UNHQ Tells ICP It's Reviewing HABITAT Clos' Comments on Race

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 17 -- Within the UN system there are racial tensions, some time at the fore, often under the surface. Now comes a complaint concerning the head of UN-HABITAT Joan Clos, that at a staff retreat at a restaurant in Nairobi he held forth, in English and Spanish, about “a good White man looking for a poor 'Negro' to help.” See complaint, here, and embedded below.

 On February 16, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about the complaint; he said to just ask HABITAT. But isn't Ban Ki-moon, and OIOS, going to review it?

On February 17, Inner City Press asked lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric the same question, Video here. UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, I'd asked Farhan about this letter from staff in Kenya to Ban Ki-moon and OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] about Joan… Joan Clos of Habitat, complaining about things that he said that had a… they believe a racial nature.  He said to ask Habitat.  So Habitat has confirmed they received the letter.  But I still want to ask.  Since the letter was, in fact, addressed to OIOS and Ban Ki-moon, particularly in the OIOS case, does OIOS have jurisdiction over Habitat?  Is the… has a decision been made that this letter will only be considered by Habitat itself who’s run by the…

Spokesman Dujarric:  Yes, OIOS, if I'm not mistaken, has jurisdiction over Habitat.  We're obviously very much aware of the allegations in the letter, and we're examining the claims according to due process.

  Tick tock. Clos appears to have been quoting the title of a book by author Gustau Nerin, “Blanco Bueno, Busca Negro Pobre.” But Clos' other reported comments at the HABITAT retreat, held at the Lord Errol Restaurant, also gave rise to the complaint, including a reference to Nairobi, that “there are no serious people here who can think.”

   UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the addressee of the complaint, has been asked to act on this. In his UN system, it is usually politics and not the facts that determine the outcome.

  Ban has for example continued the pattern of giving the post position at UN Peacekeeping to France (now in the person of Herve Ladsous, who as Inner City Press has reported and asked about linked peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic to “R&R,” here).

 Ban kept the UK atop the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the US in charge of the Department of Political Affairs.

   That Ban did not discipline Ladsous for linking rapes to R&R, the type of comment which would get a military figure fired or demoted in many countries, may be well for Clos. Or does Spain have so much less political juice in the UN system that the outcome will be different? 

Reporting Misconduct against Mr Joan Clos,Executive Director Un Habitat by Boniface Mwangi

 The complaint was also addressed to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, which is currently engaged in an audit of NGOs affiliated with Macau based businessman Ng Lap Seng, Frank Lorenzo and Sheri Yan, indicted in the US for bribery at the UN.

It was also sent to UN human resources and the UN Ethics Office, which along with OIOS was implicated in the cover up of (French soldiers') alleged rapes in the Central African Republic. This is Ban's UN.

  Clos also reported criticized the Japanese development agency JICA; Japan is not only a large UN donor, but current has an elected seat on the UN Security Council.

Inner City Press has been sent multiple copies of the complaint, which was sent to 37 countries' missions; we note that an image of the complaint was Tweeted on February 11 by a Kenyan activist. Contrary for example toReuters, whose UN bureau chief at first sought to minimize or discredit, and then simply stole, Inner City Press February 12 exclusive about new UN rapes in CAR, we note all that. The point now is, what will the UN do? Watch this site.

Comments on Race Attributed To UN-HABITAT Chief Joan Clos Trigger Complaint, Online, to Ban Ki-moon

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 16 -- Within the UN system there are racial tensions, some time at the fore, often under the surface. Now comes a complaint concerning the head of UN-HABITAT Joan Clos, that at a staff retreat at a restaurant in Nairobi he held forth, in English and Spanish, about “a good White man looking for a poor 'Negro' to help.” See complaint, here.

   Clos appears to have been quoting the title of a book by author Gustau Nerin, “Blanco Bueno, Busca Negro Pobre.” But Clos' other reported comments at the HABITAT retreat, held at the Lord Errol Restaurant, also gave rise to the complaint, including a reference to Nairobi, that “there are no serious people here who can think.”

   UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the addressee of the complaint, has been asked to act on this. In his UN system, it is usually politics and not the facts that determine the outcome.

  Ban has for example continued the pattern of giving the post position at UN Peacekeeping to France (now in the person of Herve Ladsous, who as Inner City Press has reported and asked about linked peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic to “R&R,” here).

 Ban kept the UK atop the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the US in charge of the Department of Political Affairs.

   That Ban did not discipline Ladsous for linking rapes to R&R, the type of comment which would get a military figure fired or demoted in many countries, may be well for Clos. Or does Spain have so much less political juice in the UN system that the outcome will be different?

 The complaint was also addressed to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, which is currently engaged in an audit of NGOs affiliated with Macau based businessman Ng Lap Seng, Frank Lorenzo and Sheri Yan, indicted in the US for bribery at the UN.

It was also sent to UN human resources and the UN Ethics Office, which along with OIOS was implicated in the cover up of (French soldiers') alleged rapes in the Central African Republic. This is Ban's UN.

  Clos also reported criticized the Japanese development agency JICA; Japan is not only a large UN donor, but current has an elected seat on the UN Security Council.

Inner City Press has been sent multiple copies of the complaint, which was sent to 37 countries' missions; we note that an image of the complaint was Tweeted on February 11 by a Kenyan activist. Contrary for example to Reuters, whose UN bureau chief at first sought to minimize or discredit, and then simply stole, Inner City Press February 12 exclusive about new UN rapes in CAR, we note all that. The point now is, what will the UN do? Watch this site.

World Urban Campaign, Sponsored by GDF Suez & Veolia, Wants a Cities Sustainable Development Goal

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- UN HABITAT unveiled"The City We Need" booklet on Tuesday at the UN, in advance of an event at the nearby Ford Foundation. 

  Inner City Press, when able, asked about the corporate sponsors listed in the booklet, including GDF Suez (protested for example about a hydro-electric dam in Brazil), Siemens (Western Sahara) and Veolia, a French firm recently contracted on Syria chemical weapons which does business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

After thanking the panel including HABITAT's Joan Clos on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, Inner City Press asked: how were these corporate sponsored vetted?

  The answer, from Nick Yu of the World Urban Campaign, was as is so often the case at the UN that the private sector is important, is a stakeholder. Yes, but what about these particular companies? What is the process? And what is their involvement, beyond paying to be listed in promotional materials?

A goal of the campaign seems to be to try to get a holistic "Cities" Sustainable Development Goal. Inner City Press has reported on a similar move, involving Palau, to get an Oceans SDG. The list is growing.

A panelist who was also a New Yorker, Eugenie Birch, answered Inner City Press question about the last and the current New York City mayors. Bill de Blasio, Birch said, is a corrective on issues of affordable housing and free kindergarten (what about pre-K?). Michael Bloomberg, whose meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry has yet to be summarized by the UN as Inner City Press has requested, will be at the Ford Foundation. Watch this site.

   

On Corporate Donations, HABITAT on Ericsson Cites Compact, UN Defers on Samsung, Censors' Set?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 9 -- How does or should the UN "partner" with big private businesses? The question arose recently when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon used a two-question stakeout about sustainable energy to praise Shell Oil and Bank of America, implicated in the 2008 predatory lending meltdown.

On Monday, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson, and UN-HABITAT chief Joan Clos, about being intertwined with Samsung, Ericsson, even TomTom.

  Clos replied that UN-HABITAT only partners or accepts donations or staff from corporation which are members of the UN Global Compact. But is that enough? Can companies use their contributions as a basis for advertising, even an implicit claim of endorsement by the UN?

  The Samsung question is closer to home, right in the UN Headquarters. Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky about a donation of television screens or sets by Samsung, where the UN reports the donations it gives, and the terms. He said he would check.

  Even before this interim answer was given, another one cut in from long time member of the United Nations Correspondents Association, which as Inner City Press has reported decided to accept a Samsung television screen after being assured there is no conflict of interest by none other than the UN itself.

  While the question Monday was not put to the UNCA representatives in and next to their labeled "Holy Seat," the hissed reply seemed to be that UNCA is not accepting a television screen -- does that mean not accepting any free TV labeled "Samsung," or arguing that it is being lent by the UN out of a donation from Samsung?

  UNCA under its 2013 and apparently 2014 president Pamela Falk sent out this explanation, provided to Inner City Press by an outraged or disgusted UNCA member:

"There was discussion about whether or not UNCA should receive a donation from Samsung and whether or not a Mission was involved. DPI was able to clarify the donation information, which does not involve a mission. This note was received: This is to confirm that once we get the donations from Samsung to the UN, DPI will loan a TV screen to UNCA to replace one of your old ones."

  Is this going forward? And when will the UN answer the questions asked Monday at noon, including about the protests in South Korea about Samsung exposing its workers to environmental diseases?

From the Korea Times in September of this year:

The Lawyers for Democratic Society and a labor rights group of Samsung Electronics have written to the United Nations about occupational diseases among the company’s employees.

The organizations told a press conference in front of Samsung Group headquarters in southern Seoul on Wednesday that the move was designed to pressure Samsung and the Korean Government to take responsibility for occupational diseases and the damage they caused to victims and their families.

“The occurrence of occupational diseases and their consequences are clear violations of labor rights, and the UN must be made aware of this development,” said a spokesperson for the protesting groups.

There are numerous avenues of complaints and petitions that protesters can file with the UN, but the Korean groups chose to put their allegations in a letter.

The letter alleges Samsung has been withholding the results of tests and evaluations in suspected cases of occupational diseases.

It says Ministry of Employment and Labor have failed to stop workers being exposed to harmful chemicals and other hazardous substances, and that tougher initiatives are needed to protect workers’ rights.

  Also in that HABITAT portion of the briefing, Inner City Press asked Clos about HABITAT's work in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. He said they have an office there, then continued that in planning a city (like, say, Tacloban) it is important that 30% be set aside for public space, rather than the two to ten percent that happens under "spontaneous" development. We'll see. Watch this site.

   

UN Praises Open Space But Proposes Taking Playground, of UN-HABITAT, Bike-Shares & Charlatans

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 4 -- To celebrate World Habitat Day, the director of UN Habitat Joan Clos told the press Friday about the need for playgrounds and open space, and to plan around the impacts of rising seas.

Inner City Press asked Clos about the UN's proposal to take away the Robert Moses Playground just south of 42nd Street and erect a building described as drab right next to the East River, soon after Hurricane Sandy.

Clos smiled and said, We only advise when we are asked. So apparently the UN (or the UN Development Corporation) has not asked even the UN expert agencies about its proposal. Great planning.

(Actually, UN Spokesperson Martin Nesirky told Inner City Press the building for which UNDC released architect's plans is only one proposal, even though the New York City ULURP land use review process as begun.)

Inner City Press asked asked Clos about New York City's bike-share program. Clos praised it, noting that while poor people want fewer bikes, richer people want more. He started a similar program in Barcelona when he was mayor, he said. (His views on Free Catalonia did not come up.)

  Also on the panel, Professor Thomas Elmqvist or the Stockholm Resilience Center pitched his (free) book on Urbanization and Biodiversity, available online here.

  The first question was taken by the UN Correspondents Association, whose 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS proceeded to trash Mexico City, calling it "curious" it received any award. 

  Then Falk's sidekick, who often taken the first question in her stead, referred to anyone asking questions about climate change as a "charlatan."

  As when Falk's UNCA hosted Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba for a faux UN briefing in July, it is due to UNCA's politicization (and censorship bids and evenspying for the UN) that Inner City Press co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. 

  Whether or not the UN "advises" it -- in fact, the UN's response has been threats -- there is an absolute right to another organization; Friday was just another example of why.

Here is the UN's transcript of UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky on the proposed new building:

Inner City Press: it’s now been released, drawings for this new building on the Robert Moses Playground. And there’s the whole New York City regulatory process to follow. But, given that the plans are now released, I wanted to know if you could just describe, within the UN system, within the UN Secretariat, who’s sort of giving the directions of how it should be done? It’s alternately described as an “emergency back-up center”, as a “high-security building”, and I wanted to know, given the UN’s other duties of transparency and openness to the public, what’s that process been and are there still questions to be raised, or has it been determined how open or closed the building will be to the public?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, first of all Matthew, don’t believe everything you read in the media, okay? You say the plans. There has been no decision. And you asked where would the decision come from. And, quite plainly, the decision would need to be made by Member States. The Secretary-General has been asked by the General Assembly to explore different options for the long-term accommodation needs of the Organization. And a report will be submitted to the General Assembly during what’s officially known as its first resumed sixty-eighth session, and that was requested by the previous session of the General Assembly. The new report will include comprehensive information on all viable options, as requested by the General Assembly. One of the many options being studied in the proposal from the UN Development Corporation is to construct a new building, known as the UN Consolidation Building. The decision on one of the options will need to be made by the Member States.

Inner City Press: That’s helpful. Because they did a public hearing on 24 September, and [the United Nations Development Corporation] is presenting this as they have already… I guess they’re ones paying the architect. But, normally, in New York, ULURP process of city planning and City Council doesn’t start until there’s an actual decision to do the building. Are you saying that there is actually no commitment to this plan that they presented at NYU Hospital on the 24th?

Spokesperson Nesirky: That’s precisely what I’m saying, Matthew.

Watch this site.

   

Rare UN Link to NYC, Police Shooting Raised by ICP, LA Mayor Villaraigosa Responds

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 14 – At the UN in Manhattan the morning after protests in Brooklyn of the police shooting of 16 year old Kimani Gray, the mayors of cities like Beirut, Bogota and even Los Angeles met as part of UN-Habitat's Global Network on Safer Cities.

  Inner City Press asked the panel about police brutality, and about the death of Kimani Gray. It was LA Mayor Villaraigosa who answered, speaking in favor of civilian review and control of the police, and noting that the preamble of the Network's “outcome document” refers to civil and human rights.

The panel was asked about the use of drones, which witnesses in East Flatbush say the New York Police Department deployed Wednesday night, along with spotlighted helicopters.

  Generally, though, it was a typical UN rah-rah session, with hat tips to gender violence, tolerance and urban planning. Habitat director Joan Clos cited Jane Jacobs; the mayor of Bogota spoke of harm reduction, even the de-criminalization of drugs. The UN's Narcotics Control Board's position is rigidly against this, opposing the program in for example Vancouver.

  The initiative was extra-UN in another way as well: typical in that the participants want money in a trust fund, untypical in that the disbursement, not yet agreed, would avoid national governments and go directly to cities.

  An official from Cote d'Ivoire was asked how a divided city like Abidjan can be kept together. He answered by referring to mayors in the West of the country, reportedly still under-served as a retaliation against those who supported former president Laurent Gbagbo, who is now waiting trial on war crimes charges in The Hague. Now that's a city.... Watch this site.

 Footnote: Inner City Press thanked the mayors for the briefing, but didn't spell out: for the Free UN Coalition for Access. That's because there was no mention of UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance. 

There is no need to brand these briefing. But when it's done, FUNCA will respond, to resist favoritism for UNCA, anorganization which tried and tries to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN. Just like cities and police departments, the UN too needs rules.

In Cambodia, As UN Ban Silent on Evictions, UNICEF Denies It Funds Prey Speu

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 3 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in Cambodia, people facing mass eviction tried to get a letter to him. This resulted in police beating Suong Sophorn unconscious.

On November 3, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky what follow up, if any, the UN had done on the issue. Nesirky replied that the letter had gotten to the Deputy High Commission for Human Rights, and would be analyzed in Geneva.

Also on November 3, the new chief of UN - HABITAT Joan Clos took questions from the Press. Inner City Press asked him about the Cambodia mass evictions. Such evictions violate human rights, Clos said. But he added that all the UN and HABITAT can do is give advice to governments.

In this case, the evictions are being done for a development by a company controlled by a government official, Cambodian People’s Party Senator Lao Meng Khin. So much for advice.

As Ban approached Cambodia, Inner City Press is told by sources, homeless and street children were swept up to the Prey Speu camp, described as an internment camp where rapes and killings take place. Ban never spoke about this camp, and now UNICEF has sent Inner City Press this further washing of hands:

Subject: Re: Answers re Cambodia/Prey Speu AND Choam Chao
From: Christopher de Bono @unicef.org>
Date: Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 8:04 AM
To: "Matthew R. Lee" at Inner City Press

The UNICEF Cambodia Country Office strictly complies with UNICEF's financial requirements as they relate to the disbursement and tracking of cash assistance expenditures, including the assistance provided to the MoSA. It is a UNICEF requirement that all UNICEF partners, including governments, must file reports on the funds they receive. UNICEF also employs a system of assurance activities to guarantee that the funds disbursed to partners are used for the purpose intended and based on the approved work plans. This system includes field visits, spot checks, financial liquidation accompanied by receipts, activity reports certified by partners, quarterly performance discussions and coordination meetings with partners and relevant NGOs (not all of which are UNICEF partners). As previously stated, none of UNICEF's resources have been used to fund the Prey Speu centre.

[Inner City Press Q] - Also, confirm that UNICEF did fund the Choam Chao center (closed in July), and, re the above, provide any documentation to show UNICEF money is not used for Prey Speu.

As previously advised, we did not withdraw funding from Choam Chao centre but engaged the Government to change its strategy, which it did. This resulted in the subsequent closure of the centre.

While UNICEF provided this answer in less than 24 hours, it has now sat for five days on questions about UNICEF corruption elsewhere in the world. Watch this site.