Exclusive: UNDP Aim to Cut 10%, Off-Shore 20%, Accenture Plan Here, Grumbling of Helen Clark Cutting to Run for UNSG

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- There is a drive to be seen as saving money, throughout the UN system. Today Inner City Press profiles how it is happening within the UN Development Program, and why.

UNDP under Helen Clark hired Accenture to study ways to cut costs, calling it the "Structural and Cost Effectiveness Review." Accenture sent a team, which most staff never saw if heard of, working "on-site at UNDP Headquarters from July to October." Inner City Press has obtained and is publishing the executive summary of the UNDP Accenture Report, here.

The report urges "moving remaining staff to the field... High-demand countries such as Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo require dedicated teams; for program countries below $50MM it is important to ensure that each desk officer, moved to the region for relevance, is not responsible for more than 3-4 countries."

The overall plan they have arrived at involves a straight cut of 10%, and sending another 20% out to the field -- or, in the phrasing of the UNDP "Structural Review FAQs" Inner City Press obtained and is publishing today, "reversing the current HQ:regional staff ratio from 60:40 to 40:60."

  UNDP has "Global Shared Service Centers" in Copenhagen and Kuala Lumpur.

  A similar off-shoring of jobs from New York including to Kuala Lumpur is underway at UNICEF, run by American Anthony Lake.

  Helen Clark was prime minister of New Zealand; her right-hand there Heather Simpson is now leading the charge for cuts at UNDP. And why?

  There's grumbling that while the next UN Secretary General is supposed to come from the Eastern European group and "probably" be a woman, there's a move by New Zealand and allies to push Helen Clark for the job. There's talk of offers directed at Eastern Europe to back down.

  A high profile campaign of "reform" and cost-cutting at UNDP, in this context Inner City Press is exclusively informed, would be part of a Helen Clark campaign for UNSG. UNDP staff grumble that at the most recent Executive Board meeting, it was not said that 30% had to be cut (or 10% cut, 20% off-shoring). So what changed? 

   Helen Clark has held even fewer media question and answer sessions in New York than her predecessors Ad Melkert and Kemal Dervis, as documented and protested by the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info. On these extensive cuts, she should answer questions. Watch this site.

   

Exclusive: Of $10 Charge to hear UNDP's Helen Clark Speak in NZ, Like UN's Pay to Ask Through UNCA, Free UN Coalition for Access Questions

At UNDP, Pay to Listen to Clark, Pay to Ask through UNCA, FUNCA Fights 

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 3 -- How can people be charged money, $10 for adults and even $5 for children, to hear a UN system official speak about their work for the UN?

  The Free UN Coalition for Access put this question to the UN Development Program's three top spokespeople regarding UNDP Administrator Helen Clark's upcoming August 7 talk at the Baycourt Centennial Theatre in Tauranga City, New Zealand.

  The advertisement says Clark "will be speaking about her work as head of the United Nations Development Program, the peak global body that coordinates development strategy globally, and works in over 170 countries to empower people’s lives while helping nations become more resilient. With a budget of over $US 5 billion a year."

  Five billion dollars a year but Administrator Helen Clark virtually never holds a question and answer press conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

    Last year after an inquiry by Inner City Press, she did disavow a previous business award she'd given to a tobacco firm. That came through UNDP lead spokesperson Satinder Bindra, to whom along with Clark's "personal" spokesperson Christina LoNigro and Abdel-Rahman Ghandour the Free UN Coalition for Access has sent these questions:

"This is a timely request for an explanation of how (or if) it is consistent with UN system principles and rules for UNDP Administrator Helen Clark's upcoming talk "about her work as head of the United Nations Development Program" to have an entrance fee of $10, and even $5 for children, here.

"Given that this for-pay event is impending, please provide the requested explanation upon receipt / as quickly as possible and confirm receipt of this request for explanation.

"This is also a formal request that Administrator Clark belatedly hold a question and answer press conference in UN Headquarters in New York, and for an explanation of why she has done even fewer of these than Kemal Dervis or Ad Melkert. Thank you in advance."

  We will publish any substantive response -- one would think, well in advance of the August 7 event, which is listed (tellingly) as "sold out." Will those people be given their money back?

  There is a disturbing trend of money being charged in the UN system, that the Free UN Coalition for Access is looking into. At UN press conference, the UN Correspondents Association as it becomes increasingly discredited for, among other things, spying for the UN (story, audio of UNCA's first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters,document with his "you didn't get this from me"), fights ever harder to be given the first question.

  But since UNCA 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS News has said that this first question can be given to ANY dues paying member of UNCA, even one who ran for but was not elected to the Executive Committee, it is clearly a situation of pay to play: a person getting a first question at the UN in exchange for paying money. Where is the Office of Legal Affairs? The Ethics Office? OIOS?

  Also the UN gives large room S-310 to UNCA, for briefings they publicize only to those who pay them money. Even member states have started to complain about this. But those in charge of this increasingly discredited partnership, the UN Censorship Alliance, are apparently out of touch with member states and the rules of the UN that at least some of them used to previously seek to enforce.

This charging of money to children to hear a UN system official speak takes place outside of UN premises, far from New York in Helen Clark's native New Zealand. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Talk of Dutch Replacing Choi, Carpetbagger Aims for Iraq, Musical Chairs

By Matthew Russell Lee, News analysis

UNITED NATIONS, June 24 -- With Abidjan buzz with reports that Dutch politician Bert Koenders is set to replace UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's ally Choi Young-jin atop the UN Mission there, in New York it fits into a puzzle of Ban's doling out of UN posts by country.

Currently the Netherlands “has” the UN top spot in Iraq's UNAMI mission, in the person of Ad Melkert. But Melkert is coming up on two years in the job, and is said to be on his way out.

Sources tell Inner City Press that already Michael von der Schulenburg, the UN official chopping at the bit to get out of Sierra Leone, is vying to replace Melkert in Iraq. These well placed sources say that von der Schulenburg previously while serving the UN in Iran ran a business exporting carpets and other antiquities. What better new posting, then, than Iraq?

While the UN this week confirmed to Inner City Press that Ban has tapped Norway's Hilde Johnson, in advance, to replace Haile Menkerios in South Sudan, at Friday's noon briefing there was said to be no announcement ready about Choi. On June 22 Inner City Press asked about a set of Assistant Secretaries General whose contracts have expired:

Inner City Press: it appears that some of the ASGs [Assistant Secretaries-General] in DESA [Department of Economic and Social Affairs], Thomas Stelzer or Ms. [Rachel] Mayanja, that their contracts have expired, that according to Secretariat data, in the one case, expired in December; in one case, expired in March; the idea being that maybe they are not going to be renewed, that they are supposed to find other posts as part of mobility. Can you confirm that, and what is the, what are the legalities, what are the specifics of working at the UN without a contract? It said that Mr. Stelzer is being paid as, almost as a consultant, although he is an ASG, at least on paper.

Ban & Schulenburg, note the empty chairs, magic carpet not shown

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, I don’t think right here and now I would want to get into individual personnel cases. I don’t think that is appropriate. If that picture changes, I will let you know.

Inner City Press: can you say as a general matter that this idea that five years in a post may be enough and that people should look, not to leave the system, but look for other posts in the system. Is that something that the Secretariat is putting out?

Spokesperson Nesirky: As you well know, that is something that has been discussed at some length amongst Member States, and there are differing views on that amongst Member States. And as a general rule, as a general practice, it is not appropriate to comment on individuals’ contracts or employment status with the Organization. Other questions? Yes, Mr. Abbadi?

Ah, UN transparency. There are a number of UN officials who are coming up on five years in the same job: let the musical chairs begin! Watch this site.

As US Shown Spying on UN, In Denial UN in Iraq Under US Protection

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 29 -- The UN's rather pathetic reaction to evidence that the US State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tried to spy on it, from UN officials' computer passwords and frequently flier codes to the intentions of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is indicative of the complex relationship between the UN and its host country.

On November 28, after repeated Press inquiries, Ban's spokesperson's office put out a statement that “the UN is by its very nature a transparent organization that makes a great deal of information about its activities available to the public.”

This is highly debatable: as simply one example, after the UN canceled its November 26 noon media briefing, Inner City Press submitted several questions about ranging from Haiti and Sudan through Iran and human rights to Myanmar and Iraq, less than half of which were answered.

Tellingly, even the Iraq questions which got a one line response was dodged. Inner City Press asked the UN's top envoy in Iraq “Ad Melkert receive security protection from the US forces in Iraq” and “if yes, is this a change from previous procedure,” citing http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2010/11/louisiana_soldiers_in_iraq_tak.html

“The soldiers of Alpha Battery, 1/141, started out providing armed troops and armored vehicles to protect the supply convoys. They now act as the quick reaction force, which includes providing ground medical evacuation to area helicopters that cannot reach and secure landing zones, Fernandez said. They also staff entries to the United Nations Villa, a compound where UN workers live, and specifically guard the residence for the special representative for the UN secretary-general in Iraq. While the UN officials have personal security personnel, they also are shadowed by Alpha Battery when they travel. 'They’re not allowed to move without us,' Fernandez said. 'They don’t want to move without us.'”

To this question, UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq answered “We don't comment on precise security arrangements, for security reasons.”

If you have the UN in Iraq accepting not only security but also orders from the US, what position is the UN in to complain if Hillary Clinton orders UN envoy to Iraq Ad Melkert, or even Ban Ki-moon, spied on?

An interesting aspect of Clinton's spying memo is its focus on the UN Development Program's actions on whistleblowers. The highest profile UNDP whistleblower case has been of the agency's security chief in North Korea, who exposed among other things that the UN system was allowing the Kim Jong-il government to choose the UN's staff and take payment for them.

This became associated with the final days of George W. Bush's Republican Administration, leading one to wonder if there are not a serious of such spy memos, portions of which were unchanged, dating back to the previous administration. This would not let the Obama administration off the hook -- if anything, it would show how much the Obama administration's UN policy is on auto-pilot.

The revelations come at a particularly inconvenient time with the US, as Ambassador Susan Rice takes over the Presidency of the UN Security Council on December 1, and will be required or at least expected to stand before the Press reading out the decisions of the Council.

In fact, every other Council President has scheduled a full press conference at the beginning of their month, to take a range of questions. The UN's “Week Ahead” scheduled distributed the day before Thanksgiving does not include any such press conference by Susan Rice. Watch this site.

On Iraqi Elections, UN Has Two Positions, Afghanistan Redux?

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2melkraq030810.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- While there is much to be said about the Iraqi elections just held, the UN can't seem to get it act together on what to say, or even what it should be talking about. Top UN envoy to Iraq Ad Melkert spoke for the second time in a month to correspondents at UN headquarters Monday, this time by video, and painted a rosy picture of the election.

Inner City Press asked about the sample complaints of Ayad Allawi, about irregularities and confusion at polling stations, and his call for an investigation. We are aware of points of various candidates, Melkert said. It is is not my task to comment on particular statements. Video here, from Minute 10:42.

But how could Melkert's rosy assessment not be seen as an implicit rejection of Allawi's complaints, Inner City Press asked. Video here, from Minute 11:52. It is not my task or UNAMI's task, Melkert replied, to assess complaints. I did not refer to fair elections, only that turn out was good, that it was a big day, Melkert said. "You cannot attribute to me any assessment."

But the UK Telegraph did attribute an assessment to Melkert, specifically as a rebuttal to Allawi, directly by this quote: "The polling process was well-organised, orderly, and polling procedures were properly applied."

So Melkert made that statement to the Telegraph, and then told UN correspondents that it is not his or UNAMI's job to make such assessments. Which is it?

To some, this is reminiscent of the UN's performance during the Afghanistan election, downplaying complaints until a whistleblower emerged to denounce Kai Eide's praise. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2melkraq030810.html

On Iraq, UN's Melkert Silent on Blackwater and Black Balling of Baath Candidates

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un1melkraq021610.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 16 -- What does the UN's top envoy to Iraq, Ad Melkert, have to say about the acquittal and impunity for the mercenaries of Blackwater now Xe who killed Iraqi civilians? "That is a specific case," Melkert told Inner City Press on Tuesday at the UN, "we don't advise on specific cases." Video here, from Minute 11:34.

Inner City Press asked Melkert about a range of human rights issues in Iraq, from honor killings to executions to freedom of the press. Melkert said his Office, UNAMI, issues human rights reports every six months, "critical on several of the issues you mentioned." Video here, from Minute 6:03.

But how can the UN be critical if, as Melkert claimed about Blackwater, the UN "doesn't advise on specific cases?"

Melkert's main job right now is, like Kai Eide's was in Afghanistan, to try to make national elections appear credible. Inner City Press asked him about barred candidate Saleh Mutlak, who has been told he cannot run for office because he was a member of the Baath party. Mutlak says he quit in 1977, and was only goaded into saying he was still a member.

Melkert called the grounds for exclusion "legitimate," and said the UN only advocates for transparency in the application of the rules, citing Iraq's "Accountability and Justice Law of 2008." While speaking about reconciliation, Melkert said that excluding former Baath party members is similar to what happened in Europe "after the Communist regimes."

While Melkert told Inner City Press that the UN "has a permanent position against the death penalty" -- one that Ban Ki-moon backtracked on during his first day in office, on the subject of Iraq -- when Melkert was asked about the execution of former Baath party members, he replied, "I could not take your point on that, the way you formulated it, so I could not comment further."

As Melkert walked away from the microphone, Inner City Press asked him if he now agrees with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call that senior UN system officials make some minimum public disclosure of their finances. Melkert laughed and said, "You see that I" -- then signed his name in the air. "What is good is that you don't forget."

When he was the Associate Administrator of UNDP, he came out publicly against Ban's call for financial disclosure. Video here, from Minute 37:55 through 44:41. He also said, on UN reform, "you ain't seen nothing yet." Inner City Press recounted this history for a Dutch television station tailing and filming Melkert for the day. Another correspondent criticized Melkert go along [to] get along performance in Iraq, wondering what next job he might have his eye on.

Many in the UN grumble that Melkert "chased" fellow UN official Ibrahim Gambari out of Iraq. Now it's his show, for better or worse. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1melkraq021610.html

With Helen Clark at UNDP, Ad Melkert Is "Expected" to Leave, Dervis' Stealth Service

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/undp2clark033109.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- A game of musical chairs has begun in the UN system, starting with today's confirmation of New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark as the replacement for Turkey's Kemal Dervis at the top of the UN Development Program. Hours before the General Assembly meeting to cap Clark's selection, it emerged that Dervis had quietly been named a Special Adviser to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for the upcoming G-20 meeting in London.

The UN had never announced Dervis' appointment, but when Inner City Press asked about a quote from Dervis in the Turkish Press about the appointment, Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas confirmed it. Video here, from Minute 20:26. Like the ill-fated appointment of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler as Ban's envoy to Niger, where he and a colleague have been kidnapped, it was never announced. Inner City Press asked, are there other stealth envoys? While the answer seemed to be "no," in today's UN one never knows.

An African diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to Inner City Press Tuesday afternoon moments before the GA vote on Clark, said it was unfortunate that no expert from a developing country had been found, even to be a serious candidate for consideration by Ban Ki-moon. He added, "hopefully for the deputy post at UNDP." When Inner City Press asked if that meant current Dutch deputy Ad Melkert would be leaving, the diplomat said that is to be expected. Especially after Ban Ki-moon's still-protested ouster of Tanzanian Anna Tibaijuka from the top spot at the UN in Nairobi in favor of Achim Steiner, from now on "if the top spot goes to the developed world, the deputy should be from the developing world," he said.

While a newspaper in New Zealand put Clark's prospective pay at $500,000, by Inner City Press' calculation it is $287,000 -- the $189,000 that all Under Secretaries General make, plus a 68% "New York post adjustment" of over $98,000. There's talk of housing subsidy and “other perks,” with a reference to the former director of the UN Millennium Campaign Evelyn Herfkens, who said she couldn't live or entertain appropriately in New York on an Assistant Secretary General's salary, and so illegally took housing subsidy from the Dutch government. Exposed for violating UN rules, she left her post, only to re-surface as a consult or special envoy, still getting Daily Sustenance Allowance and other perks.

Meanwhile, UNDP still declines to state how much it pays each member of Somalia's parliament, in a purported response to precisely this question, referred to it by the UN's envoy to Somalia. Other long standing questions remain unanswered. One UNDP insider wondered if Helen Clark, whose husband has said he will not be moving to New York, will be part of the calculation of Ms. Clark's benefits. Watch this site.

Footnotes: In an "only at the UN" moment, at a reception at the Libyan mission on the eve of Clark's confirmation, excited word circulated that Clark had while prime minister criticized Israel for its (mis) use of New Zealand passports, several missions' level of support for Clark went up....

UNDP, which run democracy and voting programs, for example in Kenya, put out a press release on Tuesday saying the UN "General Assembly this morning unanimously approved Helen Clark of New Zealand as the new Administrator." Apparently UNDP jumped the gun, since the vote was held in the afternoon...

While Dervis never explained why he left UNDP -- and now resurfaces still working for the UN -- Turkish sources maintain it was “family reasons,” that his wife did not like him traveling so much. Now he has three jobs, one in Turkey, one at Brookings in Washington and, quietly, with the UN. Few ever truly leave the UN: as they say of a certain type of five cent coin, the UN musical chairs never stop.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp2clark033109.html

At UNDP, With Kiwi Clark Called Top Spot Winner, Melkert Policies Need Revamp

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1clark032509.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 -- Across the Pacific, media reports on Tuesday night had New Zealand's Helen Clark beating out Ad Melkert for the top post at the UN Development Program. Bloomberg News quoted "a UN official" to this effect; a major newspaper said the appointment would be announced Wednesday in New York. It wasn't. Inner City Press asked the UN spokesperson:

Inner City Press: it’s been widely reported that Helen Clark of New Zealand is going to be named the new Administrator [of UNDP]. It was even said today, all the papers in the Pacific said this. When is the appointment expected?

Spokesperson: The appointment has not been finalized yet. We expect to have it tomorrow.

If, as it portrayed as clear, Helen Clark has won, one can only hope that Melkert, architect of UNDP's recent retaliation and non-disclosure regime, will exit the agency, where he came in second to Kemal Dervis in a more transparent selection process under Kofi Annan, then used UNDP resources to defend his previous acts at the World Bank and before that in the Netherlands. While her views on belatedly harmonizing UNDP with the UN Secretariat's Ethics Office and whistleblower protection regime are not yet known, Clark could not do worse than Melkert and Dervis in this regard.

As just the most recent example, UNDP has for days refused to provide basic information about what it funds in Somalia, even as UN envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah through his spokesperson refers the question to UNDP, and even experts previously funded by the UN say openly that UNDP has been funding security forces in Somalia until, viewed as taking sides, it was targeted for bombing.

As for Mr. Melkert, he was the one who, when asked by Inner City Press about transparency, said "you ain't seen nothing yet." Now it looks like we never will.

Footnote: on one of the two appointments that were announced at the UN on March 25, Inner City Press asked

Inner City Press: I had asked before it was confirmed that he was getting the post, Mr. Galbraith, it says in his bio that he was the United States Ambassador to Croatia in 92 to 98. He was asked by the United States Congress in 96 if he had violated the UN arms embargo and sanctions on Croatia by helping Iranian weapons get in. His answer was that he didn’t violate it because Chapter VI of the UN Charter is not binding. Is that Ban Ki-moon’s position on Chapter VI?

Spokesperson: I’m not judging on what happened that time. What I’m saying is that all those concerns were certainly analysed when the decision was taken to appoint Mr. Galbraith.

Inner City Press? Did they ask him… For example, has he been asked whether, now that he is a UN, you said an international civil servant…?

Spokesperson: I don’t have the details of his last interview. What I am saying is that what was of importance to the UN is the role he has played for the UN before.

At least for the post of UNDP administrator, the interviews were said to be coordinated by Ban Ki-moon's deputy chief of staff Kim Won-soo, who Wednesday was embroiled in a controversy triggered by Ban's seeming retraction of a written request to the G-20 members for $1 trillion for poorer countries. One wonders, and expects to find out, what issues came up in the interviews. Watch this site.

Post script -- Helen Clark's nomination by Ban Ki-moon was confirmed at the March 26 noon briefing.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1clark032509.html

For UNDP Top Post, UNICEF's Hilde Johnson, Kiwi Clark or Oil Man Akram

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1hilde021009.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 10 -- The names mentioned in competition for the UN Development Program top job now include UNICEF's Number Two official, Hilde Johnson, along with UNDP's #2 Ad Melkert and New Zealand's Helen Clark, among others. The Norwegian press reports that the government in Oslo is deciding whether to "promote an American candidate" or whether "former Christian People's Party Minister Hilde Frafjord Johnson may be appropriate."

Inner City Press asked UNICEF's spokesman for comment from agency deputy Hilde Johnson on this article, "does she oppose nomination to UNDP Administrator post by her government, would she accept nomination and the job if awarded it? What is UNICEF's view?" Inner City Press also asked when the current head of UNICEF, Ann Veneman, will finally be available for a press conference at the UN.

In response, UNICEF's spokesman merely stated, "the appointment of a UNDP Administrator is not a decision in which UNICEF or its senior management have a role, so we have no comment." But Hilde Johnson is "senior management" of UNICEF, and her country's press names her as a candidate. We'll have more on this. Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe if the short list of candidates for the top UNDP top will be made public, as it was under Kofi Annan. "No," Ms. Okabe said.

The New Zealand press is abuzz with the candidacy of former prime minister Helen Clark, saying the only blockage may be an American nomination for the post. These articles miss, however, that there are developing world candidates for the post, not only from South Africa, but also Ban Ki-moon's current chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, and even former Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, whose taken up a post with a Houston-based oil company. UNDP is involved in the mining sector, from Zimbabwe through Haiti to Niger. We've put in questions to UNDP and will report on responses soon.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1hilde021009.html

At UNDP, Ad Melkert Surfaces in Race for Top Post, Opposes Disclosure, Like UNOPS' Jan Mattsson Retaliates

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp1racemelkert012909.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 29 -- As competition for the top spot at the UN Development Program heats up, the agency's embattled Deputy Administrator Ad Melkert has publicly thrown his name into contention. The nomination will ultimately be made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who loudly urged all of his senior officials to make public financial disclosure, so that conflicts of interest could be identified.

Melkert, when asked for his views by Inner City Press in 2007, openly disagreed with Ban's call for transparency. "No, I'm not in favor of financial disclosure put online," Mr. Melkert said. That "oversteps the privacy of people.. no one is served by having it online." Video here, from Minute 37:55 through 44:41.

Such an approach, UNDP insiders say, would ill-serve the agency at this time. It remains unclear, including thanks to flip-flopping by Melkert, whether even audits of UNDP's work can be released to the public by the member states which pay for the work. To have the agency led by an official who himself refuses to make the most minimal public disclosure would surely be a step backward, as would rewarding and promoting an official so closely identified with retaliation against whistleblowers within UNDP. He once said, "You ain't seen nothing yet," and that remains the case.

The Dutch press says that the U.S. and Norway are also interested in the post. They miss, then, the word on the UN street of a possible switch of Ban's Indian chief of staff Vijay Nambiar to the UNDP, and interest of Jan Mattsson, the Swedish head of the UN Office of Project Services.

A recent UNOPS financial statement trashed those staff members who have dared complain of how they were treated, click here for that. Dutch and Swedish retaliators, then, are among those in the race to head up UNDP. Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesperson's office if the short list will be public, as it was under Kofi Annan. There has been no answer.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1racemelkert012909.html

In UNDP Secrecy Plan, Even Funders Must Gives Reasons to See Audits, Board Must Be Notified, Resuming Sept. 19

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN Analysiswww.innercitypress.com/undp1audits091208.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- The culture of secrecy and cover-up in the UN, at least in the UN Development Program, was on display on Friday night. The UNDP Executive Board meeting went into overtime, without translators, due to objections to even the watered-down proposal to let member states see audits of UNDP country programs while withholding them from the public. A proposal was made by UNDP's Board President to add a requirement that any requester of an audit must state the "reason / purpose of the request," and also that UNDP notify not only the "concerned country" but also the wider Executive Board before providing any documents.

This falls far short of most Freedom of Information laws, which provide for individuals to gain access to documents whether or not they fund they underlying programs. Here, roadblocks are being erected to funders seeing audits of what they have funded. Only at the UN...

UNDP's Administrator Kemal Dervis, who has contributed to this culture of secrecy by for example refusing to answer even factual questions was not in the Board meeting to the end. Nor was his Associate Ad Melkert, who had promised transparency and reform. Akiko Yuge was in the house, as a ten minute recess was called to consider the enhanced secrecy amendments. The ten minutes too were extended. "Thomas of Switzerland," as the Board president called him, was called to the front to translate. The Board president bragged that he had a very fun schedule for the weekend -- "maybe you don't" -- and so he wanted a vote on his language of more secret audits.

The draft he circulated also differed from what he'd read out loud, this time allowing the Executive Board as well as the concerned government to "view and comment on the report" prior to it being given to any funding member state.

Update of 8:25 p.m. -- "Ten minutes" has gone over an hour. Rationales for secrecy are offered to Inner City Press: disclosure can lead to suspension of programs as in North Korea; even if a country commits to not share an audit with the press, there is no recourse for violating the commitment. But if a program is funded by a public body like the UN, how can how the money's spend legitimately be kept confidential?

Update of 8:40 p.m. -- The president finally re-gavels the meeting to order, only to announce that no concensus was reached. China speaks, to say this will have an impact on for example the UNICEF board, which meets next week. China "can't make position at this stage."

Do other delegations which to take the floor? India speaks, supporting the Chinese position, requesting more time. Pakistan says the same (Kashmir notwithstanding). Russia "also would like to express its regret... and hope that in the meantime no negative precedent."

The president says, we are not to wait until the next meeting in January. An African delegate says that the issue has been focused on UNDP, not UNICEF.

Update of 9 p.m. -- the president suspends the session until next Friday. Even the most basic and constrained transparency can't fly at UNDP...

Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1audits091208.html

UN Development Program "Launders Money" in Latin America, Chart and Sources Say

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- The UN Development Program expends significantly more in relatively affluent Latin America than in Africa, a continent-wide analysis obtained by Inner City Press reveals. In 2006, over 90% of UNDP's $1.3 billion in expenditures in Latin America were so-called "cost sharing," in which governments give UNDP money in order to do procurement or pay salaries to people already in the government's employ.

While being little more than a bookkeeper -- or money launderer, as several inside UNDP sources put it -- UNDP collects a fee for all funds it processes, and books it as income. The model has become attractive to UNDP's offices throughout Latin America, leading to UNDP tarnishing the UN's name by becoming involved in procurement scandals such as a current one in Venezuela. A week ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP a series of question which have still not been answered. On Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General's comment on how UNDP under Kemal Dervis and Ad Melkert is making the UN appear.

Just last month, the head of the UN-affiliated World Bank, when asked about UNDP's attempt to attribute its greater expenditure in Latin America than in Africa to its supposed "processing" of World Bank loans, expressed skepticism. The answer for UNDP's disparity, the attached chart now shows, is UNDP's "cost sharing" programs.

UNDP's questionable work in Latin America is not limited to countries like Venezuela, where in 2006 UNDP reported $34 million in "cost sharing." In Argentina in 2006, while spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $268 million for the government. UNDP's Argentina web site, under the heading Acquisitions, vaguely lists much of its work as "NEX" -- the so-called national execution modality that got the agency into trouble in North Korea. There are also acquisitions of servers from CISCO, a supplier that UNDP sources say is not chosen competitively, but rather is actively promoted and favored by UNDP's country offices on instructions from UNDP Headquarters.

In Brazil in 2006, while again spending less than $1 million in "regular resources" to promote development, UNDP processed over $227 million for the government. UNDP's Brazil web site was soliciting bids, for example, up to March 28 for 100 hotel rooms for a conference to take place April 7-8, 2008 (#758).

Inner City Press is informed by Brazilian sources that the size of UNDP's cost-sharing was revealed in that country when people UNDP paid, with government pass-through money, to work for the government argued that they should not have to pay taxes, claiming they were international civil servants. A dispute ensued, and the full size of UNDP's Brazilian program, which dwarfs African programs, became known. "UNDP is renting out the UN's powers for a fee, it is engaged in essence in money laundering," a UNDP source told Inner City Press on condition of anonymity, given UNDP's known penchant for retaliation, noted not only by the Washington-based Government Accountability Project but also, at least on a prima facie basis, by the UN Ethics Office. The analogy is that governments pay the fee to UNDP in order to work around procurement and other rules -- UNDP does not have to be transparent, and does not have to follow local rules.

While UNDP in Cuba in 2006 reported $7 million in cost-sharing, the UNDP figure in Guatemala was $92 million. In Bolivia it was $31 million, in Chile $23 million, Colombia $82 million, Dominican Republic $5 million, Ecuador $30 million, El Salvador $13 million, Paraguay $32 million, Uruguay $10 million.

From poor Haiti, UNDP took in $16 million in cost-sharing, versus only $14 million in Mexico.

UNDP's response to the controversy around a contract of less than $3 million in Venezuela with Setronix has been to direct Inner City Press to UNDP's online rebuttal. But while UNDP claims that the documents it links to show competitive bidding, the documents in fact refer to " excepcion a un proceso competitivo" - exception to a competitive process. In any case, this is just the tip of the iceberg of UNDP's $1.1 billion of "cost-sharing" in Latin America (compared to UNDP's less than $600 million in annual spending in Africa.)

In Honduras, UNDP's cost-sharing in 2006 was a whopping $103 million. The web site refers, in Spanish, to the modalidad de Ejecucion Nacional (NEX -- national execution "modality," saying that it guarantees that national authorities keep control of the program and of the final responsibility for how the funds are used. UNDP, it seems, just takes a fee, and repeatedly further tarnishes the UN's name in the process.

and see, www.innercitypress.com/undp1latam040208.html

UNDP Fudges Eveline Herfkens' Part-Time Work, Dodges on Lockheed Martin Connection to U.S. Committee for UNDP, Other Staff Files Withheld

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un38herfkens022508.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 25 -- In the wake of the UN Development Program's poverty czar Eveline Herfkens having been found to have accepted $7000 a month in rent from the Dutch government for years, in violation of UN rules, UNDP has continued to defend her. As Inner City Press reported, UNDP's Associate Administrator Ad Melkert has lobbied for Herfkens to not have to pay back the housing subsidy, on the theory that she did not know the rules. On Monday, UNDP placed online her contract, to claim that despite the housing subsidy windfall, her annual salary from 2002 to 2006 was $134,331 -- or, the contract says, 80% of that. Click here for the contract. There are two problem. In a January 9 online posting, UNDP said Herfkens was working 75% at the time. And while Herfkens claims ignorance of the rules as a defense, the contract says that the rules have been provided, and even talks about offset for UNDP housing allowance.

UNDP's online posting of Herfkens contract contradicts its crackdowns on whistle-blowing staff members and contractors. Apparently it is not the type of document made public that constitutes a problem, but rather who makes it public and why. If to expose corruption, it is a firing offense. But if to defend a politically-connected get-over, disclosure of contracts is fine. Melkert was to be found on Monday singing the praise of corporation, specifying UNDP's partnership with Cisco and Google, click here for video. Partnership with Google, indeed.

While UNDP issues defenses of Herfkens and Melkert, it leaves other questions unanswered. On Monday Inner City Press asked UNDP fewer than ten questions, none of which were answered by day's end. One of the questions was a matter Inner City Press has already written about, questioning the basis for the Africa business development for military contractor Lockheed Martin being on the board of directors of the US Committee for UNDP, and what safeguards are in place to make sure that no apparent conflicts of interest arise from Lockheed Martin's status as a major contractor to the UN, including a recent $250 million no-bid contract in Sudan. There is no answer, no answer at all.

Footnote: while UNDP self-servingly posts online Herfkens' contract, questions to the UN about the contract status of sadly high profile computer technician have been met with a stonewall, a response from the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General that "the United Nations does not disclose information of a personal nature relating to individual employees." UNDP's Hefkens upload puts a lie to that. Now what? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un38herfkens022508.html

While UN's Dutch Poverty Czar Eveline Herfkes Is Allowed to Keep Illegal Money, Brooklyn Woman Was Jailed in Similar UN Case

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undp28herfkens022408.html

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24, updated Feb 25 -- The receipt of $7000 a month in free rent by the director of the UN Development Program's anti-poverty Millennium Campaign has been the subject of heated debate in the Dutch parliament. UNDP's Administrator Kemal Dervis, asked about it by Inner City Press, admitted that the payments were improper. So has the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But now should Evelyn Herfkens, to whom the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid the housing subsidy in violation of UN rules, be required to pay the money back? Should there be any punishment at all?

After extensive lobbying on Ms. Herfkens behalf by UNDP's two top executives, and a senior advisor from the UN Secretariat, it is reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees no reason to reclaim the money from Herfkens "as it is not clear if Herfkens knew she was not allowed to take the money and she never asked for it."

This is in stark contrast to a case earlier this decade in which a single mother in Brooklyn through a clerical error received hundreds of thousands of dollars into her Chase Bank account that had been intended for a UN Environment Program trust fund. Susan Madakor, who used the part to for example set up an education fund for her son, not only was required to make restitution of the money, under a legal theory of unjust enrichment -- she was also prosecuted and convicted of a crime. So why the kid's glove treatment for Ms. Herfkens?

In order words, why would the UN prosecute a low-income woman for the type of windfall that it allows, with impunity, for a politically-connected ex-diplomat who was already getting paid $225,000 a year by the UN for part-time work ostensibly for the poor?

Ms. Madakor, who found the money erroneously deposited in her account, said she thought she had won an international lottery. Nevertheless, then UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the UN would employ "all legal options available" because "this money does not belong to Ms Madakor." Eckhard's deputy Manoel de Almeida e Silva later told the press that "Susan Madakor, a Brooklyn resident who had received wire transfers mistakenly credited by Chase Manhattan Bank that were intended for the United Nations Environmental Program, was convicted of bank larceny and bank fraud. Last week she was sentenced to two years in prison. United States District Judge Shirley Kram ordered her to begin serving her sentence by May 16, and also ordered her to pay restitution to Chase."

So what legal options are being considered given Ms. Herfkens improper receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in housing subsidy from a government while ostensibly working for the UN? None, apparently. Rather, senior UNDP and UN officials have put their credibility on the line to insist that Ms. Herfkens never knew that the housing subsidy was against the rules.

This is questionable: records show that Herfkens was intimately knowledgeable about UNDP's rules for such things as the authorization to fly business class rather than coach. She asked to be allowed to fly business class even after she shifted to part-time contractor status in order to appear eligible for a U.S. green card. Significantly, the prohibition on receiving housing subsidy or benefits from a government is included in employment contract she signed.

Inner City Press is also told that UNDP Associate Administrator Ad Melkert attended numerous social events in Herfkens' posh Dag Hammarskjold Towers apartment. Apparently it never occurred to him to wonder, or ask, how this apartment was being paid for.

[Update of Feb. 25: UNDP spokesman David Morrison writes to state that "Mr. Melkert never set foot in the apartment," and deny any "impropriety or negligence" by Melkert. Duly noted. Apparently, UNDP does not contest that Melkert (and Kemal Dervis) lobbied Dutch officials to reach a finding the Eveline Herfkens didn't know she was breaking UN rules, and UNDP sees no need (or no way) to explain the disparity of low-income Brooklynite Susan Madakor being prosecuted and jailed for inadvertently receiving funds, as well as being required to make restitution, while UNDP's Director of the Millennium Campaign faces no prosecution and, apparently at UNDP's lobbying, is not required to pay back a single cent. We will continue to follow this.]

Once exposed for receiving the subsidy, Herfkens told the press that she needed a nice apartment. Note to Herfkens, from / in the spirit of Susan Madakor: they are cheaper in Brooklyn, to say nothing of The Bronx.

While UNDP has loudly claimed that Melkert never received housing subsidy from the Dutch government while employed by UNDP, or even before that at the World Bank, testimony in the Dutch parliament raises questions about other improper payments to UN officials by the Dutch government. It has been acknowledged that Dutch government payments were also made, as employer, into Herfkens' ongoing Dutch pension, even while she was employed by UNDP. Such payments also violate UN rules and the Charter. As with housing subsidy, and particularly in light of the asserted defense that Ms. Herfkens never asked for the payments, there is no reason to believe that she was the only Dutch UN official improperly receiving governmental benefits.

Three weeks ago, Inner City Press approached former Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, who is employed by the UN as its envoy on Western Sahara. A staffer cut off access to van Walsum, who is known to avoid the press. Inner City Press asked, are you his spokesperson? No, he doesn't have one, was the response. Inner City Press asked if van Walsum received any benefit from the Dutch government, and was quickly (and in a whisper) told that he doesn't live in New York, making housing subsidy unlikely. His public financial disclosure form, for the record, lists no outside activities or payments. But what about pension or other benefits?

Inner City Press was directed to ask a specific person in the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, who was said to know whom to call on van Walsum's staff to get the answer. Inner City Press immediately made the request and was told that inquiry would be made. Three weeks later, nothing. There is also a Dutch Assistant Secretary General employed by the UN's anti-avian flu unit, and numerous Dutch D-1s and D-2s. Will senior UNDP and UN officials lobby for all of them? Will Eveline Herfkens ultimately face anything like Brooklynite Susan Madakor? Will Herfkens face justice in court? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undp28herfkens022408.html