By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/uns1family072309.html
UNITED NATIONS, July 23, updated -- In today's United Nations, questions of possible nepotism and family connections have become taboo. Few pose or pursue them and if asked, they are not answered. The lack of transparency starts at the very top. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's son in law Siddharth Chatterjee, well placed sources tell Inner City Press, has recently transferred with a promotion from the UN Mission in Iraq, from which patron Staffan de Mistura has left, to the UN Office of Project Services in Copenhagen, Denmark, under a new patron, Jan Mattsson.
In late May, Inner City Press traveled with Ban Ki-moon and senior advisors including his speech writer to Sri Lanka and back. On the return leg, after photo opportunities including a scene in the government run internment camp in Vavuniya in which detained children sung the name of Mr. Ban, the UN plane stopped in Copenhagen. An environmental conference for business executives was taking place in the Bella Center, which will host December's climate talks.
Outside the Center, Inner City Press met and interviewed an official from the UN Development Program. He said his job that Sunday was to drive Mr. Ban's wife to meet with the wife of UNOPS chief Jan Mattsson. He added incongruously that he'd been told to wait off to the side of these meeting of spouses. Inner City Press alluded to this in its dispatch from Copenhagen, wondering but not directly asking if this was an appropriate use of UN money and staff time.
In New York this month, well placed UN sources told Inner City Press that Siddharth Chatterjee had quietly shifted from the UN in Baghdad to UNOPS in Copenhagen back in early May, once it was clear Staffan de Mistura was leaving his post of Ban's envoy in Iraq to take the number two post in the World Food Program. (Inner City Press was the first to report de Mistura's departure and replacement by UNDP's Ad Melkert, here and here.) The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to express fear of retaliation, said that Ban's son in law was getting a promotion.
When Chatterjee took the Baghdad job as de Mistura's chief of staff, he was slated for a promotion. After Inner City Press and then the Washington Post wrote about it, the UN quickly and some felt defensively announced that Chatterjee would not be moving up a grade in UN pay scale. The Post reported that "This has greatly upset the U.N. rank and file, who are fretting that maybe Chatterjee is trying to leapfrog other qualified staff to get the assignment "
When Inner City Press asked about it, spokesperson Michele Montas replied on video that "we feel the publication of any information that increases the risk to any staff member and to the mission as a whole is not very helpful." (Apparently this argument is now being extended from Baghdad to Copenhagen). Team Ban hastened to argue that since Chatterjee had known de Mistura before, no nepotism was involved and again that the hire should not have been reported at all.
But de Mistura, as a savvy UN player, has a history of hiring the relatives of powerful Headquarters officials. He hired the son of Kofi Annan's chief of staff Iqbal Riza, even creating a middleman for payment to skirt rules or scrutiny. The source opine to Inner City Press that Mattsson, until recently criticized in the UN system for UNOPS' lack of audit and then identified system flaws, is emulating de Mistura. It is a fact that during the recent New York meeting of the executive board of UNOPS and UNDP, Ban issued a ruling that gave Mattsson greater freedom in staffing decisions, used to increase the number of higher level D-1 and D-2 positions at UNOPS in Copenhagen.
Against this backdrop, Inner City Press on July 20 asked Ban's speech writer, who is also the Director of Communications, about what whistleblowing staff had said of Chatterjee. Under Kofi Annan, Inner City Press would simply have gone to then UN spokespeople and asked a factual question, as it once did about a trust fund controlled by the family of Annan's wife. Such factual questions deserve factual answers; counter interpretations of the facts can be offered too, and included as quotes in stories. On this story, all that Team Ban has said is that Ban is concerned about safety, and sensitive to family.
Also on June 20, Inner City Press put factual question about Chatterjee to Ban's chief Spokesperson Michele Montas. She said she would get the answers. Inner City Press said, in light of Team Ban's argument that Ban is sensitive to family matters, that it would choose to question and await answers outside of the UN's formal noon briefing. At the June 21 noon briefing Inner City Press asked about Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Afghanistan but not the Chatterjee questions, choosing instead to approach Ms. Montas afterwards expecting response to the simple factual questions. But none were given.
Nor the next day, June 22, on the eve of Ban's and his Spokesperson's trip to China and Mongolia. On July 23 a 10 a.m. debate on the "Responsibility to Protect" hosted by General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann will not include Ban due it's said to his trip. A source on Ban's 38th floor, long after working hours, nodded despairing, "why don't they just answer the questions? To refuse to just makes Ban look worse," adding hopefully that management, media relations and communications changes may be made "for the good of the UN" during Ban's time in his native country in August.
The UN's own Office of Internal Oversight Services appears to do nothing in this regard. Even in the face of the President of the General Assembly's unexplained hiring with UN money of two relatives, reported first by Inner City Press and then the Times of London, OIOS has not acted. Inner City Press asked and was told that jurisdiction is being "looked into," but that complaints by anonymous sources, even those fear retaliations, should not be given weight.
The issue arose at a recent UN noon briefing, where Inner City Press was told that no more questions about the hirings would be accepted. At much lower levels of governance, questions about boss' son in law being hired and promoted within the Organization would be asked and answers given. Why is it different within this UN? Watch this site.
Update: Four days after Inner City Press off-camera asked the UN Office of the Spokesperson to confirm that Mr. Ban's son in law got a promotion at UNOPS, still with no answered the question was asked at the July 23 noon briefing. The question was dodged, but after the briefing Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe quietly confirmed that yes, Ban's son in law now works at UNOPS. She would not state how many ranks he'd been promoted, saying despite its relevance to the Secretariat that all questions should be directed to UNOPS's spokesperson. He is out of the office into August, but half-responded below the following questions:
Hello. I have been directed by the UN Spokesperson's Office, Marie Okabe, to direct questions to you about UNOPS' hiring of Siddarth Chatterjee, the Secretary General's son in law:
what is his current position: D-1 or D-2? What was his position before: P-5? Please state and confirm or deny. Please state what will be Mr. Chatterjee's compensation. was the vacancy announced? what was the vacancy number? many applicants for the vacancy were there? beyond specific responses to the questions above, please describe the UNOPS recruitment and hiring process, and any safeguards in place.
Please confirm that the spouses of the Secretary General and Mr. Mattssson met in late May, describe all use of UN system personnel in this regard and the cost. Please describe and disclose all communications between the Bans and the Mattssons, in connection with the hiring, with S-G's decision to increase UNOPS' autonomy in hiring and the increase in D-1 and D-2 positions and otherwise.
The next day, just before the noon briefing, the following arrived, responding to some but not all of the above questions:
Subj: response from UNOPS to your question
From: [Deputy Spokespeson at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 7/24/2009 11:48:20 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Response from UNOPS on the selection of Siddharth Chatterjee as UNOPS Regional Director for Europe and Middle East
Siddharth Chatterjee, was appointed in May 2009 as UNOPS Regional Director for Europe and the Middle East (EMO). He was awarded the position after competing successfully in a routine and transparent recruitment process independently managed by UNOPS.
Mr. Chatterjee met or exceeded all the criteria for the post. UNOPS totally rejects any suggestion that he gained the position due to family connections.
For 12 years Mr. Chatterjee held positions of increasing responsibility in UN peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Iraq, and working for UNICEF in Sudan, Indonesia and Somalia. Earlier he served 12 years with distinction in the Indian Army Special Forces, including duty as a military observer for the UN, rising to the rank of senior Major. During the recruitment process he impressed the selection panel with his 24 years of leadership and experience handling UN tasks in conflict and post-conflict settings.
The post of regional director was advertised on UNOPS website and in prominent international media. UNOPS received 121 applications, and short listed five candidates based on their specific experience and their match to the competencies sought for the position. UNOPS conducted a formal panel interview with these five, asking identical questions of each. The candidates were ranked based on their interview scores. References were checked and the successful candidate offered the position.
This response does not state Mr. Ban's son in law's new rank nor compensation, nor describe "any safeguards in place" nor "confirm that the spouses of the Secretary General and Mr. Mattssson met in late May, describe all use of UN system personnel in this regard and the cost. Please describe and disclose all communications between the Bans and the Mattssons, in connection with the hiring, with S-G's decision to increase UNOPS' autonomy in hiring and the increase in D-1 and D-2 positions and otherwise."
These questions were reiterated to UNOPS and the UN Spokesperson's Office on July 24. Watch this site.
