SDNY COURTHOUSE, July 10 – A few blocks from the United Nations on 49th Street and Second Avenue on 6 April 2018 Jennifer A. Edward was heading to her work as a lawfirm paralegal when a Nigerian Mission to the UN vehicle struck her, causing serious injury. The vehicle's registration and insurance were both expired, in violation of the U.S. Diplomatic Relations Act.
The driver who was working for Nigeria's Mission had previously had accidents. But Nigeria and its mission refused to pay, or even fo months to respond to the lawsuit that was filed, and legally served as far away as Nigeria. Call it impunity, so prevalent in and around the UN.
On July 10 the case came up before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul G. Gardephe. While denying Ms. Edward's motion for default judgment, Judge Gardephe essentially mocked the Nigerian Mission's argument that they needed more time to explore the issue of pre-existing condition.
Ms. Edward is in her 20s, and has run a New York City marathon. The Nigerian mission in belated filings with Judge Gardephe has tried to blame their failure to response on the recent elections leading to the continuation of rule by President Buhari.
Inner City Press, having seen Buhari's administration engage in illegal refoulement to Cameroon, unremarked on by the UN's Nigerian Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed, and having seen the UN claim impunity for cholera in Haiti and roughing up and banning the Press in New York, went to cover the July 10 proceeding.
Afterward it spoke generally with Ms. Edward's lawyer Scott A. Harford. He explained the difficulty of getting the lawsuit served in Nigeria, and the lack of responsiveness by the U.S. Mission to the UN which is supposed to ensure that other countries' Missions to the UN at least maintain car insurance.
The case is moving to Magistrate Judge Debra C. Freeman, more on Patreon here, and Inner City Press will continue to cover and pursue this and other related cases against impunity.
Vivian Wang, who as money manager for convicted UN briber Ng Lap Seng's South South News made payments to disgraced President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe, was given a time served sentence on June 26 by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge George B. Daniels.
Wang's lawyers at Goodwin Proctor, in a heavily redacted sentencing submission, stated that her deceased husband Forest Cao "was 57 years old adn had no known health problems of medical conditions. No autopsy was performed."
It also says, as to UN President of the General Assembly John Ashe, that while awaiting trial on UN bribery charges "his death was reported as the result of a 'weightlifting accident' after a barbell apparently crushed his throat."
After the sentencing, Inner City Press with covered the Ng Lap Seng trial before SDNY Judge Vernon Broderick daily asked Wang's lawyer Derek A. Cohen if he was implying that Forest Cao and John Ashe were killed, and why he had so heavily redacted this sentencing submission.
"It speaks for itself," Cohen said by the elevators. Likewise the Assistant U.S. Attorney on the case Daniel C. Richenthal declined Inner City Press' question about who beyond Ng Lap Seng Ms. Wang had cooperated against.
Judge Daniels did not preside over the trial of Ng Lap Seng. He accepted the government's recommendation of time served with very little inquiry.
He said as if by rote that corruption of the UN is a serious matter. But if so, why should a person who paid bribes in the UN get such a light sentence with little public showing of the benefit of their cooperation?
Corruption has continued at the UN since the prosecution of Ng Lap Seng, resulting in his four year prison sentence. A second, separately prosecution was brought against Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy, an entity which also tried to buy the oil company of Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation which employed current UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as a compensated board member.
Neither in the Ho nor Ng Lap Seng cases where any of the UN Secretariat officials implicated in the bribery schemes prosecuted.
This laxity can be contrasted with another SDNY proceeding a mere hour later, in which Judge P. Kevin Castel looked behind the U.S. Attorney's Office's 5k1.1 cooperation letters and imposed jail time on the four siblings, the Seggermans, who evaded taxes. That underlying case was USA v. Little, 12-cr-647 (Castel). This bifurcated case is USA v. Wang, 16-cr-495 (Daniels).
Vivi Wang helped bribe the UN, and on June 26 she got a time served sentence for undefined cooperation. Judge Castel looked behind the government's 5K1.1 letter but Judge Daniels did not. And the UN continues corrupt. Inner City Press will have more, much more, on this.
UNITED NATIONS GATE, January 21 – The United Nations of Secretary General Antonio Guterres has so increasing impunity and arrogance that it has killed two civilians in South Sudan and thinks that paying off their families is enough - this while Guterres mistakes DR Congo for Sudan, where civilians are also being shot.
On January 21, Guterres South Sudan mission UNMISS issued this statement: "During a security incident at a base operated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in the capital Juba on Saturday, two civilian contractors were shot by a peacekeeper and died as a result of their injuries. UNMISS promptly informed the South Sudan National Police Service of the incident. The Mission is taking steps to establish the facts of the incident that occurred at Durupi and has convened a review team comprised of representatives from UNMISS force, police and security services. UNMISS deeply regrets the loss of life and is providing support to the families of the two men who died." That's the entire statement - nothing on what will happen to the those who killed the civilians. Because of immunity, South Sudan has no jurisdiction over them. Under past practice, if guilty they could just fly home - and probably be celebrated by the UN in their home country, as the staffer of UN Alison Smale's UNIC in Ghana openly celebrates the Ghana police who returned from South Sudan after sexual exploitation in Wau. Meanwhile Guterres as Inner City Press asked about his impunity and links with CEFC China Energy has had it roughed up and banned now 201 days; his spokesman Stephane Dujarric despite on camera promise has not answer any of its questions, including on South Sudan, in two weeks. We'll have more on this - and his: when youth leaders from South Sudan and DR Congo took questions on 26 October 2018, it was across the street from the UN and Inner City Press went to ask and live-stream. Video here. It asked about the performance of the UN Mission UNMISS. Inner City Press asked the spokesmen for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in writing, "South Sudan's Susan Kyunon Sebit William told Inner City Press that UNMISS does not sufficiently protect civilians, particularly women, citing Terrain Hotel etc. What IS the UN doing? What did it learn?" Apparently nothing - these was no answer, more than six weeks later. How badly run is this UNMISS mission? Today, as Guterres after Inner City Press questions to him about UN corruption he encourages banned Inner City Press from a "UN Human Rights" event on December 10, we have another story from within the UN Mission in South Sudan. This comes as Guterres and his spokesmen, rather than answer questions about UN corruption from staff and Inner City Press instead rough up and ban the Press and refused all questions about the UN's use of money. Today we exclusively published below on this waste and cover up, document here for download on Patreon, here on Scribd. Then on the morning of December 17 Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, "December 17-3: On South Sudan, please immediately state the status of the $100,000 “independent” review of civilian staffing in UNMISS commissioned by SRSG David Shearer, the Terms of Reference of which were provided to Inner City Press by whistleblowers asking why the report has been buried. When will it be made public? Where is Wolfgang Weisbrod Weber? Elizabeth Lercara Chester? Anees Ahmed? How much did it cost?" Five hours later at close of business, Dujarric had not answered this or any other Inner City Press question. And here now a real story from within UNMISS, from sources who hate to see what SRSG Shearer and Guterres are doing to the UN: "Mr. Lee: You have written several articles about corrupt hiring practices at UNMISS under the leadership of SRSG David Shearer. In the midst of your reporting, SRSG Shearer launched what he called an “independent” civilian staffing review. The results of this review have not been released, even though the review was completed over a month ago. The terms of reference for the review are attached. The review was led by a former ASG supported by two senior staff (D1 and P5), and cost the mission approximately $100,000 in direct expenses, plus weeks of staff time. Description Estimated cost Non-staff member senior consultant (former ASG) $30,000 Two round trip business class tickets from NY to Juba ($7,000 x 2) $14,000 DSA with accommodation for two consultants (30 days x $120 per day x 2) $7,200 Special flights within mission (8 flights with same day return x $6,000) $48,000 TOTAL estimated cost $99,200 A final copy of the report was submitted privately to SRSG Shearer when the review team completed its month-long mission at the end of October 2018. No copy of the report has been distributed within the mission. Nor has copy even been shared with the senior management team, including the DSRSG and Chief of Staff—whose areas of work were included in the review. This lack of transparency surrounding the review team’s report is particularly concerning given that its results were intended to factor into the mission’s broader strategic planning efforts. Yet, these broader strategic planning efforts have been proceeding without benefit of the very costly staffing review. It appears that SRSG Shearer disagrees with some of the report’s key findings and recommendations. The findings and recommendations apparently do not comport with the SRSG’s preconceived views of how civilian staffing should be restructured. As your recent reporting demonstrated, one of the SRSG’s primary goals is to put more of his “favorites” into senior positions, regardless of UN hiring rules, and consolidate more power within his own front office. By confidentially sharing this information with you, I hope to bring more transparency and accountability to how decisions are being made at what is now the UN’s largest peacekeeping operation." And here is the document, for now, showing the team of long time UN insiders going all the way back to the UN's (failed) mission a Referendum still not held in Western Sahara: "Composition 14. The Review team will comprise of the following members: a. Dr. Wolfgang Weisbrod Weber (Team Leader, external expert) b. Ms. Elizabeth Lercara Chester c. Mr. Anees Ahmed 15. The team will be supported by UNMISS Strategic Planning Unit and Best Practice Unit (Point of Contact, Mr. Naoki Ishikawa). Budget 17. The cost for the visit will be covered by UNMISS." So where is the product of this public spending? Who will be held accountable, including for Guterres' censorship of Press? Should be Guterres. Watch this site. On December 10 Inner City Press reported here about a UN official Inner City Press has long been told and reportedabout (from 2007 in Liberia to 2016 with Ladsous), Stephani Scheer (said to be 'Cindy', in the book about the Oil for Food scandal "Backstabbing for Beginners"). Because Guterres' decayed UN has reached the point where it physically ousts those who ask Guterres about (his) corruption and then refuses to response to written questions on such matters, here it is, as sent to Inner City Press, Guterres' USG Jan Beagle and other email address on which we will have more: "Hello Matthew, I sent this to you and UN official in the same address. Staff are crying here because the lady dismantled the section after being exposed to get unnecessary benefits with retired former boyfriend of UN Staff member (Christopher Fathers). She is only remaining two weeks to retire but revenged the staff. You know She is an American but going to live in South Africa hiding USA taxation of her huge amount she got from the missions including Oil for food program in Iraq. [See above, and Backstabbing for Beginners. More from UNMISS staff:] The mother of corruption in UNMISS is on the farewell this month. She has been considered the most influential and monster woman messing up the whole system. She had a plan to get million dollars in the name of restructuring with her former boy friend Christopher but failed after being exposed. Now she has decided to abolish the GSS office at the last minute and fired those innocent staff members at her retirement (see the attachment). The current SRSG does not have the knowledge on the administrative reconfiguration of different functions. The mother of corruption has considered him as a small boy and did not share him any plan on reforming the staff structure. He only spent playing music and guitars with his fans while staff are severely affected and being suffered due to maladministration . Majority staff have lost respect for the current SRSG [David Shearer] and his team. He is not proactive in identifying and preventing potential staff problems. The Secretary General of whistle-blower policy has officially been annulled in UNMISS. No guarantee for whistle-blowers in the UNITED NATIONS! Thank you Inner City for becoming our voice!" No problem. Here's from the 7 December 2018 memo (Scribd; download on Patreon) from Scheer, as Director of Mission Support of UNMISS: "With the dissolution of GSS [some] staff could not be accommodated under the new functions as their qualifications and experience do not satisfy the requirement" -- unless they are cronies of Guterres, or Shearer, or Scheer. We'll have more on this. None of this stopped the UN's hypocritical and often absentee Secretary General Antonio Guterres from on December 3 while off on another junket issuing this: " The Secretary-General strongly condemns the brutal sexual attacks perpetrated against women and girls in the last ten days in the Unity region of South Sudan. These horrific acts are a distressing reminder of how, despite recent recommitments by South Sudan’s leaders to a cessation of hostilities and a revitalized peace agreement, the security situation for civilians remains dire, especially for women and children. Rape and other forms of sexual violence have been a consistent feature of the conflict in South Sudan, used both as a tactic of war and a driver of forced displacement. The Secretary-General underlines that such predatory behavior against the most vulnerable is unacceptable. The Secretary-General urges the leaders of all the parties to the conflict – and future leaders in the Transitional Government of National Unity – to ensure the safety of civilians and address impunity for these crimes through investigation and prosecution of perpetrators, including through the operationalization of the Hybrid Court, as an immediate priority. The Secretary-General underlines that the only viable solution for the security and prosperity of the people of South Sudan is the immediate cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. The United Nations stands ready to support all national, regional and international efforts to that effect. Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General New York, 3 December 2018." The UN under Antonio Guterres has further covered up rapes in CAR by its own "peacekeepers" from Cameroon, refusing to answer questions in a censorship pattern well known to each of the officials who on December issued this fwiw statement: "UN Special Representatives on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, and the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng strongly condemn reports of 150 women and girls brutally raped during a ten-day period (19-29 November) while making their way to collect food for their families near Bentiu, South Sudan. The violations took place in a Government-controlled area, reportedly carried out by young men in civilian clothing or military uniforms.
We reiterate the messages of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for South Sudan, David Shearer and call on the Government of South Sudan to urgently denounce these abhorrent acts, swiftly launch investigations and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and held accountable.
Accountability is critical to obtain lasting peace and reconciliation among the communities in South Sudan we therefore call on the Government to take all appropriate measures to end the chronic impunity prevailing in the country. We also call on the Government to uphold its primary responsibility for protecting and ensuring the safety of its population, irrespective of their ethnic or political affiliation. We further urge the Government to ensure that all victims receive essential medical, psychosocial and legal support necessary for their recovery.
It is very disturbing that sexual violence remains rampant in the country. This year, in particular, has been marked by an alarming increase in the number of rape cases perpetrated on vulnerable women and girls, despite the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement in September 2018." But why have they allowed Guterres censorship on the very issue of sexual abuse? We'll have more on this. Today's UN bans Press. When "the Role of Conventional Arms in Preventing Conflicts" was debated across First Avenue frm the UN on October 25, Inner City Press went, to ask a question. Video here. It asked UN Peacekeeping official Thomas Kontogeorgos what the UN has done about its negligent loss of weapons and ammunition - which Inner City Press asked about IN the UN before being banned as cover up by SG Antonio Guterres and his USG Alison Smale. Kontogeorgos to his credit answered, only somewhat evasively, that DPKO "provided inputs" to the Small Arms Survey, and now UNPOL passes information to INTERPOL (the disappearance of whose head Guterres has said nothing about, despite written questions from Inner City Press.). At the end of the IPI program, Youssef Mahmoud spoke about the elephant(s) in the room, selling arms. Afterward Dr. Mihaela Racovita of SAS told Inner City Press they are trying to make further inroads with DPKO, for example with the mission in Mali. We hope to have more on this - the lawless ban by Guterres and Smale, for reporting on UN corruption, is not helpful. But we will not stop. Back on September 5, hours after in the UN Security Council chamber UK Ambassador Karen Pierce said she supported the morning's meeting about Nicaragua due to refugee flows, across the street from the UN Inner City Press asked her why this logic didn't apply to the confict in the former British Southern Cameroons and the flight of Anglophones from state violence into Nigeria. Periscope video here.
Pierce replied that a country is less likely to end up on the Security Council's agenda if it is taking some positive steps. But given 36 year Cameroonian head of state Paul Biya's torching of villages, what are his positive steps? A sceptic might point to the natural gas deal he signed with UK-based New Age, which UK Minister Liam Fox bragged around as showing UK companies can still get deals after Brexit.
Also on the panel on the "Culture of Peace," moderated by Kevin Rudd, was Secretary General Antonio Guterres' head of policy planning Fabrizio Hochschild. When Inner City Press began a question to Hochschild, who had spoken with gruesome examples from Colombia of the need for opposing sides to humanize each other though “dignification,” Rudd cut it off.
Stepping off the crowded elevator at ground level Inner City Press endeavored to ask Hochschild the questions, both Cameroon and whether Guterres and his opaque Global Communicator Alison Smale, purporting to ban Inner City Press from the UN for life without once speaking with it, should engaged in some dignification. He declined to answer -- declined to dignify the question, so to speak -- then said “Ask Steph.”
It was a reference to Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who Smale has twice written would answer Inner City Press' question but who has refused to for a full week.
This as Inner City Press, already banned from the UN for 64 days amid its questions on Guterres' inaction on Cameroon with the country's ambassador Tommo Monthe heading the UN Budget Committee, has an application pending to cover the UN General Assembly as it has for the past 11 years. Dignification, indeed. We'll have more on this.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
On Haiti Cholera, After ICP Asked SG Guterres, UN Spins, Victims To Protestin Port au Prince
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 21 – When UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held a press conference on June 20, Inner City Press about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti under his predecessor Ban Ki-moon but now reneging even on what Ban belatedly proposed for individual reparations. Inner City Press mentioned upcoming protests in Haiti that it will be covering from there, June 22 and 23. Guterres announced that he was just then - minutes later the announcement went out - naming as a new special envoy on Haiti Josette Sheeran, formerly the director of the UN World Food Program and now the head of the Asia Society. Video here. Transcript here. He seemed to say the UN was never going to compensate individuals or families impacted by the cholera the UN brought.
On June 21 Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq to clarify. UN Video here, from Minute 16:21. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press: this was something that the Secretary-General said on the record when I asked him about the seeming change in the cholera in Haiti plan. And he said that that policy was announced by his predecessor and had two dimensions; one is fighting cholera, and the other is the possibility to support communities impacted. It was devised not as individual support. And just, since then, I went back and actually looked at the November A/71/620 document, and there’s a whole section on individual support. It was called track 2B. So I just wanted to--
Deputy Spokesman: And I was here at the time. And I remember the discussions that the former Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, had about this. And, at that point, it was not determined whether it would be individual or community-based. Even at that point, I believe the discussion was towards community-based. So that’s something that’s… a process that’s been crafted.
Inner City Press: I wish I’d had that document in front of me when he answered, because there are many people that are in Haiti that have seen the new announcement made by Amina Mohammed as a retrenchment, as a taking back of that before even consulting people. Mario Joseph and others have put out a press release; they’re protesting on Thursday. So I wanted to just get your quote before that protest, that at one time the idea of individual reparations to people harmed by cholera was in a UN document as being considered and it’s now not being considered at all?
Deputy Spokesman: I wouldn’t say that it’s not being considered at all. And I wouldn’t say that initially it was something that was devised as the primary idea. This is something that’s been under consideration. It remains under consideration, but the primary focus, for reasons that were described at the end of last year and again at the start of this year, have been community-based. And if you look at what Ban Ki-moon said in December, again, it mentions the community-based approach.
But the UN document in November 2016 has a Track 2B, individual. Here's the beginning of the press release for the protests: "Port-au-Prince: Haitian cholera victims and their advocates called on the UN Security Council to deliver on the promise of a new, victim-centered approach to cholera during its visit to Haiti this week, by meeting directly with victims and committing to funding the $400 million initiative before MINUSTAH --the peacekeeping mission that caused the cholera epidemic—pulls out in October. 'The UN’s apology and promises were promising in December,' said Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) that has led the fight for justice for cholera victims. 'But seven months later, with only a pittance raised for the so-called "New Approach" and not a single promised consultation with the cholera victims, they look like empty public relations gestures. It is time for the UN to deliver.' The 15-member Security Council is in Haiti from June 22-24 to finalize the transition from MINUSTAH to a new mission focused on supporting justice that will be known as MINUJUSTH. The BAI announced two protests during the visit: one at the UN logistics base in Haiti on Thursday at 11 am, and a second one in Champs de Mars on Friday at 11." We'll have more on this: Inner City Press will be accompanying and covering, in as much detail as possible, the UN Security Council's visit to Haiti from June 22 to 24. Watch this site. Footnote: on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, to which Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric does NOT "lend" the briefing room and which has never and will never ask for a journalist to be thrown out or restricted, Inner City Press urged Guterres to more routinely take questions, for example on his way in and out of the Security Council. We'll see.
UNITED NATIONS, December 6 -- When Mayor Bill de Blasio's Commissioner for International Affairs Penny Abeywardena took questions about the United Nations' impact on New York City on December 6, there was an initial joke about parking tickets, as if that would be the extent of issues New Yorkers might care about.
But while the City's study enumerates people directly employed by the UN Community, their lack of labor and other rights due to immunity was not acknowledged in the study.
Inner City Press covers both the UN and its headquarters city, New York, and routinely receives complaints from diplomats' domestic workers and drivers about work place abuse and lack of benefits, and the lack of any recourse. Due to immunity, not only defrauded workers but those subject to physical abuse are left without rights.
What about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed 10,000 people, leaving sorrow and economic harm in many New York City communities - does the de Blasio administration have a position on that? Abeywardena did not answer, leaving the question for the UN moderator Cristina Gallach.
But Gallach, as mentioned even in the New York Times, is responsible for the ouster and eviction of the investigative Press from the UN, and its confinement to minders to cover events on the UN's second floor for the past nine months and for the foreseeable future.
Gallach is giving Inner City Press' longtime shared UN office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom, which rarely comes into the UN and never asks any questions.
Abeywardena answered Inner City Press' second round of questions by saying the City works with the UN on such issues as testing for Legionnaires Disease - something legally required for (other) buildings in New York.
We question whether the City administration is doing or should do anything to ensure that the UN lives up to the basic principles, applicable right outside the UN's gates, of press freedom and due process.
Gallach's pretext for throwing Inner City Press out and restricting it since was Inner City Press' attempt to cover an event in the same UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, as part of its coverage of the ongoing Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case set for trial in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 2017.
Inner City Press left the briefing room - which had no “closed” sign on it - as soon as a single UN Security officer said to, at the request of UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But three weeks later, without once speaking with Inner City Press, Gallach ordered it out on two hours notice.
When Inner City Press was physically thrown out onto First Avenue on Gallach's orders on February 19, 2016 (audio here) and its laptop thrown onto the sidewalk, it called the New York Police Department, which said it had no recourse at all, the UN controls even the sidewalk in front of it.
While the UN certain does some good work, is this censorship and impunity something New Yorkers should be represented as supporting? We'll have more on this.
UNITED NATIONS, January 11 -- The UN of Ban Ki-moon marked the six anniversary of the Haiti earthquake with a statement on January 11 mentioning the “lack of access to clean water and sanitation,” but without a word on the cholera that the UN brought there in the earthquake's wake.
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric what the UN is doing, and if there is any chance that Ban will reconsider his position on impunity for the cholera before the end of his term. On this latter, the spokesman said if he has an update, he'll give it. Here's Ban's statement:
"Tomorrow, the United Nations family will mark the sixth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti and pay tribute to the more than 200,000 victims, including 102 United Nations personnel, who perished in this tragic event. United and in solidarity with all Haitians who have lost loved ones to this catastrophe, we honour the memory of our colleagues.
"The path to recovery and long-term development is not an easy one. Many Haitians continue to face multiple challenges, including displacement, food insecurity and lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Haiti remains in need of international support and I therefore call on the international community to stand with Haiti as it moves forward to rebuild.
"While we honour the victims, the commemoration of this tragedy must be a source of renewed inspiration and a call to unite behind a vision for a stable, democratic and prosperous future for Haiti. Let me reaffirm the continued commitment of the United Nations to support the Haitian people in the fulfilment of their aspirations."
Two UN Police died in Haiti from December 29 to 30. The announcement of the deaths came on the website of the MINUSTAH mission. Here is a translation by InnerCityPro.com:
“MINUSTAH regrets having to announce the death, in Cap Haitien, of two police officers who were part of UNPOL. Their lifeless bodies were discovered on the morning of December 30 in their residence. An investigation has been opened by a team composed by the Haitian National Police and agents of MINUSTAH to determine the circumstances of their deaths, which happened in the night between December 29 and 30. The Special Representative of the Secretary General in Haiti Sandra Honore deplored this double loss and presents in the name of MINUSTAH condolences to the families of the two victims and their colleagues.”
Inner City Press asked the UN Spokesperson's office in New York, where UN Peacekeeping is headquartered, for more details but was only referred to the MINUSTAH press release, which did not say the nationality of the decedents (Rwandan) nor their gender (both women). And there has been nothing since, just as the Office of the Spokesperson has not confirmed or denied that UN Peacekeepers in Liberia beat a 13 year old child.
Five years after the UN brought cholera to Haiti, for Human Rights Day, the UN Security Council got letters from 2,000 victims of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH. Inner City Press on December 10, Human Rights Day, asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here,transcript here:
Inner City Press: On Haiti, I wanted to ask you, there were… there were two, some 2,000 letters of victims of cholera that were supposed to be delivered today to MINUSTAH [United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] in Port-au-Prince. They’ve also been put online to be read, and the request by those turning them in is that they be turned over by MINUSTAH to Security Council members. And they asked for the Security Council to urge Ban Ki-moon to take responsibility for the introduction of cholera to Haiti and two other points.
Can you comment on the letters? I understand thatthe legal position remains the same, but factually, have these letters been received? And will MINUSTAH or DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations], in fact, transmit these victim letters to Security Council members?
Deputy Spokesman: Well, we need to check, first of all, whether the letters have been formally received by MINUSTAH, and so we’d have to check on that.
TWENTY FOUR hours later, there was NOTHING from the UN. So on December 11, Inner City Press asked again: transcript here:
Inner City Press: On Haiti, yesterday I asked you about these letters that the lawyers suing the UN for having brought cholera to the country. They say they were delivered to MINUSTAH and you said you'd check to see if they've been received. Have they been received?
Deputy Spokesman: Yes, we can confirm that they have been received, and I believe the mission is exploring what to do next with that.
We'll have more on this.
The cover letter, seen by Inner City Press on December 9 and now online here, asks each of the Security Council's 15 members to
1. Publicly call on the UN Secretary-General to acknowledge UN responsibility for introducing cholera to Haiti and apologize to the Haitian people;
2. Commit to creating a fair framework for providing reparations to victims, and to providing the funds needed to compensate victims. This would fulfill the UN’s international legal obligations and ensure that victims’ right to a remedy is finally recognized;
3. Provide the resources needed to install the water and sanitation infrastructure necessary to eliminate cholera in Haiti. The UN announced its support for plan to eliminate cholera in Haiti in 2012, but the plan has received only 13% of the funding needed. Fundraising hasbeen stalled for over one year. During this time cholera infection rates have increased.
The cover letter is signed by Inisyativ Victim Kolera Sodo (IVIKSO), Asosyasyon Viktim Kolera Boukan Kare (ASOVIKBO), Òganizasyon Vikim Kolera nan Mibale (OVIKMi), Gwoupman Viktim Kolera Lachapèl (GVIKLA).
On December 9 at the UN there was a canned discussion of Ban Ki-moon's “Rights Up Front,” formed after another failure, in Sri Lanka. But this all gets erased, even as the UN barely acts amid the killings in Burundi. Impunity, as with the rapes and cover up in the Central African Republic. And now 2,000 letters from Haiti. Will there finally be some accountability?
Back on October 14, on the morning the UN Security Council was poised to renew its MINUSTAH mission's mandate without taking any responsibility for cholera, the portraits of the diseases (and the UN's) victims were placed outside the UN's 43rd Street entrance.
Inner City Press tweeted a photograph, witnessed the Security Council extending the mandate of its MINUSTAH mission in Haiti 15-0 with no comments before or after, then went at noon and asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric this:
Inner City Press I want to ask about Haiti and Central African Republic. On Haiti, I'm compelled to ask you. I'm sure you saw the people with the portraits of victims outside. I understand it's taking place outside Geneva and Port-au-Prince. And I wanted to ask you, the number they're using is 9,000 people killed, 745,000 people sickened by cholera they say the UN brought negligently to their country and there's been no accountability. And I wanted to know,now that Mr. [Pedro] Medrano seems to have been decommissioned and wasn't replaced, what is the UN's response to… to this sort of being called to task for total lack of accountability and families left without breadwinners, etcetera?
Spokesman Stephane Duajrric: I think on the legal issues, our stand has not changed. Obviously, on a more personal level, if you let me speak, I would refer you to what the Secretary-General said when he met victims… families of victims of cholera when he went to Haiti just about a year and a half ago, I believe, or two years ago. And those feelings still stand. The work that Mr. Medrano had done on mobilizing resources to take… to help support the sanitation system and the… dealing… and helping Haiti deal with the aftermath of cholera has continued under the auspices of the UN country team. So it's not as if the UN is not active on this front.
Inner City Press: I guess my… if… if on the issue of sexual abuse and exploitation there's a move towards setting up a trust fund to compensate victims? In this case, the families that were supported were left with nothing, so I'm wondering, has the UN done anything in that regard?
Spokesman: The UN country team and Mr. Medrano had tried to raise funds to deal with the aftermath of the cholera.
Inner City Press: Only the water issues.
Spokesman: What's your CAR question?
For the record, the CAR question was and is about peacekeepers raping civilians.
On a daily basis across from the UN's 43rd Street entrance stands a Haitian journalist; Inner City Press' requests to the UN including former spokesperson Michele Montas to get him re-admitted fell on the UN's deaf ears. Now he wants to know the prospective Haitian military force's size.
Ban Ki-moon dodged service of legal papers; his spokespeople answer every Press question with the same answer, “Our position hasn't changed.” Well, it should. Now Ban is embroiled in a corruption scandal in which business interests from Macau were able to purchase revisions by the Secretariat in official UN documents. But the UN's Haitian victims are outside the gate.
Joseph Dade Guiwil, a cholera survivor whose portrait is featured at the UN, said in an embargoed statement, “Every family in my community lost something because UN peacekeepers gave us cholera. I say to the UN: give us justice.” The embargo was broken by Associated Press. There will be more reporting, and questions, including in connection with the mandate of UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous' MINUSTAH mission - which despite repeated requests refuses to send its press releases, such as they are, to Inner City Press. This is today's UN. We'll have more on this.
When UN envoy to Haiti Sandra Honore took questions outside the UN Security Council on October 8, Inner City Press asked her about the upcoming electoral run-off, the high profile resignation of Nehemy Joseph, and cholera. Video here.
Honore put the best face she could on the elections, and on Nehemy Joseph's resignation, saying he would be replaced. She did not respond to Inner City Press' question on cholera, but to her credit did stay at the stakeout when Inner City Press asked what the UN is doing for and about those being ejected from the Dominican Republic. Supporting the Haitian government, was her answer.
Back on June 16 with mass deportations threatened from the Dominican Republic to Haiti, Inner City Press asked the UN, who deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq called it "hypothetical." A day later, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a statement of concern about the threatened deportations.
On June 18, Inner City Press again asked the UN about the deportation threat, and if the UN might follow Jose Ramos Horta's advise that it compensate victims of the cholera it brought to Haiti:
Inner City Press: On Haiti I think it's, I guess, on Tuesday, I'd asked you about this planned repatriation from the Dominican Republic. And now that a variety of… the Mayor of the City of New York has spoken on it and most poignantly the President of Haiti, Mr. [Michel] Martelly, had said they won’t accept individuals that were not born in Haiti, which would stand to leave a lot of people stateless; meaning, Haitians… “Haitians that were born in Santa Domingo”. And I've also read that UN was attending meetings planning for what was to happen, so what is the UN's position on this?
Deputy Spokesman Haq: What I can say on that is the Dominican Government has given assurances that it will apply due process standards on an individual basis and will protect individuals against unlawful deportation. The United Nations urges respect for international law and humanitarian principles. In the event of an increase in the scale of deportations, the United Nations calls for close coordination between the Haitian and Dominican Governments to ensure an orderly and transparent process open to observation by the UN and the international community. The United Nations remains commits to resolve the problems of the people who are deprived of nationality as a result of the 2013 ruling of the Dominican Constitutional Court.
Inner City Press: Thanks. Also on Haiti, I wanted… I meant to ask you this yesterday, but I'll ask today, José Ramos-Horta of the panel in this room on Tuesday, on cholera in Haiti, said that he said he would believe, you know, I'm going to paraphrase here, that the UN should have paid compensation and he brought up as two examples peacekeepers in Timor-Leste, upon knowing that death had been caused inadvertently, they just offered to pay one individual, paid his salary over his remaining deployment there. I wanted to know, given he is a highly respected person to be the head of the panel, you know, not as a “gotcha”, but is there some response to the approach, the way that he laid it out, that making victims whole comes before any kind of legal argumentation?
Deputy Spokesman: Basically, of course, as you're aware well aware, he is essentially expressing his personal opinion on this. His panel's work was not on the question of Haiti. We have heard, as you know, a wide range of opinions over the years and have respected a wide range of views on this. The Secretary-General has tried as hard as he can to make sure that the situation of cholera in Haiti is resolved. As you have seen from the efforts of Pedro Medrano, what we are trying to do is coordinate efforts with the Government of Haiti and the international community to see what can be done to bring this cholera epidemic to an end. And so, we will continue with those efforts and we respect the views of people around. On the legal question, our position remains as it was.
What is wrong with this picture?
UN official Herve Ladsous, who has openly refused to answer Inner City Press question and was abetted in this by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson in his last press conference, used that to brag about ostensibly declining numbers of sexual exploitation and abuse complaints against his UN Peacekeeping: 51 worldwide for a whole year.
But now it emerges that in Haiti alone, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services documented 225 women sexual exploited by Ladsous' peacekeepers. This is a cover up; Ladsous should answer or go. On June 10, Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric,video here, transcript here:
Inner City Press: I want to ask about sexual abuse. I'm sure you've seen AP's report on the OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] report on sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly in MINUSTAH [United Nations Stabilization Mission] in Haiti, saying 225 women testified that they were exchange — you know, asked by peacekeepers to exchange sex for money or food or whatever. So how do you square this with the report made here by the Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous that only 51 cases of sexual exploitation or abuse were alleged worldwide, 51 as opposed to 225 in one country? And what's going to be done to square what seems to be a dramatic underreporting by the UN?
Spokesman Dujarric: I think the — first of all, the report that you referred to in the Associated Press filing, as far as my understanding is concerned, it's still a draft report. There's still comments going back and forth, as usually there are between the concerned department and OIOS. So I'm not going to go into what's said in the report.
Obviously, the issue of underreporting is of concern. Every case needs to be looked into. Every case of sexual abuse needs to be looked into. The Secretary-General is determined to continue on the zero-tolerance policy. I think if you look at the special measures report that was issued earlier this year, I think it outlines a number of steps that were taken. And obviously, you know, all sorts of things are looked at in terms of prohibited conduct, discouraged conduct and others. So, you know, the report's still in draft form. I don't have any information on the specific cases you mentioned.
Inner City Press: Maybe the number will somehow be reduced, but what I did want to ask you is, can you say from this podium that peacekeepers requesting sex in exchange for money or food does constitute sexual exploitation and abuse, for the purposes of this 51 figure that was thrown out in this room?
Spokesman Dujarric: Again, I'm not go into that. I think if you look at the Secretary-General's special measures report, I think it outlines those things and it answers your question
This resistance to saying that eacekeepers requesting sex in exchange for money or food does constitute sexual exploitation and abuse is part of the problem. We'll have more on this.
On June 8, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric first about the French forces' non-inclusion in Ban's Children and Armed Conflict list, then about the whistleblowers, video here, transcript here:
Inner City Press: it seems like the abuse the UN was aware of in the Central African Republic by the French Sangaris forces, was there any consideration of including them and if so, why not?
Spokesman Dujarric: On the CAR [Central African Republic], the situation in the CAR, part of the CAR was drafted with the information available at the time of the writing of the report. As you know, the… we do hope to announce soon the external independent inquiry which will shed light on the process.
Inner City Press: I'm sorry to reiterate this. I'd sent you these questions but wanted to ask you. I asked the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights who said that Mr. Kompass is going to be extended, although he also said it's not Geneva's decision; it's up to New York. And there are several Member State who believe he's not being extended--
Spokesman: No, I have no indication whatsoever that his contract will not be renewed.
Inner City Press: It does apparently expire in one month.
Spokesman: Right. No, as I said, I have no indication whatsoever that his contract will not be renewed.
Inner City Press: ]OHCHR] had said something about contracts being automatically extended if a person is under investigation. Is that your understanding?
Spokesman: I think that is very likely a policy but as I said, for Mr. Kompass, I have no indication that his…
Inner City Press: The other thing I asked you is about Miranda Brown who was an… worked with Mr. Kompass and has since been terminated. I know that she wrote a letter to the Secretary-General dated 23 May saying she's willing to participate, but not if she's fired by the UN and has no immunity. Has the Secretary-General’s responded to the letter?
Spokesman: I don't believe there has been a response. I don't know if it was received. I don't believe she was terminated, I think her fixed-term contract was not renewed.
Inner City Press: What would you say to those who say if you actually want to know… this was a person who was number two to Kompass at the time involved. What arrangements were being made to try to get her evidence?
Spokesman: I think we would have to leave that to the panel once it's named.
As Inner City Press analyzed below, there is a history of UN panels being used to cover up.
Now Code Blue has these three recommendations:
"First, this must be a truly external and independent inquiry. No member of existing UN staff should be appointed to investigate nor to act as the investigators’ secretariat.
"Second, it must be understood that top members of the Secretary-General’s own staff will have to be subject to investigation. This must go right up to the level of Under-Secretaries General. No one can be excluded, whether the Director of the Ethics Office or the USG of the Office of Internal Oversight Services or the Secretary-General’s own Chef de Cabinet. It would appear that all of them and more acted inappropriately in response to the dreadful events in CAR.
"Third, the reference in the Secretary-General’s announcement of a review to ‘the broad range of systemic issues’ is crucial to the inquiry. What happened in the Central African Republic was an atrocity, but the fact that the UN stood silent for nearly a year after its own discovery of widespread peacekeeper sexual abuse (even if by non-UN troops) is itself a bitter commentary on the Secretary-General’s declared policy of ‘zero tolerance’."
Inner City Press would add, past UN staff and offiicals as well. Consider these past panels, as put together and at the end analyzed by Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access:
On 22 September 2003, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, to chair an Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of UN Personnel in Iraq.
The priority of the Independent Panel’s investigation of the “oil-for-food” programme was to “get after” allegations of corruption and misconduct within the United Nations itself and, more broadly, the question of the maladministration of the “oil-for-food” programme, stated Paul A. Volcker, Chairman of the Independent Panel, in a press conference at UNHQ.
The UN Commission of Inquiry, appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the request of the Pakistani Government, reached no conclusion as to the organizers and sponsors behind the attack in which a 15-year-old suicide bomber blew up Ms. Bhutto’s vehicle in the city of Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007. The three-member panel, which was headed by Chilean Ambassador to UN Heraldo Muñoz and included Marzuki Darusman, former attorney-general of Indonesia, and Peter Fitzgerald, a veteran official of the Irish National Police, urged the Government to undertake police reform in view of its “deeply flawed performance and conduct.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the Panel of Inquiry on the 31 May 2010 Flotilla Incident on 2 August 2010. The Panel received and reviewed reports of the detailed national investigations conducted by both Turkey and Israel.
On 22 June 2010, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of a Panel of Experts to advise him on the implementation of the joint commitment included in the statement issued by the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General at the conclusion of the Secretary-General's visit to Sri Lanka on 23 March 2009.
Meanwhile UN staff advocates have written to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his chief of staff and Ladsous, among others, demanding resignations. On June 2 Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who Banned any Inner City Press question to Ladsous on May 29, what Ban Ki-moon DID, once he learned in March about the rapes.Video here and embedded below.
Dujarric said he had nothing to add to his previous answers. Huh?
Inner City Press asked Dujarric, in light of OHCHR Zeid using a private email address for UN business, what the UN's record retention policy is. Dujarric said the policy must be available somewhere. To this has the UN descended.
Dujarric said the investigation by Lapointe's OIOS, discredited in the leaked emails, will "lead where it will lead." But Lapointe has told OIOS invstigators to not go beyond what they are asked to look at -- in this case, only the whistleblower. This is called a cover up.
When Hillary Clinton used the UN Security Council stakeout to belatedly answer questions about her own use of private email while US Secretary of State, it was described as an accident of scheduling, or attempt to use the UNSC backdrop to convey gravitas. But the echo now with Prince Zeid also using private email for presumably public business raises similar questions.
Anders Kompass was asked to send his side of the story -- to a private email address, but wisely declined.
Beyond the treatment of Kompass himself, the documents show pressure brought to bear on lower-level staff to make and thereby launder the high officials' desire for an investigation of Kompass.
Most directly, it is asked, what UN staff member will now report fraud or misconduct, knowing that OIOS and the Ethics Office will then discuss the accusations with their boss? This is a question Inner City Press on May 29 asked UN Spokesman Staphen Dujarric, who BannedInner City Press from putting a single question to Ladsous - the question has yet to be answered.
UN staff advocates have written directly to Ban Ki-moon and his deputy, Ladsous and Atul Khare and others, demanding resignations. They are offended by the exposure of lack of independence at the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and UN Ethics Office, and question whether the US should cut off funding under the 2014 U.S. Consolidated Appropriation Act, section 7048(a)(1)(B). After reading those leaked documents, how exactly can the U.S. Secretary of State (or anybody else) certify that the UN's whistle-blower policy fulfils the Act's requirements? Is there any "independent adjudicative body" in this chain? Evidently the Ethics Office and OIOS are not."
The staff notice Ban's appearance at another softball soccer game, among those who are supposed to hold him and the UN accountable. The call for Ladsous to resign out be fired has spread from the African Group to Latin America and GRULAC...
On May 7, Inner City Press asked more questions about this - including to Herve Ladsous himself.
After a long closed-door consultation meeting of the Security Council, Ladsous emerged. Inner City Press asked him, based on Paragraph 9 of the UNDT ruling, Why did you ask Kompass to resign?"
