|
Amid
Ebola Pledges,
ICP Asks UNDP
Who Ensures
Payments Are
Made
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
10, updated --
On the eve of
the UN's
all-day Ebola
pledging
event, Inner
City Press
asked the UN
Development
Program's
Coordinator of
Ebola Response
Sunil Saigal
what steps
UNDP would
take to ensure
that those who
announced
pledges
actually pay
them. In
response, he
acknowledges
that
non-payment is
a problem, but
added that
“it's not for
us to say.” Video here.
On July 10
while the
presidents of
Sierra Leone,
Liberia,
Guinea -- and
Zimbabwe's
Robert Mugabe
-- spoke
inside the
UN's
Trusteeship
Council
Chamber, out
on First
Avenue there
were protests
about not only
Alpha Conde of
Guinea but
also “Koroma,
where is the
Ebola money?”
Photo
here.
In the
afternoon a
self-described
representative
of the Sierra
Leone diaspora
spoke inside
the UN, for
the “private
sector;” it
was not clear
why the
diaspora
protesting
outside was
not allowed in
the UN.
A
question and
answer
stakeout that
was scheduled
for 5 pm took
place closer
to 6 pm. Inner
City Press
asked UNDP's
Helen Clark
what steps are
being taken to
ensure that
the announced
pledges are in
fact paid.
Inner City
Press cited a
study by Oxfam
of
under-payment
of pledges on
Haiti, Gaza
and Lebanon -
the radical
underpayment
in Yemen has
yet to be
studied -- and
Helen Clark
said she read
it. She said
UNDP will be
contacting the
pledgers. But
will they go
public with
the
non-payers?
Update: the UN
after 11 pm in
New York
belatedly put
out a
statement that
more than $5
billion were
pledged. But
who will
report on what
is actually
paid?
There
were pledges
which were
limited to
only some of
the three
countries -
the UN
position on
this wasn't
clear, and the
question
wasn't taken.
Still, Helen
Clark took and
answered a
press question
inside the UN
in New York,
as the Free UN
Coalition for
Access has
been asking
for some time.
So, onward and
upward. Watch
this site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2015 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
|
, 
