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UN Performance Problems UN Management Accountability Struggles Where is the Rule of Law? Inadequate UN Oversight Recent Developments
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Overview
of IO Watch Archive Quotes III 2005-June 2006 148. "[The
Volcker preliminary report]
has sharply criticized the United Nations
for insufficiently auditing operations [of the oil-for-food program,
especially]
at its New York headquarters.
Oil
contracts were not examined [closely]
despite the fact that UN officials
had contract-approval responsibilities.' Even where
audits of the programme were done, there was often no follow-up.
The UN has
explained many of the programme's problems in terms of political games
between powerful countries, but the audits reveal that the UN secretariat
itself failed to exert necessary oversight. The report
said more comprehensive monitoring could have deterred the surcharge
scheme on Iraqi oil contracts,
as well as undercutting the Iraqi
government's kickback scheme for goods purchases.
" Mark Turner, "UN criticized by Iraq
oil-for-food inquiry", Financial Times (UK), January 11,
2005.
149. "The
resignation of Ruud Lubbers
over allegations of sexually inappropriate
behaviour brought sighs of relief yesterday from UN officials in New
York. After allegations surfaced last
year, Mr. Lubbers mounted a vigorous defence. Mr. Annan chose to issue a stern
warning but take no further action.
Since then, the UN has struggled to convince an increasingly
skeptical audience that it is serious about addressing mismanagement.
{It is clear that]
something of
a revolution is also needed. For a start, [UN senior officials]
believe that the UN can no longer hand out 'jobs for the boys' behind closed doors.
According to [an adviser to Mr.
Annan], the UN faces 'a real crisis
an architectural crisis.' The next seven months will
determine whether the edifice can be refurbished or comes crashing
down." Mark Turner, "UN reformists see opportunity for change as Lubbers leaves", Financial Times (UK), February 22, 2005.
150.
"
There is a culture of secrecy that characterizes not only the World Bank,
but most of the vital international organizations -- including the United
Nations. Unless these public
entities establish independent oversight, external auditing of managerial
and financial controls and safe channels for reporting wrongdoing,
scandalous harm will continue to weaken them and only compound the grief
suffered by the billions of needy people they are mandated to
serve." Melanie Beth Oliviero, "More transparency",
International Herald Tribune, February 26-27, 2005. [Note: Ms. Oliviero is
International Program Director of the Government Accountability Project,
at www.whistleblower.org.]
151. "
The issues raised in the
[Secretary-General's October 2004 report on internal justice] had been
raised by the [ACABQ] as far back as 1985.
The problems alluded to had
persisted over many years
The Committee takes this matter very seriously
as it has a significant impact on staff morale and productivity as well as
[organizational efficiency] and could also have a significant financial
impact.
The Committee regrets that the
[report was late and
unresponsive]
The Committee has consistently
maintained over the years that the problems besetting the administration
of justice
involve much more than a perceived lack of resources; indeed,
at the core of the matter lie
difficulties with administrative processes and procedures and the culture
of staff-management relations. The Committee is once again
prepared to look into this matter comprehensively.
[It trusts that}
information
will also be made available on how
[the General Assembly's 2003 request
to link] the administration of justice and personal responsibility and
accountability [is] being met." "Administration of justice in the Secretariat: Interim report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions", UN document A/59/715 of 28 February 2005, paras. 3-4, 8, 10. [emphasis added]
152.
"The United Nations
has its own ways of dealing
with whistle-blowers. Mostly,
it fires them.
And although a supervisor's retaliation
for whistle-blowing is officially prohibited under U.N. rules, enforcement
comes only in the form of penalties against the offending supervisor
[Note: if at all] -- not job reinstatement for the whistle-blower.
Recent whistle-blowers interviewed
by the National Journal
suffered [the loss of their jobs.]
Would-be U.N. whistle-blowers are
on perilous ground, as they have no legal right to defend themselves. 'All they can do is complain and
say the bully should be punished' said Tom Devine, legal director of the
Government Accountability Project
The United Nations,
Devine says, provides staff with fewer rights to defend themselves than
'any other government agency I've encountered, either on the national or
the international level." Corine Hegland, "Whistle-blowing at the United Nations", National Journal (US), March 12, 2005.
153. "I recall
the day in 1960 when the UN took charge of the Congo
[crisis because
'world opinion' deemed it]
the only body with 'clean hands.' Ideally the UN, foreshadowing a
future world government, ought to be run by a global meritocracy -- rule
by the best. In practice, it
is the opposite. Any state that can be legally defined as one can join the
UN -- it is a club having no rules of probity or morals.
The result is failure and
graft. UN officials are not
answerable to bodies like Congress or the U.K.'s Parliament, which would
be sure to track down, expose and punish gross abuses and manifest
failures. No senior UN
official has ever gone to jail.
It's rare for anyone to be sacked or removed. The top brass resist any kind of
investigation, on principle.
The oil-for-food inquiry is unique in that it has taken place at
all and seems to be garnering results. But will any punishment be meted
out? Will any serious reforms
be pushed through? Of course
not." Paul Johnson, "The UN is for talk, not actions," Forbes (US), March 14, 2005. [Note: Mr. Johnson is an eminent British historian and author.]
154. "The United
Nations Human Rights Commission, the UN's principal forum for promoting
human rights, opens its annual six-week session today amid unprecedented
criticism of its competence and credibility. For years human rights groups have
complained of growing politicisation and double standards that have
stifled debate and allowed countries responsible for egregious abuses to
escape condemnation.
The authoritative high-level
panel on UN reform
last December said the reputation of the UN itself
was threatened by the commission's 'legitimacy deficit' and 'eroding
credibility and professionalism.' [One expert]
reckons that about
half the 53 members are there 'not to promote human rights but to
undermine them.'
If there is general agreement that
the commission is broken, there is less accord on how to fix it.
[The expert]
and others argue
that countries with the worst human rights records should not be allowed
to serve on the commission." Frances Williams, "Double standards on human rights 'undermining UN'", Financial Times (UK), March 14, 2005.
155. "The United
Nations controversial peacekeeping operation in eastern Congo has received
a further blow
[An
internal report,]
obtained by the Financial Times, charged that UN
troops had not been tough enough in defending against renegade Congolese
Army commanders
[which] threatened the shaky peace process
Among its
criticisms, the report cited poor leadership, misleading statements by the
mission and the failure of a commander to follow orders
The failure
of the mission to use force during the crisis 'smeared the mission with
the taint of impotence and cowardice', said the internally-commissioned
report, and gave the perception 'that it had again failed the Congolese
people at a critical moment.' Monuc is
the UN's most expensive peacekeeping operation, yet it has been widely
criticized for incompetence, for failing to protect civilians, and
becoming mired in sex scandals." Andrew England, "UN report accuses
peacekeepers of failing the Congolese people", Financial Times
(UK), March 23,
2005.
156. "A U.N.
report on peacekeeper sex abuse released Thursday describes the U.N.
military arm as deeply flawed and recommends withholding salaries of the
guilty and requiring nations to pursue legal action against
perpetrators. [The report] said abuses had been
reported in missions ranging from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East
Timor, West Africa and Congo.
While allegations of abuse have dogged peacekeeping missions since
their inception 50 years ago, the issue was thrust into the spotlight
after the United Nations found [renewed problems in the Congo] earlier
this year.
[The Jordanian ambassador and
author of the report]
set 2007 as a target date to complete many of his
recommendations
"Parliaments, and especially those
legislatures of the largest contributors to the U.N. peacekeeping budget,
may feel ill at ease over continuing to extend support to peacekeeping in
the absence of any significant change,' [he]
said." "U.N. report: Peacekeeping ops troubled," Associated Press, March 24, 2005.
157.
"
When I worked in Liberia in the mid-Nineties a new [UN] chief
administrative officer [replaced the previous CAO, who was taking
kickbacks on UN procurement contracts.]
The new CAO [moved aggressively
for]
a 15 percent kickback on everything we
purchased. [He also
tried to force many]
young 'local staff' to sleep with him
I was the
human rights lawyer and these girls would come to my office in tears
[I
wrote many memos. but]
. when I visited the UN [personnel] office in New
York, they laughed at my naοve outrage: 'It happens all the time in the
field', they said. 'There is
nothing we can do.'
That CAO
had been knocking around West Africa for years, always mired in
corruption, never disciplined, always promoted and reassigned
- during
which time the head of personnel was Kofi Annan. [The CAO]
was eventually
indicted by US federal prosecutors in New York for $1.5 million of
fraudulent kickbacks
He has since died.] What kind
of leadership would tolerate this conduct 10 years ago?
Precisely the same leadership
that [has now]
permitted the oil-for-food scandal and the sex-for-food
scandal."
Kenneth Cain,
"How many more must die before Kofi quits?", The Observer (UK),
April 2, 2005.
158. "Dileep
Nair [the head of the OIOS]
will be leaving the United Nations, on April
23, ostensibly disgraced. [An interim
Volcker report accused him]
of misusing Oil-for-Food funds and violating
UN staff regulations.
UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose own conduct was found to be
'inadequate', issued a charge letter against Nair
Annan said he's
'relieved' he's been 'exonerated' by the ongoing Volcker investigation.
[Further, according to
the
interim Volcker report, UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frιchette]
intervened directly
to stop United Nations auditors from forwarding
their investigations to the UN Security Council.
Frechette does not dispute she
may have intervened because audits are 'a management tool to be used only
by internal managers.'"
Marinka Peschmann, "The hell no I-won't-go
Secretary-General, the accused UN auditor and Louise", Canada Free
Press, 4 April,
2005.
159.
"Anyone who was shocked
by the most recent revelations of sexual misconduct by [UN staff has never
been]
in a U.N.-sponsored refugee camp.
The [UN] and its staff lack
accountability.
I arrived
in Sierra Leone as a legal aid worker in
2003,
one year after
Kofi
Annan issue[d] a
'zero-tolerance' policy
[But] I found abuse of a
sexual nature almost every day
In fact,
injustices of one kind or another were perpetrated by U.N. missions or
their affiliated
[NGOs] every day in the camps I visited. Corruption was the norm, in
particular the embezzlement of food and funds by NGO officials, which
often left camp resources dangerously inadequate.
In West
Africa, most of the sexual misconduct accusations are leveled against
local NGO staff members.
If the UN
is to enjoy
immunity, it
[must] police itself aggressively and
thoroughly. Yet
the message is: Cover your tracks and the United Nations
will obstruct your prosecution. After [a]
2002 report documented sexual abuse, Annan's steely resolve led to exactly
zero criminal prosecutions of U.N. officials for sexual abuse. The United Nations
needs a
housecleaning." Peter Dennis, "The UN: Preying on the weak",
washingtonpost.com,
April 12, 2005.
160. "The General Assembly
"Stressing that the system of
justice in the United Nations as a whole should be independent,
transparent, effective, efficient and fair, Stressing the importance of
increased transparency in decision-making and increased accountability of
managers for the system, Regretting that the present system of
administration of justice in the Secretariat continues to be slow,
cumbersome, and costly, 14. Notes that staff rule 112.3, which
relates to the financial liability of managers, has yet to be
implemented
" "47. Decides that the Secretary-General
shall form a panel of external and independent experts to
consider redesigning the system of administration of
justice; [49.(a)
[and]
propose a new model for resolving staff grievances
that is
independent, transparent, effective, efficient and adequately resourced
and that ensures managerial accountability;
[49c.]
while acknowledging the
uniqueness of the United Nations system, in particular the immunity of
United Nations staff from national laws and thus the lack of recourse to
national courts;
" "Administration of justice at the United Nations", General Assembly resolution 59/283 of 13 April 2005, preambular and Part I, paras. 11-12, 14, and Part IV. [emphasis added] 161. "The Advisory Committee is concerned
about the unevenness in the quality of presentation in the
[Secretary-General's reports on financing peacekeeping.] While [it] recognizes the
difficulties inherent in assembling [field] information
the ultimate
responsibility rests with Headquarters for maintaining standards with
regard to presentation, timeliness of submission, accuracy of figures and
consistency in the definition and application of
policies. The Advisory Committee notes with
concern a tendency
[by the Administration acting through peacekeeping
budgets] to introduce initiatives with policy implications, rather than
first seeking necessary guidance from the General Assembly.
Notable current examples of this
[are]
discussed at greater length below
The Committee strongly cautions
against what appears to be a less than transparent means for changing
policy
" "Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions", UN document A/59/736 of 22 April 2005, paras. 31-32 and ff. [emphasis added]
162.
"'Unprecedented challenges' faced by the UN have shown that the world body must immediately reform'
[according to]
background information distributed prior to a press briefing by [the UN
Deputy Secretary-General.]
'The UN must take
real action now
particularly in the critical
areas of management, oversight and accountability'
'Perhaps the most obvious shortcomings identified by
the Volcker Inquiry and other crises are in the area of oversight and
accountability. The current 'control' systems for monitoring management
performance and preventing fraud and corruption are insufficient and must
be significantly enhanced,' she said." "Frιchette unveils UN reforms responding to Volcker panel's criticisms", UN News Service,17 May 2005. [emphasis added] 163. "The Famine
Early Warning Systems Network
monitors the threat of mass hunger in some
of the poorest parts of the world. FEWS Net has published an inquiry into
the world's failure to respond to food shortages in Niger and the rest of
the Sahel.
The report is entitled simply: 'What went wrong?" That is the
right question to ask. But what is surprising, and
disconcerting, is that the report was written in 1997, not 2005. This
illustrates two things: Niger's present nightmare is a recurring one; and
whatever went wrong in 1997 was not put right by 2005." "Famine relief:
Starving for the cameras", The Economist, August 20th, 2005, pp. 10-11. 164.
"Vladimir Kuznetsov, a Russian diplomat in charge
of a powerful UN budgetary oversight committee [the Advisory
Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)] was arrested by US authorities Thursday morning on
money laundering charges. The arrest deals
yet another blow to the UN ahead of this month's summit of world
leaders.
It is already braced for sharp criticism in next week's [Volcker]
report
into corruption in the oil for food programme. The [ACABQ]
recommends to the General Assembly how the UN should spend its money. Mr. Kuznetsov is
accused of conspiring with an unnamed procurement officer to
facilitate the secret payment of bribes from foreign companies seeking UN
contracts."
Mark Turner, "UN diplomat on laundering charge", Financial Times (UK), September 4, 2005. [emphasis added] [Note: See, in Google search, "Vladimir Kuznetsov ACABQ" .]
165. "The main conclusions are unambiguous. The [United Nations] requires stronger executive
leadership, thoroughgoing administrative reform, and more reliable
controls and auditing.
There was corruption within the United Nations at a
critical management point. There was exposure of important
administrative and control weaknesses
The consequences? An avoidable
loss of assistance to Iraq's population and a grievous loss of credibility
to the United Nations.
The Committee
believes: first, 'professional disciplines' at the United
Nations are weak and eroded
; second, there appears to be a pervasive culture
of responsibility avoidance and resistance to accountability; third, there
was
an absence of suitable administrative infrastructure; and fourth, there
was an absence of adequate and independent control and auditing
capacity." Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme (the "Volcker panel"), "The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme", September 7, 2005, Volume I, pages 1, 9, 13. [emphasis added] [Note: This and the two following reports are available in full at http://www.iic-offp.org/ .] 166. "Based on the
evidence set forth in Chapters 1 through 5 of Volume III
the Committee finds as follows: As the Chief
Administrative Officer of the United Nations, the Secretary-General
carried oversight and management responsibilities for the entire
Secretariat.
That particularly included auditing and controls functions that had
demonstrable problems
The record amply demonstrates a number of instances
where there was a lack of support for and oversight of the Programme by
the Secretary-General. Some of the problems identified by the
Committee are: (1) [an unclear and inappropriately monitored]
delegation
to Deputy Secretary-General [Louise] Frιchette; (2) an inadequate response to and
investigation of reports of Iraqi abuses and corruption of the Programme,
above all by failing to ensure that reports of Programme violations were
brought to the attention of
the Security Council; (3) a lack of
adequately ensuring that the sanctions objective of the Programme received
appropriate attention; and (4) a failure to provide adequate oversight of
the Executive Director of the Programme, Mr. [Benon] Sevan. In sum, in light of these circumstances, the
cumulative management performance of the Secretary-General fell short of
the standards that the [UN] should strive to
maintain." Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme (the "Volcker inquiry"), "The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme", September 7, 2005, Volume III, p. 185. [emphasis added]
167.
"[Assessment of programme oversight] OIOS did not have
an adequate budget to properly investigate the [Oil-for-Food Programme].
The Committee notes
that on at least three occasions OIOS [Investigations
Division] referred complaints back to
the relevant
departments to conduct their own internal inquiries.
According
to OIOS ID, complaints were regularly referred back to the entity
submitting the complaint due to the limited financial resources.
The Committee finds
several deviations from 'best practices.' [They]
included:
(a) lack of direct reporting to an independent oversight board; (b)
failure to perform risk assessments to professional
standards; and (c)
lack of budgetary independence.
OIOS ID is generally not supported and accepted
across the United Nations by both management and staff. This,
together with a lack of a whistleblower protection policy, prevents OIOS
ID from successfully carrying out its mandate." Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme (the "Volcker inquiry"), "The Management of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme", September 7, 2005, Volume IV, pp.71, 73, 77. [emphasis added] 168.
"Tomorrow's summit of world leaders teetered on the brink of fiasco
as substantive reforms promoting human rights and overhauling the UN's
top management risked being killed off by a group of developing countries
fearful of western intervention.
Diplomats said
Russia, China and some
developing countries had emasculated calls for a
smaller, more effective human rights council
Meanwhile, India
was objecting to the establishment of a new international legal principle,
the 'responsibility to protect'
and tougher language on tackling
terrorism was bogged down as some countries insisted [on a balancing
statement] asserting the right of oppressed peoples to self-determination,
a formulation that some saw as a get-out clause.
Hopes the summit
would agree to expand the Security Council died this summer when would-be
new members failed to agree a common position on such reform." Mark Turner, "UN summit faces fiasco amid threat to reforms", Financial Times (UK), September 13, 2005.
169. "This week, on
the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, world leaders met to endorse a
new statement of common aims. The main aim? To help
humanity speak with one voice. Fixing the UN
itself has been a top agenda item for years. But finding a consensus among
191 members has become vexing as more demands are made on an out-of-date
system for global group action. A move away from a
single global body to shifting networks of permanent and temporary
alliances may better reflect the historic globalizing forces in the 21st
century.
The United Nations remains ossified in the world of 1945 and the
Cold War.
It still has its uses, and another round of reform is needed. But barring
that, the alternatives to the UN are looking better and better." "Fixing the United Nations", Boston Globe, in the International Herald Tribune, September 17-18, 2005.
170. "The Fifth
Committee (Administrative and Budgetary)
[continued to discuss] the
report of the International Civil Service Commission
and the proposed
framework on new contractual arrangements within the United Nations.
Jamaica's
representative, speaking on behalf of the 'Group of 77' developing
countries and China
stated that the Group was prepared to consider the
proposed system of continuing, fixed-term and temporary contracts
but
also emphasized the importance of job security for staff members, saying
that it was vital to ensure impartiality, independence and integrity of
the staff." "UN pay and benefits review, new contract framework among issues, as budget committee debates ", UN document GA/AB/3693 of 21 October 2005.
171. "As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and
Budgetary) today continued its general debate on the budget
proposal for 2006-2007 following its introduction by Secretary-General
Kofi Annan yesterday, several speakers expressed concern over increasing extrabudgetary
funding of United Nations activity
While the budget
proposal
amounts to $3.6 billion, it
is expected that some $5.6 billion in
extrabudgetary resources will be utilized for a variety of activities
[also the regular
budget did not include]
the cost of United Nations peacekeeping
operations [nearly $8 billion from 1
July 2004 to June 30 2006, and international tribunals]
Speakers also noted
that most of the 3,019 'ineffective, obsolete and marginally useful'
outputs proposed for termination during the biennium were related to
development activities. China's
representative said that all resource appropriations
must be accompanied by reasonable justification. The Organization should
match resources with actual requirements, rein in resource growth, improve
management and use resources effectively." "Concern expressed over increasing extrabudgetary funding of UN activities ", UN document GA/AB/ 3698 of 26 October 2005, pp. 1-2. [emphasis added]
172. "[A report by Deloitte Consulting LLP, a global
accounting and consulting firm, found that] unless addressed soon, serious
oversight and safeguard deficiencies leave the United Nations procurement
system open to fraud
The report found
'a significant reliance on people [which] leaves the UN extremely
vulnerable to potential fraudulent or corrupt activity, and limits the
Organization's means to either prevent or detect such actions.' The assessment also
found weaknesses in ethics and integrity training, which were not
supported by management, along with a 'lack of urgency in response to
adverse audit findings, and unclear lines of authority and
accountability.' The report
recommends remedies for each of the adverse conditions
" "Report on UN procurement calls for better safeguard and oversight systems", UN News Service, 6 December 2005. [emphasis added] [Note: Available, at Google Search, under "Deloitte Consulting UN procurement" .] 173.
"[Secretary-General Kofi Annan at his year-end press
conference said]
The year about to end has been a
really difficult one -- from the tsunami to events in Lebanon and Darfur
and beyond.
Let us look forward to what we can and must do next year.
I hope [Member
States]
. will agree on a package of management reforms that I shall put
before them in February.
If
there's one thing I would like to hand over to my successor when I leave
office next year, it is that it should be a UN that is fit for the many
varied tasks and challenges that we are asked to take on
today." 'Transcript of press
conference by [the Secretary-General", UN document SG/SM/10280 of 21 December
2005.
174. "[A year after the South Asian tsunami disaster ]
pledges of transparency and accountability for the UN's [$1.1 billion
'flash appeal']
appear a long way from being realised. This is
primarily blamed on dueling UN bureaucracies and accounting methods plus
what in many cases appears to be institutional paranoia about disclosure
[Broad totals
exist, but]
what is harder to determine is how that money has actually
been spent, according to a two-month
investigation by the Financial Times.
The only way to
[get details on some $100 million projects] is to approach each of the 39
agencies listed in the appeal, UN officials say.
[An NGO financing
expert says, for instance] that no international standards exist for
reasonable overhead costs. And what is disclosed by aid agencies
is often 'meaningless.'
After a year spent
pledging transparency, it appears the disaster relief world has a long way
to go before it catches up with the private sector." Shawn Donnan, "Little clarity on how aid gets spent", Financial Times (UK), December 23, 2005. [emphasis added]
175. "Tasked by
world leaders at the largest summit in United Nations history with giving
new momentum to global development goals and strengthening the 60-year-old
body, the General Assembly wrapped up its 2005 substantive session
agreeing on two landmark decisions: to establish a new Peacebuilding
Commission
and to launch a new standby relief fund that will provide
instant cash in the wake of natural disasters.
Those decisions
cap what Secretary-General Kofi Annan has described as a 'difficult year'
for the United Nations
Left pending,
however, were the more nettlesome Summit proposals, with decisions on the
creation of an upgraded Human Rights Council, completion of negotiations
on an anti-terrorism convention and a plan to increase oversight of United
Nations activities, all delayed, so far, until next year. The Assembly
also pledged to continue the search for
[an expanded] Security Council
" " 60th General Assembly takes first steps toward major UN reform ", UN document GA/10444 of 27 December 2005.
176. "On the first
anniversary of the
[South Asian tsunami, the media emphasized that]
we
are powerless in the face of natural disasters.
[However,]
governments and international organizations should start paying serious
attention to
disaster preparedness.
Disaster prevention
programs might seem to be luxuries for impoverished countries. But
according to the Tearfund, a British development group,
every dollar
spent on prevention
[can save] a further $4 to $10 on relief and
reconstruction. Developing
countries are by far the hardest hit
Of more than two million people
killed in natural disasters in the last 20 years, 98 percent were from
poor countries.
[An Earth Institute
expert recently wrote that]
"With natural hazard cycles repeating
themselves every few years, developing countries find themselves in a
vicious cycle of loss and recovery
The international community [should]
manage disaster risk as an integral part of development planning rather
than only as a humanitarian issue. What are we waiting
for?" Anders Wijkman, "We can
minimize natural disasters", International Herald
Tribune, December 31, 2005-January 1, 2006. 177. "The United Nations is conducting some 200
investigations into its procurement activities and has placed eight
officials on special leave
[The UN's top
manager] said a just-completed report of the UN's internal watchdog [the
OIOS] raised 'a number of serious allegations and concerns' about UN
procurement.
He outlined steps
the Organization has taken to improve its procurement practices, including
providing more resources to OIOS so that it can undertake a wider
investigation of the UN's spending on supplies and services.
He repeatedly
thanked 'the courageous men and women of the United Nations who have
continued to come forward to report fraud.'
'We are
ferreting out corruption and fraud where it existed and where it exists,'
he stated.
[Audit excerpts] described systemic failures 'The design
and maintenance of controls
were insufficient'
'Important
controls were lacking while existing ones were often
bypassed.'" "UN announces over 200 procurement investigations and puts 8 staff on leave", UN Secretariat News Service, 23 January 2006. [emphasis added]
178. "In a sense, the alleged irregularities in peacekeeping
procurement [recently reported], involving possible waste and fraud of up
to $300 [million], do more damage to the UN's reputation than the larger
abuse of the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
The UN
Secretariat could rightly put some of the blame on the Security Council
[in oil-for-food]
The secretariat has no such plausible scapegoat in its
mismanagement of peacekeeping procurement." "UNcovering waste: The world's peacekeeping requires better bookkeeping", Financial Times (UK), January 26, 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: Many other articles are emerging on this topic, see under Google Search, "UN procurement scandal".]
179.
"Governments are violating the human rights of their own citizens
as tsunami survivors endure discrimination, inadequate housing and
assaults one year after the tragedy swept through Southeast Asia, [says] a
study released today
The 64-page report,
titled "Tsunami Response: A Human Rights Assessment"
was prepared by
three [NGO's]
The report found
that governments in some areas have created so-called buffer zones to stop
people [who relied on the sea for their livelihood] from rebuilding along
the coast on the pretext of safety, even as commercial groups, such as a
tourist resort in
India, were given access to the land
Among its 10
recommendations, the report calls for the UN system to play a larger role
in monitoring human rights compliance and for the international community,
including global institutions providing financing to the devastated areas,
to integrate human rights into their humanitarian donor policies." "Study showing governments violate human rights of tsunami survivors released at UN", UN News Service, 1 February 2006.
180. "The head of
AWB, the Australian wheat exporter at the centre of the Iraqi bribes
probe, resigned yesterday in the fact of allegations that the company paid
A$ 300 [million] in kickbacks to the former regime of Saddam Hussein. Andrew Lindberg had
quit 'in the best interests of the company'
[His] exit had been
predicted since he appeared before the Cole Commission of Inquiry last
month.
'We expected a
purge of AWB management; this is the first step to rebuilding investor
confidence'
said an analyst. "We don't think he will be the
last.' [A bank adviser
said] 'You can't have a managing director that's been called to fault by a
million people without sacking him, or his resigning.'
The publicly listed
monopoly could face a legal challenge from its shareholders
[including]
a shareholder class action suit
[claiming] that AWB breached its
requirement of continuous disclosure." Leora Moldovsky, "Head of AWB resigns in Iraq kickbacks scandal", Financial Times (UK), February 10, 2006. [Note: Similar resignations, and civil and criminal court cases, are underway against senior officials in several major UN Member States. Meanwhile, the UN has moved quietly but swiftly away from its own oil-for-food accountability issues, only to stumble into the major, emerging UN procurement scandal.] 181.
"Choosing a new secretary general may be the most telling action
the United Nations takes in 2006, but
[the selection procedure is very
awkward]
This year was long
previewed as Asia's turn to fill the post
[but there are many other
candidates.]
Kofi Annan's second
five-year term ends on Dec. 31, and there is particular interest in the
contest to succeed him because scandals in the oil-for-food program and
the UN purchasing office have prompted calls for an executive with proven
management skills in addition to the usual diplomatic talents. But there are no
established qualifications for the post, no search committees, no
interviews, no background checks, no campaign rules and no forums for
showcasing aspirants and their ideas.
'At the UN'
[an
academic expert said], 'the winner turns out to be the least objectionable
person to the most number of countries, and particularly to the permanent
five [members of the U N Security Council.]'" Warren Hoge, "Transition time
at UN" Leadership after Annan", International
Herald Tribune, February 13, 2006.
[Note: It is often forgotten (or glossed over) that Kofi Annan at
least had a Master's of Science degree in Management from the prestigious
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is highly
likely that his successor will have no serious management credentials or
accomplishments at all.]
182. "
According
to the editor of a review of global peacekeeping by .. [the] Centre on
International Cooperation, without more support for the UN, a new mission
in Darfur could take its peacekeeping efforts 'past the point of
overstretch.'
According to the
CIC, the number of troops deployed by the UN worldwide has nearly
quintupled since 1999, from 12,700 to over 60,000 (with civilians and
police, the number is over 85,000.) ... Yet, as the UN struggles, numbers
of peacekeepers deployed by organizations such as NATO, the European Union
and the African Union
[have fallen since 1999] from 108,000 to 50,000.
{Also,]
managing increasingly large and often hybrid operations involving other
partners is increasingly tricky [for the UN.]
As the strain
tells, the flaws get wrenchingly apparent.
Last week the UN Security Council
took a hard look at both waste and fraud in peacekeeping procurement and
also at reports of sexual abuse by peacekeepers
UN officials blame such problems on a 'culture of
dismissiveness' among their own staff, in countries providing
troops and in the missions themselves.
" "United Nations peacekeeping: Quality strained: Too few forces, too little oversight", The Economist, March 4th, 2006, p. 40. [emphasis added] 183. "The United
Nations Security Council will today face a challenge to its monopoly on
choosing a successor to Kofi Annan, the outgoing secretary-general.
Canada has
spearheaded calls for a fairer process, saying recently: 'The lack of
transparency and inclusiveness of the exercise has become increasingly
noticeable, and the UN process compares poorly with the practices of other
international organizations.'
New ideas include a
process of hearings, briefings by candidates,
[and] for the General
Assembly to be given more than one candidate to choose from
In recent weeks the
Security Council has started to brief the General Assembly president on
its deliberations, hoping to stave off calls for more radical reform.
Privately, many
diplomats fear it is already too late to introduce any real change this
time round, and that genuine reform will need to wait until 2011. Many also expect
that
[this year's decision] will be dominated by the US and China,
particularly since the post is expected to go to an Asian." Mark Turner, "Security Council challenged on Annan successor", Financial Times (UK), April 19, 2006. 184. "The United
Nations confirmed yesterday the U.S. Attorney's Office
[for the Southern District of New York] is investigating suspected
wrongdoing in
procurement for U.N. peacekeeping
operations. In a further blow
a [new] report by the [US]
Government Accountability Office
describes the procurement office [that
spent about $1.6 billion last year] as understaffed, poorly trained and
badly lacking the oversight that would uncover corruption, fraud and
waste. Eight senior staff members were suspended with pay
earlier this year
[They] likely have diplomatic immunity, but [the UN's
top manager] said Secretary-General Kofi Annan would lift that protection
if authorities request it.
'U.N. resources are
unnecessarily vulnerable to mismanagement, waste, fraud and abuse' the GAO
report says, 'because the procurement process is improperly managed
[and]
has not
committed to maintaining a professional, trained work
force
' An audit by Deloitte Consulting late last year also
revealed shortcomings in peacekeeping procurement
[some reaching] as far
back as 1992, when Mr. Annan ran the peacekeeping department." Betsy Pisik, "U.S. probe targets U.N. department", The Washington Times, April 27, 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: The GAO testimony and three reports on UN procurement, oversight, control, and independence problems can be found at www.gao.gov/new.items/d06701t.pdf and d06577.pdf , d06330.pdf, and d06575.pdf.] 185. "The United
Nations was bracing itself [yesterday] for a potentially major budget
crisis, after the developing world rejected entreaties by rich countries
and the UN secretariat, and was expected to press ahead with a resolution
many fear could sink efforts to reform the organization. A highly charged meeting of the UN's budget committee
descended on Thursday evening into angry rhetoric after South Africa,
representing the G77 group of developing nations and China, threw back a
last-ditch effort by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to defuse the
situation. At the heart of the
showdown lay a power struggle for control of the UN, between developing
nations, which constitute the majority of its membership, the developed
world, which pays most of the UN's bills, and the UN Secretariat, which
wants more autonomy." Mark Turner, "UN faces budget crisis as nations argue over reform", The Financial Times (UK), April 28, 2006. [emphasis added]
186. "No longer
dominated by a few formal intergovernmental institutions, the multilateral
system (if that is what the shifting constellation of alternative
arrangements can be called) is in a state of perpetual flux.
It is
increasingly challenged by innovative governance arrangements, driven by
competing interests and demands from actors traditionally outside of or
marginalized within the established interstate institutions. While alternative intergovernmental arrangements tend
to complement rather than undermine formal multilateral institutions,
continuing to resort to them could further sideline the UN on the most
important issues of the day.
How to encourage more effective decisionmaking and
operational mechanisms that satisfy input (and output) legitimacy criteria
is the central question of global governance, one that is being put to the
test in the broad range of innovative arrangements that now characterize
the multilateral system.
While formal and informal intergovernmental
arrangements and multistakeholder initiatives will continue to evolve and
adapt to changing international realities, a more deliberate effort will
need to be made to find the right balance between them
" Shepard Forman and Derk Segaar, "New coalitions for global governance: The changing dynamics of multilateralism", Global Governance 12 (2), April-June 2006, pp. 205-225 [221-222.] [Note: The article provides an up-to-date catalog of the many alternative arrangements for global decisionmaking, with particular attention to issues of legitimacy, accountability, and sustainability.]
187. "A UN-appointed
investigator has completed his probe into allegations that the one-time
head of the [UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, Dileep Nair ]
showed favoritism in recruiting and promoting employees, officials
said.
The report had been delivered to UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan last week.
The contents of the report are secret [and]
were
not immediately released.
An initial investigation cleared [Nair], but Annan
ordered a new probe after an outside review
found there was enough
evidence to proceed. Nair denies any wrongdoing. The charges caused particular controversy at the UN
because the [OIOS]
is responsible for upholding
[its] integrity. [The UN oil-for-food investigatory committee, led by
Paul Volcker also] said Nair paid an employee with money from the USD
64-billion programme although the staffer's work was not directly involved
in the plan." "Probe into former chief of UN internal watchdog complete", zeenews.com, May 2, 2006. 188.
"Despairing of a [malfunctioning UN 'internal justice'] system
,
[UN staff member Cynthia] Brzak, who two years ago
[alleged] sexual
harassment, is now
[asking] for a hearing at the U.S. Supreme
Court. 'You have to be able to go somewhere and ask for
justice,' said Brzak. 'I've tried as hard as I could within
the system.'
There's plenty in this lawyer's discussion that the
rest of the world might want to consider.
The pleadings highlight the fundamental problem that
senior U.N. officials enjoy the privileges of sovereign immunity, but
because the U.N. is not a sovereign state, they are spared the
accountability that tends to come
[in a democratic] national
government. This is accompanied by page after page of
illuminating [detail] about the inner workings of the U.N. Brzak alleges that U.N. officials retaliated for her
whistle-blowing by inflicting an array of punishing measures
[and]
includes the allegation, for example, that [Secretary-General Kofi] 'Annan
ignores the investigation report [in her favor] and U. N. procedures,
which is manifestly illegal.'
The Supreme Court may not be the answer, but the
rest of Washington would do well to take up this case." Claudia Rosett, "A supreme mess: One U.N. staffer petitions our high Court", National Review Online (US), May 5, 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: The full text of this US Supreme Court filing is available on the home page of this website under "US Supreme Court case ".] 189.
"Aspiring to fix top international crises, the United
Nations is unable to fix its own home.
In a
resignation statement
, the man charged with removing
asbestos from the [New York headquarters]
building and bringing it up to
current safety codes, Louis Frederick Reuter,
[concluded that] the
United Nations is too busy talking
to take care [of] the crumbling of
its own house.
A 'management reform'
attempt, aspiring to transfer key powers from the hands of member states
to the secretary general, failed spectacularly at the assembly
recently.
Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown
also
advised Mr. Annan to accept a $500,000 prize from the emir of Dubai, after
telling the rest of the staff to stop accepting any gifts worth
more than $250. Mr. Annan then named one of the men responsible for
awarding the Dubai environmental prize, Achim Steiner, to head the U.N.
Environmental Program. Allegations of quid pro quo are
'unfair' to Mr. Steiner, Mr. Annan told the press late last week.
Following such goings on, anyone claiming to care
about the United Nations would be hard pressed to say leaving Mr. Annan
intact was a good bet." Benny Avni, "Tower of Babel can't be fixed", The New York Sun, May 8, 2006. [emphasis added]
190. "The General Assembly
this afternoon adopted resolutions recommended by its Fifth Committee
(Administrative and Budgetary) on a number of major issues, including the
Secretary-General's management reform proposals
While welcoming [Mr. Annan's] commitment to
strengthening the Organization and taking note of his report Investing in the
United Nations
, the Assembly reaffirmed its
oversight role and that of the Fifth Committee in administrative and
budgetary matters
[and] in carrying out a thorough analysis
and approval of the human and financial resources and policies. The Assembly also
highlighted the importance of strengthened
accountability in the Organization and of ensuring greater accountability of the Secretary-General to
Member States.
It requested the Secretary-General to specifically define
accountability, as well as clear accountability mechanisms, in the context
of a series of reports requested in the resolution, and to
propose clear parameters for its applications and instruments for its rigorous enforcement --
without exception -- at all levels." "Acting on budget committee recommendations, General Assembly adopts text on management reform proposals by vote of 121-50-2", General Assembly document GA/10458, Dept. of Public Information, New York, 8 May 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: The GA resolution is A/RES/60/260 of 8 May 2006, available at www.un.org/documents, esp. preambular paras. and part I.] 191.
"Liberian girls as young as 8 are being sexually exploited by
United Nations peacekeepers, aid workers and teachers in return for food,
small favors and even rides in trucks, according to a report from Save the
Children U.K. The report says the problem is widespread throughout
Liberia, which is struggling to get back on its feet after a long and
bloody civil war. Save the Children based its findings on interviews
with more than 300 people in camps and
[neighborhoods of returnees.]
'All of the respondents clearly stated that the scale
of the problem affected over half of the girls in their locations,' the
report says.
The United Nations said that eight cases of sexual
abuse and exploitation involving UN workers had been reported [in 2006]
and that one staff member had been suspended, Reuters reported. Save the Children said Liberia and the UN should set
up an office to investigate cases of sexual exploitation and work to
ensure that the behavior stops
[, and] that UN workers found guilty of
sexual abuse should be removed by their home countries." "Aid workers in Liberia accused of sex abuse", The
New York Times in the International Herald
Tribune, May 9, 2006. 192. "The election
last week of 47 members of the United Nations' new Human Rights Council
cannot be considered an unqualified success. As with the
old UN Human Rights Commission, some of the foxes have won the privilege
of guarding the hen house. But there are fewer abusers of human
rights on this body, and some of the worst abusers were either fearful of
applying for places on the new council or were defeated when they did.
The underlying problem for
a UN body to protect human rights lies in the fact that most nation-states
are extremely reluctant to criticize and condemn other
governments. The most energetic exceptions to this
rule are the new democratic governments of Central Europe and Latin
America, whose leaders remember only too well the plight of prisoners of
conscience in dictatorships.
The old Western democracies should join with the
new democracies to make sure the council fulfills its commitments to
protect citizens around the world against states that are violating their
human rights." "Culling foxes at the UN", The Boston Globe in the International Herald Tribune, May 16, 2006. [emphasis added] 193. "For those of
us who admire the United Nations, there is an uncomfortable reality to
deal with: the UN
has been just as ineffective [in Darfur] for
the last three years as it was during the slaughter in Rwanda, Bosnia, and
Cambodia.
The World Food Program and Unicef are first-rate
[running school-feeding programmes and emergency food shipments.] Those UN
field workers are heroic
[They] redeem the honor of the UN
The UN's senior officials [just might]
learn
how to use
the bully pulpit. ... Jan Egeland, the UN's
undersecretary for humanitarian affairs.
has led the way on disasters by being
undiplomatic about horrors [that occur.] If other UN officials
[devoted] less energy to
diplomatic receptions and more to dragging journalists through the world's
hell-holes, the globe would be a better place.
Take it from this
disillusioned fan of the UN system: Let's also be realistic and drop any
fantasy that the UN is going to save the day as a genocide unfolds. In that
mission, the United Nations is failing about as badly as the League of
Nations did." Nicholas D. Kristof, "Dithering through death", International Herald Tribune, May 17, 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: Mr. Kristov writes very extensively about humanitarian issues, crises, and operations worldwide.] 194.
"[Sudden] hand-to mouth existence
[in East Timor
personifies] what was supposed to be the world's model new
nation.
Some of the best brains at the United Nations and
World Bank [came] to set up government,
[military, police, and economic
structures] and education and health programs from 1999 to 2002, when the
United Nations administered East Timor.
Seven years later,
[UN and World Bank studies
acknowledge that] the people of East Timor are poorer. An economic uptick
collapsed after many of the foreign advisers left
only 30 percent [of
children] make it to secondary school. Very few
find jobs
the [very high]
child mortality rate
[continues because there are few] free
community-based health services.
The country lacked
[experienced] people to fill
essential jobs
, says a senior manager
'We have ministers, but no middle
managers.' More than half the foreign assistance was spent on
salaries and consultancy fees for the foreign advisers, the East Timorese
government asserts. In essence, [the manager]
said, the foreigners were too impatient. They came, spread their money around
and left.
'You can't build a country from nothing in that amount of
time.'" Jane Perlez, "Ruins of nation building: Billions in
aid brought East Timor little", International
Herald Tribune, May 31, 2006. [emphasis added] 195. "The UN was
created to foster a peaceful international order built upon a foundation
of collective security.
[But its] habitual failure to protect the
victims of murderous regimes [is] being reenacted today as senior UN
officials and members of the UN Security Council acquiesce in the despotic
brutality of the illegitimate military junta that rules Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma. [After a visit last month,]
Kofi Annan's top
deputy, Undersecretary General Ibrahim Gambari,
reported that the junta
military leader is ready 'to turn a new page.'
But no new page was turned
[to release the
imprisoned Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, or 1,100 other political
prisoners.]
[The junta]
will not change without sustained
international pressure on a regime that has been condemned for its use of
forced labor, the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees and the
export to neighboring countries of [drugs and AIDS.]
Inexplicably,
[A Security Council member] said
Wednesday, 'we would not be happy' to [go beyond hearing] Gambari's
briefings on his failed mission. This is an attitude that betrays not
only the Burmese people but also the UN's founding ideals." "Myanmar's unturned page", The Boston Globe in the International Herald Tribune, June 6, 2006. 196. "[Kofi] Annan
came into office as a reform advocate with an insider's eye. [But] many at
the United Nations now believe that new blood is essential if the
organization is ever to make the revolutionary changes necessary for the
body to be effective. [UN senior officials] all were appointed by Mr.
Annan, some as late as a few months ago. [Their annual salaries and
allowances currently include: Mr. Annan and his deputy, Mark Malloch Brown
($300,000 and $287,000); 15 under-secretary generals and 17
assistant-secretary generals in New York ($177,000 and $161,000); other
senior officials in UN posts around the world, and Mr. Annan's more than
90 'special envoys'.]
UN rules call for the deputy and [all USG's to leave
office when] the U.N. chief leaves
[But ASG's]
are not required to leave. In many cases,
[they] carry the institutional memory
The United Nations staff union
recently resisted
reform measures pushed by Mr. Annan's top management
[as] 'bottom heavy'
with [deep lower-level staff cuts] while leaving many at the top of the
bureaucracy intact.
Union officials said they would
support mass resignation of senior employees
[to] 'give free hand for
the new secretary-general.'" Benny Avni, "U.S. wants top aides at the U.N. to
resign when Annan leaves," New York Sun, June 7,
2006.
197. "The OECD's
annual African Economic Outlook finds that
'limited progress' has been
made toward the UN Millennium Development Goals. In spite of
new poverty reduction strategies in many countries, it finds that
on current trends most of the continent will fail to meet the target of
halving poverty rates by 2015, that 'negligible progress' has been made in
combating hunger, and that barely a quarter of African countries are
likely to fulfil the goal of universal primary schooling. South of the Sahara, it finds no evidence of
declining death rates in pregnancy and childbirth,
serious gender gaps
in education, and low levels of economic and political participation by
women." "OECD report: Africa grows but development goals are
unmet", The Financial Times (UK), May 16,
2006. 197a. "The Ford Foundation on
Tuesday announced an independent, African-led nonprofit that aims to give
Africans greater opportunity to solve the continent's problems
themselves.
The Ford Foundation committed $30 million to fund TrustAfrica,
which has been developed over the past five years and will now be based in
Senegal's capital, Dakar."
"Briefing", the International
Herald Tribune, June 7, 2006.
197b.
"Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel peace prize winner who played a
key role in ending apartheid in South Africa, has questioned assumptions
laid out in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals as well as
the approach of big western donors in Africa.
He stressed the continent needed 'those huge
injections of funds',
[but] noted that many large donors [including the
UN with its Millennium Development Goals] lacked the on-the-ground
knowledge to make their funds effective in the communities that received
them. 'They must find out what the people want and not just
always the people who attend conferences or are in the government,' he
said.
He added, 'I'm of the view that, like in politics,
all development is local. You can have the grand view, but if you
don't infuse people at a grass-roots level you're playing marbles.'" Paul Sullivan, "Donors to Africa urged to 'think
local'", The Financial Times (UK), June 8,
2006. 197c. "The one-third of world
development aid that is spent on rich country consultants does little to
reduce poverty, a senior World Bank economist said yesterday. Mark
Sundberg, author of a recent report on the effectiveness of aid given to
meet the world's Millennium Development Goals
says so-called 'technical
assistance' is not aligned with those goals. 'It is a question of priorities. Five hundred
days of technical assistance costs the same as employing 5,000
teachers.
Which does more to cut poverty?' 'It is not all bad
but we need to measure its
effectiveness', [he] said at the Brussels launch of the bank's Global
Monitoring Report, tracking progress made by developing countries in using
aid well." Andrew Bounds, "World Bank casts doubt on
consultants' effectiveness", Financial Times
(UK), June 8,
2006.
198. "On
Tuesday,
[Kofi Annan's deputy, Mr. Mark] Malloch Brown, told a Manhattan
audience, "The U.N.'s role is in effect a secret in Middle America",
He then
accused the US 'of being the only government not fully supporting' [UN
headquarters' renovation, not surprising since the US must provide the
huge loan for it],
[and] opposing the new Human Rights Council.
To cap it off, he interjected himself into the U.S.
political debate: 'Who will campaign in 2008 for a new multilateral
national security?'
We weren't previously aware that it's considered
appropriate for international civil servants to speak this way about a
U.N. member state that pays nearly a quarter of his $287,000 tax free
salary
[but] we were a little surprised by the absence of any reference
in the speech to [the very recent UN oil-for-food,
peacekeeper sexual abuse, bribery, and major procurement scandals.]
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton described Mr. Malloch
Brown's speech as [a grave mistake], adding that
'the victim, I fear,
will be the United Nations.' He's right. If Mr. Maloch
Brown's speech serves any purpose, it is to remind American taxpayers of
everything they don't like about the U.N."
"Toqueville at Turtle Bay", The Wall Street Journal, June 12,
2006.
199. "You [the Wall Street
Journal] say you [weren't aware that Mr. Malloch Brown's attack on the
U.S. was appropriate.] It's not only not appropriate, it's
also illegal.
He should have been fired by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who
instead endorsed his remarks. When I was an International Labour Organization
lawyer I was responsible for the interpretation and application of the
rules of conduct and reserve
which govern all U.N. officials. There is
not the slightest question in my mind that Mr. Brown breached these rules
with his talk.
And he breached the elementary rules of common sense and good
judgement by attacking the U.S., the largest contributor, at a time when
relations were already bad.
Just how did his speech contribute to improving bad
relations with the U.S.?
to the capacity of the U.N. to
execute its mission? Is the U.N. now better off than it was before this
speech?
Or has he made a major contribution to the acrimony and paralysis
which are the lot of the U.N. for the rest of this year, and probably
beyond? At least his term, and that of Mr. Annan, end on Dec.
31." "U.N.-becoming", letter from Frank Peel, Geneva, Wall Street Journal, June 14,
2006. 199a. [Note: The above incident
was hardly the first in which Mr. Malloch Brown provoked and angered UN
Member States with an Annan-era theme of blaming them for the UN's many
mismanagement scandals.] "The Group of 77 [132 developing countries plus
China] has complained to Secretary-General Kofi Annan that some of his
senior officials continue to recklessly leak privileged information and to
undermine the world body in public.
Asked about the charges of 'management failings' in
the U.N. Secretariat, [Mark] Malloch Brown told a TV interviewer last
year: 'We have a hell of a structural problem. The Security
Council and member states generally interfere in the management of this
organization.
They've not given the secretary-general the authority or the
resources or the means to run a modern organization that can be held
properly accountable to its membership.' 'We instead have a highly politicized interference in
the day-to-day decision-making by ambassadors and their minions,' he said.
The G 77 letter says
'Such actions, in our view,
are a clear contravention of
[UN staff rules and regulations and UN
Charter provisions], which require the staff of the Secretariat
to be
politically neutral and refrain from any action inconsistent with their
status as international civil servants responsible to the
Organization." [The Group] urges him 'to ensure
that the officials
concerned
desist from such practices with immediate effect.'" Thalif Deen, "Senior U.N. officials under fire for
reckless talk", Inter Press Service News
Agency, February 8, 2006. [Further Note: On
this very contentious core issue of UN Secretariat accountability and
responsibility in 2006, please see paras. 185, 189, and 190 above and 204
below, and also paras. 88 and 92 in Overview
Quotes
II.] 200. "Not to be
outdone by his own ruckus-raising deputy, United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan himself is now instructing the U.S. on how to treat the
corruption-plagued, unreformed and unrepentant U.N.
Apparently, America's power of the purse is quite
acceptable if it entails forking out money with no reforms required. If the US will only [cooperate]
says Annan,
everyone
can 'turn down their rhetoric' and 'engage in serious
negotiations' which will be used 'as a basis for more fundamental change,'
which will happen 'later.' For Kofi Annan, of course
there's not a lot of 'later' left. He is due to retire at the end of this
year.
The [many UN] scandals are still with us. But
there has been no major reform.
Mark Maloch Brown referred in his speech
to
'unchecked U.N. bashing'
which has become U.N. jargon for dismissing all
criticisms.
But [the scandals] are sourced and documented, in some cases
by Annan-appointed investigators. The U.N.'s real problem today
is
that one after another, allegations of U.N. misconduct,
mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and corruption have turned out to be
true. What happens next is now up for grabs
" Claudia Rosett, "The unreality of U.N. reform: What
if 'later' never comes?", National Review
Online (US), June 12, 2006. [emphasis added]
201. "East Timor's capital, Dili,
bears all
the hallmarks of a city in crisis.
Peacekeepers in body armour
[machete-wielding gangs, and some 100,000 people] in makeshift refugee
camps.
Yet just two months ago
, Paul Wolfowitz, World
Bank president, hailed [East Timor's] emergence from a bloody rupture with
Indonesia in 1999 as 'a remarkable story.'
So what has gone so wrong, so fast?
The conflict is a graphic
illustration of the deficiencies of a high-profile UN experiment in
nation-building. A saga of short-termism, ill-directed
aid and conflicting priorities
[to caution] others who might seek to
construct a country almost from scratch. 'There were a lot of crazy people around with
crazy
ideas who were on this UN gravy train' says [a knowledgeable expert.]
The UN's top man [admits]
the UN moved too quickly
to downsize its peacekeeping presence
and withdraw from important
institution-building work, despite signs that the situation on the ground
remained 'fragile and fluid.' 'The way international assistance works is not at all
conducive to sustained, long-term assistance', says [another deeply-
involved] expert.
'The underlying root causes are often not attended to
at all.'" Shawn Donnan, "East Timor: Dili dilemma: How blunders
in building a nation are being brutally laid bare", The Financial Times (UK), June 12,
2006. [emphasis
added] 202. "Far from being
a beacon of justice to the countries of the world, the United Nations is 'in breach of its own human
rights standards because of the unfair way it treats its own employees,'
according to a
[new] report by an independent panel of three
international jurists hired by [the UN] Staff Union to investigate the
United Nations internal justice system. The [panel]
was appointed after staffers repeatedly
complained about abuse by their superiors in the organization and the lack
of accountable bodies in which to air their grievances. [British jurist Geoffrey Robertson, the panel head,
who played a key role in such cases as that of the former Argentinian
dictator Pinochet, described]
a system where everything is conducted
'under wraps and in secret,'.
[and] said justice is all but impossible for [UN]
employees.
The existing structure 'is a sclerotic system that dates back to
the League of Nations' he said, adding that he doubted it
could be reformed under the current leadership of Secretary-General Annan.
"Reform has been on the U.N. agenda for over a
decade, and there must be a real question over management resolve to
progress it' the report said." Benny Avni, "UN commits human rights abuses against
its staff", New York Sun, June 13,
2006. [emphasis added]
[Note: The full report is available on the home page of this
website under "UN war crimes judge
".] 203.
"International aid agencies are struggling to raise funds to help
victims of last month's central Java
earthquake even as the rising economic cost and the number of
people left homeless after the disaster puts it among the world's worst in
recent history. An assessment of the total damage and economic loss
yesterday put the cost at $3.1 billion.
UN officials originally
estimated between 100,000 and 200,000 [people] were without accommodation,
but 1.5 to 2 million people are now believed to be living in temporary
shelter. Some officials believe the number of homeless could
be even more than those in the tsunami.
'We initially were looking at a completely different
disaster,' said an NGO official.
The funding we got at the beginning was for a
completely different scenario.' The lack of funds and the
initial miscalculation of the number of homeless already appear to be
affecting the international response.
UN
co-ordinators warned that only 14 of the 25 worst-affected sub-districts
were receiving help with water and sanitation from non-governmental
organizations." Shawn Donnan, "Aid groups fight to raise cash as Java quake homeless toll soars", Financial Times (UK), June 15, 2006. [emphasis added]
204. "Sir, as usual
both Kofi Annan
and his English boxer, Mark Maloch Brown, have missed
the point in personally attacking the US and other nations demanding
results in UN reforms. Mr. Annan has had two terms to fix the
bureaucracy of the UN
As a product of the UN system, the secretary-general
is incapable of making the changes and reforms required. As a
consequence the US and other nations such as Japan are not only right but
reasonable to withhold funds from an organization that cannot 'clean
thyself.' Mr. Annan and especially Mr. Brown would be doing a
far better service to the UN if they spent their time fixing the system
rather than attacking their major contributors personally. That does not
seem like a very clever strategy. As one US taxpayer, I hope we continue
to keep the UN on a close purse string until both its management and
over-bloated bureaucracy are fixed." "Annan should fix problems instead of attacking donors", letter from Michael P. Berry, Boston MA, The Financial Times (UK), June 16, 2006.
205. "The United Nations' efforts to seek justice for the
1999 atrocities in East Timor were plagued by mistakes and missteps,
abandoned prematurely, and have contributed to the fragile state of the
tiny country's fledgling judiciary, according to [a 140-page
study written by David Cohen,] a leading expert on international war
crimes tribunals
[The]
report focuses on what it argues are failings
by the UN, which ran a special 'hybrid' UN/local tribunal to hear 'serious
crimes' cases
from June 2000 until May 2005. 'At the root of all the problems of the Serious
Crimes process,' Mr. Cohen writes, 'was the failure by the UN to ensure
leadership, a clear mandate, political will, and clear 'ownership' of the
process from the very beginning.' The report accuses the UN
of a 'massive institutional failure
to create a judicial enterprise
worthy of the values and standards that the United Nations
represents.'" Shawn Donnan, "UN criticized for its record on seeking justice in East Timor", Financial Times (UK), June 19, 2006. [emphasis added]
206. "This hearing
will focus on the continuing lack of
transparency for the massive UN renovation project in Turtle Bay,
Manhattan. This is a follow up to last year's
hearing, where the UN was called to account for wasted design money and a
flawed and overpriced ($1.2 billion) plan. Now the plan's cost projection has
sky-rocketed to $1.7 billion, millions more have been spent on new
designs, and an itemized cost projection is still not available. The lack of
transparency is a case study in the larger lack of transparency,
accountability, financial and ethical integrity at the international
body." "U.N. headquarters renovation: No accountability
without transparency", U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management,
,"
[Washington, DC,] 6/20/06. [emphasis added]
[Note: The full record of these hearings is available at hsgac.senate.gov under
"Hearings". The US Government is to provide a massive loan for this UN
"edifice complex." The detailed testimony, including that by Claudia
Rosett and the US GAO is of particular interest - see also para. 189 and
the following quote.]
207. "'UN funding arrangements constrain the [Office of
Internal Oversight Services'] ability to operate independently as
mandated by the General Assembly and required by international
auditing standards OIOS has adopted.
OIOS depends on the resources of
the funds, programs, and other entities it audits. The managers
of these programs can deny OIOS permission to perform work or not pay OIOS
for services.
UN entities could thus avoid OIOS audits and investigations, and high-risk areas can be and have been excluded from
timely examination.' Statement by David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, "United Nations: International oversight and procurement controls and processes need strengthening", US General Accountability Office, April 27, 2006. This situation is
untenable and serves as an open invitation to those who may seek to
defraud or abuse the system." "The need for transparency: Evaluating the Capital Master Plan and UN reform", Statement of the Honorable John R. Bolton, June 20, 2006, p. 6. [emphasis added]
208. "Not content
with
amassing the biggest fortune in history, Bill Gates
wants to
devote the rest of his life to giving it away.
That the moneyed are
munificent is welcome, but that the best brains in business take the
giving seriously matters, too. Philanthropy, done well, is a serious
undertaking.
Too often, the money is frittered away.
Philanthropy is good for doing all sorts of things
governments fail at. Free of the vicissitudes of votes and
public opinion, philanthropists can take on causes that are unpopular or
neglected.
They can innovate by promoting remedies that are otherwise
unfeasible or remote.
So applaud Mr. Gates' decision
With him around even
more, the Gates Foundation, which already does a fine job, will do even
better."
Capitalism has demonstrated that it is the best
system for creating great fortunes. More capitalists should show that it is
the best for getting rid of them, too."
"Philanthropy: Give and make," The Economist, June 24th,
2006.
208a. "Warren Buffett, the
legendary investor, has pledged to give
[most of] his $44 billion
fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
[to be]
combined with its existing $35 billion assets, and Mr. Gates' own pledge
to donate most of his remaining personal wealth, estimated at $50
billion.
The Gates/Buffett endowment total still falls short
of the annual amount of aid given by official bodies including the World
Bank and rich governments, which totaled $106 billion in 2005. But private
foundations can sometimes achieve what official aid cannot.
Foundation resources
are flexible and can be
committed over a long period without the political need to show results.
The great successes of the Ford and Rockefeller
foundations, for example, include supporting the agricultural research
that drove the 'Green Revolution" in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, the Gates foundation has carved out a
dominant role in public health and particularly diseases like HIV-Aids and
malaria, to which official aid was slow to respond.
Mr. Buffett
yesterday hinted that several very rich
but anonymous past business associates could soon follow his lead in
giving large sums to charity." Alan Beattie and Andrew Jack, "Duo take philanthropy to new heights", The Financial Times (UK), June 27, 2006.
209. "I welcome Ibrahim
Gambari's efforts to help Myanmar [Burma]
toward democracy
but he needs to understand the mindset of the Burmese
generals. [His] predecessor as the special UN envoy to
Myanmar,]
Razali Ismail, came to be used as a mouthpiece for the Burmese
regime.
Before each of Razali's visits to Myanmar, the regime released 10
to 20 political prisoners. Razali praised
[these positive steps]
and hinted there would be
[political] dialogue,
but it never
occurred. As the regime's tactics became obvious
Razali was
obliged to pressure the regime for real change, and the regime stopped
allowing him to visit. Similarly, Gambari thought that the generals
[wanted] change because they released
an activist
But despite positive hints by the Burmese ruler,
General Than Shwe, after Gambari's visit the regime extended the house
arrest of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for another year. As Gambari said, the diplomatic option is not working
in Myanmar.
If the regime refuses to change the status quo, UN intervention is
the option that we need to use. Why try for another 10 years
without progress?" "The Burmese regime," letter from Htun Aung Gyaw, President, Civil Society for Burma, International Herald Tribune, June 26, 2006. [emphasis added] [Note: see also item 195 above.] 210. "The General
Assembly's budgetary committee today decided to lift the spending cap on
the remainder of the United Nations' two-year fiscal period, authorizing
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to utilize the remaining funds in the budget
for 2006-2007. Saying that not enough progress had been made in the
reform of the Organization, the United States, Japan, and Australia [who
together pay 43 percent of the assessed budget] dissociated themselves
from the consensus decision to lift the cap, which stems from a December
decision of Member States to limit
spending authorization to six months
pending significant progress on such reform.
Mr. Annan has recently expressed optimism that the
cap, backed by major donors and opposed by many developing countries,
would be lifted since progress in UN reform is ongoing and the
Organization is involved in too many crucial operations at the current
time for the world to allow them to stall." "General Assembly's budget committee lifts cap on UN spending," UN News service, 28 June 2006. [Note: in the last few weeks preceding the June 30 spending cap deadline, Mr. Annan's report writers dumped eight management reform reports (in 215 pages) on the Assembly. They included one that evaded the gross UN procurement scandal (see items 172, 177, 178 above) but, pressed by outside experts, promised to clean up the mess, and also a conceptual babble on accountability just like feeble reports made in 1992-1993 when the Assembly began pressing for decisive action. The new accountability report did, however, shamefully conclude (14 years later) that "Little attention has been given to holding the Secretariat accountable for achievement of results" (Add. 6, para. 38.) See UN document A/60/846 and Adds. 1-7 at www.un.org/documents under "General Assembly", "Session documents". See also item 200 above.]
210a.
"Although the European countries have been at the forefront of
calling for significant change at the United Nations, they have been
unenthusiastic about trying to achieve it through the budget cap, and none
of them joined in objecting to
[the General Assembly budget committee
decision to lift the cap on spending.] 'The United Nations' ability to function and deliver
services is imperative to the EU and, I believe to the rest of us,' said
Gerhard Pfanzelter, the Austrian ambassador, speaking for the European
Union.
He said the United Nations had already achieved 'a
remarkable amount of reform' and expressed regret at an 'atmosphere of
polarization.'" Warren Hoge, "UN spending cap lifted, minus support of U.S.", International Herald Tribune, June 30, 2006. [Note: Ambassador's Pfanzelter's statements blithely ignored all the poor delivery of 'imperative' UN services, the oil-for-food, refugee sex, and procurement scandals, and the endless unfulfilled reform intentions discussed in this set of Overview quotes.. The EU and its diplomats at the UN thus provide very poor governance and oversight, to the great detriment of the global taxpayers who must pay for all the mismanagement (diplomats do not pay such taxes), and all the desperate and suffering people worldwide who are not receiving the life-or-death support that the UN is supposed to provide. For serious UN performance problems of merely the three preceding weeks which the good Ambassador apparently missed, see again items 197b and c, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 205, 206, and 207.]
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