| In
Corrupt UN of Guterres UNESCO Slammed in
JIU Report as No Fabrice Aidan Answers By Matthew
Russell Lee &
sources,
Exclusive UN
GATE, March 8
– UNESCO,
like the whole
UN system
under Antonio
Guterres was
been
falling apart
in corruption
and fraud. Inner
City Press has
been reporting
on serious
malfeasance by
the French
Audrey Azoulay
administration
at UNESCO in
Paris, almost
as bad as
Antonio
Guterres'
corruption in
and of the UN
in New York. A
fish rots from
the head. The
UNESCO
corruption
series is now
more than 140
stories long. Audrey
Azoulay
stepped down
in November
2025, but the
new
Director-General
El-Enany from
Egypt is
obviously
pressured to
prolong her
French
mandate.
For some, this
may come as a
surprise, for
others,
absolutely
not. After
receiving,
literally
hours before
being elected
by the General
Conference,
the French
insignia of
Knight of the
National Order
of the Legion
of Honour, it
was quite
obvious that
he would
subsequently
bow down to
France. No
other
candidate for
the position
of
Director-General
would ever
have agreed,
before his
election, to
be so publicly
branded as a
French pawn.
What's more,
this
information is
proudly
announced by
himself on the
official
UNESCO web
page dedicated
to the DG (here ).
So there are
no surprises
on that front.
Nevertheless,
the Egyptian
Director-General
may soon
realize that
this game is
detrimental to
him and to the
reputation of
his country,
Egypt.
Azoulay's
legacy is well
summarized in
the JIU report
released this
week, which
says it all.
And if
El-Enany is
happy to
continue in
the same vein,
so be it. The
difference is
that the
Europeans are
not going to
evaporate the
steam heat
around his
neck as they
did with
Azoulay for
eight years.
Here are some
excerpts from
the report
that prove
that
everything
Inner City
Press has
written in
recent years
was perfectly
objective and
entirely
accurate.
“United
Nations Review
of management
and
administration
in the United
Nations
Educational,
Scientific and
Cultural
Organization
(UNESCO)
Report of the
Joint
Inspection
Unit: Despite
comprehensive
reforms since
2017 to
strengthen
UNESCO
governance,
significant
challenges
remain. (…)
Governance
continues to
be constrained
by overlapping
mandates and
unclear
divisions of
responsibility
among
governing
bodies
(recommendation
2). The
effectiveness
of the
Executive
Board is also
weakened by
outdated
working
methods,
legacy
practices, and
the lack of
modern
governance
tools
(recommendation
3). The
relationship
between
executive
leadership and
the Executive
Board has been
marked by
periodic
tensions,
resulting in
an erosion of
trust and
confidence in
the
leadership,
thereby
weaking
governance
effectiveness
(recommendation
4). (…)
The review
found that
persistent
coordination
gaps –
including
siloed
operations,
uneven
coordination
between
Headquarters,
field offices
and
institutes,
and legacy
bureaucratic
inefficiencies
– continue to
slow
decision-making
and hinder
cross-sectoral
implementation,
and that some
internal
management
committees
lack
sufficient
authority and
functionality
to drive
reforms
through to
implementation
(recommendation
8). The
review also
found that the
absence of a
transparent,
organization-wide
regulatory
framework
governing
internal
candidacies
for the
position of
Director-General,
as well as
provisions for
geographic
diversity for
senior-level
appointments,
creates
integrity and
reputational
risks
(recommendation
6). In
addition, the
review found
that the
Cabinet’s
structure has
become overly
bureaucratic,
with
overlapping
roles and
duplicated
advisory
functions that
dilute
accountability
and weaken
strategic
effectiveness,
and that
Cabinet
appointments
are not
contractually
linked to the
Director-General’s
tenure,
undermining
strategic
alignment and
complicating
leadership
transitions
(recommendation
7). (…)
The review
found that the
consolidation
of
administrative
functions has
not yet
translated
into strategic
integration.
Sub-units
within the
Sector for
Administration
and Management
continue to
operate in
silos, with
limited
involvement in
early
programme
design, weak
digital
integration,
and the
absence of
sector-wide
service
standards and
performance
indicators. As
a result, the
functions of
the Sector for
Administration
and Management
remain largely
reactive to
implementation
challenges,
rather than
proactively
enabling
accountability,
efficiency and
programme
delivery, thus
limiting its
strategic
value to the
Organization
(recommendation
9). (…)
Ongoing
deficiencies
in staffing,
internal
controls, risk
management,
data
availability
and
performance
monitoring
continue to
undermine the
reform’s
effectiveness
and limit its
ability to
achieve
cohesive
organizational
impact
(recommendation
10). (…)
Systemic
challenges
remain. Lack
of
comprehensive
workforce
planning and
the perceived
weakening of
institutional
checks and
balances have
reduced
consistency,
transparency
and perceived
fairness.
Limited
safeguards
with regard to
recruitment,
promotions and
mobility,
coupled with
fragmented
oversight,
have
constrained
accountability
and affected
staff
confidence.
The review
identified
patterns of
inconsistent
application of
procedures,
insufficient
documentation
of selection
decisions,
limited
managerial
accountability,
high vacancy
rates
(particularly
in field
operations),
and the use of
ad hoc
workarounds.
These
practices
undermine the
integrity of
human
resources
systems and
expose UNESCO
to
reputational
and legal
risks
(recommendation
11). (…)
However,
challenges
remain: the
enterprise
risk
management
framework is
underdeveloped,
internal
controls are
inconsistently
applied,
particularly
in field
operations,
and both the
Ethics Office
and the
Appeals Board
face
structural
limitations
that constrain
effectiveness.
Risk
management
remains
reactive, the
corporate risk
register is
outdated, and
ownership of
enterprise
risk
management
processes is
fragmented
across
committees
with unclear
authority.†In
this report of
hundred pages
review, the
word ‘risk’
appears 150
times,
‘challenges’
68 times,
‘lack’ 59,
‘undermine’
39,
‘accountability’
issue 134,
‘limited’ 55,
‘weak’ 73,
‘governance’
issue 114.
Nothing is
more tangible
than
statistics.
The JIU report
is worth
reading. It
shows how
weakened
UNESCO is
today at all
levels, and
why it is so,
in terms of
governance,
internal
justice,
program
implementation,
resource
mobilization,
human
resources,
etc. This
report
summarizes
perfectly the
legacy that
El-Enany is
trying by all
means to
protect from
criticism by
sweeping it
under the
Egyptian
carpet. The
JIU report
also contains
a number of
relevant
recommendations
for the
Director-General,
which could be
supplemented
as
follows:
1) Remove the
senior
officials
appointed by
Azoulay who
continue to
manage
UNESCO's
day-to-day
affairs,
namely the
Director of
IOS, the
Director of
LA, the ADG
for
Management,
and the
Director of
your
Cabinet.
2) Appoint a
trustworthy
and competent
person to the
position of
Director of
the
Cabinet.
3) Lift the
veil and make
public all of
Azoulay's
misdeeds so
that they are
known to staff
and Member
States.
4) Review all
last-minute
decisions
taken by
Azoulay
regarding
promotions and
appointments.
Do this
yourself in
your capacity
as
Director-General,
instead of
hiding behind
the Executive
Board's
decision to
entrust this
task to
UNESCO's
external
auditor.
5) Examine
before the
Executive
Board meeting
in April and
report to it
on the
findings
concerning
UNESCO's full
responsibility
in the case of
the
appointment of
Fabrice
Aidan, a
friend of
Epstein,
to the Agency.
Azoulay's two
cabinet
directors,
Nicolas
Kassianides
and Margaux
Bergeon-Dars,
as well as
Flavio
Bonetti,
should have
been fully
informed,
since the
French police
and the French
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs were
aware of the
situation.
Exposing
Kassianides
must be a
painful
exercise for
El-Enany, as
the two men
have been good
friends for
many years,
but
Bergeon-Dars
and Bonetti
could be
summoned to
explain the
decision to
recruit Aidan
that is
damaging the
agency's
reputation, as
they still
work for
UNESCO. A s for
Ms.
Bergeon-Dars,
every day that
Mr. El-Enany
keeps her at
the head of
his cabinet,
after being
informed that
she has spent
years publicly
insulting
Arabs on her
Twitter
account, is a
day that Mr.
El-Enany loses
credibility
and
trust.
With a bit of
luck, El-Enany
will never be
asked by
Azoulay to
issue a
certificate of
service to
Fabrice Aidan.
Inner
City Press has
been informed
that since his
appointment,
DG El-Enany
has been
issuing
certificates
of service to
ambassadors
who are
leaving their
posts as
representatives
to UNESCO. The
question is on
what legal and
institutional
basis this is
happening.
Since when is
the
Secretariat,
which is
supposed to
serve Member
States,
authorized to
certify the
services
rendered by
government
officials, and
what is the
position on
this matter of
the presidents
of the two
governing
bodies, Mr.
Nasser Bin
Hamad Al
Hinzab of
Qatar,
President of
the Executive
Board, and Mr.
Khondker Talha
of Bangladesh,
President of
the General
Conference? It
would be
useful to know
what they have
to say about
this highly
unusual
practice.
It is clear
that the
election of
the new DG was
a moment of
false hope,
dashed by the
last four
months marked
by tattered
expectations,
a lack of
clear vision,
slow-motion
action, the
appointments
to senior
positions of
people not
having the
required
credentials,
subservience
to France and
the EU, and
budget cuts
and staff
reductions,
all of it
based on empty
rhetoric. It
is high time
that the
Egyptian
Director-General
recovered from
the initial
excitement
generated by
the
effervescent
effect of his
successful
election and
began to take
his job
seriously.
This is where
UNESCO stands
today,
weakened by
the former
French
administration
and still
insignificant,
ravaged by
financial
misappropriations,
conducive to
the
proliferation
of abuse of
power,
corruption,
and nepotism.
Watch this
site.
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Friday, March 13, 2026
In Corrupt UN of Guterres UNESCO Slammed in JIU Report as No Fabrice Aidan Answers
