On World Cup, UN Drop Ball as Street Kids Rounded up, Lemke Moonlights, German Haus

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/world1cup061410.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 14 -- In the run up to this month's World Cup, the UN system tried to make itself relevant, promising to protect children throughout South Africa, to burnish the image of the Continent, to have wealth and tourist dollars move to lower income zones.

Even before the first game on June 11, Inner City Press asked UNICEF about reports of the confinement of street children in Durban to quasi Bantustaans, help centers with out services on the outskirts of the city. UNICEF's representative promised to look into it and revert, but no answer ever came.

The UN's grandly titled (but part time) special envoy on sports, Willi Lemke, chided the press for reporting any negative aspects of the Cup. Now, with stadium workers protesting being underpaid being met with concussion grenades and tear gas, where is Mr. Lemke?

When Lemke took the UN job, Inner City Press asked him when he would quit his Werder Bremen posts in Germany. Now, when Inner City Press asked him to explain his continued moonlighting on the Werder Bremen board, Lemke stuttered that it is only part time. How much time? Four day a week, he said -- quickly changing that to four days a month, or even a year. Which is it? Could it be a conflict of interest?

On June 14, Inner City Press went to watch the morning's game(s) at the German Mission to the UN on First Avenue. The Mission had sent out an invitation on June 10, that all games in the first round would be shown in their lobby, with food and drink. But as Japan - Cameroon began on Monday morning, a lone Mission staffer sat in front of a hardly big screen TV. Maybe later. Watch this site.

Foot(ball)note: around the corner (kick) from the German Mission at the Japan Society, crowds were check in by Japanese Mission staff, presumably to root against Cameroon in the Society's plush basement. Outside, a well behaved protest signed letters to Ban Ki-moon about the Millennium Development Goals. Surely somewhere there is UN document claiming that the World Cup is promoting the MDGs...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/world1cup061410.html

UN's Dollar-a-Year Sportsman Lemke May Be Moonlighting, As With Blair, UN Won't Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1sports032108.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 21 -- With much fanfare this week, the UN announced that Ban Ki-moon was appointing Wilfried Lemke of Germany as his "Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, serving on a $1 per year salary with the rank of Under-Secretary-General." Lemke quickly said he wanted to travel to China, and that if he wanted to go to Tibet, he could not imagine China objecting. Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas was asked, "do you know if he'll be visiting Tibet?" She answered, "Not that I know of."

Perhaps Lemke was distracted. At the UN's noon briefing on March 20, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson a simple question, if Lemke is "still going to be serving as an elected official in Bremen during his service. Is he full time or is he still an official of Bremen State in Germany?"

Ms. Montas replied, "As you know, he's a $1-a-year person... We'll find out for you. Or we'll put you in contact with his press people."

Thirty-four hours later, no answer had been provided, no even a contact to Lemke's (or the Bremen legislature's) press people. Frankly, it's a UN question: if and when UN envoys, particularly at the Under-Secretary General level, hold outside jobs, what safeguards are put in place to avoid conflicts of interest? The UN is getting more and more cavalier in refusing to answer this question. When Inner City Press asked about Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair's many outside jobs, including with JPMorgan Chase, Ms. Montas said to "ask Tony Blair." There has still been no answer on any safeguards. But it does not seem to much to ask that the UN be able to state if its Special Advisers hold other jobs, and where.

It has been reported that "Lemke, who is also a Bremen state politician, currently senator for internal affairs and sport in the northern city, succeeds Adolf Ogi of Switzerland." But the UN's press release says that "from 1999-2008, he served as Senator of Interior and Sport of the German State of Bremen, as well as Senator for Education and Science." Note the use of the past tense, "served." Which is it? We'll see.

Footnote: between Ogi and Nicolas Michel leaving as head of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, after admitting to receiving housing subsidies from the Swiss Government which are not disclosed on his public financial disclosure form for 2006, Switzerland is down two posts. With Germany getting sports, one wonders about those saying that Germany Joaquim Rucker, currently embroiled in Kosovo, might take over the Department of Management. When it rains, it pours...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1sports032108.html