and bullying of people she didn’t like. Keep up the (good) work, A concerned staff member." We'll have more on this. In the middle of a speech by Guterres on June 22, Inner City Press was pushed out of the UN by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and four UN Emergency Response Unit officers who, equipped with automatic weapons, refused to give their names. On July 3, after a written alert by Inner City Press to Guterres and his team including about "irregularities in even how the UNSC's website is run," a more violent ouster and 73 day ban since. (The ban was, without hearing or appeal, ostensibly made permanent by Guterres' head of "Global Communications" in an August 17 letter ruling that said written questions would still be answered. So on September 13, Inner City Press asked: "September 13-4: Please confirm that the husband of DPA's chief of staff, of whom Inner City Press has previously asked you and reported, did not have his contract renewed - since your office said his employment was entirely legitimate, this update should be given - and state who has replaced him, the nationality and how selected." And on September 14 from Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, this which we publish in full: "Regarding question 13-4, on the consultant, he was working on a project and his assignment ended. A position opened up to continue the project based on the work already done and there was an internal recruitment." From whistleblowers in DPA given anonymity due to fear of retaliation, this: "Love your blog. Keep it coming. Just to update you on what’s going on at DPA. The ordeal with the Security Council website continues and took an ironic twist. After you reported about the husband of the chief of staff getting the unnecessary P-5 job running the website, he is now apparently out. Word is that Di Carlo wanted the Dutchman gone, even after the spokesperson told you he was properly hired. Apparently, Di Carlo forced SCAD to hire an even less-qualified American, without interviewing that person. Di Carlo is American. So, DPA went from a Dutch scam to an American scam. There’s also still talk of getting OIOS or DSS to go after the people who leak(ed) to you, so be careful. A DPA staffer." We're always careful - anonymity assured, even as Guterres' guards rough us up. Note that DSS - Guterres' Department of Safety and Security - has still not acted on Inner City Press' formal complaint to USG Peter Drennan about targeted harassment and assault by Lt Ronald E. Dobbins but is said to have a role, without transparency or accountability, in banning Inner City Press from covering #UNGA73 - this after Inner City Press has written stories based on leaked documents about Drennan, about Matthew Sullivan, and others. Today's UN is corrupt, and unaccountable: there is no due process or transparency, only abuses of power. Earlier information from sources about the UN website corruption: "Further to your article, let me inform you that van Rosendaal was hired at a P5 level (something that takes a lifetime for career UN staff to accomplish). And that he won't be even making the web site, that will be done by another department, he will just show up to meetings from time to time. He has absolutely no expertise in design or development of web sites and will not make any contribution to the actual web site. His contract was again extended, and will probably get another extension after the new year. Similar sites done by DPI in the past were done with internal resources, no extra cost and usually by lower P level staff or G level staff. In addition to this he is asking for additional money to hire external contractors that are suppose to do some of the actual work." Inner City Press, from the bus stop in front of the UN Delegates Entrance where is it working since banned by Guterres, asked a follow up question, as it cannot due to UN Spokespeople given Guterres ban: "what has USG Rosemary DiCarlo (or anyone else) done about this, since it was exposed?" The reply: "Nothing much was changed. I believe only you reported it and they don't consider that as much negative exposure. So pretty much business as usual. This project is financially supported by the Dutch government and John is Dutch so... The total cost with his P5, the other offices involved and external contractors that John is hiring could reach probably close to half million dollars" or, we're told, double that. So it was simple for Guterres' (and it seems DiCarlo's) UN: do nothing about the blatant corruption, just rough up and ban the Press which alone reported on it. Finally on July 30, with Inner City Press still banned from the UN by Guterres for the 27th day in a row, Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq after the noon briefing Inner City Press could not attend emailed this, which we publish in full: "If there are allegations of misconduct they should be taken to the internal oversight offices and mechanisms. Unfounded allegations do not constitute a formal complaint. Mr. Van Rosendaal was hired via proper channels in accordance with standard procedures. He is fully qualified for the job. The Security Council website has not been “given” to anybody. Mr. Van Rosendaal is the project manager for SCAD. Other UN offices are also involved in this project. We will leave it up to the Member State to announce its involvement, but Mr. Van Rosendaal’s position is outside the budget provided by the Member State. His nationality had nothing to do with his hiring." So it seems that the information provided to Guterres and his team on July 25 was not even passed on by him or his team to OIOS. We'll have more on this OIOS - watch this site. Back on May 24, before it was banned from the UN noon briefing by Guterres, Inner City Press asked his 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.
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.
