UN Orders Staff Away From Women's March, While UN Gallach at Sam Power's Election Party

By Matthew Russell Lee

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

From: Catherine COLMAY [at] wfp.org on behalf of Bonnie GREEN
Date: Thursday 19 January 2017 at 16:36
Subject: Guidance on Public Political Activities
 Message addressed in bcc to All HQ Staff
On behalf of Bonnie Green, Director, Ethics Office

Dear HQ Colleagues,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll have more on this.

At WFP, Ethics Missing Amid Waste and Garage Scandals as Josette Travels the World, Food Program Whistleblowers Say

By Matthew Russell Lee, News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/wfp1questions081609.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 15 -- In the wake of the World Food Program's controversial shut down of its Rome headquarters for a "simulated food distribution" display for the spouses of G-8 leaders, reported on by Inner City Press and skipped by both Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni, more and more whistleblowers from within WFP have approached Inner City Press with their complaints.

Most center around what they call the excessive travel and waste of Executive Director Josette Sheeran, the cover-up of scandals by weak ethical controls and discipline by promotion out to the field, and use of WFP for political purposes, fancy junkets and receptions and a make-up post for UN insider Staffan de Mistura. Inner City Press has asked WFP about these, and has received some answers.

Here is a sample complaint received from within WFP, anonymous due to fear of retaliation, then some WFP responses:

Matthew, Your reporting on the "Disneyland" school feeding show for the G-8 spouses was excellent. And many, many people in WFP agreed with you and had real doubts about it. The tents have come down but there's been no word on whether the contributions have increased to pay for it, and to feed more hungry poor. You should however, be aware that many WFP workers did attend work that day, even though parking was very difficult and WFP is not well connected by public transport to the areas in Rome where most staffers live. There are WFP staff who do have principles.

At 8:20, those not involved with the event were told through the PA system to remain at their workstations until the event was over and coffee, tea and water was placed on tables by the elevators on each floor. In other words, the staff were not welcome. Maybe that's why they were "encouraged" to "work from home".

Many dedicated long-term WFP staff see the current regime as a joke. Around the time of the G-8 event, Josette was also slated to attend the Non-Aligned Movement First Ladies Group in exotic Sharm El Sheikh. Clearly she's into Wives Clubs, which is not where she should be. However, perhaps because of the embarrassment of the G-8 wives event, she canceled.

We interrupt this whistleblowing for WFP's response:

"Greg Barrow is on leave. Please find the following responses to your questions. Ms. Sheeran was invited to the event but due other commitments, did not attend. She was represented by Ms. Sheila Sisulu, WFP's Deputy Executive Director for Hunger Solutions, who delivered a keynote speech and met with the host of the NAM First Ladies conference, Mrs. Mubarak to discuss school feeding and nutrition."

The whistleblower continued:

Word is that in the second half of 2009, she will spend perhaps no more than three weeks in Rome. A lot of her time is in Washington and elsewhere in the US (are we feeding Americans now, or is she doing something else there?). And there is a trip to places like Australia (over a weekend, of course). So who is actually running the organization? How can she justify, even with annual leave, spending less than one eighth of her time at her desk? Money which could and should be spent on feeding people or on properly staffing key departments or systems is being blown on business class airfares for her and her accompanying delegations and on school-feeding conferences near the north Italian lakes when somewhere within driving distance from Rome would have done, to name a few.

There are stories of parties being held costing more than 100 Euro per head at fancy Roman villas, paid for by WFP and/or FAO for people who never even worked for either organization. 100 Euro can buy about 300kg of wheat. Instead of feeding/entertaining one fat cat for a night, that's a lot of children who could be served.

Again, WFP had a different spin:

Ms. Sheeran's schedule for the rest of this year is still being finalized and will be adjusted as the year progresses depending on the most pressing needs and priorities. As the schedule stands today, she will be in Rome for a number of weeks. The role of a WFP Executive Director involves travel demands, which can often be sudden, such as a trip to Myanmar after the cyclone when WFP has an emergency response, or to donor countries to meet high level representatives. This fall, Ms. Sheeran's will make her first donor trip to Australia as part of a wider travel plan which includes WFP field operation visits. We believe you are referring to an official event co-hosted by WFP and FAO in honor of the departing President of IFAD, our sister UN agency in Rome.

But how much did it cost? At least on the Simulated Food Distribution Display for G-8 Spouses, WFP has finally given its own figure as to cost: 219,000 Euros. Click here for Inner City Press' counter calculations.

Inner City Press has asked, twice, about the new but we're told absent held of ethics, Joe Scalice, and whether notice was given of the vacancy externally or even internally. The post because open when Shuresh Sharma was moved to WFP's oversight office. From there, Inner City Press is told, an official was caught in a scandal in WFP's garage, then quickly exiled to the Sri Lanka IDP crisis. Inner City Press has asked:

What notice was given to internal candidates that they could apply? How many applied? Also, please comment on fraud case in Johannesburg starting next month and a whistleblower's statement that the individual "who headed it previously was very quickly sent out to the field when he was caught by the security guards in the underground executive car park in his car with a young lady, and they weren't discussing audit matters. So they may have had to fill it very quickly. I think it was done internally. Also, there has been an exodus from audit in the past year." Steffan de Mistura's post, did anyone previously hold it? or was it a new / made up post? Was the Executive Board consulted?

When the requested answers are received, they will be published on this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp1questions081609.html

For G-8 Spouses, WFP Flies in Ghanaian Children for "Simulated Feeding," $500,000 Cost and Ms. Sheeran Disputed, re N. Korea

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- During the upcoming G-8 meeting in Italy, the UN World Food Program is flying school children from Ghana to Rome for a "simulated food distribution" display for the spouses of G-8 representatives. WFP has ordered staff not involved in the display to not come to work that day. They will, however, received "special leave with full pay."

Inner City Press wrote about this last week, quoting an internal WFP e-mail. On July 7, Inner City Press called in to what was described as a WFP press briefing about the G-8 and asked for response to criticism of the event as insensitive to beneficiaries of UN aid and for the cost, as well as about limitations WFP accepts from the government of North Korea.

The WFP officials on the conference call -- who will remain unnamed at their request -- at first did not answer the question, and then stated that the event would cost only a fraction of the figure Inner City Press used its its July 2 story, $500,000.

Inner City Press asked to be given on the record WFP's figure, including staff time, accommodation and air fare -- and carbon offsetting of the jet travel, if any. Four hours later, after close of business in Rome, a WFP spokesman said that an answer might be forthcoming. In the interim, WFP had scrubbed up and approved a quote from the "background" briefing for a less critical wire service piece.

And so, beyond the WFP e-mail below describing the event, here is the basis for Inner City Press' estimate of cost:

According to the WFP website, 'WFP employed 10,200 people in 2008 (91 percent of staff serve in the field.)' That means about 1000 work at WFP Headquarters in Rome. Even accounting for a satellite building that will stay in operation -- though who knows how many staff will show up or be able to get near it -- we estimate that 800 staff go home and that the average grade is the mid range of a P4 (grades are higher at WFP headquarters than in the field). The direct cost for such a post is about $100,000 but one must add to that pension, staff assessment and a large "post adjustment" because the dollar is weak against the Euro. Therefore a more realistic annual cost for a mid range P4 is perhaps $150,000-160,000.

The work year has 260 days, so a single day of labor lost costs the organization $576. Multiplied by 800, one gets about $467,000 -- plus related security costs, the cost of flying in the Ghanaian children to eat corn-soy blend in view of the G-8 spouses, the construction of a fake schoolhouse by WFP's pool, etc. In addition there is the Italian government paying rent on a building that is not being used to manage food aid but as a set for this theater. The last public figure on the website for the building costs was about $45 million per annum with a daily cost of roughly $123,000. So $467,000 plus $123,000 yields about $590,000.

Immediately after a senior WFP official on Tuesday's conference call said that costs were only "a fraction" of $500,000, Inner City Press formally asked for WFP's estimate of costs, and for confirmation that a WFP staffer was expelled from North Korea.

At deadline nine hours later, the following arrived:

Hi Matthew, On the question regarding the planned event at WFP headquarters on Friday 10 July, I refer you to the response given during the teleconference earlier today. On the question of DPRK, I have the following response:

A senior WFP official said one WFP staff member in DPRK has had to leave the country because his visa was not renewed by the authorities. A number of other WFP staff members have been reassigned, or rotated to new duty stations because WFP's operations have contracted and the number of people required to support WFP's activities have gone down.

"While WFP continues to operate under the new conditions imposed by the DPRK authorities, it has not formally accepted them, and WFP is continuing to push for a return to the original terms of agreement negotiated with the government at the launch of the current emergency operation," the official added.

We continue to wait for WFP's cost estimate. Inner City Press immediately followed up on the above, asking for the costs, if the WFP staff member who had to leave DPRK was from South Korea, and another question.

The initial questions were sent to WFP chief Josette Sheeran's e-mail address. Ms. Sheeran, on whom Inner City Press has previously reported, including where possible praising her work, has taken to hiring yet more former colleagues from the Washington Times, most recently Elizabeth "Lisa" Bryant.

Within the UN system community in Rome, many believe that Ms. Sheeran engaged in a quid pro quo with FAO chief Jacques Diouf, hiring a relative of his for an information technology post in exchange for FAO hiring the husband of her personal assistant, Tanujah Rastogi. They snark that since Ms. Sheeran Shiner bragged that while editing the Washington Times she ran story after story about the Clintons and Whitewater, the Obama Administration with Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State might want to see a change at the top of WFP. Through in the snafu of the $500,000 simulated feeding program and.... well, watch this site.

Rome colleagues:

As you know, Italy will be hosting the G8 Summit next week and leaders from more than two dozen countries will be in L’Aquila. We are honored that the Italian government has asked WFP to host an official program at our headquarters on Friday, 10 July, as part of the spouse program.
This visit is a profound testament to the increasing visibility of WFP's work -- and an opportunity to help the world better understand the important work we do. On our premises, we are arranging a simulated food distribution and a symbolic African schoolhouse, where a small group of Ghanaian schoolchildren will help celebrate our work. (You may have noticed the large exhibit being erected this morning behind the pool.)

Due to the security precautions mandated by the Italian government and the visiting delegations, only those employees involved in the event or deemed necessary for critical operations by their managers will be permitted on the main building premises during the morning of July 10. Among other things, parking will be severely limited at our main building and automobile access limited in Parco de Medici in general.
But we encourage you to take advantage of this special exhibit and bring your families, including your children, on the afternoon of 10 July – anytime after 2:00 – so they can get a taste of our field work and meet the schoolchildren. If you cannot bring your family on 10 July, note that the tent and displays will remain up on Monday, 13 July, so we invite you to bring family members to see the display then.

Though this is a special event, we realize it might cause some inconvenience. We hope you can appreciate what an historic opportunity this is for some of the world’s most influential people to understand what we do and to see the impact of their donations.

Here are some guidelines for the day: If you work in the main building, please do not come to the office Friday morning, 10 July. The St. Martin’s building will remain open. As much as possible, please work from home... We expect the main building to re-open for business as usual at 2:00, so if it's feasible for you to return, please do so. If returning to the office in the afternoon is not feasible for you -- we recognize that some of the Parco de Medici transit options do not run in the afternoon, for instance – you are authorized special leave with full pay. Thank you,
Steve Taravella
Chief of Internal Communications, World Food Programme
Via C.G. Viola 68,Rome, Italy 00148

Footnote: one WFP staffer, anonymous from fear of retaliation, asked if Josette Sheeran would similarly "parade around Food Stamp recipient in the United States," and went on to suggest that if the G-8 spouses wanted to see "needy Africans" while in Italy, they could check out the camps on Lampedusa...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html

WFP In Pyongyang Has Korean Speakers Expelled, Flies African Children to Eat for G-8

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/wfp1nkrome070209.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 2 -- While the UN in New York announced that its World Food Program will shrink what remains of its program in North Korea, in the midst of declining donor confidence and missile tests by Pyongyang, the UN was more quiet about the restrictions it had been under and is accepting in the country. WFP in a memorandum from Beijing notes that the Kim Jong Il government now requires that none of WFP's remaining international staff should be able to speak Korean.

Inner City Press is told that WFP - Pyongyang's main Korea speaker was expelled from the country as persona non grata on June 20 and that this bodes badly for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon naming a new UN envoy to North Korea. Reportedly, Ban had focused on a South Korean envoy, with an eye toward running the candidate by members at the upcoming G-8 meeting. But if Kim Jong Il is expelling from the country what few UN system Korean speakers remained, such an envoy seems even less likely.

Speaking of WFP and the G-8, for the upcoming meeting WFP is flying in children from Ghana to eat as a part of an "exhibit" for the spouses of G-8 leaders on July 10. The internal WFP email is below. Several WFP sources expressed disgust to Inner City Press at the event, which they ascribe to WFP head Josette Sheeran. One asked, "Would she parade around Food Stamp recipient in the United States?" They put the expenses of the event, including the substantial closure of the WFP headquarters on July 10, at $500,000.

The e-mail:

Rome colleagues:

As you know, Italy will be hosting the G8 Summit next week and leaders from more than two dozen countries will be in L’Aquila. We are honored that the Italian government has asked WFP to host an official program at our headquarters on Friday, 10 July, as part of the spouse program.
This visit is a profound testament to the increasing visibility of WFP's work -- and an opportunity to help the world better understand the important work we do. On our premises, we are arranging a simulated food distribution and a symbolic African schoolhouse, where a small group of Ghanaian schoolchildren will help celebrate our work. (You may have noticed the large exhibit being erected this morning behind the pool.)

Due to the security precautions mandated by the Italian government and the visiting delegations, only those employees involved in the event or deemed necessary for critical operations by their managers will be permitted on the main building premises during the morning of July 10. Among other things, parking will be severely limited at our main building and automobile access limited in Parco de Medici in general.

But we encourage you to take advantage of this special exhibit and bring your families, including your children, on the afternoon of 10 July – anytime after 2:00 – so they can get a taste of our field work and meet the schoolchildren. If you cannot bring your family on 10 July, note that the tent and displays will remain up on Monday, 13 July, so we invite you to bring family members to see the display then.

Though this is a special event, we realize it might cause some inconvenience. We hope you can appreciate what an historic opportunity this is for some of the world’s most influential people to understand what we do and to see the impact of their donations.

Here are some guidelines for the day: If you work in the main building, please do not come to the office Friday morning, 10 July. The St. Martin’s building will remain open. As much as possible, please work from home... We expect the main building to re-open for business as usual at 2:00, so if it's feasible for you to return, please do so. If returning to the office in the afternoon is not feasible for you -- we recognize that some of the Parco de Medici transit options do not run in the afternoon, for instance – you are authorized special leave with full pay. Thank you,

Steve Taravella
Chief of Internal Communications, World Food Programme
Via C.G. Viola 68,Rome, Italy 00148

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp1nkrome070209.html

On Climate Change's Margins, Biofuels Cause Food Price Rise for Poor, Bloomberg and WFP Agree

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/un1wfpbloomberg021108.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 11 -- The subsidy for corn ethanol "raises food costs in the United States and around the world," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told Inner City Press on Monday, saying that inevitably "people die" from increased food prices. Outside a UN climate change event, Bloomberg specifically criticized the "last energy bill" passed by Congress and signed by President Bush as having this impact. Video here, second question. He said that while subsidized corn ethanol does not generate more energy than it uses, sugar ethanol does, and yet "we tariff it."

The head of the UN World Food Program, Josette Sheeran, asked by Inner City Press about the more global impact of biofuels, said they "present an opportunity and a challenge to the most vulnerable." While some farmers in Africa, she said, as happened before in Brazil, can grow income-producing crops on land not appropriate for food, it has an effect on global food costs. "It's the pricing of foodstuffs at fuel prices," she said, calling it "the new face of hunger." Asked what the UN can or should do about the issue, she said that WFP for now is just trying to raise awareness about the rise in food prices. "When I was on the High Level Panel" on the UN's so-called systemwide coherence, she said, she coined a phrase, "Nothing gets between WFP and a hungry child." But might biofuels?

Ms. Sheeran also agreed to answer questions about the use of French and now Danish ships to defend WFP food deliveries to Somalia. It's not ideal, she said, but "an environmental where ships are taken and people are killed" left WFP down to one company to do business with when Ms. Sheeran took the reigns at WFP. Inner City Press asked, what company? "The one that did it," Ms. Sheeran answered.

She said that while WFP is managing to deliver needed food inside Kenya itself, reports that she reviews daily show continued threat to Kenya's status as a delivery hub, for WFP, for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Southern Sudan. Things are piled up at the port, she said, leading to a search for a back-up. Asked where, she said Tanzania, adding that it too is almost at full capacity.

Ms. Sheeran has yet to hold a press conference at UN Headquarters since the controversies that surrounded her nomination by the Bush administration in late 2006. While her answers Monday were appreciated, regular question-and-answer with the heads of UN funds and programs is need now more than ever.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1wfpbloomberg021108.html