UNHQ Tells ICP It's Reviewing HABITAT Clos' Comments on Race

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 17 -- Within the UN system there are racial tensions, some time at the fore, often under the surface. Now comes a complaint concerning the head of UN-HABITAT Joan Clos, that at a staff retreat at a restaurant in Nairobi he held forth, in English and Spanish, about “a good White man looking for a poor 'Negro' to help.” See complaint, here, and embedded below.

 On February 16, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about the complaint; he said to just ask HABITAT. But isn't Ban Ki-moon, and OIOS, going to review it?

On February 17, Inner City Press asked lead UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric the same question, Video here. UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, I'd asked Farhan about this letter from staff in Kenya to Ban Ki-moon and OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] about Joan… Joan Clos of Habitat, complaining about things that he said that had a… they believe a racial nature.  He said to ask Habitat.  So Habitat has confirmed they received the letter.  But I still want to ask.  Since the letter was, in fact, addressed to OIOS and Ban Ki-moon, particularly in the OIOS case, does OIOS have jurisdiction over Habitat?  Is the… has a decision been made that this letter will only be considered by Habitat itself who’s run by the…

Spokesman Dujarric:  Yes, OIOS, if I'm not mistaken, has jurisdiction over Habitat.  We're obviously very much aware of the allegations in the letter, and we're examining the claims according to due process.

  Tick tock. Clos appears to have been quoting the title of a book by author Gustau Nerin, “Blanco Bueno, Busca Negro Pobre.” But Clos' other reported comments at the HABITAT retreat, held at the Lord Errol Restaurant, also gave rise to the complaint, including a reference to Nairobi, that “there are no serious people here who can think.”

   UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the addressee of the complaint, has been asked to act on this. In his UN system, it is usually politics and not the facts that determine the outcome.

  Ban has for example continued the pattern of giving the post position at UN Peacekeeping to France (now in the person of Herve Ladsous, who as Inner City Press has reported and asked about linked peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic to “R&R,” here).

 Ban kept the UK atop the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the US in charge of the Department of Political Affairs.

   That Ban did not discipline Ladsous for linking rapes to R&R, the type of comment which would get a military figure fired or demoted in many countries, may be well for Clos. Or does Spain have so much less political juice in the UN system that the outcome will be different? 

Reporting Misconduct against Mr Joan Clos,Executive Director Un Habitat by Boniface Mwangi

 The complaint was also addressed to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, which is currently engaged in an audit of NGOs affiliated with Macau based businessman Ng Lap Seng, Frank Lorenzo and Sheri Yan, indicted in the US for bribery at the UN.

It was also sent to UN human resources and the UN Ethics Office, which along with OIOS was implicated in the cover up of (French soldiers') alleged rapes in the Central African Republic. This is Ban's UN.

  Clos also reported criticized the Japanese development agency JICA; Japan is not only a large UN donor, but current has an elected seat on the UN Security Council.

Inner City Press has been sent multiple copies of the complaint, which was sent to 37 countries' missions; we note that an image of the complaint was Tweeted on February 11 by a Kenyan activist. Contrary for example toReuters, whose UN bureau chief at first sought to minimize or discredit, and then simply stole, Inner City Press February 12 exclusive about new UN rapes in CAR, we note all that. The point now is, what will the UN do? Watch this site.

Comments on Race Attributed To UN-HABITAT Chief Joan Clos Trigger Complaint, Online, to Ban Ki-moon

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 16 -- Within the UN system there are racial tensions, some time at the fore, often under the surface. Now comes a complaint concerning the head of UN-HABITAT Joan Clos, that at a staff retreat at a restaurant in Nairobi he held forth, in English and Spanish, about “a good White man looking for a poor 'Negro' to help.” See complaint, here.

   Clos appears to have been quoting the title of a book by author Gustau Nerin, “Blanco Bueno, Busca Negro Pobre.” But Clos' other reported comments at the HABITAT retreat, held at the Lord Errol Restaurant, also gave rise to the complaint, including a reference to Nairobi, that “there are no serious people here who can think.”

   UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the addressee of the complaint, has been asked to act on this. In his UN system, it is usually politics and not the facts that determine the outcome.

  Ban has for example continued the pattern of giving the post position at UN Peacekeeping to France (now in the person of Herve Ladsous, who as Inner City Press has reported and asked about linked peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic to “R&R,” here).

 Ban kept the UK atop the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the US in charge of the Department of Political Affairs.

   That Ban did not discipline Ladsous for linking rapes to R&R, the type of comment which would get a military figure fired or demoted in many countries, may be well for Clos. Or does Spain have so much less political juice in the UN system that the outcome will be different?

 The complaint was also addressed to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, which is currently engaged in an audit of NGOs affiliated with Macau based businessman Ng Lap Seng, Frank Lorenzo and Sheri Yan, indicted in the US for bribery at the UN.

It was also sent to UN human resources and the UN Ethics Office, which along with OIOS was implicated in the cover up of (French soldiers') alleged rapes in the Central African Republic. This is Ban's UN.

  Clos also reported criticized the Japanese development agency JICA; Japan is not only a large UN donor, but current has an elected seat on the UN Security Council.

Inner City Press has been sent multiple copies of the complaint, which was sent to 37 countries' missions; we note that an image of the complaint was Tweeted on February 11 by a Kenyan activist. Contrary for example to Reuters, whose UN bureau chief at first sought to minimize or discredit, and then simply stole, Inner City Press February 12 exclusive about new UN rapes in CAR, we note all that. The point now is, what will the UN do? Watch this site.

As UN Withholds Torture Info on US, Ukraine & Burundi, Whom Does It Serve?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 28 -- How incompetent and elitist is today's UN? Well, when the UN in Geneva on November 24 purported to promote its Committee Against Torture concluding remarks on eight countries, it said embargoed copies would be given to its “UNOG-based press corps” -- that is, media that can afford to have a correspondent at the UN in Geneva.

  Among the eight countries are the US, to which the family of Michael Brown, killed by policeman Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, went to testify; Ukraine,about which the UN has already been less than transparent; Australia and Burundi, where the UN is seen to havecovered up a memo about the ruling parties arming its youth wing.

  Inner City Press immediate wrote and asked that the embargoed reports not be so restricted in distribution. Note for example that the UN in Nairobi does not restrict its embargoed reports to media with reporters in the Kenyan capital. So why should the UN in Geneva? The new Free UN Coalition for Access made this point about disparate treatment, the UN in Geneva and its lead spokesman in New York, Stephane Dujarric.

  But despite multiple requests to UNOG's Liz Throssell, the UN  maintained its position, and said that Inner City Press could just look at the UN website at the embargo time, 8 am in New York. But the reports weren't on this page, for example as to the USA, even an hour later. 

  That's where the incompetence comes in. These things can happen of course - but that's why UN Geneva should not deny repeated requests for UN accredited media for embargoed reports that they have. Not only UN Nairobi, but others in the UN system distributed embargoed material to media all over the world. What's wrong with UN Geneva? And UNHQ in New York?

 Corporate media was already reporting on the concluding remarks, based on the embargoed copies they got. And from the UN, now including chair of the Committee Against Torture Claudio Grossman, no explanation, no answer after more than 12 hours to the question of for example which Burundian media have a correspondent at the UN in Geneva and thus access to these embargoed / otherwise not available reports.

And so we ask, how incompetent and elitist, to leave it at that, is this UN? And whom does it serve? We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

    

On Burundi, UN Restricts Torture Report to Swiss-based Media, Disparity, Says Free UN Coalition for Access

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- The UN is scheduled to publicly release a report about human rights and torture in Burundi on November 28. So far this week, it has restricted pre-distribution of the report to media that can afford to have a Swiss-based correspondent. Why?

   The November 24 announcement said only the "UNOG-based press corp" will get embargoed copies of this:

"BURUNDI: Allegations of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials and prison officers; sub-standard conditions of detention; no independent body to monitor places of detention;  high numbers in custody and pre-trial detention; political violence; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

    Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access immediately challenged this restricted distribution. First Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman in New York, and now the UN in Geneva have refused to lift the restriction, without substantive explanation. On November 27, Inner City Press and FUNCA asked:

"Now on the eve of the press conference, reiterating the request below, that embargoed copies not be needlessly restricted only to "UNOG-based" press... But the media that have reporters based in UNOG are larger, more corporate media. So that particular embargoed report should be released to all UN system accredited media, not only those with reporters based at UNOG. The Free UN Coalition for Access says that should go the other way, too -- embargoed UN reports should not be restricted to NY / UNHQ based media either."

On November 27, the UN in Geneva via Liz Throssell Media Officer for the UN Treaty Bodies, replied:

"Dear Matthew, The six-hour time difference is very much in your favour, and unlike the journalists here you will have an entire working day to report on the Committee against Torture's 'Concluding Observations' on the eight countries they have been reviewing this session. These will be posted online at around 8:00 a.m. New York Time -- you will be able to find whichever ones that interest you by scrolling down through the countries listed here."

 But this is not responsive. As Inner City Press and FUNCA have replied, "the request is that you not arbitrarily limit embargoed copies only to your 'UNOG-based press corps.' They will be able to publish stories at the embargo time, while despite your message, others will not."

   The UN's Throssell replied again:

"Dear Matthew, The story is a Geneva dateline. The Treaty Bodies meet in Geneva and hold their press conferences here, hence when we are able to give embargoed copies, often at short notice, it is standard practice that it should be to journalists based here. The concluding observations will be available on our website from around 8am your time. It is also important to note that the committee's session was not about one country but eight, and that the interests of the UNOG press corps are similarly not limited to one country.  You speak of the larger more corporate media in the UNOG Press Corps, but, as Stephane [Dujarric, Ban Ki-moon's spokesman] pointed out, there is a large number of freelancers here, working for a variety of English language and other language media."

  Note that the UN, at least in New York, has stated that it does not accredit freelancers.  Inner City Press and FUNCA replied in an hour's time:

"You write 'it is standard practice that it should be to journalists based here' but please be aware: for UN reports released in Nairobi embargoed copies are offered to reporters outside of Kenya and outside of Africa. So is this “standard practice” Geneva (and New York) specific? TheFree UN Coalition for Access is opposed to this “standard practice,” which is inconsistently applied even in the UN system. We are very much aware that reports beyond the US (and Ukraine) are being released. In light of the above, can you please state how many Burundi based media organizations are represented in the UNOG-based press corp to which you are limited distribution of the embargoed (Burundi) report?"

   But Ms. Throssell and the NY based spokesperson she copied did not answer; both gone from the office. No answer on Burundi (or anything else.)

Again: Why limited pre-distribution of this report to the media which can afford to have a Switzerland-based correspondent, or "freelancer"? What is wrong with the UN? And what will be the effect, like with themurky "gray lady" system at the UN in New York, be of this pre-spinning? Click here for Inner City Press and FUNCA's coverage of the opaque race to head the UN Department of Public Information, here. The UN must do better.

  Back on November 5 when UN envoy Parfait Onanga-Anyanga briefed the UN Security Council by video, he cited the belated release from jail of rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa. 

  But little was said of why the government jailed him: for inquiring into the UN's own leaked memo about the ruling CNDD party arming its youth wing, including in camps across the border in the DR Congo.

  When the public then private meetings of the Security Council were over, Inner City Press asked the Council's president for November Gary Quinlan if the leaked memo about CNDD arming its youth wing had been discussed, what the Council's current understanding of that is, and if possible sanctions for political violence are being considered.

  Quinlan replied that sanctions were not discussed. He said that the Council is well aware of the memo and has discussed it, but that today's focus had been on the trajectory going forward to the 2015 elections.

  Even after Quinlan's Q&A stakeout, to his credit his second in as many days, the UN Spokesperson's office still didn't have or give a copy of what Onanga-Anyanga had read to the Council three hours earlier. 

  On behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access, Inner City Press repeatedly asked for this, which is given out much quicker on other countries on the Council's agenda. Finally the question was put to UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric himself -- because it should be fixed. It is not good enough to say that the office of this particular envoy -- a nice guy, we note in passing -- undercuts and is allowed to undercut the UN's transparency - particularly after the leaked memo and attempts to cover that up. We'll have more on this.

Back on September 3, Inner City Press asked US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power about Mbonimpa, and relatedly about the reports of Burundi's ruling party arming its youth wing. Video here, and embedded (with Libya question) below, with US Mission transcript.

  Samantha Power replied that she has raised the imprisonment of Mbonimpa with Burundi's leadership, publicly and privately. (Inner City Press previously asked Ambassador Power about Burundi at a Security Council question and answer stakeout of the type the new Free UN Coalition for Access urges all Security Council presidencies to hold after closed door consultation sessions.)

“I suppose the situation on the ground has not changed materially,” Ambassador Power said, “since we last engaged on this... the closing of political space, the walking away from aspects of the Arusha Accords.”

  During the recent African Leaders Summit in Washington she and other US officials raised the issues, she said. The US “wants the UN to maintain a role on the ground in the coming weeks as we approach the elections,” she said. Inner City Press has reported on Burundi using the “persona non grata” process to expel UN staff.

  Ambassador Power noted that the Security Council has held more meetings about Burundi this year than in any other analogous period. One wonders, will this continue up to the election? After? Watch this site.

Updated with US Mission transcript:

MODERATOR: Last question is Matthew.

QUESTION: Matthew Lee, Inner City Press. Thanks for the briefing and, on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, hoping for question and answer stakeouts after consultations to hear what happened and ask you about it... On Burundi, I know that you visited there, and I wanted to know what’s the status of the UN looking into allegations that the ruling party was arming its youth wing and trying to get the release of this human rights defender, Mbonimpa, who is, I believe still in jail after several months.  Thanks.

AMBASSADOR POWER:On Burundi, I personally raised the case of the human rights defender and lawyer that you mentioned many, many times publicly and privately with the Burundian leadership. I think the – I suppose the situation on the ground has not changed materially since we last engaged on this. We still have real concerns about the closing of political space, the walking away from aspects of the Arusha Accords, which have been the foundation on which Burundi’s stability and peace and reconciliation have been predicated. All of those concerns remain, and they were raised by myself and by other American officials in the African Leaders Summit when President Nkurunziza visited not long ago.

The only thing I can say I guess beyond that at this point is that we are also deeply committed to ensuring that the UN maintains a role – an important role on the ground in Burundi in the coming weeks, particularly as we approach the elections, which are likely to be a very tense time, given what the government has done against opposition parties, and given that, again, the circumstances for civil society and the opposition have grown much more difficult in recent weeks. We don’t have reason to expect that things are suddenly going to open and that’s going to create tension, and I will note that the Council, I think, has met more on Burundi in recent months than probably in any other analogous period.

So again, this is something that I think we have made our views as a council and we have made our views bilaterally speaking by national capacity very well known to the Burundi authorities at a very combustible time. Thank you, everybody.

   

Saudi Arabia's Ban on Women Driving Dodged By French CEDAW Chair Amid Saudi Run for Seats on HRC and UNSC: Politicized Rights?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- Saudi Arabia bans women from driving, while running for seats on the UN Human Rights Council, and Security Council.

But when Inner City Press asked the chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Nicole Ameline of France, about Saudi Arabia and driving, she said "I cannot judge the specifics of that country." This took place last year when Inner City Press asked Ameline as well, click here.

  It would be one thing of CEDAW and its chair has an across the board policy of silence, at least on country-specific situations. But earlier in Friday's UN press conference, when a questioner said the women are being abused in Syria, Ameline cut in to say, "Absolutely."

  This is the politicization of human rights -- jumping on the bandwagon (how ever that's said in French) on Syria, but withholding comment on an ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia.

  The UN Correspondents Association president and henchperson, both on and used by the anti-Syria bandwagon, for example hosting a faux UN briefing by Syria rebel Ahmad al Jarba, did not ask about Saudi Arabia, instead name-dropping the World Economic Forum in Davos and being "president" (without a contested election) of UNCA -- just as Saudi supported Ahmad al Jarba is "president" of the Syria Coalition or even, France says, of Syria.

  Last year, Inner City Press asked Ameline of there would be any help to Central African Republic to file its report. This year, asked again, it appears not: CAR has still not reported. (Ameline referred to rape in "Republic of Congo," which we take to mean "Democratic Republic of Congo," another blindspot in the Un's view).

And what ever came of the proposal to move a session of CEDAW out of New York to Nairobi, which Ameline complained about and opposed last year? Inner City Press asked this question on Friday twice, once even in French -- but still no answer.

  To be fair, Ameline seems like a nice person. And she did, pressed, go on to say in French she hoped women would get to drive (or "conduire"). But to cut in to judge one country, while dodging a question about the ban on women driving in another country, is not fair. It is the politicization of human rights. Watch this site.

   

UN in Nairobi Under Shadow of ICC Cases, Ban Ki-moon's Lawyer Cites Rules, Ignored by Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 10 – Under the UN's relationship with the International Criminal Court, the UN limits itself to only “strictly necessary” contacts with indictees, outgoing UN Legal Counsel Patricia O'Brien said Tuesday. She claimed that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon takes this so seriously that he has called her for advice.

Why then did Ban take pictures with Sudan's Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide and war crimes, and have his then-envoy Ibrahim Gambari attend the wedding of Bashir's daughter to Idriss Deby of Chad?

The UN said the photos with Bashir were not of a meeting. But now Ban's (or France's) chief of UN Peacekeeping, the fourth Frenchman in a row in the position Herve Ladsous, has met with Bashir. What was accomplished? 

   What we know is that Ladsous bragged about keeping a body of a dead assailant. The UN emphasized that Sudan now has the body, and that Inner City Press should ask only Sudan whether it will be buried, returned to relatively or ghoulishly “kept.”

When O'Brien spoke on Tuesday, it was on the record; Inner City Press was identified as the only media there, and the reasons the session was NOT under “Chatham House” rules, but rather on the record. Beyond what else Inner City Press has reported, for example on Haiti cholera, it emerged that the UN has major problems with the ICC summons to Kenya's elected leaders.

The UN has one of its headquarters in Nairobi. In this context, what would “strictly necessary” contacts be – discussing logistics? Grounds-keeping? Visas? Under Ladsous' rules, all would seem to qualify.

  O'Brien who is now headed to Geneva to openly represent her country – contra Ladsous – said it is a good thing that the Kenyan duo, Kenyatta and Ruto, are only so far subject to a summons by the ICC and “are cooperating.” If that changed, it would be difficult for the UN in Nairobi, she said.

But not, it seems clear, under the Ladsous rules. Anything goes! Watch this site.

   

In Somaliland,Kay's UNSOM Not Welcome, Sources Tell ICP, No Shotgun Marriage

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 13 -- At the UN noon briefing on June 13, it was proudly announced that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's new British envoy to Somalia, Nicholas Kay, was making his first visit to Somaliland, which he called an "island of relative peace."

Hours later, sources in Hargeisa called Inner City Press saying Kay was told that his UNSOM mission cannot operate in Somaliland -- its mandate is for Somalia, of which Somaliland says it is not a part.

The sources told Inner City Press that Kay declined to speak to the media in Hargeisa and instead "flew off to Nairobi."

As Inner City Press reported in April, Somaliland's letter to the Security Council was never distributed to the Council members. Then the UN system gave Somaliland's airspace to Somalia, triggering a ban on UN flights.

The UN's idea seems to be if they just pretend everything's ok, and bandy about the compliment that there is much to be learned for Somaliland, the problem (from the perspective of the UN and Mogadishu) will go away, and a "shotgun marriage" can be effectuated. Watch this site.

French Pol Ameline Dodges on Right to Drive, Wants CEDAW in NYC But Nairobi? Not So Much

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 15 -- French politician Nicole Ameline, Vice Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, complained at a press conference Monday of moves to relocate the CEDAW session out of New York.

  In support she cited not the General Assembly's enticement of weeks in Manhattan hotels but rather the ability of Caribbean nations to come to present their CEDAW reports in New York rather than Geneva.

  Inner City Press asked Ameline if by that logic CEDAW ever held its session in, for example, Nairobi where there is a UN Center and compound. No, she acknowledged.

  Turning to the list of countries turning in CEDAW reports this month, Inner City Press asked about Central African Republic, which was postponed due to the absence of a report. Does CEDAW provide any assistance to such countries in filing reports? This question was not answered.

  Nicole Ameline, who had just spoken in the Third (Human Rights) Committee of the General Assembly dodged a question about discrimination by saying her sense is everyone agrees with CEDAW's goals.

  Inner City Press asked about banning women from driving, or a recent case of 1000 women from Nigeria who arrived in Saudi Arabia for the Hadj and were told they could only proceed if accompanied by men. How about that?

  Ameline would not directly answer the question, instead talking about constructive dialogue, of questions and answers and interpretations. This is the UN. Watch this site.

UN Puts Zewde Atop Nairobi With Nepotism in Central Africa UNanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 11 -- After UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon unceremoniously demoted Anna Tibaijuka from heading the UN Office in Nairobi, reassigning that power to German UNEP chief Achim Steiner, the General Assembly rebelled and created a new, separate Under Secretary General position to run UNON.

(In her other job atop UN-HABITAT, Ms. Tibaijuka was replaced by Mr. Joan Clos of Spain. Since then, the UK has cut all of its funding to HABITAT, calling it “irrelevant.”)

It was understood that Ban should fill the UNON post with an African, and today he did. But the person he selected, Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia, while heading the UN office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA), refused to clean up or even answer on documented nepotism in BINUCA:

In late 2009, Inner City Press asked Ms. Sahle-Work Zewde, Special Representative of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Head of the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA) about a series ofBONUCA hires of relatives of the head of the UN Department of Political Affairs Africa II Division, Sammy Buo. She said she would look into it, take action and report back.

Nine months later, having heard nothing from her or about any changes, Inner City Press asked her for an update. “I don't want to speak about the past,” she said.

Inner City Press asked, “But are the individuals, including the former employee of the Executive Outcomes private military firm, still employed by the UN in the CAR?” She would not answer.

How can the UN credibly preach transparency and anti-corruption if these are its practices?

And without answers, how will UNON fare?

Inner City Press formally asked the director of DPA's Africa II Division Sammy Kum Buo the following questions:

Mr. Buo -- I am writing a story about this morning's Security Council session on BONUCA / Central African Republic. I am also covering management issues in BONUCA and DPA and am writing for you to confirm or deny on deadline each of the following [about BONUCA staffers]

Is Gabriel Buh Kang a relative of yours? A cousin?

Is BONUCA staffer Ekei a relative of yours? Your niece?

What is the status of Brindou Germain Kabran ?

When in CAR, have you stayed with Brindou Germain Kabran?

Did you still collect DSA? Please provide records.

What can you say about the case of Gozo Tshamala?

On deadline, Matthew

Mr. Buo is also accused of hiring a former mercenary from Executive Outcomes, in violation of UN rules. While Mr. Buo has refused to respond, Inner City Press has discussed the matter with other Mission officials and finally, on December 21, 2010 with Mr. Buo's ten boss in DPA, Haile Menkerios (since made UNMIS chief).

Mr. Menkerios confirmed he was aware of the issue. Inner City Press asked Mr. Menkerios what DPA's response would be. It is a management issue, Mr. Menkerios replied, that will be responded to in a management way.

But has it been? Yet?

At UN, Kane Spins Shoot-Down of Ban's Reforms, No UN Porn Gate or KFC Updates

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un3kane010810.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 8 -- Two weeks after the UN budget season ended, Management head Angela Kane appeared to tell the Press that the session was "productive," and minimized the significance of reform proposals being shot down.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Kane about the Department of Management's inability to provide information about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's proposal on continuing contracts, which resulted in the General Assembly keeping the old Staff Rules in place for at least another year.

Ms. Kane argued that it just made more sense to delay the proposal, that it was not possible to provide the information, particularly about peacekeeping. Inner City Press asked, But weren't the questions foreseeable? Wasn't the shoot down akin to, for example, if U.S. President Obama's health care proposal is shelved for a year by the Congress? This, Ms. Kane did not answer.

While the New York Staff Union has complained about asbestos work slated for January 8 on floor on which people are still working, the UN's other unions have written to Mr. Ban to complain about his non-implementation of continuing contracts. See SMCC letter to Mr. Ban, Ms. Migiro, Mr. Nambiar, Ms. Kane, Mr. Kim and Ms. Pollard, obtained by Inner City Press and put online here.

The New York Staff Union complains that Ms. Kane doesn't even respond to their letters. But now the other UN systems unions are complaining too. There is a pattern here.

Similarly, Ms. Kane earlier told the Press that since she has no time to answer questions about how the UN in managed, all questions should be asked in the noon briefing. But then, it appears, the questions are not passed on to her. Meanwhile, Ms. Kane convened a meeting in 2009 about how to fight back against the Press. Now that the UN press corps is being moved directly under the office Ms. Kane has taken up on the Library's third floor, one hopes for more transparency.

Other critiques of the Ban administration and her management, Ms. Kane also dismissed or downplayed on Thursday. The General Assembly now demands a new Under Secretary General post to oversee the UN Office in Nairobi. This was a response to Ban's and Kane's ham handed demotion of Anna Tibaijuka, the African woman previously running Nairobi until replaced by the German Achim Steiner.

The member states push back, but Ban has still not appointed replacement in the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. Since many Ambassadors are mystified why Ban would "diss" Africa in this way, Inner City Press asked if the post, or the funding, was being applied elsewhere.

Some for example say that the "Bob Orr post" has its funding cobbled together from different streams. Ms. Kane wouldn't say, and also said she was unaware of Inner City Press' question about how Ibrahim Gambari was paid, between the Myanmar and now disappeared Iraq post.

On this, Inner City Press has received confirmation from a well placed UN source that Gambari's salary did come from two missions, one of which got cut. Ms. Kane claims this had nothing to do with Gambari being reassigned to Darfur, but an official on the 38th now 3rd floor tells Inner City Press this was a factor in the Darfur "deus ex macina" for Gambari. Watch this site.

Footnote on discipline and punish: even on discipline, little information was provided. Inner City Press asked for an update on the DESA staffer found guilty in Canada of holding child pornography on his flash drive. Even as of Ms. Kane's appearance on October 15, 2009 in Conference Room 8, he still held his job, which Ms. Kane explained as "due process."

Inner City Press asked on Thursday for an update, but none was provided, nor on the investigation of porn forwarding within the Department of Safety and Security, where the "pre-selected promotions" scandal has yet to be acted on either.

Similarly, on the case of two DSS officers suspended after a KFC Colonel Sanders impersonator was taken to the General Assembly President's office, Ms. Kane could not say when the investigation was finished nor what had happened. It is in the hands of the program manager, she said. Does that mean DSS? Ms. Kane referred to "Mister Starr," Greg Starr, who has yet to hold a press conference. And so it goes at the UN.

Finally, some correspondents later on January 7 asked the Capital Master Plan whether a real replacement of the Delegates Lounge will be established in the new North Lawn building. While the CMP says it is up to the contractor Aramark, others say the disappearance of the Delegates Lounge's functions is attributable to Ms. Kane. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un3kane010810.html

As UN Staffer Found With Child Porn, No Answers on Supervisors' Role, UNMIS or Cote d'Ivoire, Gun-slinger Retained in Nairobi

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2porno042109.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 21 -- A long-time UN staff member was arrested for child pornography at Canadian customs on April 9. When Inner City Press asked the UN about it on April 21, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe said that the UN's Mr. Jose Antonio "Ortega was on a personal trip and left on Thursday, 9 April, for Canada. He was expected to be back in the office on 13 April but did not show up."

As reported in the Canadian press, "portable memory devices found in his backpack contained more than 800 images of hard-core child pornography, some involving a girl who appeared to be about five years old. Mr. Ortega Osona expects to lose his job as a demographer with the UN's fertility division because of the convictions, defense lawyer Geoff Newton said. 'Any jail sentence he gets pales in comparison to the effects this will have on his life,' Mr. Newton said."

But if the UN's refusal to oust or reassign Alexander Barabanov, a Russian staff member at the UN in Nairobi who insulted local authorities and carried an unlicensed gun, or its reportedly kid-gloves treatment of higher officials involved in a pornography ring are any guide, Mr. Ortega will not necessary "lose his job."

At Tuesday noon briefing, Inner City Press also asked, video here

Inner City Press: In terms of seriousness, there is a report that the Head of Operations of the UN Centre in Nairobi, Alexander Barabanov, who was found by Kenya to have an illegal weapon, is still serving the UN. A series of letters has been sent to Angela Kane and OLA trying to get authority to discontinue his service to the UN, due to the illegal gun. Is he still in service, and if so, why?

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t have any information on that. I have to look into that for you.

But twelve hours after that statement, no further information has been provided. Some now say that Anna Tibaijuka's demotion at the UN in Nairobi in favor of Achim Steiner may have been related to her persistence in trying to hold Mr. Barabanov accountable. We aim to have more on this.

Earlier in Tuesday's noon briefing, Ms. Okabe claimed that there was no substantive difference in having cancelled the previous days' Q&A session, because we "took your questions in our Office and we responded to your questions like we normally do." That is, responded only partially, and to some questions, not at all.

UN: blue passport, blue movies, carte blanche

Earlier in the afternoon on Tuesday, since Ms. Okabe limited questioning by saying, "only one more question" even though the previous day's briefing had been cancelled and there was no one else waiting for the room, Inner City Press submitted these questions in writing, none of which have been responded to ten hours later:

Subj: Re: your question on sri lanka - follow-up, incl. on Sudan, Nairobi (2), Cote d'Ivoire, pornography (2), thanks
From: Inner City Press
To: Deputy Spokesperson, Associate Spokesperson, Spokesperson for OCHA
Sent: 4/21/2009 2:05:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

In a message dated 4/21/2009 1:19:19 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org writes:
We have raised the issue of staff in IDP camps with the GoSL since at least February. --Stephanie Bunker

Hello. (1) Please comment on / respond to the following public statements by the GoSL:

"The Government has received a letter from the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator Neil Buhne requesting movement for UN staff in refugee camps in Vavuniya, Resettlement Minister Rishad Baduideen said yesterday. “We received the letter on Wednesday evening and it was from Neil Buhne,” Minister Baduideen said. .. Minister Baduideen said he had not received a letter from the UN and unless they receive a formal complaint that they cannot look into it, and as and when they do they will discuss it with the military officials. END
So are you saying that the UN's raising of the issue since Feb was informal? To whom was it raised, given the above? And what is the current status?

I have been told that a (South) Sudan paragraph was sent to me, but I have not found it. Please send. And (2) what is the UN's response to

"A report on the March attacks by a joint team of different U.N. agencies... called for UNMIS to increase patrols in the area and to increase support to local officials to try to improve the dire security situation."

(3) What is the UN's response to the Forces Nouvelle in Cote d'Ivoire saying they will withdraw from the peace process if elections are not held in 2009?

According to the UN, when will elections be held?

(4a) The name of the administrative officer in UN - Nairobi I asked about is Alexander Barabanov, director of administrative services.

(4b) on the UN Security officer killed in his home in Kenya, please state whether the UN has any inkling if it had anything to do with his service at/to the UN, or that is had nothing to do with it.

(5a) The child porn guilty plea, on which I am asking for updates on what the UN does, was by "Jose Antonio Ortega Osona, 40, a Spanish citizen who lives in New York, pleaded guilty Friday in Dartmouth provincial court to a Criminal Code charge of possessing child pornography and a Customs Act charge of smuggling prohibited goods."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9011475.html

(5b) Finally, for now, a simple factual question best answered in this format / medium:

please confirm or deny that there are several senior DSS / SSS officers at UNHQ in NY who have received letters of reprimand for pornography, and explain any difference of treatment from that accorded on the same charges to a lower level staff member. To ensure your answer, I suggest you ask OHRM, OIOS and DSS.

The context of this last still-unanswered question is the UN's show of discipline against a lower level UN purveyor of pornography, while the underlying investigative report made it clear that many more people, at higher levels, were and are implicated. Click here for Inner City Press' exclusive December 18, 2008 report, " Suspended UN Pornographer Opposed Gays, Liked Dogs, As Higher Ups Escape."

Now, sources in the Department of Safety and Security complain more loudly of and name supervisors who have been informed they are under investigation or found to be involved in pornography, but nothing has happened to them. Several were part of the "scam promotions" imbroglio exposed by an intra-DSS memo leaked to and published by Inner City Press, click here for that. Some say a wave of disciplinary actions might soon begin. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2porno042109.html