UNITED NATIONS, January 26, more here, Video I here-- Minutes after the UN announced on November 26 the departure of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy would be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.
Now it appears the UK may be preparing itself -- unsuccessfully so far -- for the real possibility of losing the OCHA post. Multiple sources on January 26 told Inner City Press that the UK has sought to take over the Iraq UN Special Representative of the Secretary General post currently held by Nickolay Mladenov.
This was interpreted as related to the UK seeing the OCHA post going to another candidate, whether from Germany (Martin Kobler), Italy, the UAE or elsewhere.
But, sources on the UN's 38th floor tell Inner City Press, the answer to the UK successor to Mladenov in Iraq has been "no."
Inner City Press asked the UK mission for comment on both -- "the UK proposed nominee to succeed Nickolay Mladenov as SRSG in Iraq / UNAMI, and separately how this might be related to the competition to replace Valerie Amos atop OCHA" -- and had been told "Senior appointments are subject to open competition and are the decision of the Secretary-General."
Inner City Press is informed by multiple sources that it was directly to the Secretary General's office on the 38th floor that the kibosh was put on UK nominee for UNAMI in Iraq.
(Another no: On January 16, Inner City Press asked, will the aid groups OCHA works with play any role in the review? Video II here.)
Back on January 9, Inner City Press exclusively reported that the UK after first submitting only the name of Andrew Lansley has added too more, scarcely more qualified.
And, significantly, the Italy had nominated Emma Bonino, sources exclusively told Inner City Press, and Germany nominated Martin Kobler, currently the head of the UN's Mission in the Congo.
On January 14, Inner City Press was informed by sources of another candidate, a minister from the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah. The UAE has, it is noted,, the "Humanitarian City." And the UAE did give $1 million to OCHA's CERF last month.
Bonino is well regarded in international circles -- one source said she is "too strong a character" for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to choose, another notes, sadly, health concerns -- and Kobler after Iraq has his experience in the Congo, for better and worse. Either is more experience than the UK troika.
Beyond Lansley, whose qualification is a brief visit to UN health conferences, the other UK candidates sources tell Inner City Press are Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien.
On January 17, Inner City Press asked Ban's lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, transcript here:
Inner City Press: On the OCHA recruitment process to find the new person, I've been informed that the UK has submitted two additional names to make a total of three, that Italy, Germany and UAE have also put forward names and I'm sure others. So, is it a wide open process? Have other countries submitted more than one? Is it still a matter of looking, giving in the first instance a look to the UK of those three names? What of the request by a number of highly respected humanitarian NGOs [non-governmental organizations] that the inter-agency standing committee, i.e. these NGOs that are outside of the UN system, be given some role in the review process? And I wanted to know what’s the response of the Secretary to that request.
Spokesman Dujarric: Obviously, the recruitment process has been to get the best possible person. Not for the first time, you seem to have more information than I do. I have to say, we will not go into the details of the recruitment process. As we said earlier, a call went out for names, for candidates. A recruitment process is ongoing but the Secretary-General is solely responsible and it is being done under his authority.
Inner City Press: In previous cases, even when there's no short list given out, there's a review panel, and I guess the request… since it's been made semi-publicly in a petition, especially for a job that involves providing aid in conjunction with NGOs all over the world--
Spokesman Dujarric: I think the Secretary-General and his senior staff are well aware of what the job implies. And one could argue that every senior job in the UN involves working with outside partners. The recruitment is being handled by the Secretary-General and his staff.
So... no. Another no.
Could the UK really lose this Under Secretary General post? It's looking more likely. If Kobler were chosen, would fellow German Angela Kane have to leave? We'll have more on this.
UNITED NATIONS, January 19, more here -- When the UK's David Cameron put forward dubious candidate(s) to replace Baroness Valerie Amos as the UN's chief humanitarian officer and Inner City Press asked if there will be any outside review, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman replied that Ban can and will do such reviews himself.
The reason some are not convinced -- including for example the more than 80 non-governmental organizations who have written to Ban demanding a credible independent review of OCHA candidates -- is exemplified on Ban's schedule for the afternoon of January 19.
From Ban's schedule: "3:30 p.m Ms. Carolyn Boykin, Secretary-General’s Representative for United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund Asset Investments"
Many people raised concerned to Ban, including that Boykin "served as CIO of the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System.. before leaving abruptly."
Why? Here's from the Baltimore Sun:
Boykin also disclosed that Chapman had told her as far back as August 2001 that a money manager he selected had invested in a Chapman-controlled company.
She didn't act on that information, she said, because she thought Chapman meant the manager had invested personal funds, not state pension money - a misinterpretation Chapman yesterday called "incredible."
"What else could I have been talking about?" Chapman said. Boykin declined to comment for this article.
Declining to comment? This is a badge of honor in today's UN: witness Herve Ladsous, video here, UK coverage here.
Meanwhile UN Pension Fund staff informed Inner City Press they are told that they cannot complain to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services without first telling the very people of whom they would be complaining.
Not only did Ban go ahead and appoint, and today meet with, Boykin - there has been no public explanation of why this is ok, why the above was ignored.
Who will it be on OCHA? We will continue to pursue this.
UNITED NATIONS, December 1-- The UN finally confirmed what has been known since the summer, that Sigrid Kaag would replace Derek Plumbly as UN Special Coordinator on Lebanon.
Back on September 4 when Kaag held her final press conference at the UN on Syria chemical weapons, some journalists congratulated her - and then went to ask why the US is not intervening in Syria.
So too, some say, is the UK's Andrew Lansley, nominated by UK Prime Minister David Cameron to replace Valerie Amos atop UN OCHA. Those who like the fait accompli nature of Kaag's posting in Lebanon, for a Dutch government which abruptly withdrew Koenders from Mali amid both chaos and Ebola, are in no position to question Lansley. Inner City Press however did, also on December 1, here.
Back at its 42nd meeting, the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons' Executive Council asked that OPCW's Director-General start preparatory work for the conclusion of a contract without calling for tenders, quotations, or proposals with a commercial company" to destroy 12 chemical weapons production facilities in Syria.Here, at Paragraph 4.2
That is a set-aside or sole source contract. Inner City Press on July 7, since OPCW-UN Joint Mission head Sigrid Kaag was not in New York but rather Cyprus asked UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq to explain why a sole source contract would be used. Video here.
Back on June 8, Haq did not permit Inner City Press to asked OPCW's Kaag a question. But on July 7 on the set aside contract he said, Ask OPCW.
Inner City Press asked, isn't some money that the UN raised or helped raise to be used for this sole source contract? Haq referred to Kaag's previous reporting, and reiterated, Ask OPCW. Video here.
OPCW on June 8 announced:
“The Norwegian vessel Taiko, which is participating in the multinational maritime operation to remove chemicals from Syria, departed today for Finland and the United States to deliver its cargo of chemicals for destruction in those countries.”
Unsaid, and UNanswered, is that the destination in the US is Port Arthur, Texas, specifically a facility of the France-based multinational Veolia which has recently been fined for negligent chemical destruction practices.
Maybe that negligence can be distinguished from Veolia's upcoming work. But the UN and OPCW have refused to answer the question.
On June 4 when Sigrid Kaag came to take questions about the UN - OPCW Weapons mission in Syria, no question was taken about violations by OPCW contractor Veolia.
The UN's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq gave questions, all in a row, to Al Arabiya, BBC, Fox and Al Jazeera. At the noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Veolia's violations in Texas. He said to ask OPCW. The request that OPCW probe in Ukraine reports of the use of chemicals including chloroform in Odessa remains unacted on.
She told Inner City Press to "ask the OPCW," which ran the tender.
Now the OPCW's report to the Security Council, to be issued as a document of the Security Council under symbol S/2014/368 (OPCW EC-M-42/DG.1) says "from 30 April to 2 May, a visit took place in the United States at the Veolia ES Technical Solutions, L.L.C., in Port Arthur, Texas, selected for the disposal of Priority 2 inorganic chemicals through the solicitation process conducted by the OPCW."
But we now report and link to: Veolia's Port Arthur facility has been fined $13, 500 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for repeated carbon monoxide emission violations. Click here for the report, which cites other problems with equipment.
Background: In the OPCW tender, 14 companies submitted bids. On February 14 the OPCW told the press there were two winners:
Veolia stands accused of illegal operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including waste disposal in the illegally occupied Jordan valley, North of the Yafit settlement; waste water treatment in the illegal Israeli settlement of Modi’in Illit; bus service to illegal settlements and Jerusalem Light Rail / tramway. h/t In April 2010 the UN Human Rights Council declared the tramway and its operations to be illegal (A/HRC/RES/13/7 of 14 April 2010).
So how did the OPCW select Veolia? There was a one page press release sent to the media, "reported" (or merely repeated, without any of the above) by Reuters and others, not mentioning that France, where Veolia is actually headquartered at the parent level, had contributed no money at all to the OPCW or UN trust funds on destroying Syria's chemical weapons.
On transparency back on February 6, after OPCW-UN mission chief Sigrid Kaag briefed the UN Security Council about Syria chemical weapons, Inner City Press asked her about her Mission's trust funds, as it did back on January 8.
Kaag said, "I knew you'd ask that," and said it should go online soon. Video here and embedded below. After 6 pm, Inner City Press ran an update with the chart, which shows for example that to the UN Trust Fund, Japan has pledged $9 million -- but has as of yet provided no money.
In terms of cash, Kaag's native Netherlands has provided more (barely) that the United States: $2,062,500 versus $2 million from the US.
The OPCW Trust Fund for Syria is denominated in Euros. The European Union is the largest donor, and several EU members have also contributed in their own name - but not France.
A separate OPCW Syria Trust Fund for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons has more in unpaid pledges then monies actually paid. Among those yet to come through are once again Japan, the aforementioned Canada, the EU, Australia, India, Italy and South Korea.
There is the maritime component (see chart) and then this:
In addition to their contribution to the OPCW trust fund for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons, Canada contributed another CAD 5 million (almost US$ 4.7 million) for the destruction operations on board the vessel MV Cape Ray. Italy has indicated that the port of Gioia Tauro will be made available for transloading of priority chemicals from the cargo vessels onto the MV Cape Ray. Germany has indicated it will dispose of approximately 370 tons of effluent generated through the hydrolysis of the priority chemicals. The United Kingdom has indicated that it will destroy two binary chemical weapon components at a commercial facility.
And so the only Permanent Five member of the Security Council not to contribute... is France.
Inner City Press continues to await from the UN a response to repeated questions submitted about the Joint Mission's chief of staff Abdullah Fadil. Sources say he has asked UNTSO, where he worked before the Joint Mission, to respond in some way.
But the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, which has had these questions in writing since before Christmas 2013, has provided no answers at all. And there are more questions ready, particularly in light of a motion for disclosure to force the SG represented by ALS to give us access to the reports of OIOS, the Ombudsman Office and CDU that has been filed in the UN Dispute Tribunal.
For now, consider the issued raised, below and in this unresponded to follow up question:
"As a follow up to the not-answered [earlier question, see below], please confirm or deny that Michael Antoine has also transferred from UNTSO to the UN-OPCW joint mission on chemical weapons in Syria, but that he is in Cyprus; please explain his duties to jump from FS4 to FS6; please describe the Joint Mission's interview and recruitment practices."
Previously Inner City Press had asked, without answer:
"Please confirm or deny that Abdullah Fadil is with the UN-OPCW joint mission on chemical weapons in Syria, that while at UNTSO he managed to have Ministry of Foreign Affairs cards from both Israel and Lebanon, and separately that he is under investigation by OIOS and/or other UN bodies for recruitment irregularities and SEA."
By stonewalling, and by the practices described in the below, which are evident elsewhere and to the very top of the UN system, the UN credibility is being damaged. At least questions should be answered.
While we have more, here's from the underlying whistleblower's initial complaint giving rise to the question, about the current chief of staff of UN - OPCW mission for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Syria:
I am an avid reader of the Inner City Press. My numerous Missions with the UN can confirm what your many articles state: rampant corruption, nepotism, and recruitment manipulation at all levels in the UN. Sadly, this conduct is only increasing. Within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) it is not "what you know" but it’s "who you know." There is an absolute absence of accountability. It is often said that nobody gets fired unless you are a whistle-blower or suspected of bringing the UN into disrepute by exposing corruption; usually after becoming exasperated trying to deal with it via due process. After speaking to many staff members, I am compelled to report a matter that concerns me. The mission/UN is failing to take action and I feel that it is time that external scrutiny is required.
1. Mr. Abdullah Fadil, a Somali (now Canadian), is a member of the UNTSO Mission in Israel. He is an international staff Member at the level of Director (D1) and occupies the position of Chief Mission Support (CMS). He is the most senior civilian in the mission. As CMS he has control over all administrative functions, most notably, finance, procurement, and recruitment. He previously held similar positions in Kosovo, Khartoum and Darfur... He is well known in the DPKO system and there are numerous allegations against Mr. Fadil presently being investigated by the Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS), Ombudsman Office, and the Complaints and Discipline Unite (CDU). These allegations range from sexual harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), to manipulating recruiting to allow friends (internally) and externally to jump recruitment rosters. This includes managing recruiting panels and overseeing the selection process.
All UNTSO staff recruited in the UNTSO Mission in the three years he has been the CMS are either former girlfriends, absolute loyal friends from former missions, or family members. The method of control is to provide the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) with his handpicked short list along with a verbal directive as to whom he wished to be selected. This practice tended to exclude competent staff as he put loyalty to himself as the primary selection criteria. This allowed him to have a foundation of very loyal staff that he could rely upon. Senior managers within the mission could not recruit competent staff. Managers who voiced their concern were either moved sideways or resigned.
4. Due to these many complaints he was asked to take a temporary assignment to Syria (OPCW) to reduce the level of discontent in the mission.
5. The allegations include obstructing an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) into the fraudulent use of tax free PX fuel cards (Israel) by national staff and some international staff. His obstruction included briefing the suspect prior to being interviewed by investigators. His intent was cover up the extent of the fraud by International Staff (friends) who had aided and abetted the fraud. This allegation also included misuse of duty free products (alcohol) to pay rent in disputed territories.
6. A most egregious act that must be investigated, and which should result in his termination from the UN, is the fraudulent acquisition of a MOFA card from the government of Lebanon. The circumstances are that Mr. Fadil is located in Jerusalem and holds a valid Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) card which grants him residency in Israel. To qualify for this status, one is required to reside/hold residency in that country due to one’s UN official status. The process requires that one file a signed request to the Host Government for a MOFA card as an official of the United Nations. The signature verifies the accuracy of the document and information provided. One must include an address, UN letter of appointment, and photographs. The MOFA card grants certain privileges and benefits as a member of the UN.
In addition to the Israeli MOFA card provided to Mr. Fadil by the Israeli Government, he was recently found to have a MOFA card from the Government of Lebanon. Inquiries confirm that two years ago he fraudulently applied for MOFA status in Lebanon stating that he was a resident in Lebanon. This is not true as he and family reside in Jerusalem. He has also misrepresented himself to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Fadil has been using that same Lebanese MOFA card in Lebanon to obtain benefits. In short, he has two MOFA cards; one for Israel and one Lebanon. When this fraud becomes known to the governments of Israel and Lebanon they might apply a high level of scrutiny to new legitimate applicants. This could have a significant impact on UN staff members and UNMOs applying for MOFA cards within Lebanon and Israel. He has placed us all at disadvantage by giving both governments cause to delay and further investigate applications. He has placed the UN in a difficult position. Hence the cover up.
We will have more. There are a number of other Press questions long-pending in Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson, never responded to, stonewalled. Watch this site.
UNITED NATIONS, December 1, video here -- Minutes after the UN announced the departure of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos on November 26, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy will be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.
While Haq insisted that the position is "open to people from any region," transcript below, the disposition of the top jobs in UN Peacekeeping (four Frenchmen in a row) and Political Affairs (two consecutive Americans) indicates otherwise.
Then from the UK came word that Prime Minister David Cameron is tapping the man he in July "sacked as Health Secretary and Leader of the House: Andrew Lansley" and "has reportedly refused to come up with two alternative candidates, as requested by the UN Secretary General."
Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about this on December 1. Video here. He declined to comment on what "may or may not be private diplomatic communications."
Dujarric, when asked by Inner City Press on December 1, insisted that Ban will put out a call to all member states to nominate candidates. We'll see -- but if true, why wasn't this done before Ban made Herve Ladsous the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping?
While the UN refuses to be transparent about this "please submit three candidates" form of limited competition for positions already designated by nationality, it is what happened with UN Peacekeeping, multiple sources have told Inner City Press.
But even this is often waived. It is UNclear if when B. Lynn Pascoe left as head of the UN Department of Political Affairs, the US put forward anyone beyond Jeffrey Feltman, who has the job.
For Peacekeeping, as Inner City Press exclusively reported in July 2011, when Alain Le Roy left France put forward three candidates and Ban Ki-moon selected Jerome Bonnafont, then France's ambassador to India.
After Bonnafont started bragging about having the job, and Inner City Press reported such boast based on sourcing in India and closer, Team Ban decided that Bonnafont was not the team player they were looking for.
But then president Nicolas Sarkozy, angered, refused to put forward another trio of candidates, instead "dumping" on the UN Herve Ladsous, who had been rejected by Kofi Annan during a previous one-of-three process. Ban Ki-moon accepted these damaged goods, and Ladsous has gone on to cover up rapes by the Congolese Army and now in Darfur, and to openly refuse to answer Press questions,video compilation here, UK New Statesman coverage here.
How would Lansley be? And how is the UN in such decay? Even for the Secretary General position there wassome limited competition.
One reason the UN is in such decay is that few questions are asked, and even fewer are answered, at the UN. Here's the UN's transcript of what Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq on November 26:
Inner City Press: on the Under-Secretary-General position for OCHA, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, could describe what the process for recruitment will be in the context that many people say that at least the top three jobs are pretty much assigned by country, for Humanitarian Affairs that was John Holmes and then Amos; the US had [B. Lynn] Pascoe, now Mr. Feltman; that France has had peacekeeping four times in a row. Is this job going to be put in The Economist? Are you seeking candidates from any Member State that chooses to step forward, or is it essentially designated for the United Kingdom?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: The idea that there are spots that are designated is more a popular myth than reality. As you know, many of the positions that have been said to be earmarked for this or that country have not over time proven to be that way. There was an idea that Political Affairs was reserved for someone from the United Kingdom. It hasn’t been that way for quite some time. There’s been talk of how different agencies are headed by Americans or other nationalities, for example, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), and over time you see that hasn’t held true. That’s the case with this position, as well. We’re seeking applicants from every area.
Inner City Press: Will it be like in The Economist? Is there going to be some public process to seek candidates?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: We are seeking candidates. We don’t talk so much about the appointment process as it’s in procedure, but certainly it’s open to people from any region.
We'll stay on this.
There have been rumblings, noted by Inner City Press, of DPA chief Jeffrey Feltman leaving -- and of the US perhaps trading Political Affairs for Peacekeeping. But that theory seems to have been that US State Department Number Three Wendy Sherman would move up to William Burns' deputy spot, opening her position for the return of Feltman.
Now that the Obama administration has put Tony Blinken into the State Department Deputy post, as one insider told ICP, “Feltman stays at the UN.”
Outgoing UN Security Council president Gary Quinlan of Australia not only confirmed receipt of the letter - he circulated it to the other Council members. A press officer of UK mission to the UN told Inner City Press, "I can confirm that we received the letter indirectly." We'll have more on this, and on Amos' work while at the UN, and perhaps reason(s) for leaving, including as, like Lansley, may related to UK politics.
We might also suggest, if the UN under Ban is to remain so captured by Permanent Members of the Security Council, a more deserving British candidate, in connection with the April 2015 arrival of Matthew Rycroft atop the UK Mission to the UN.
On November 25, it was Quinlan and not Amos who took question after Amos' briefing on Syria. How much will Amos speak, publicly, before her departure at the end of March? Much, is the hope and goal of the Free UN Coalition for Access. Watch this site.
UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- A Syria humanitarian access Presidential Statement was adopted by the UN Security Council on Wednesday that establishes some positive precedents while having holes in implementation.
Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg, which along with Australia drafted the statement, if she thought that armed groups like ISIS, threatening aid workers in Jarabulus and in al Raqqa, will listen to the statement. Video here, from Minute 7:55.
Lucas said that Valerie Amos, the UN's top humanitarian who was standing next to the stakeout, could answer on with whom the UN is in contact. Lucas also said that, contrary to reports, no one had "broken silence" on the draft statement. (Several Western-side media reported Russia had broken silence.)
Amos said that UN humanitarians reach out as much as possible, where they have a presence.
But does the UN yet have access, Inner City Press followed up, to al Raqqa?
Amos conceded, we do not have a physical presence there.Video here from Minute 6:42. So what is this Presidential Statement's effect there?
Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant about this statement having been drafted by two non-Permanent members. Video here from Minute 3:50.
Lyall Grant said this was a good thing, and that "contrary to popular opinion, the Permanent members" encourage the non Permanent members to take the lead.
But this has NOT been true on the Security Council's Africa trip to the Great Lakes, starting tomorrow. For that, Inner City Press which went on such trips in 2008 and 2010 was rejected this time; UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky admitted on camera that the decision was made by (Permanent member) France, as the "mission in the lead on the whole trip." Inner City Press channel YouTube video here, from Minute 0:41.
So colonial powerhouse France was allowed to hand-pick the scribes for what is now called its Genocide Joyride:Reuters (whose bureau chief has spied for the UN) andVoice of America. But the work of Australia and Luxembourg as drafters must be praised -- as must Azerbaijan's, as amended.
Inner City Press asked October's Council president Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan to confirm that the addition, from the September 28 draft to the October 2 adoption, of a line about the territorial integrity not only of Syria but all of "all other States affected by the Syrian conflict" was his country's doing, referring to Armenia not re-settling Armenians from Syria in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mehdiyev and his deputy said yes, it was, and that they got another change. And that... is a change. France's sleazy handpicking of scribes for its Genocide Joyride is a blast from the past, and the silence or acquiescence of other Council members bodes badly. We will have more on this.
Footnote: Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant why the provision for cross-border aid had not been applied, despite two years of requests, to Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan in Sudan. He replied that there are "blockages" and perhaps this Syria statement might change that. We'll see. Watch this site.
UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- Amid talk of missile strikes on Syria, the UN has bristled at questions about how many of its international staff are leaving the country.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said that even after the chemical weapons team left, more than a thousand UN staff remained. He did not distinguish between national and international staff -- a distinction the UN did make after the earthquake in Haiti.
Instead, after US President Barack Obama announced Saturday he will take his intention for military action on Syria to the US Congress, Nesirky's office put out a list of the alphabet soup of 16 UN agencies in Syria:
World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), and Office of the Joint Special Representative (OJSR).
This list did not include the International Organization for Migration (IOM), though the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs did include IOM on its list of UN agencies, saying IOM is part of the "UN team."
OCHA also produced a list of international NGOs active in Syria, but then declined to answer Inner City Press' questions about threats by the rebel ISIS group made to NGOs in Jarabulus. So the UN speaks when it wants, for its own reasons. Watch this site.
UNITED NATIONS, August 21 -- On chemical weapons, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says his Swedish envoy Ake "Sellstrom is in discussions with the Syrian Government," Sellstrom's team's mandate is only to determine IF chemical weapons were used, not by whom.
Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey on Wednesday about this problem, and to explain Sellstrom's statements to Swedish news agency TT -- does this supersede his office's note that "the team will not be speaking to the media"?
Del Buey replied no, all questions should be through his office -- apparently unless you are Swedish media, or TT -- and that if the mandate changed, he'd tell Inner City Press.Video here and embedded below.
But what to make of the emergency Security Council meeting set for 3 pm, if Sellstrom can't say who used weapons? Or would Sellstrom tell TT his opinions?
Inner City Press asked Del Buey about the ISIS rebels telling humanitarian aid agencies to leave northern Syria. Del Buey said he hadn't heard of it. The Free UN Coalition for Access had already asked, but now Inner City Press has sent these questions to OCHA in Geneva as well:
1) Is OCHA aware of this? 2) Does OCHA, ideally Baroness Amos, have a comment on it?
3) Does OCHA have a plan, or taking some action?
Also, on Somalia, is there any plan to continuing running the health care facilities which MSF is leaving? Separately, any OCHA comment on MSF's now further explained reasons for leaving, including lack of support from the Somali government?
Like Del Buey said, when we have an answer we'll tell you.
Del Buey said when we have an answer, we'll tell you. But it's a simple question to answer. Maybe they'll tell another media?
Inner City Press asked Del Buey about the death in Congolese custody of Tjostolv Moland, and the continued custody of Norwegian - British citizen Joshua French. Del Buey said the UN is aware but has no comment. Why not?
After UN special rapporteur Quintana was attacked by Buddhist extremists in Myanmar and said the government did not offer protection, Inner City Press asked Del Buey what the UN thought. He said he would asked envoy Vijay Nambiar. We'll see.
Was this an ad hoc Department of Public Information restriction or a new policy, perhaps agreed to with their partner, as their anti-free speech, no sign but UNCA policywas?
