As UN Orders $100M in Cuts, Promised Answers Not Provided, Private Information?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 19 -- What is happening with the UN's budget? 

    On the evening of January 18 well placed UN whistleblowers told Inner City Press that the UN has now demanded $100 million in cuts from its departments, in many cases directly impacting the substantive work of the departments. There is little transparency of which department are being asked to cut what.

  For weeks Inner City Press has asked, first for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's response to the end of what many called the most dysfunctional Budget Committee session ever, then for an answer to why the press corps' move-back to the UN's skyscraper has been delayed two months.

   On the first question, Inner City Press was told to wait for Ban's "Town Hall" meeting with staff, which despite being closed-door it wrote about here.

   On the latter question, the UN Department of Public Information has offered shifting answers, first that the normally sized construction crew at the UN has had to be shifted to damage from Hurricane Sandy in the third sub basement, then that the UN can't afford the now increased pay rates of construction workers in New York.

   DPI, which on January 17 promised written answers to other questions which as of this writing on January 19 have yet to be provided, has grandly said that this is a legitimate story to follow. But follow how, without official UN answers? While in fairness there are trends going the other way, such as DPI's new "brown bag" briefing series, some now refer to a UN Department of PRIVATE Information.

  But still some meetings remain open. On the morning of January 17 DPI's Maher Nasser, the addressee of a New York Civil Liberties Union letter which drew a purported private response from another DPI official who refuses to make public the response, sat before an audience of non-governmental organizations in a North Lawn conference room.

   Nasser tried gamely to explain eliminating the post of the person who liaised with NGOs, moving the NGOs' office out of the UN main compound, and not having had a DPI-NGO conference in 2012, or apparently in 2013. There was significant push back, and there promises to be more.

   Again, on the evening of January 18 well placed UN whistleblowers told Inner City Press that the UN has now demanded $100 million in cuts from its departments, in many cases to the substantive work of the departments. There is little transparency of which department are being asked to cut what. 

   But DPI's answers on the delay in the move-back of the press corp must be seen in this light. We'll have more on this: watch this site.

At UN, Ban Wants Budget Advisory Panel Views Ignored, Members Push Back

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- In a letter to the chairman of the UN's budget committee on November 26, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the committee to ignore the recommendations of its own Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.

  Ban wants to push through his so-called Mobility plan while questions remain outstanding. The two page letter, addressed to the this year's chairman, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany Miguel Berger, is not yet public, members say, but Inner City Press has it.

   As one well placed member of the Budget Committee exclusively told Inner City Press, Ban's "mobility is now 'key' to a bunch of projects that began before it, like the Global Field Support Strategy and UMOJA," mired in delays and nepotism.

  Ban's letter "stress[es] that the new mobility framework is at the heart of our key management initiatives and a key enabler for other on-going reform efforts, such as UMOJA, our enterprise resource planning system and the Global Field Support Strategy."

  Ban writes that he is "disappointed" with the timelines recommended by the ACABQ, elections and then election of the chair of which Inner City Press recently covered. (On Monday, voting for vice chairman between the candidates of Gabon and the UK was postponed, with some idea there might be two co-vice chairs.)

  What ACABQ recommended on Ban's "mobility" proposal  is a one year delay in order to answer questions, get more information -- as one member put it, for more "transparency and accountability."

  Ban's letter states that he is "disappointed with the timeline suggested by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions which cannot meet our requirements."

  The letter came on the eve of an emergency staff meeting about "offshoring and outsourcing" the staff say Ban is trying to implement.

   Reform of the UN is needed -- see for example the inaction of UN Peacekeepers as the M23 mutineers took over Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the UN's continued inaction on a claim that its peacekeepers introduced cholera to Haiti, while it talks about accountability and the rule of law.

   But going against the recommendations of the UN's own Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions may not be the right road to reform, several budget committee experts and member states have opined. 

  Some see it as similar to the stealthly floated proposal for the UN to use drones. Ban's chief of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous proposed it to the C-34 in March, after which several members complained to Inner City Press. They said the proposal would only serve, and be used by, a small number of powerful states -- like this newer proposal?

   Now, using the UN's failure in the DRC as a pretext, theproposal has re-appeared. Ladsous has refused to answer any Press questions. On November 26, several members of the General Assembly and Security Council panned Ladsous and his plan. But will Ban just try to push it through, Mobility style? Watch this site.

As a Ban Reform Dies, UN Refuses to Provide Comment or Costs

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ban1ohrm120709.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- This UN brags extensively about what it considers its successes, but has not comment on and tries to prevent the reporting of its failures. The most recent case in point is the unceremonious withdrawal of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's proposal to move the UN from permanent contracts to so-called continuing contracts. The UN Staff Union has argued this undermines the independence of the international civil service. Member states before voting on it requested information about its costs.

On December 3, Inner City Press was informed that the Secretariat has withdrawn its continuing contracts human resources proposal. While the head of the UN's Department of Management has previously told Inner City Press in writing that she does not have time to answer press questions, the head of the Office of Human Resource Management Catherine Pollard as recently as late November answered a question about a karaoke party held in her office at four p.m. on an afternoon.

So seeking confirmation and comment, Inner City Press wrote to Assistant Secretary General Pollard:

hello. I understand that the Secretariat with withdrawn its report on Human Resource Management. Can you please comment? I am on deadline. Also, I believe you have reviewed the "procurement painter" case mentioned in my last e-mail to you. Can you state why this raises no issues regarding UN recruitment and promotion practices? Thanks. -Matthew

The request for confirmation and comment was received by Ms. Pollard's office:

Return Receipt

Your Re: Press question(s) document: was received by:Lourdes Quiogue/NY/UNO

at: 12/03/2009 05:51:47 PM

But no response was received, on December 3 or 4 or 7. On December 7, then, Inner City Press asked new Spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: There is a proposal by the Secretary-General about human resources management; continuing contracts. He made a big proposal to change permanent contracts into something else. I’ve just heard that it’s been withdrawn, that the proposal was no longer being put forward. Can you, I guess speak to Angela Kane or …?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Let’s see what we can find out.

Later on December 7, Inner City Press reiterated to Mr. Nesirky that the UN's response should be send by email. But by midnight on December 7, the UN had provided neither confirmation nor a comment.

A UN meetings coverage press release states that the Budget Committee

turned to a draft decision on the provisional staff rules (document A/C.5/64/L.9), submitted by MUHAMMAD A. MUHITH (Bangladesh) on behalf of the Chair, by which the Assembly would decides that the Staff Rules, as referred to in the report of the Secretary-General, should remain provisional pending their further consideration at its sixty-fifth session.

CATHERINE POLLARD, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management, said the Secretary-General’s proposals were made in response to a request from the General Assembly last year, as part of its review of United Nations contractual reform. The report addressed the Assembly’s full range of concerns. However, it had become apparent from the Secretariat’s deliberations with the ACABQ and the Fifth Committee that the Office of Human Resources Management was not in a position to answer their questions on data on continuing needs. Since it was unable to provide the necessary responses required by the Committee to conclude its consideration of the item, the report on implementation of continuing appointments (document A/64/267) would be withdrawn and a new report would supersede it. The Committee was to be briefed on the issue during its first resumed session in March 2010.

The Committee adopted the decision without a vote.

The representative of Sweden, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said the European Union’s stated aim had been to carefully study the proposals on continuing appointments in order to take a well-informed decision. It was of great importance to complete the reform regime that was adopted by the Assembly at its previous session. The European Union was aware of the expectations of United Nations personnel, the Organization’s most important asset, and was ready to engage constructively to ensure that the new contractual system met the needs of both the Organization and its staff. At informals, the European Union had asked for clarifications and supplementary information, and learned that the Secretariat was not in a position to provide that information. The Secretariat had indicated its intention to brief the Committee at the first resumed session in March next year. While disappointed, the European Union appreciated the Secretariat’s frankness and open approach.

Sudan’s representative, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, expressed deep disappointment over the handling of this crucial issue. The Secretariat’s inability to answer questions raised by Member States was a major source of concern and surprise. Indeed, the Assembly had firmly intended to take a decision on the final step of the new contractual framework and the Secretariat had almost a year to prepare. Ensuring the well-being of the Organization’s staff was of utmost concern to the Group of 77 and China, and it approached today’s decision to postpone consideration of implementing continuing appointments with concern.

So this was and is a setback for a reform proposal loudly announced by the UN Secretariat. Apparently the Secretariat hopes that the press does not cover the budget committee, and that by refusing to confirm what it said in the committee, there will be no outside coverage. This is a reason why this UN, even inside the UN, lack credibility. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1ohrm120709.html