In UN Budget Wrangling on Longest Night of Year, of Bob Orr, Re-Costing & Ban Ki-moon's Mobility, No Answers on South Sudan

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 21 -- With the UN budget fight heating up as Christmas approaches, Saturday night found UN Deputy Permanent Representative gathering in groups on the second floor of the North Lawn building.

  There was Peter Wilson of the UK and Alexis Lamek of France, and their EU counterpart Ionnis Vrailas. There was US Joe Torsella, making analogies to the budget deal struck in Washington: can the UN do it?

  In fact, UN DESA has commented on US budget woes, as Inner City Press covered. They slammed the US for the impending fight of raising the debt ceiling. So who's mocking whom?

  And amid calls for cuts, including layoffs for some UN Security officers on January 2, why is the UN moving to send 500 blue helmeted guards to Central African Republic with mandates limited to offering protection to a smaller number of UN staff? Click here for that Inner City Press story.

In the UN budget process, disputes include $160 million of "re-costing" -- adding back to the budget after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon claimed cuts -- and the mobility plan of Mister Ban, himself so mobile as to be out of town. 

  Ban's Controller was present Saturday night along with other staffers. Apparently there were no UN Spokespeople working -- Inner City Press' questions from Saturday morning about the crisis in South Sudan went entirely unanswered for eight hours and counting.

  When Inner City Press spoke with diplomats working on the budget Saturday night, there were many critical comments about Ban's "corporate partnerships" proposal, some calling it an attempt to get a promotion for longtime UN official Robert Orr, said to be very close with Ban. 

 Orr himself was not seen, at least by this reporter in several hours, in the North Lawn.

 This is not a good time for the UN to have no one on duty answering press questions, and no noon briefing scheduled for Monday, December 23 as protested by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  As many of complained, the 2014-15 UN budget is over 600 paragraphs, 85 pages. Diplomats wandered around with random pages. A table was set up with mint Oreo cookies and dried green mangos; pizza boxes came in, and boxes of Starbucks coffee. America may run on Dunkin but the UN is all about, well, destroying neighborhoods (as one anti-Starbucks diplomat put it).

Notably absent from budget negotiations on Saturday, even on the sidelines, were the Staff Union, whose incumbent is battling to stay in control or block the recognition of Ticket 1, and those ostensibly covering the UN.

At least two Permanent Representatives were present: Benin, and Fiji as chair of the Group of 77, which Bolivia takes over on January 1. Finland's Deputy Permanent Representative Janne Taalas, the chair of the Budget Committee, joked to Inner City Press that it should get done since "this is the longest night of the year." Watch this site.

   

From UN, US Mission Ambassador for Budget Torsella to Leave at Year's End, of Audits & Sri Lanka, Clean Slates and Free Press

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 16 -- Last week before Bolivia was elected to head the Group of 77 in 2014, Inner City Press reported it and the prediction that this would sharpen issues between the Group, representing developing countries, and richer countries especially the United States.

  When Inner City Press asked the US Mission to the UN's budget and reform ambassador Joseph Torsella about it he smiled and said, you're the G77 guy.

  Now on November 15 the US Mission's Ambassador Samantha Power announced that Torsella will be leaving by the end of 2013.

  Inner City Press immediately tweeted it, along with the suggestion of 21 audit salute, since Torsella focused on the issue of releasing UN audits, pushing forward from where things were under his predecessor at the US Mission, Mark Wallace.

(Wallace went, notably, to United Against a Nuclear Iran which appears dis-united on the issue of new sanctions, with president saying no but spokesperson saying members say yes.)

  Torsella pushed for Fifth (Budget) Committee proceedings to be on UN Television. The Group of 77 responded that other committees like the Second on development and Fourth which included decolonization and work on the rights of Palestinians should also be filmed. 

  Both have happened -- improvements in technology are also involved -- and it's all to the good.

  Last week the G77 meeting at which Bolivia became as Inner City Press first reported the successor to Fiji was not initially televised; when Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access complained, the UN official in charge said it was belatedly on, check before asking.

   But it was UN staff which also complained, and this automatic defending of the UN is one of the things wrong, in the bigger picture for example on the UN bringing cholera to Haiti. Where does Torsella stand on that, before he leaves?

  Torsella, charged with saving money, raised a number of issues, for example the specter of interns flying business class. Some derided this; Inner City Press would point out for example Ban Ki-moon's proposal to create yet another Under Secretary General position for his long time (and American) associate Robert Orr. What example does this set? What is Torsella's position?

Torsella to his credit wasn't just about the money. The issue of lack of accountability in Sri Lanka got delegated to him, in part because military figure Shavendra Silva was cynically put on Ban's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations.

  (Click here for longer form reporting on Sri Lanka and this weekend's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.)

  In classic UN form, Ban stayed away telling Inner City Press it was a decision of the member states. Without saying more, Inner City Press can report Torsella worked on this. One reason more can't be said is that the US Mission so often puts things off the record, sometimes after the fact. 

  Even the farewell for Ambassador Susan Rice was said to be off the record. Inner City Press complied, but scribes more obsequious to the US uploaded selfies of themselves with Rice, and left them up, while attacking investigative journalism and free press at the UN. 

 This too is an issue in the purview of Torsella and whoever his successor will be. The US should do more on this -- with spying undermining privacy, claims of freedom of the press are one of the definitely US values. Let that be pushed at thelawless UN, not only in 2014 but by Torsella before he leaves. 

  Torsella said the US is opposed to "clean slates," without competition, in UN system elections. But in the recent elections for the Human Rights Council, there was no competition to France and the UK in the Western Europe and Other Group, of which the US is a member. There's more work to be done at and on the UN -- much more. 

  Here's one, in the spirit of reform and transparency: cost cutting proposals in the UN system, largely supported by the US Mission, would involve Americans losing their jobs to off-shoring. Is this the US being selfless? Or just hoping no one puts the contradiction together? 

  American Tony Lake at UNICEF is doing it - but he can say he is an international civil servant. The US State Department and Mission - isn't their job to advance American (and Americans') interests at and in the UN? Watch this site.

   

As UNDP Justifies $5 Charge to Kids to Hear Clark, Re-Directs to Airline Ads

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 5 -- Now the UN Development Program has provided a justification to the Free UN Coalition for Access of the  $10 charge to hear Administrator Helen Clark speak, from Clark's personal spokesperson Christina LoNigro:

"The Tauranga Branch of the United Nations Association is a small local organisation and the fees charged for the event will be used to cover the cost of the venue.  Any additional proceeds will be given to the YWCA Future Leaders Programme."

  It's appreciated, but charging money to hear a UN system official speak -- in this case, charging $5 to children -- is not only unsavory, but may run afoul of General Assembly Resolution 92(I), which provides that

"Members of the United Nations should take such legislative or other appropriate measures as are necessary to prevent the use, without authorization by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and in particular for commercial purposes by means of trademarks or commercial labels, of the emblem, the official seal and the name of the United Nations, and of abbreviations of that name through the use of its initial letters"

  When previously raised by Inner City Press regarding a similar $10 charge to hear Robert Orr at the Korea Society, the oral response was to waive the fee. Presumably children weren't being charged in that case.

  Also, there may be a UNA pattern here: Inner City Press previously questions the charging of money for another UNA event, here.

  Meanwhile, now more than 24 hours after it was exposed,UNDP's Liberia website's "Delivering as One" section is stillre-directing traffic to airline advertisements.

  While the UN's main Twitter account @UN quickly responded to the Free UN Coalition for Access when @FUNCA_info raised this problem -- the UN deleted its own link, which it said worked when it had been "scheduled" -- UNDP has still not respond on that, or fixed the link.

  Beyond these, FUNCA asked LoNigro and UNDP lead spokesperson Satinder Bindra and Abdel-Rahman Ghandour this:

"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."

  On this, no response yet. The decline in New York media Q&A by UNDP's Administrator began under a UN official now in charge of both accreditation and UN Television, about which questions asked Monday by FUNCA and others, about the low quality of audio for the MERCOSUR foreign minister's stakeout about US spying were not responded to. Meanwhile even UNWebcast gushed to the new US Ambassador. This is the UN.

Footnote: The quick response, and "thanks," of @UN to theFree UN Coalition for Access stands in contrast to that of the sub-unit Department of Public Information, which has threatened to suspend or withdraw the accreditation of Inner City Press for merely hanging a sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access on the door of its shared office, click here to view.

   FUNCA asked questions that have not been answered, about this and that, and noted that the UN or DPI can't outlaw an organization like the Free UN Coalition for Accesswhich would, has and will if necessary do its work without DPI. Watch this site.

   

UN's Ban Ki-moon Speaks on Budget Cuts and Fairness, Calls on Staff to be Less Selfish, Conflict Brews

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 22 -- Ever since the UN Budget Committee's session ended on Christmas eve withcalls for $100 million in budget cuts and the deferral of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's mobility proposal until at least March 2013, Inner City Press has asked for Ban's reaction.

  First the answer was to wait for Ban's "Town Hall" meeting with staff. That meeting was closed-door, but Inner City Press learned that staff in Geneva criticized the proposal and in Africa asked for it to be withdrawn.

  The head of the UN Staff Union in New York compared the way she was lobbied to an "intellectual gang rape" - strange, given the UN's continuing inaction on actual gang rape of 126 women in Minova by the Congolese Army, the UN's partners.

  Then Inner City Press was told Ban would address it in his January 22 meeting with member states, and that Ban's opening speech would be open. Inner City Press went, but was blocked from getting in. Nor was it visible on UNTV, which doesn't work on Android phones.

  When Ban did his "monthly" press conference after the member states meeting, the first two questions were both about Syria.

  Three of the first four were given to Executive Committee members of the UN Correspondents Association, which should have pushed for access to Ban's speech but didn't. UNCA engaged in censorship and stealth complaints throughout 2012, so it is not surprising.

  After a question about Ban's participation in a concert this month culminating in a song some link to genocide, Inner City Press was called on. Transcript here.

  On behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA, Ban was told about the exclusion of the press from his speech. Then Inner City Press asked him about mobility and how he is proposing to cut $100 million -- only 30% from "non-post" cuts, meaning 70% comes from staff salary.

  Inner City Press has obtained Ban's Controller Maria Eugenia Casar's memos, the first of which is addressed to Herve Ladsous and "Jerry," not Jeffrey, Feltman. The second, including to Alicia Barcena, is here.

  Ban said he would look into the denial of access, ascribing it to member states. (Actually, it was access to Ban's part of the program that was offered then denied.)

  On budget cuts, Ban said even without guidance from the member states he made cuts "to flesh and bones." Then in December, he said, member states demanded $100 million more in cuts.

  This $100 million cut was explained to Inner City Press by a Fifth Committee member as involving the so-called "re-costing" of the budget. Of the $220 million, $100 million was left for the Secretariat to do.

  But why demand that 70% be from staff salaries?

Ban shifted and spoke with some passion about mobility, saying it is not fair that some UN staff are in the field, in danger, for years. 

 Ban called the UN Staff Union in New York "selfish" -- sure to be a big hit when the Union has its emergency meeting -- and said there are some member states, too, opposing the plan. 

   Ban argued at length for it, ranging from corporate-speak about "silos" to a rhyme of agile and mobile. 

  It should be noted that senior officials like Nicholas "Fink" Haysom and prospectively Michael Myer have gone to the field, to Afghanistan and Darfur respectively. 

  But others have stayed in New York -- what was that "S" word Ban used? -- including Mister Mobility Kim Won-soo, Bob Orr and Angela Kane. We'll have more on this.

  In other answers, Ban clarified that Lakhdar Brahimi said only that the "Syrian people" think 40 years is too long for the Assads.

  On Africa he said the UN should not just be a fire brigade, but should engage in preventive diplomacy. On the other hand some think sending Prodi to Mali and the Sahel was more about European patronage than problem solving.

   On Mali, Ban said he "applauds" France, only "appreciates" ECOWAS, the African Union and Troop Contributing Countries.

  Some think that should be reversed, and wonder how it will be known when Ban finally does what he's assigned under Security Council Resolution 2085: confirming in advance the satisfaction of the Council with the planned military action. Watch this site.

Korea Society Charges $10 to Hear UN Officials on "Korean Leadership"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- Yesterday the Korea Society on 57th Street held a session called "The United Nations and Korean Leadership with Robert Orr," a long time UN official.

The admission charge to hear Mr. Orr was listed as $10.

On January 18, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if there are any UN rules about charging money to hear UN officials speak.

At 4 pm on Friday, Ban's spokesperson's office provided this:

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Subject: Re: Your question on attending external events
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com

In answer to your question at today's briefing: The Ethics Office advises that UN officials may speak at external events where participants pay a reasonable attendance fee, such as you might find at a conference or convention, that covers such costs as auditorium rental and refreshments.

  But presumably the Korea Socity doesn't have to rent its own auditorium. And no refreshments were listed in the online invitation -- which by January 18 no longer included the $10 charge.

  But there is still listed a $10 charge for a January 24 session at the Korea Society also called "The United Nations and Korean Leadership," but this time with Korean Deputy Permanent Representative Shin Dong-ik and two different UN officials:

Michele Griffin, Policy Planning Unit Director, United Nations; and

Frank Schroeder, Senior Advisor, Climate Change Support Team, Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations

  So is that $5 apiece? The Korea Society is free to charge admission to hear its Deputy Permanent Representative. But should they really be charging to hear UN officials of Ban Ki-moon speak about "The UN and Korean Leadership"? Watch this site.

Amid UN Budget Crunch, Unanswered Questions of Buyouts, Coverups & Recruitments

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 23 -- With the UN budget fight going into its last two days, the head of the UN's Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) Catherine Pollard has been sighted multiple times by Inner City Press outside of the closed door negotiations in North Lawn Conference Room 5.

  But a number of human resources question that Inner City Press posed nine days ago to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's top three spokesman remain unanswered. And so here are the questions themselves:

Dec14-4 Please confirm or deny that the director of OIOS stopped an investigation of UMOJA, including of the role of the former Under Secretary General for Management, and on what basis.

Dec14-3 What is the contractual status of Joan McDonald, retiree now acting as procurement official for UMOJA? How was she recruited, and how does this comport with the Secretary General's stated reforms on recruitment?

Dec14-2 Please respond to allegation that some people who are retiring are nevertheless given buyout packages of up to 18 months, and coached on how to write the "properly worded" memo, including [three names redacted in this format, but] see e-mail below.

  On this last, reflecting the state of this UN, Inner City Press has been shown e-mail directed to UN official Robert Orr stating

"With regard to our discussions on the buy-out package, I think that Adnan would be the best person to approach... buy-out packages get approved easily when the originating department i.e. EOSG and its Executive Office write to OHRM / Management endorsing the arrangement... Bob, I'd keep on praying or otherwise I might have to write some tawdry book about the UN. And believe me I've got plenty, plenty materials."

   Was this a joke or a threat? 

   According to the e-mails shown to Inner City Press, Orr wrote back, "I've tried Adnan, but will try him again when I get back. Again, I'm sorry for the delay, but just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten. I did make inquiries and got nothing of value back."

   But then value, and more, was given out. It's a question of favoritism, as with the UMOJA procurement officer who was involved in a previous UN procurement scandal. This is how the UN works, including not answering questions.

   Inner City Press reported on Friday morning that on a $8.7 million budget proposal to "implement Rio+20," on Thursday the European Union and Japan proposed to cut that budget to zero. This gave rise to howls among the Group of 77 and China, and accusations that the EU and Japan are hypocrites on sustainable development and the environment.

 Inner City Press went to Friday's noon briefing and asked, "given how important sustainable development is to the Secretary-General and his statements, it’s been proposed by Japan and the European Union to cut funding for the implementation of Rio+20 to zero. This was a proposal made by the two, by Japan and the EU, yesterday and it seems to me… what is… does the Secretariat think about no implementation of Rio+20?"

Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: Well, Matthew, I am not going to get into a budget discussion until we find out what the General Assembly decides.

Inner City Press: But can you say that there will be a Secretariat statement on the budget when it comes up?

Deputy Spokesperson: If the Secretariat believes that the… that a statement is warranted, one may be issued, but I can’t promise you anything on that.

  Now we can report that they also proposed that, not to be "absorbed" like Rio+20, the budget should including $40,000 for a consultant on the arms trade treaty. More screams of hypocrisy. And so it goes at the UN.

 As of Saturday night, re-costing and the performance review report remained in contention. The three unanswered questions above were submitted on December 14 less than two hours after Ban's lead spokesman refused to answer Inner City Press' question, on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, about the United Nations Correspondents Association violating its Constitution.

   Nesirky, despite the UN's partnership, refused to answer on this, saying, "I don’t think that you could ever accuse me or my Office of not providing you with access and providing you with answers...  I will simply not be involved in your difficulties, meaning between the United Nations Correspondents Association and yourself or others."

   We now have more on this, how the UNCA regime tries to handpick its successors while the UN is allowed to not answer questions, even to try to seize the microphone to avoid the questions being asked, video here. Watch this site.

On UN Turf, Eliasson Takes Political Roles from Feltman, Team Ban Wary?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 6 -- When the top job in the UN Department of Political Affairs passed from B. Lynn Pascoe to fellow American Jeffrey Feltman, as first reported by Inner City Press, it was thought that the DPA post under Feltman would have at least as much power as it did under Pascoe.

  Feltman, after all, was the US State Department's top man on the Middle East, and Feltman was selected rather than inherited by the Obama administration.

  But another simultaneous change at the UN is cutting into the mandate of DPA and its chief, well placed UN sources tell Inner City Press.

  New Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, unlike his predecessor Asha Rose Migiro, has been given supervisory powers over peace, security and political affairs for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. 

  Andrew Gilmore, taking the position formerly held by Nicholas "Fink" Haysom before Ban's Five Year mobility rule chased him to Kabul, reports to Eliasson, as will his deputy Mr. Khan of Pakistan.

  So the DPA post is less powerful, just as Feltman takes it over. Meanwhile, the well placed sources say, there is the brewing potential of Ban and "the South Koreans" (as the sources put it) becoming concerned of the powers amassed by Eliasson.

  Monday before writing this story, Inner City Press arrived 15 to 20 minutes early for the media opportunity of Ban's meeting with senior staff and swearing in of the new Acting chief of the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, about whose recruitment an Inner City Press question from Friday has yet to be answered.

  But despite greeting several Under Secretaries General on their way up, and checking in with UN Security and the liaisons for such media opportunities, attending turned out to be impossible. It is explained that the escort went up 20 minutes before and that was that.

  Later, Eliasson and no fewer than three bodyguards passed through the UN's Vienna Cafe on their way into Conference Room C, which had no sign outside at all. He emerged at 11:35 am, chatting with long time American Assistant Secretary General Bob Orr and US Deputy Permanent Representative Rosemary DiCarlo. And so it goes at the UN.

Top UN DPI Spot Said Slated for Greek Lambrinidis, Orr's USG Quest to ACABQ?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 -- For one of the few UN Under Secretary General seats remaining open, as head of the Department of Public Information, the leading named final candidate is former Greek foreign minister Stavros Lambrinidis, sources tell Inner City Press. 

 

  Previously Inner City Press learned and reported on May 3 that when a developing world Permanent Representative inquired about the post with the office of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he was told that "DPI will now be a European post," and that the finalists were Italian, Austrian and Greek.

  Despite or because of Greece's financial problems, Lambrinidis has emerged as the named frontrunner. 

 

  If as is possible a Brazilian from the World Bank system gets the Department of Social and Economic Development, and China takes the top of the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management and an Assistant Secretary General spot at DESA, sub Saharan Africa will have been further under-served by Ban Ki-moon, especially when Ban's Deputy is replaced by the Swede Jan Eliasson at the end of June when school lets out.

There had been some discussion of American Bob Orr shifting to DPI -- he is known to what to use Ban's mobility or rotation exercise to move up from ASG to USG -- but now it seems the plan is to try to upgrade his public private partnership post, which was at the D-2 level under Amir Dossal, to USG.

Inner City Press is told that even if "extra budgetary resources" are used, this upgrade will still have to go through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), and that there could be resistance. Watch this site.