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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 VII
March - April 2007 341. “Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is installing tough requirements for hundreds of jobs at the United Nations that he hopes will begin to dispel the reputation for inaction and bloat … [starting] in his own office first, and calling on others to follow suit or leave the organization. … “From
Day 1, he wanted to change the working culture … by
leading by example. Among
the new procedures, which have already started to roil the organization,
are strict annual performance reviews and term limits for new hires,
opening up high-level jobs at headquarters, … and strong pressure for top
officials to make public their confidential financial disclosures. … [A
Ban innovation for ‘opening the floor’ for top deputy positions] … has
provoked a big response from workers in the field who previously had
little hope of landing a coveted headquarters job. More than 1,200 applications have
come in for 12 such positions on the 38th floor, which houses
Ban and his top executives. … [An expert observer said] … ‘This is a way to make top management more accountable in ways that have never been tried before.’” Warren Hoge, “Leader’s top-to-bottom changes upset
UN”, International Herald Tribune, March 1,
2007.
342a. “José Ramos Horta, Timor-Leste’s
prime minister [and Nobel peace prize winner] said on February
25th that he will stand in April’s presidential election. …
Nine candidates have declared themselves for the [elections] … to be followed by the first
parliamentary elections.
… But it will not be a smooth
transition. The leader of
last year’s mutiny, Major Alfredo Renaldo, escaped from jail last August
… [He] enjoys popular support
among people in the west part of the country, as a defender of their
rights … The run-up to the elections
has already seen violence. Late last month, [Australian] peacekeepers
killed two men during protests in a camp for displaced people. …
The split in the army mirrors
an ethnic and regional distrust that has long run through Timorese
society. It is one reason why
Timor-Leste, hailed at independence in 2002 as a success for UN
midwifery, has since unraveled into near
anarchy.” “Timor-Leste: Mutinous crew: A looming election
rattles nerves”, The Economist, March 3, 2007. 342b. “Xanana Gusmao, East
Timor president, yesterday accused the ruling Fretilin party of
corruption, arrogance and mismanagement that had put the fledgling country
on a path of violence and economic stagnation since its 2002 independence.
… The former guerilla leader said a UN mission that arrived after a massive breakdown of law and order last year should not be needed past mid-2008 if the East Timorese could settle their differences. … [Last
August] … an upsurge in violence left at least 37 people dead, forced
150,000 to flee their homes and triggered the collapse of the police and
much of the military.” John Aglionby, “East Timor president lambasts
ruling party”, The Financial Times, March 30,
2007. 342c. “Six months
after a historic election, the most expensive in Africa and
one that was touted – by the Congolese and the United Nations officials
who paid a half billion dollars for it – as the end of a free fall,
[Congo struggles.] Decades
of misrule have reduced the 60 million people of this mineral-rich country
to among the poorest in the world, … destabilized an enormous chunk of
Central Africa, and killed an estimated four million people.
… Congo
is spread across more than … 900,000 square miles, but has only 480
kilometers of paved roads. …
Much of [the] land, among the most fertile in Africa, lies fallow because
there is no way to get crops to market. … Eastern
Congo is probably the most beautiful part of the country, but also the
most brutalized and confusing.
Thousands of lives have been lost here to disease, starvation and a
shifting mix of rebel groups. … ‘Our
national army is a joke’, said Aloys Tegera, the manager of an aid
organization in Goma. … ‘How can you rule this huge country without a
national army? Everybody is
celebrating this big moment of democratization, but we’re
building on sand.’” Jeffrey Gettleman, “Congo struggles to emerge from
free fall”, International Herald Tribune, March 28,
2007.” [Note:
Along with Kosovo, Somalia, and Haiti (see items 335a-c), East Timor and
Congo (and others) pose enormous difficulties for the ambitious new UN
Peacebuilding Commission and Peacebuilding Fund efforts to provide
“sustained engagement” in countries emerging from conflict (see www.un.org/peace/peacebuilding.]
343. “[UN
Under-Secretary-General for Management Alicia
Bárcena] today outlined her
priorities for the coming year, namely implementing reforms to improve the
organization’s efficiency and accountability, as she also stressed the
need to maintain the highest standards of integrity.
… ‘The major focus of my work … this year
will be basically implementation’ … [she said.] … ‘How do we keep the highest
possible standards of integrity, ethics, transparency, conduct in this
organization, that’s the number one priority for everyone and for that we
have to do so many things, from the internal justice system that we are
discussing now … the other element of this implementation … [is] how do we
become better in terms of accountability?’ Turning to human resources
management, she stressed the priority of improving the
‘administration of justice,’ noting that the system currently
operating was designed in 1945 for 1,000 or so people, but now there are
55,000 staff.” “Top UN management official outlines priorities,
stresses highest standards of integrity”, UN News Service, 5
March 2007.
[Note: Well, the good intentions didn’t last long – in early April,
the General Assembly did approve internal justice reforms, but their
implementation is postponed to January 2009, (i.e. the discredited system
continues on), essential reform funding details are not yet established,
and basic transparency and oversight safeguard mechanisms seem to be
missing (see items 365a,b
following, of April 4 and April 2,
2007.]
344. “The World
Bank will today embark on a year-long, $20bn-plus fundraising drive that
will test donor countries’ willingness to live up to promises made
following the Gleneagles agreement on debt relief and to support the bank
under the leadership of Paul Wolfowitz. The
money is needed to replenish the International Development Association
(IDA) – the bank’s main financing arm for poor countries – for the
three-year period from July 2008.
The negotiations … will help define the shape of the World
Bank for years to come. … Donors have to decide whether to commit more taxpayer money to a management team many have criticized in public or in private. Some
bank insiders fear that they will not. ‘I am so worried about this
institution’ said a former senior official. ‘The issues are effectiveness,
morale and shareholder support. … Another former official claimed
discontent among both staff and shareholder governments was
‘extraordinarily wide and deep … there is a real sense of unraveling.’
… [Wolfowitz] … is trying to placate
his critics on the board … yet with trust thin on the ground, success
cannot be taken for granted.” Krishna Guha, “Embattled Wolfowitz seeks more
cash”, Financial Times (UK), March 5, 2007. [Note: Will UN Member States
ever take a similar tough stance, on behalf of their taxpayers, to future
UN funding, in light of the many Oil-for-Food, procurement, sexual abuse,
and other newly-emerging UN scandals and
mismanagement?]
345. “[A
February poll in Russia] … found that only 16 percent of the Russians
consulted want to see Western democracy installed in their country. Twenty-six percent think that the
quasi-authoritarian system put in place by [President Vladimir] Putin is
more suited to Russia than democracy, and 35 percent would like to return
to the Soviet system. … Seventy-five
percent believe that Russia ‘is a Eurasian state with its own path of
development,’ while only 10 percent think it is ‘part of the West, with a
vocation to move closer to Europe and the United States.’
… This
is not in the least what Americans and Western Europeans expected when the
Cold War ended. It’s not even
what the Russians themselves expected. What has happened? The answer is … fear for security
… and new American pressures on Russia. The naïve and usually
self-serving recommendations … by Western [institutions] heavily
contributed to the … [1990s chaos and collapse of Soviet-era
institutions.] … Putin
has given them a society of rules, security and … predictability. Whatever Russia is now, the
Russian people seem comfortable with it. They are not comfortable with the
foreign attitude to this new Russia.” William Pfaff, “Russia’s deep animosity”,
International Herald Tribune, March 6, 2007. [Note: Another development complicating
global decision-making and hopes for a “coalition of democracies” – see
also items 286, 358, and 364a and b on similar discouraging developments
in Eastern Europe, South Africa, and related to the Zimbabwe
crisis.]
346. “A US
federal court on Wednesday convicted a former high-ranking United Nations
official of conspiring to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars in a
scheme to help companies with lucrative UN
contracts. A
Manhattan jury took less than an hour to deliver the verdict on Vladimir
Kuznetsov, a 49-year old Russian national who had served as chairman of an
influential UN financial advisory committee known as the ACABQ. Sentencing was set for June
25. According to a September
2005 indictment, Mr. Kuznetsov ‘laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars
in criminal proceeds’ obtained by a UN procurement officer from about 2000
through to June 2005. Alexander
Yakovlev, the UN procurement officer, had pleaded guilty in August 2005 to
conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges
… …
The verdict marks the latest in a concerted effort by the US to bring the
UN bureaucracy to heel.
Michael Garcia, the US attorney, has brought a
series of cases against UN-affiliated personnel for
everything from drug smuggling and immigration fraud to corruption in the
oil-for-food programme.” Mark Turner, “Ex-UN diplomat guilty of money
laundering”, Financial Times (UK), March 8,
2007.
347. “[An ex-UNDP official’s confidential letter to UNDP head Kemal Dervis cites his humiliation and harassment by UNDP leadership despite his repeated warnings of mismanagement. … He stated:] ‘I am not surprised that Inner City publishes this kind of materials [from] UNDP staffers. … They are helped by … the silence of UNDP or even deliberate actions. In my case the instruction by MMB was given … in August 2005 (Kalman and Brian Gleeson were there) to remove me from the post … so that I could no longer dig-up into the fraud schemes dating even before year 2000. … I rejected all attempts to be involved … [in a sloppy conspiracy and be ‘taken care of’, and paid the price by losing my job.]’ Kalman
Mizsei … [had] ‘his ladies’, many of whom continue in the posts he doled
out until (his) unceremonious departure in September 2006. … ‘MMB’ is, of course, Mark
Malloch Brown, long-time administrator of UNDP, now at Yale University
writing a book … [This is] a cautionary tale for
UNDP … [When you throw] a Res Rep under the bus … trying to confine the
blame, … you risk dark secrets coming out.” Matthew Russell Lee, “At UNDP, scandal allegations
by Stefan Vassilev, Former Russia Resident Representative”, Inner City
Press, March 13, 2007. [Note: as with in Mr.
Lee’s other ongoing articles, extensive further information is available
at www.innercitypress.com.]
348. “First,
there was oil-for-food … that propped up Saddam Hussein’s regime with
hundreds of millions in kickbacks.
Now there’s a new scandal brewing with another UN aid
program and another notorious dictator, North Korea’s Kim Jong
Il.
[At
the] United Nations Development Programme office in Pyongyang, a North
Korean official would come … every business day, … grab a manila envelope
stuffed with cash – [part of] the UN’s disbursements for aid projects –
and leave. He never provided
receipts. Nor did any… [UN]
international staff know where the money went. … It
went on for years, with up to $150 million in hard foreign currency
changing hands. ‘At the end,
we were being used completely as an ATM machine for the
regime’ said one [knowledgeable] UN official … We were completely a cash cow’
… What
a disgrace. … Kim Jong Il
took the UN’s money and laughed all the way to the bank. … Finally,
earlier this month, the development program was quietly suspended. …
Why? … [Under US pressure,
the UN promises a full audit.] By shutting the program preemptively, UN
officials may hope to head off some embarrassment. Our guess: The
embarassment’s only starting.” Bay Fang, “Dollars for dictators”, Chicago
Tribune, March 13, 2007.
349. “A
coalition of over 140 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and women’s groups is gratified that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon …
[supported a proposal for a new U.N. agency for women at] the U.N.
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which concluded a two-week
session Friday. … The
proposal … was made last November by a 15-member ‘High-Level Panel on U.N.
System-Wide Coherence. … [It]
includes the consolidation of three existing U.N. agencies …under a single
new U.N. agency to be headed by an under-secretary-general.
… The
[NGO] coalition says the upgrading of women’s equality work within the
U.N. system is long overdue … [and that] ‘it is imperative at this
critical juncture that member states and the U.N. system take bold action
and provide the leadership and resources required.’
… [An
NGO leader] said the existing women’s units have a total budget of about
$65 million, compared to $450 million for the U.N. Population Fund and
about $2 billion for the U.N. children’s agency,
UNICEF. ‘These
recommendations present the best opportunity to reduce the gap
between the rhetoric on gender equality at the United Nations and the
reality of women’s lives’, she added.” Thalif Deen, “Proposed U.N. Women’s agency gains
key ally”, Inter Press Service, asiatribune.com, 13 March
2007.
350. “The United
Nations General Assembly today endorsed the major reform proposals put
forward by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, including … two separate
‘framework’ resolutions … [which] requested the Secretary-General to
provide more details in reports [to the Assembly.] … Under
the [first resolution], the new Department of Peace Operations would
consolidate all factors dealing with strategy, planning and deployment
while the Department of Field Support would take on the responsibility of
the ‘impossibly overstretched’ management. … General
Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa said it would ensure
that DPKO’s restructuring would be ‘decided by the Membership through
established [General Assembly] procedures’ … [The
second resolution] … supported the establishment of an Office for
Disarmament Affairs … [alongside] the current Department of Disarmament
Affairs. … Sheika Haya said
this measure would ’provide the Secretary-General with the political
support needed for him to [move ahead].’ … [Mr.
Ban had] said the need for a new … [disarmament approach arose from] the
failure of the 2005 review conference of … [the U.N.’s
non-nuclear-proliferation body, the deadlock in its disarmament body,] and
the need for new impetus … ‘to revitalize the disarmament and
non-proliferation agenda through a more focused
effort.’” “General Assembly supports Ban ki-moon’s reform
proposals for stronger UN”, UN News Service, 15 March
2007. [Note: a big
reform step forward, perhaps, but with major compromises, new structures,
and details to be determined.]
351. “[Two years
ago we reported questionable large payments] … during the renovation of
… the World International
Property Organization [headquarters. Very few noticed.] … But when someone
discovered that W.I.P.O. Director General, Kamil Idris, had changed his
birthdate … it was time for a headline story. … [He
first] presented himself as nine years older [24 years ago] when …
competing with two much older, more experienced [WIPO job] applicants.
… Now Idris wants to be
younger, not older, to avoid earlier retirement. … [What
got lost was] … a 2004 Swiss criminal investigation
into [contractor payments] in building the $60 million new
compound.] …
WIPO leadership commissioned a highly-regarded group,
Ernst & Young, to conduct a review. Not an audit. … Dutifully, it
found ‘certain weaknesses in management’ … [but no] evidence of fraud
(doesn’t it remind you of Volcker?) … Of course, [Mr. Idris] denies any
wrongdoing. … As
Director-General of WIPO, Mr. Idris is part of the senior officials of the
UN system … Allegations against him will certainly impact negatively on
the rest. … The sooner the public is informed, the better … The clearer the record, the
clearer the name. And the
birth date.” “Big small deal at W.I.P.O.”, Unforum, at www.unforum.com, 15 March
2007.
352. “Nearly two
years after a Fox News story … [helped uncover] widespread corruption in
the United Nations’ multi-billion dollar procurement department,
[testimony] in a U.S. federal courtroom last week … [revealed] that
a gigantic Russian-based air transport
company paid at least $700,000 in ‘consulting’ fees
to a [UN] procurement officer … involving at least 10 to 12
U.N. contracts awarded to the firm. … [Offering
and accepting such inducements violates U.N. regulations, and supposedly
results in punishing the employee and the contractor, who is] … liable to
be cut off from further U.N. contracting. … Yet
… Volga-Dnepr Airlines [is still] on a list of firms currently authorized
to do business with the United Nations. … [Its] air cargo sales, according
to the company’s annual report, blossomed … to $467.8 million [by
2005. Information on its
contracts] … is not on the U.N.’s procurement department Web site, which
despite repeated U.N. promises of transparency remains highly opaque.
… UN
spokesmen … [said] only that the matter was ‘under investigation’ and a
conclusion may be released in ‘due course.’ … [A special U.N. procurement
fraud task force] is said to be investigating some 200 contracts awarded
under questionable circumstances.” George Russell and Claudia Rosett, “Russian firm
that paid $700G to crooked U.N. still on approved vendor list”, Fox
News, March 15, 2007.
353. “Zalmay
Khalilzad, President Bush’s nominee … as U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, warned yesterday the world body faces a ‘mortal threat’ if
it fails to adopt badly needed internal reforms. Mr.
Khalilzad, finishing up nearly two years as ambassador to Iraq, told a
Senate confirmation hearing that Congress should not rule out withholding
payment of dues if the United Nations does not address scandals such as
the oil-for-food program and misbehavior by U.N. peacekeeping troops. … ‘The issue of funding … has to
be, in my judgement, a kind of a last resort’ he said. ‘But the reality of the connection
between reform and funding is a reality that I will be pointing to and
making use of …’ Lawmakers
from both parties effusively praised Mr. Khalilzad at yesterday’s hearing,
a sharp contrast to the bitter partisan deadlock over [John] Bolton’s
nomination. … The nomination
is expected to sail through the Senate. … Mr.
Khalilzad said he hoped to build a coalition of democracies within the
U.N. General Assembly to press for changes.” David E. Sands, “Khalilzad: Lack of reform ‘mortal
threat’ to U.N.”, The Washington Times, March 16,
2007.
354. “It is bad
enough that the United Nations Development Program office in North Korea
has been handing over hard currency to the regime of Kim Jong Il. But … [the UNDP also] apparently
had a stack of counterfeit $100 bills sitting in its office-safe in
Pyongyang. … [In
January, U.S. officials in New York viewed three UNDP internal audits
made] … in North Korea since 1999. … They found that UNDP local staffing …
was dominated by North Korean government employees, [one of whom,] in
violation of UNDP rules … [was] acting as a bank signatory… and managing
the petty cash and financial records. … Kofi
Annan [used] to set up … [scandal] inquiries so opaque, oddly timed, and
inadequate that … the investigations themselves tended to evolve into
cover-ups.
… And so it seems to be going now. … In January, Ban [Ki-moon promised an urgent and genuinely independent global audit. Then it was given to the U.N.’s own external auditors and then scaled back, but they were not ready. A March 1 internal memo] … says this review may lead only to a ‘possible’ visit to North Korea and a report ‘with preliminary findings (if any.’” Claudia Rosett, “More questions about the U.N. in
North Korea”, nationalreview.com (US), March 16,
2007.
355. “The highest-ranking American official at [Unesco] the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, [Peter Smith,] resigned just days before an official audit reported that he had violated Unesco’s rules by granting seven contracts to an American consulting firm without an open bidding procedure. … The
report by France’s Cour de Comptes … [Unesco’s external auditor] was
requested last fall by Unesco’s executive board after staff members had
complained about contracts worth $2.1 million granted by Smith to Navigant
Consulting, a Chicago-based firm. …
[The auditors found, inter alia] that the reasons for selecting
Navigant ‘are not immediately apparent’, … and concluded that ‘the fees
payable … were not negotiated in any verifiable manner.’
A
Unesco spokeswoman … said that
[Unesco director-general Koichiro] Matsuura, had agreed to
implement the 55-page report’s recommendations for tightening Unesco’s
contract procedures. ‘At this point, no charges against
Mr. Smith are envisaged,’ she added. Mr.
Smith had … [begun] reorganizing the education department [in June
2005.] But diplomats said
they were surprised … [when, at an informal meeting in 2006 to discuss his
plans,] … the presentation was made, not by Smith, but by Letitia
Chambers, managing director of Navigant’s Washington office.”
Alan Riding, “American at Unesco quits amid
auditing rebuke”, International Herald Tribune, March 20,
2007.
356a. “Cuba is
leading a bid … to prevent the newly formed U.N. Human Rights
Council from singling out countries for investigation into rights
abuses. … The former Secretary-General Kofi Annan described
these rapporteurs as the ‘crown jewels’ of the U.N. human rights
machinery. … ‘There
are huge stakes here for human rights, not only for survivors of abuses
but the credibility of the Council and the larger credibility of the
United Nations,’ [said a human rights organization leader.] … ‘Over the
decades, the special rapporteurs … have made things happen’ said
[another]. ‘Special
procedures are independent and efficient. That is why they are under
attack.’ [But] Cuba and its allies argue that countries should submit their own reports on their domestic records and that there is no need for intrusive rapporteurs. … Cuban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque warned … [that] ‘The perpetuation of country-specific mandates, imposed by force and blackmail, would maintain the spiraling confrontation that did away with the authority and credibility of the defunct Commission on Human Rights.’ The European Union says it is fighting to preserve the special procedures … The Council will … decide on the issue by mid-June.” “Fate of investigators in balance at U.N. rights
body”, Reuters, March 20, 2007.
356b. [IO Watch is pleased to present its first video clip reference -- which it hopes will not be the last -- on the shabby things which can and do go in day-to-day UN “diplomatic dialogue” in the new millennium. The video, a top-rated item at YouTube in late March, provides a brief sample of the “daily invective and truly offensive statements that are routinely welcomed by the UN Human Rights Council.” The video is found under “The prequel: Daily invective at the UN Human Rights Council”, at www.unwatch.org.]
356c. “The United Nations Human Rights Council will begin a three-week session in Geneva … amid expressions of frustration from rights advocates at its early performance and alarm over proposals that might weaken it further. ‘So far, … the opponents of human rights enforcement are running circles around the proponents,’ said Kenneth Roth … of Human Rights Watch. The
[old Human Rights Commission] was long a major embarrassment to the United
Nations. The former
secretary-general, Kofi Annan, who first proposed its replacement in 2005,
said it had ‘cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system
as a whole.’ When
the 47 members of the new council were elected last March, tighter entry
requirements … [gave] some hope of less politicized behavior. But countries from Africa and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference have dashed those hopes by voting
as a bloc to stymie Western efforts to focus [on humanitarian crises.]
… Most
notably, as happened with the commission, … the council has already passed
eight resolutions against Israel, and the Islamic group is planning four
more … No other country has been cited for human rights
violations.“ Warren Hoge, “UN hits same old roadblock on
rights”, International Herald Tribune, March 10-11,
2007.
356d. “A lot of optimism
attended the birth of the UN Human Rights Council. … But now some … are fretting that
[it] may prove only a little better, or perhaps even worse, than its
predecessor. What
they are watching keenly is the council’s reaction to the massacres and
humanitarian disaster in Darfur. This month the council received a report
on Darfur. … [Its] investigators were denied visas to visit Sudan … [but
brought] certain harsh truths to light: at least 200,000 are dead, … the
situation is getting worse not better, and the government is largely to
blame. Sadly,
though, the full council is … unlikely to hold Sudan’s rulers to account …
partly because Muslim countries, along with various non-democracies with a
soft spot for tyrants, hold a majority of the council’s 47 seats … [and]
are shielding the Khartoum regime.
More surprisingly, countries such as South Africa and India are
siding with Sudan. … At
best, the council is a declamatory body; real power lies with the Security
Council in New York. But
the mess in the UN’s top human rights agency augurs ill for the
reform of the UN as a whole.” “Great expectations: Hopes fade for a fairer UN
policy on human rights”, The Economist, March 24th,
2007.
357. “Only days
after announcing the removal of two vendors from its list of approved
businesses [and a week earlier two others, including Volga Dnepr Airlines,
see item 352. above], the United Nations said several additional
investigations are underway, including a number involving high-cost
contracts.
Among
those cases are some involving ‘the international transfer of funds
through circuitous routes and nominees and agents,’ [the UN OIOS]
Procurement Task Force said … and indicated further prosecutions could be
forthcoming. … The
latest task force statement said it ‘has for some time been vigorously
pursuing the matters … only partially revealed during the testimony’ in
[Vladimir] Kuznetsov’s criminal trial this month [see item 346. above.]
Paul
Buades, chief of the U.N. Procurement Division, said the organization is
implementing its ‘zero tolerance’ policy on procurement … ‘We’d like to
put behind all of the dark side, I would say, of those elements. We need to rebuild confidence and
trust in [the] procurement function and activity, for the staff, the
member states and the vendors.’” William H. Reilly, “UN procurement problems”,
UPI, March 23, 2007.
358. “Modern
South Africa came about, historians agree, in part
because of the United Nations’ unrelenting stance against apartheid.
… [But after just three months on the Security Council, it] … is mired in controversy. … In January it voted against a relatively mild resolution on human rights issues in Myanmar. … Last week it said it would oppose a [Security Council] briefing on … Zimbabwe … This week it threatened a delicate compromise … to rein in Iran’s nuclear program. … Why,
given its standing as a beacon of human rights, [has] South Africa taken these
positions at all? … There are
plenty of theories. … One … is that [it] is feathering its strategic relationship with China, which largely controls Myanmar, supports Zimbabwe’s authoritarian regime, … has assiduously courted President Thabo Mbeki, … [and] has big investments … in South Africa. Another
is that South Africa is playing …
bad boy on the Security Council to underscore
its demand that the council be overhauled to reflect global realities.
A third theory … is the continuing ongoing tussle over whether the governing African National Congress is still a protest movement … [or] a responsible member of the international community.” Michael Wines, “South African diplomacy stirring up
the UN”, International Herald Tribune, March 24-25,
2007.
359. “A sad law
I have noticed in my economics career: the poorer the country, the poorer
the economic analysis applied to it.
Sub-Saharan Africa, which this month marks the 50th
anniversary of its first nation to gain independence, Ghana, bears this
out. … Economists
involved in Africa then and now undervalued free markets, instead coming
up with one of the worst ideas ever: state direction by the
states least able to direct. … In
the ensuing 50 years, there have been … [many] examples of poor countries
which grew rapidly without much aid, … [most famously, China and India.]
… Despite
these reality checks, blockbuster reports … by the U.N. Millennium Project
(led by Jeffrey Sachs) … the [UNDP], and the U.N. Conference on Trade and
Development, have all reached what the UNDP called ‘a consensus on
development.’ … Unctad
… [calls for a new U.N. Development Fund for Africa, using Unctad
‘in-house experience’ and a new Unctad commission.]
… The
free market is no overnight panacea; it is just the gradual engine that
ends poverty. … [Hopefully,] many independent Africans themselves are
increasingly learning the economics of how to get rich, rather than of how
to stay poor.” William R. Easterly, “Africa’s poverty trap,”
The Wall Street Journal Asia, 27 March 2007. [Note: Mr. Easterly is the
author of ‘The white man’s burden: Why the West’s efforts to aid the rest
have done so much ill and so little good’, Penguin,
2006.]
360a. “Alongside the delayed ‘urgent audit’ by the UN Board of Auditors of the UN Development Program’s payment of hard currency in North Korea, there is a criminal investigation of senior UNDP officials. Inner
City Press has learned that 13 UNDP officials have been invited
to appear at the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of New York for … questioning. … Most of
[them] … are known to have received warnings of irregularities in UNDP’s
programs in North Korea and elsewhere, long before the problems were
inquired into by … the U.S. Mission [beginning in November 2006.]
… The
prosecutors have yet to invite … [UNDP top leaders. Some UNDP insiders]
opine that … [Kemal] Dervis is hoping that the investigation provides him
with a pretext to fire or clear out senior staff whom he inherited from
previous administrator Mark Malloch Brown … … [But the danger, they say,
is that] … Dervis himself made representations about purported lack of
knowledge or responsibility [on the above issues.] … The issues … [also highlight]
the various clans or ‘families’ in UNDP. For example, UNDP’s [Africa
regional bureau head], Gilbert Houngbo, … [formerly] Malloch Brown’s chief
of staff.” Matthew Russell Lee, “Senior UNDP officials
summoned to Southern District of NY in N. Korea case”, Inner City
Press, March 28, 2007. 360b. “The UN’s
written policy of protecting whistle-blowers appears to be
ignored by … some UN funds and programmes, particularly when
they are subject to scrutiny or investigative reporting.
Last
month Inner City Press published an article about mismanagement … [in] the
UN Office of Project Services, … [based on detailed staff whistle-blower
complaints.] … [On March 13,
UNOPS head Jan Mattsson sent] …
an email to all UNOPS staff …
threatening the ‘severest disciplinary action’ against any … [such
whistle-blowers.] … Inner
City Press has seen similar gag orders issued within the UN Joint Staff
Pension Fund … and has seen UNDP take serious retaliatory action.
… Inner
City Press asked [UN top manager] Alicia Barcena …
about the Pension Fund, whistle-blower protections and the UN Ethics
Office which is supposed to enforce them … [She] expressed
surprise that such an email could have gone out. …
U.S.
Ambassador Mark D. Wallace …[said] ‘Too often we have seen the UN
bureaucracy hunker down to protect itself from criticism rather than
taking the real steps to reform itself. The US stands by any legitimate
and truthful whistleblower and calls on all UN entities to take steps to
ensure their protection.” Matthew Russell Lee, “UN threats against Dubai
whistle-blowers pose test for Ban Ki-moon”, Inner City Press, at
www.innercitypress.com, March 28, 2007. [Note: The UN’s
much-vaunted “new” whistle-blower policy of early 2006, after a decade of
whistle-blowing coverup and suppression, now appears – unsurprisingly --
to be just another piece of paper (see UN Black Holes 2 – Whistleblowers? What
whistleblowers?.)]
361. “[UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes] … came to Darfur to see the world’s largest aid effort in action – a nearly $1 billion–a-year operation involving about 14,000 aid workers helping 3.8 million people dependent on handouts of food, medicine and water. But he was turned back by soldiers at a military checkpoint, … despite assurances from the Sudanese government that he would be given unimpeded access … Violence and bureaucracy are threatening to derail what has been perhaps the only success of the Darfur conflict – the humanitarian effort [of the past four years.] … In the past year, a dozen aid workers have been killed, dozens of vehicles stolen, compounds robbed, and workers beaten, harassed, and sexually assaulted. … Bureaucratic stonewalling keeps aid workers out much of the time. … ‘Many
organizations … [say] the bureaucratic obstacles are the No. 1 problem and
may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back’, said one senior aid
official. … Government
officials say they are not obstructing aid workers and have lived up the
agreement to allow free access.
‘The procedures are created so as to make it easy, not make it
difficult,’ said [a top Sudanese official.]” Lydia Polgreen, “War and red tape imperil Darfur
aid”, International Herald Tribune, March 28,
2007.
362. “The
increasing volumes of development aid coming from powerful emerging
economies such as China and India should meet higher governance and
transparency standards, the Group of Eight leading industrial states said
in Berlin yesterday. China already provides aid worth up to $2bn [and] India … up to $1bn. [A top Western official said their] increased investments in Africa had largely benefited the continent, but that sometimes the links … made between investment access and aid were problematic. ‘You don’t want to launch [such] investments in Africa … [to undercut G8 efforts’] to promote good governance, he argued. China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico – all represented at the Berlin meeting -- were the ‘next generation of potentially large donor countries,’ he said. … Officials
… said the delegates from China and India were keen to talk … but also stressed their right to
set their own priorities. Emerging economies also argue that industrial
countries have long used aid as an economic or political tool. …
The
Berlin meeting was the first time emerging economies had attended a G8
development ministers meeting.
The G8 ministers also urged emerging economies to join the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary framework …”
Hugh Williamson, “G8 calls for increased scrutiny
of aid”, Financial Times (UK), March 28,
2007.
363a. “Scores of police
officers in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Italy raided European
Commission headquarters, banks, company offices and homes Thursday in what
Belgian prosecutors called an investigation into
alleged corruption at the commission, the European Union’s executive
branch. … Prosecutors
said the raids were part of a three-year old investigation into contracts
for commission housing and security equipment aimed at housing commission
delegations abroad. …
‘The investigation involves suspected
bribery of European civil servants, forming a criminal
organization, violating professional secrecy, breaches of
public tender laws and forgery,’ the Brussels Prosecutors office said in a
statement. … It
is not the first time the EU has been at the center of corruption
allegations. In
1999, the European Commission led by Jacques Santer … was forced to resign
over allegations of fraud and mismanagement [especially former
against French prime minister Edith Cresson] … accusations that were later
confirmed by … an independent commission engaged by the European
Parliament.” Dan Bilefsky, “Police target European Commission:
Raids in four countries are linked to a corruption inquiry”,
International Herald Tribune, March 28,
2007. 363b. “There may be further arrests in a … corruption scandal involving the European Commission, investigators said yesterday. The Brussels prosecutors’ office … [spokesman] said the alleged corruption lasted more than a decade and involved several million euros. Three arrested Italians … will appear today before a judge … as police gather more evidence. They are accused of forgery, fraud, bribery and criminal association. … Questions … were raised yesterday … when the Commission said that the [mid-ranking] civil servant arrested … did not have the authority to sign rental and security contracts. A [Commission spokeswoman said] … ‘There are procedures in place that guarantee that [all] decisions are taken with rigorous con | |||
