On UN Budget, Questions of Risk Premiums and Pension Probe, Cafeteria to Close, Staff Union Elections?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- When UN Under Secretary General for Management Yukio Takasu came for his semi-annual press conference on May 6, Inner City Press asked him about the UN's shift of hundreds of 4 by 4's from Darfur to West Africa, about not paying Troop Contributing Countries a risk premium for deployment in the Central African Republic, about the Staff Union, Pension Fund and even the impending closure of the UN Cafeteria. Video here.

  Takasu said that some APC - armored personnel carrier - were moved to the UN's Ebola mission UNMEER, but would be returned. Inner City Press repeated the question, about unarmored 4 by 4 vehicles withdrawn from Darfur, and Takasu said he would check, as he did on the CAR risk premium.

  On the Staff Union, Takasu said the goal was new election. But as Inner City Press asked, the old (44th) team was allowed to speak at the recent Town Hall meeting about irregularities in the Pension Fund, and the newer, elected (45th) team was not. On the Pension Fund, Takasu said that the Office of Internal Oversight Services is looking into it to decide how to proceed.

  On the cafeteria, Takasu confirmed Inner City Press' scoop, that it is slated to close due to concerns about vehicle bombs on the FDR Drive off-ramp, which New York City has been unwilling to close. Takasu acknowledged that the planned replacement space on the fourth floor is much smaller. And so it goes.

   

On UN Budget, Takasu Tells Inner City Press of Slow Pay for Peacekeepers, Ban Ki-moon's Qatar-Funded Private Jet Travel in Trust Funds, Who is UN Staff Union?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 -- The UN periodically takes questions about its budget, as it did at Under Secretary General for Management Yukio Takasu's press conference on October 9.

  Inner City Press asked Takasu about the UN's slow-payment for peacekeepers, and about where in the budget gifts like Qatar's of free private jet travel to the Middle East for Ban Ki-moon is disclosed in the budget. Finally, the Free UN Coalition for Access asked Takasu about the continuing lack of a UN-recognized Staff Union: essentially, union-busting at the UN. Video here.

  Takasu gamely answered on the peacekeeper-pay question, saying that the UN can only pay when member states pay their dues. He mentioned France as the most behind in peacekeeping dues -- ironic, that -- with the US and Italy right behind.

  In more detail than Ban's spokespeople have given, Takasu said that gifts like Qatar's on air travel show up in the “financial statements of Trust Funds,” albeit only every two years. Inner City Press will be following up on this.

  On the Staff Union, Takasu said the UN wants there to be one but doesn't want to interfere. But of course they have, and one of those elected in December was subsequently laid off by the UN, something the US National Labor Relations Board would never allow. 

  But this is the UN, in the zone of impunity like on bringing cholera to Haiti, a topic on which Inner City Press also asked on October 9, video here. Takasu is, however, to be commended for coming to answer questions, unlike some other Under Secretaries General. We'll have more on this.

   

Follow the Money: US Owes UN $795M, Brazil $75M, First 2 Speakers in GA, Peacekeeping Shorts Rwanda, India, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Pakistan: #Ladsous2013

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 -- It's an annual ritual, the UN Controller's report to member states on who much they owe and are owned. But Wednesday morning in the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee, Controller Yukio Takasu flashed a slide of the two biggest "deadbeats" in paying the UN.

  The US owes $795 million; the second slowest-payer is Brazil, at $75 million. The irony is that these were the first two speakers at the UN's General Debate in late September. (Brazil's Dilma Rousseff slammed the US for spying; Obama delivered a lecture light of Africa, click here for Inner City Press review.)

  Some wonder: should you speak first, if you pay last?

  Takasu also fleetingly disclosed the growing shortfall in or underpayment to UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to hold the position.

  At the end of 2012, states had not paid UN Peacekeeping $2.1 billion. Now? Takasu put the figure at $3.4 billion. It seems fair to ask if among the reasons might not be declining confidence in Ladsous. Certainly, the news of Ladsous' lack of responsiveness has now spread beyond the UN -- click here for an article in yesterday's New Statesman in the UK.

  Ladsous is a deadbeat, too. Given Ladsous' history in the Great Lakes region -- click here for that -- it is problematic that UN Peacekeeping owns $37 million to Rwanda, seemingly its highest per-capita debt.

  UN Peacekeeping also owns India $80 million, Ethiopia $54 million, Bangladesh $50 million and Pakistan $49 million. It's a South Asian thing - plus Abyei, the entire peacekeeping mission in which Ethiopia runs.

  After Takasu's presentation, Inner City Press asked him off-camera about a story it's working on involving stealthy Qatari funding (Inner City Press has asked if Saudi Arabia will be solicited too, a form of competition like in Syria and Egypt, and also for transparency). We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

   

With Press & Public To Be Excluded from UN General Assembly in September, UN Won't Even Say Who Decided

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- During the UN General Assembly's debate week this September there will not be a single seat for the press or public, it was confirmed Monday at the UN. Who has made this decision is not clear.

  The interim General Assembly Hall will have 1000 seats, a UN Security official estimated, compared to 1,800 in the old Hall now under repair. Countries' delegations are being given an addition 560 seats in an adjacent overflow room.

  But for the press and public, which used to be able to witness the proceedings from the fourth floor mezzanine, nothing. Not a single seat. (Also, a media stakeout by North Lawn Conference Room 1, available and used last year, is slated for elimination.)

  The new Free UN Coalition for Access has protested this to the UN Department of Public Information since at least June 10. Commitments made at that time by DPI official Stephane Dujarric, about the working conditions in the six small booth through which camera-persons could watch from above the GA floor, have yet to be acted on.

  Yet DPI is acknowledging that this exclusionary GA Week is coming, holding a pre-GA briefing on August 12. There, when Inner City Press asked a DPI staffer who was responsible for the decision of no seats for the press or public, the answer was the "probably" the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management -- a Department that has not held a press conference in years.

   To be sure who is responsible, the Free UN Coalition for Access asked the UN Spokesperson, through@FUNCA_info. Then the same question was put to Dujarric, through @InnerCityPress since Dujarric is behind a move to ban FUNCA and its questions, even threatening to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' accreditation for hanging aFUNCA sign on the door of its shared office while UNCA, which leaked internal anti-Press documents to Dujarric, has no fewer then five signs, and a big UN room in which it holdspoliticized events publicized only to those who pay it money as dues. 

  (UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS was not present for Monday's pre-GA briefing. As noted, increasingly she just uses, or tries to use, UNCA, to spread or even create corporate CBS content. Nor was her first vice president, Louis Charbonneau of Reuters, who leaked the internal UNCA documents to Dujarric immediately after promising not to. Story here, audio here, document here.)

After a detailed briefing about how live broadcasts shots can be obtained, this year on the lawn in front of the UN rather than the old Press Island, Inner City Press for FUNCA asked how the day's "Stress Test" of the UN's audio - visual broadcasting system had gone. Click here for Inner City Press' curtain raiser on the test.

While the results are not yet in, Inner City Press confirmed on Monday that in a Town Hall meeting on July 15, DPI's chief acknowledged to DPI staff the problems with the new "MAMS" system, blaming them on firewalls and saying that it was being dealt with through Department of Management chief Yukio Takasu. So who is responsible? Watch this site.

Footnote: DPI's chief at the July 15 town hall meeting made much of new technology, social media, responsiveness. So it is striking that Dujarric and DPI have actually become less responsive to press access issues politely but publicly raised through social media. This UN is closing in on itself; FUNCA will continue to oppose that.

   

As UN Banned Staff Union Views in Mexico City Talks, Seeks to Ban Dissent in UNHQ

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 19 -- In the aftermath of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's labor negotiating team rebuffing the Staff Union requests at a meeting that collapsed last week in Mexico City, there are called to go beyond the already in-place "no confidence" in Ban Ki-moon resolution adopted earlier this year.

  Outraged staff have exclusively told Inner City Press about a meeting of Ban's Senior Management Group held in the UN before the Mexico City fiasco, at which they say management decided they don't need anything from the staff, even to listen.

  The more manicured version of this position is in a posting they tell Inner City Press went out on June 17 -- when Inner City Press formally asked about the Mexico City melt down, after first publishing the story the day previous -- and then was, they say, quickly replaced by a post by Ban's head of management Yukio Takasu:

Letter from the Secretary-General to all staff on Staff-Management Committee

Posted: Monday 17 June 2013, New York | Author: Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon I am concerned to learn that discussions at the Staff-Management Committee meeting in Mexico City (SMC-II) ended prematurely on Friday with many important matters of concern to staff remaining to be discussed. These include downsizing, mobility, implementation of travel policy, administration of justice, the competency framework, roster management, local salary surveys and performance management. I place great importance on consultations with staff on all issues related to staff welfare, and remain committed to the harmonious and consensual resolution of all staff-management issues.

Regrettably an impasse arose related to the role of the Committee itself. In 2011 I promulgated a new Secretary-General’s bulletin on the Staff-Management Committee (ST/SGB/2011/6) to strengthen mechanisms for staff-management consultations by establishing a forum for staff and management to identify, examine and resolve issues by consensus. However, the General Assembly requested that it be revised in line with existing staff regulations. A revised bulletin was shared with members of the SMC to facilitate consultations at this year’s Staff-Management Committee. It better aligned the role of the Committee with staff regulation 8.2, stipulating that the Committee would advise the Secretary-General on human resources polices and general conditions of staff welfare but removed the requirement for consensus.

Understandably, Staff Union representatives at SMC-II felt the 2011 bulletin better supported the SMC and should be retained. They called for management “to withdraw the proposed changes and send a clear message to the General Assembly that it supports the current SMC process as key to ensuring constructive staff-management dialogue, in line with the Staff Rules and Regulations and General Assembly resolutions. The unions believe that withdrawal of the proposed changes and reaffirmation of the current SMC process are required for an agreed outcome of SMC II.”

While recognizing the importance placed by staff representatives on retaining the current Secretary-General’s bulletin, the position of Member States, taken after months of discussion, is clear. I therefore do not consider it fruitful to revisit the issue with the General Assembly. Regrettably staff representatives at SMC-II were not prepared to discuss the many other important agenda items - in-spite of the meeting's agenda having been rearranged specifically to allow for a full extra day of discussion on this matter - until the issue of the revised SGB was concluded, the draft was withdrawn or its consideration was postponed until the next SMC in 2014. Under these circumstances, and with no possibility to complete the other agenda items, it was not possible to continue the meeting.

While I am very disappointed at these developments, I continue to value the contribution of staff and their representatives. With so many significant reform initiatives under way, this is particularly crucial. I remain committed to constructive dialogue and maintaining continuous contact and communication with staff. I sincerely hope the present impasse can soon be resolved through flexible and constructive discussions. This is in our shared best interest.

  Ban's UN does not like dissent, even if productive and constructive, it seems. Another symptom of this is the fixation by Ban's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit indemanding the take-down of even a sign of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which is advocating to maintain pre-Ban precedents to cover the Security Council and General Assembly, while trying to leave up two signs of UNCA, the UN's Censorship Alliance with which Ban partners.

 The joke is that Ban wishes he could find a faux union like UNCA. Watch this site.

As UN Undercuts Its OwnPeacekeepers, Unpaid in Abyei, Has Staff Under Water in Basement, Leaks and Plays Favorites

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 10 -- The UN has not paid its peacekeepers in Western Sahara since February 2011, nor for their equipment since October 2010.

  In Abyei, payments for equipment stopped in March 2012, and to Ethiopia for its peacekeepers, one of whom was recently killed by the Misseriya, UN payments stopped in December 2012.

  This information was included in two footnotes to a presentation made by the UN's Under Secretary General for Management Yukio Takasu on Friday. 

   Inner City Press asked him about a proposal, made by Togo and others in the context of the Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, that the UN at least pay interest on its debts to Troops Contributing Countries.

  Takasu responded that unless the UN could charge interest to countries behind on their dues, it would not be possible. UN Controller Maria Eugenia Casar added that there are proposal for Peacekeeping missions to begin lending to each other.

  There are financial problems of UN Peacekeeping; there are other problems, video here. There is also the question of what is being accomplished. On May 14, South Sudan Ambassador (and former UN official) Francis Deng said the mission in Abyei does not protect civilians from the Misseriya tribesmen.

  In a UN Budget Committee session just after Takasu spoke to them, the Mission in Haiti was discussed with no mention of UN Peacekeeping having brought cholera to the country, and Ban Ki-moon's terse dismissal of the claims, giving rise now to a threat to sue in 60 days.

  Inner City Press also asked Takasu about other management issues: the New York Staff Union vote of "no confidence in Ban," Publishing Section staff being required to re-apply for their jobs, and the conditions in the basements, for example the Video Library in 2B being left working with sheet plastic barely covering leaks in the ceiling.

  Takasu expressed concern and spoke of "lessons learned." Inner City Press has photos but has not run them -- in part pending the UN coming clean on who was let into its office during the Department of Public Information's non-consensual raid on March 18, and how photographs including of Inner City Press' desk and bookshelf were leaked to BuzzFeed on March 21 after their publication called Ban's spokesperson to ask about the raid.

  Now, this weekend, the press corps is moving back to the renovated Secretariat building: some to large offices, disproportionately those on the Executive Committee of the UN's "partner" UNCA (which made a point of thanking Takasu, so the new Free UN Coalition for Access did as well); others to smaller and smaller places. 

  There are many complaints, including by UNCA members, about how decisions were made, by the UN and its partner. We'll have more on this.

At UN as Ban Takes States' Questions on Sandy Email Failures, Press Ordered Out

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- During and for days after Super Storm Sandy, the UN in New York did not send so much as an e-mail to its member states.

  On November 5 in the UN's Budget committee, diplomats strongly criticized two Under Secretaries General: Yukio Takasu of the Department of Management, and Gregory Starr of the Department of Safety and Security.

  Inner City Press, which covered the UN even on the day that Sandy hit, and its first Security Council meeting two days later, has been told by well placed sources that UN Departments disagreed for up to three hours as water rose on whether to turn off the electricity to save UN equipment. Inner City Press asked just this question at the UN's November 8 noon briefing, but the answer was deferred.

  On November 9, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came to address the member states. The Press was allowed in, but only for Ban's speech, not for the question and answer. During Ban's speech, he said that the UN's list of emails for member states had been out of date.

  But as Denmark's Permanent Representative said in the November 5 session, all member states have current lists, to lobby in UN elections. The UN couldn't just ask for the list, or keep its own list up to date?

  The November 9 UN Journal suddenly lists a new website for weather emergencies, and Ban said that the media covering the UN can use it as well. Fine. But what about the other questions, just those raised on Monday -- what happened with the $50 million allocated for the "backup data center" in New Jersey?

  While the UN's communications were down, its Security Council Affairs unit for example put "into blue" a resolution to extend the mandate of the Somalia peacekeeping mission, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press.

  As simply one more example, UN staff from the publishing unit have been lobbying and trying to fix the printing equipment down in their basement workshop, in the face of what they call threats to privatize. They have enlisted Group of 77 members in the Budget Committee, who at a minimum have questions to ask.

  Also complained of on Monday and since, but not directly addressed in Ban's public remarks, was damage to and destruction of cars which the UN had just directed be moved even lower in the UN's underground garage.

  As the first question, by the European Union, began on Friday morning, Inner City Press was told to leave the conference room. Across the hall of the North Lawn Building, the Budget Committee was electing by acclaimation, from "clean slates" with no competition, representatives to oversee the UN's investments.

 Another election went past the first round; during the break there were complaints that UNTV showed the European Union's response to Ban, but not the more critical interventions by Algeria and then others. Some also questioned by the EU, not a member state, spoke first.

 We'll have more on these and other elections. Watch this site.

After Sandy, UN Left in Cold, Three Hour Dispute of Power Cut Off Questioned

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

 

UNITED NATIONS, November 8 -- Impacts on the UN of its "flawed" response to Hurricane Sandy are not confined to the water-logged third sub-basement, from which many staff offices have had to be evacuated.

  On Thursday morning, the UN Security Council moved its consultations from their normal room into the big Chamber -- explicitly due to a lack of heat, Council sources exclusively told Inner City Press.

   Beyond the Budget Committee session Monday which slammed the Department of Management chief Yukio Takasu and Security chief Gregory Starr, on issues ranging from lack of communications to member states to ineffective use of $50 million spent on a data backup center in New Jersey, other questions have arisen.

   Sources exclusive tell Inner City Press of a three hour delay on the Monday of Super Storm Sandy in which "no one could decide who has the authority to turn off electrical power at the UN." Some say this was the clearest, though still little known, impact of absence of leadership.

   The Security locker room in 3B, which Inner City Press asked about, is being moved across First Avenue into the DC2 building. Other 3B staff were told to only pick up items of sentimental value, and to disinfect their clothes. But will there be any OSHA certified inspection?

   Meanwhile UN staff in publishing are telling the Fifth (Budget) Committee their fears that management will use the water damage to equipment in their unit as an excuse for further outsourcing (similar to the way claims processing for the UN Medical Insurance Plan is not being bid out.)

  The publishing issues may be raised by the Group of 77 and China. Watch this site.

After Sandy, UN Slammed by States For Broken Email, Flooded Cars

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 5 -- The UN's own response to Super Storm Sandy was slammed by many of its member states on Monday, in a session of the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee. 

  New chairman Miguel Berger, Germany's Deputy Permanent Representative, had told Inner City Press about the session late last week; other Ambassadors were already mocking the UN's claims of preparedness and its "overly rosy" November 2 press conference.

   On November 5, Berger began by noting the breakdown in UN communications, such that states' Missions heard almost nothing from the UN. The next state, Algeria, said the only e-mail it got was from New York City Commissioner Marjorie Tivens, Mayor Bloomberg's sister, who covers diplomat and consular affairs. If she could e-mail, why not the UN?

   Cote d'Ivoire noted that $50 million was spend on the computer back-up center, in New Jersey. Should it stay there?

   Denmark, which rarely publicly criticizes the UN, said that the failed response was "a blow to the UN's authority" in the field of disaster preparedness.

    Other diplomats complained they were told to move their cars in the UN garage from the first basement to the third, then told only on Monday, when they could not reach the UN, to move them up. (Inner City Press on Monday afternoon witnessed some staff and diplomats nevertheless moving their cars). Those cars on 3B have been damaged.

   Under Secretary General for Management Yukio Takasu was left to fend off these questions. He pointed out that he had said the damage was "relatively contained," not "minor." Neither Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nor his chief of staff Susana Malcorra attended -- although Malcorra will be in the Committee later in the week, Berger said.

  At Monday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky a question posed by Brazil: will there be any outside review of the UN's response? Nesirky referred to an internal review, the one being led by Susana Malcorra.

  Nesirky's Deputy Eduardo Del Buey was asked by Inner City Press on Friday if there will be any OSHA certified inspection of the areas of the third sub-basement being are being sent to work in, armed only with dust masks and Windex.

  Still no word on that. But Inner City Press is informed that other 3B workers were told they could only go to retrieve items with sentimental value if they wear boots and disinfect their clothes; no pregnant women allowed. 

 Does this sound like a safe place to work, or an Organization that should be allowed to muddle through this without outside inspection or review? Watch this site.

Footnote: also at Monday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked UN deputy chief humanitarian John Ging about cholera in Haiti. He said it's a concern, that it could spread. There was word Friday that Ban would be announcing a program with that country's government. But Nesirky had nothing on this on Monday. 

  A skeptic mused that while member states said virtually nothing publicly when the UN brought cholera to Haiti, some are speaking vehemently about damage to their cars. But oversight has to begin somewhere.