UN Banned Staff From Women's March, WFP Reversed, Now Waffles, Gallach on Samantha Power's Election Night Party

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 – UN system officials told their staff not to attend the "Global Women's March" on Saturday, January 21. Below is an email from the UN World Food Program.

  After Inner City Press published and Periscoped about it and asked four WFP spokespeople about it, by email and phone, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq at the January 20 noon briefing answered Inner City Press that WFP's Ertharin Cousin, from Chicago, reversed her agency's Ethics Officer and said staff can march. 

But then just before 6 pm another email went out, further muddying the waters before the Women's March and showing again that Cristina Gallach (and some other USGs) have violated the UN's rules.

 The new UN email:

"To: OAH, DPKO, UN Funds Programs and Tribunals, HQ NY Secretariat
From: BROADCAST-UNHQ/NY/UNO
Date: 01/20/2017 05:57PM
Subject: Message from the Ethics Office: Public Pronouncements and Political Activities

Recently, there have been a number of questions regarding public pronouncements including participating in political activities and social media discussions.  The questions include participation in tomorrow’s Women’s March on Washington. Are such activities in line with our status as international civil servants?

In this respect, we would like to remind staff of their obligations as international civil servants.

The private activities of UN staff members must remain within the limits of the Organization’s core values as reflected in Staff Regulation 1.2 and Staff Rule 1.2.  While the Organization respects the inviolability of your personal views and convictions, including your political and religious convictions, as well as your right to freedom of expression, we must ensure that the expression of those views and convictions do not adversely reflect on our status, or on the integrity, independence and impartiality that are required by that status.

As international civil servants, we are called upon to uphold and respect the principles set out in the Charter, including faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.  Nonetheless, as international civil servants, our Standards of Conduct (para 9 and 33) make clear that we do not have the freedom of private persons to take sides or to express our beliefs publicly on sensitive political matters, either individually or as members of a group nor can we criticize or try to discredit a Government.

Public pronouncements, which could have an impact on our independence and impartiality as international civil servants, come in many forms including but not limited to:

-marches, protests, demonstrations;
-online petitions:
-social media activity:
-group walks/activities.

Accordingly, participating in certain activities, especially those with political overtones, may be viewed as incompatible with our status as international civil servants."

 Haq would not answer if UN Under Secretaries General on Samantha Power's election night "party" complied with the impartiality even Cousins claimed. We'll have more on this.

Here's WFP's email:

From: Catherine COLMAY [at] wfp.org on behalf of Bonnie GREEN
Date: Thursday 19 January 2017 at 16:36
Subject: Guidance on Public Political Activities

Message addressed in bcc to All HQ Staff
On behalf of Bonnie Green, Director, Ethics Office

Dear HQ Colleagues,

I am writing about the Women’s March in Rome, scheduled for this Saturday, the 21st January 2017, and our obligations as employees of an international civil organization.

Although the Women’s March in Rome has many goals including respect for civil rights, the March in Rome is part of the “Global Women’s March” conceived as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States and is intended “…to send a bold message to the new US administration on their first day in office.” [As per Women’s March in Rome Facebook page and other collateral.] 

Whereas our personal political convictions remain inviolate, while we work for WFP, we do not have the freedom of private persons to take sides or express personal political views publicly, either individually or as members of a group. As such, it is not appropriate for us to participate in the Women’s March in Rome or any of the marches as part of the “Global Women’s March”.

The Standards of Conduct for the international Civil Service may be accessed in English,French, Spanish and Arabic, and feel free to pass by the Ethics Office (1Y08) for hard copies in any of the languages.  

As always, the Ethics Office is available to you for additional guidance in person or at WFP.ETHICS [at] wfp.org.

Regards,
Bonnie E. Green
Director and Chief Ethics Officer
Ethics Office
World Food Programme

   While there is much to be said about this, what is clear to Inner City Press is that this eleventh hour face- (or funding-) saving attempt exposes again the double standards at work in the UN.

  While UN system line staff are told not to participate in this Women's March on a Saturday, UN Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach proudly retweeted of outgoing US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power's UN-heavy "election night party."

  Gallach also, among other things, highlighted the critique of Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson reportedly considering not having a traveling press corps. But Ban Ki-moon, who as UN Secretary General, hired Gallach to communicate for him, did not have a traveling press corp, and rarely held press conferences.

  This same Cristina Gallach had her Department of Public Information use public funds to pay a trainer to tell non-governmental groups accredited to the UN that Detroit, Michigan is a third rate city" in "flyover country," here.

  This while Gallach used public money to travel to her native Barcelona to receive a personal award, and refused to answer or explain about it.

  As to the UN's comment on any of this, now Ban's holdover spokesman at the UN, Stephane Dujarric, has answered only two and a half of 22 questions Inner City Press submitted, and that on a delay. Whatever is provided now will be published.

 In full disclosure Cristina Gallach is also the UN official who, as Inner City Press inquiredinto her and now-gone UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's connections to the corruption scandals surrounding the UN - the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng bribery case (Gallach did no due diligence, UN audit at Para 37-40 and 20b), and now the indictments against Ban Ki-moon's brother and nephew, who worked for the UN's landlord Colliers International - evicted Inner City Press without any due process, and restricts it still, with no right to appeal. 

We'll have more on this.

Did WFP Cousin's "Chicago Friend" at DIA Pull Ads from Paper, As WFP Denies?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 4 -- After the spending of the World Food Program's executive director Ertharin Cousin, on housing and a Thanksgiving trip to Chicago were profiled last November by Inner City Press, the agency's spokesman Steve Taravella declined to answer Press follow up questions, for example about the Palm in Dubai.

   But there was, apparently, follow up.

The Italian Insider, the only English language daily in Italy, picked up Inner City Press' story. Then a funny thing happened. A planned ad campaign for an Italian tour by a band sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Arts was pulled from the Italian Insider.

The go-between for the band, called The Flutter and Wow, e-mailed the Italian Insider:

----- Messaggio Inoltrato -----
Da : theflutterandwow.gigs
A : Italianinsider.it
Oggetto : Re: Payment Processed and Contract Signed
Data : Fri, 4 Jan 2013 06:21:47 +0100

we have a HUGE problem. One of the Board members of the DIA read on your website an article about the head of something called the food program and is fuming mad. They are close friends from Chicago. I have been summoned for a meeting tomorrow and I sense there are some very pissed off people at DIA.

There was more -- after his meeting with DIA, the go-between asked the Italian Insiders' editor if he was "a right winger" or British. The editor surmises that Ertharin Cousin's "friend from Chicago" on the DIA board viewed even a pick-up for the story about her spending as "right wing."

It took two days to get an answer from WFP, but when it came it was absolute denial:

   WFP spokesman Steve Taravella replied to Inner City Press, "As to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the executive director has had no interactions with this organization, and has not been able to determine whether she has met any member who serves on its board. She has no knowledge of the actions you describe."

  Why would the band's go-between pull the advertising citing a DIA board member who is a "close friend" of Ertharin Cousin? Why would this go-between as reflected by multiple e-mails push to get the pick-up of Inner City Press' article taken down, or the belated comments of WFP spokesman Taravella played up?

 Here is a list of the Detroit Institute of Arts (large) board.

Inner City Press asked WFP some other questions, not only about Ertharin Cousin's trip tomorrow to the University of Georgia but also about the Central African Republic. Here are those answers:

-Central African Republic: In December 2012, three WFP warehouses were looted, with the loss of more than 400 metric tons of food. Some staff were temporarily relocated and operations were briefly suspended. In January UNHAS flights (managed by WFP) resumed, and WFP resumed food distributions. On 22 Jan., WFP distributed 80 metric tons to approximately 5,000 Congolese refugees in the Zemio camp. Deliveries and regular activities are ongoing.

-Executive Director Ertharin Cousin has been invited to speak at the University of Georgia Law School while she is in the United States on other business next week. The university is picking up her travel costs from New York, as well as her lodging expense.

-South Sudan: Access remains a key issue and WFP supports the UN in advocating and negotiating for access to areas controlled by the SPLM-North in both South Kordofan and Blue Nile. In South Kordofan in 2012, we reached more than 172,000 people with emergency food rations in nine locations. About 73,000 of those came from SPLM-North areas. In Blue Nile in 2012, we provided monthly food vouchers to some 2,700 people in the capital Damazine.

Exclusive: WFP High Spending on Ertharin Cousin's Housing & Chicago Trip, Palm in Dubai, Golden Parachutes

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 29, updated -- World Food Program executive director Ertharin Cousin today issued a statement on WFP's assistance to people living with AIDS in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

  Earlier in the month before US Thanksgiving her office issued video of Cousin visiting Syrian refugees in Zaatari Camp in Jordan.

   But WFP has not answered a series of questions about its and Cousin's spending which concerned WFP staff have exclusively provided to Inner City Press, seeking to reform what they see as injury to their agency by waste and even fraud.

   Sources and documents obtained by Inner City Press show WFP Executive Director Cousin asking for an increase of nearly €24,000 euros for her housing allowance, up to €160,000 per year.

   They show use of WFP funds for a recent Thanksgiving trip to Chicago which, several WFP staff say, was not mostly WFP work.

  Click here for itinary of the November 20-25 trip, of which a WFP staff member complained to Inner City Press that WFP's "Executive Director has also taken it upon herself to fly (business class no less) on the UN’s dime to spend thanksgiving at home in her hometown of Chicago, stay at a nice hotel, attend a homecoming reception, and speak at the International Law Committee -- none of which has anything remotely to do with WFP’s work of responding to emergencies and eliminating world hunger."

  The above is not an "anti-UN" perspective, but that of a long time UN worker anger by perceived waste and abuse, which should be answered.

  The sources point to what they call a sole source consulting contract Counsin gave to Piers Campbell for "consulting," without transparency.

   Agency-wide, Inner City Press has asked the cost to WFP of the global management meeting next week in Dubai -- how many WFP staff will stay in the Hotel Atlantis the Palm at Palm Jumeirah, and elsewhere in Dubai, at what cost and for what?

   Cousin was a major Obama administration appointee, and the adminstration often speaks at the UN in New York against pay increases for staff, and about "interns flying business class." 

   It is not clear how that is applied to the above, or to the Cousin-proposed $20 million package of "golden parachutes" for WFP staff (in paragraph 227 of the Management Plan) regardless of their performance, as e-mailed out by Ruth Grove, Acting Director of WFP's Human Resources Division.

Inner City Press, despite having documents, would have liked to have and included WFP's and Cousin's responses. 

  Two days ago Inner City Press asked four separate WFP spokespeople, in Rome, London and New York, including Emilia Casella, Vichi Demarchi and Gregory Barrow, the following "questions for WFP on deadline:

1) Please state the cost to WFP of the global management meeting next week in Dubai -- how many WFP staff will stay in the Hotel Atlantis the Palm at Palm Jumeirah, and elsewhere in Dubai, at what cost and for what?

2) Please deny or confirm and comment on the WFP Executive Director asking for an increase of nearly €24,000 euros for her housing allowance, up to €160,000 per annum.

3) Please deny or confirm and comment on the Executive Director giving a six figure ($150,000 we are told) non-competitive contract to Piers Campbell for "consulting" -- what were / are the deliverables and terms of references, and past personal contact?

4) Please comment on the $20 million package of "golden parachutes" for WFP staff (in paragraph 227 of the Management Plan) regardless of their performance

5) Please state the cost to WFP of the Executive Director's Thanksgiving trip to Chicago, how much of it was WFP business (and please explain, for example the speech)."

But rather than answers, to questions which are based on documents, there came only another statement by Executive Director Cousin. The questions should be answered -- and, ironically, asked by Cousin's US government which is so funding WFP. Watch this site.

Update: on December 3, WFP sent a number of answers, which less than an hour after received Inner City Press reported here.

Losing WFP Fight, Sheeran Sets Sail for WEF, Cousin Fix In UN System Fog?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 3 -- This morning Josette Sheeran, the head of the World Food Program who didn't want to leave, announced that when her term ends in April she will become the deputy at the World Economic Forum.

As Inner City Press reported in early November, Sheeran was enlisting Republican members of the US Congress to threat to cut funding to WFP if she did not get a second term.

But Barack Obama had in mind a former Chicago public relations executive Ertharin Cousin. Conveniently, Cousin has been serving as US Ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, whose director along with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nominates the head of WFP. So it would seem the fix is in.

Back in July 2009, as Inner City Press exclusively reported,

"UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- On the sidelines of the G-8 meeting on July 10, the World Food Program shut down its headquarters for a "simulated food distribution" for the spouses of the G-8 leaders, flying in school children from Ghana to put them on display. Many WFP staff members found the display disgusting, a waste of money and a disrespect to UN recipients. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama may have shared some of the concerns: she did not attend... Sheeran, rumored to be under review by the the U.S. which nominated her under George Bush, conducted a 'seminar' which some attendees found awkward and stilted, 'a quest for personal publicity.'"

There was also some less public jockeying: again as Inner City Press exclusively reported, within the UN system community in Rome, many alleged Sheeran engaged in a quid pro quo with then FAO chief Jacques Diouf, hiring a relative of his for an information technology post in exchange for FAO hiring the husband of her personal assistant, Tanujah Rastogi.

(Cousin, we note in passing, once served as Deputy Director of the Chicago Ethics Board.)

One thing Sheeran can be credited with during most of here WFP tenure is not shying from questions, in marked contrast to most other UN system executive in Ban Ki-moon five years.

Footnote: Sheeran's announcement was re-tweeted by the head of the UN Development Program Helen Clark, who like Ban's chief lawyer Patricia O'Brien has refused multiple requests to take questions in New York, the headquarters of UNDP.

So here's a question for UNDP: does the agency deny, or why has it covered it, that the Sudanese National Security Committee has barred it from entering Al Muglad in South Kordofan, including having vehicles detained by military intelligence for days in Babanusa and being barred from passing to El Obeid in North Kordofan? There are of course other questions. Watch this site.