After
Herfkens
Exposed Taking
Dutch & UN
Money, On
Bachelet &
ILO Panel
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 27 --
For an
Organization
that preaches
accountability,
the UN system
displays
little of it.
Three years
after Eveline
Herfkens of
The
Netherlands
was exposed
for violating
UN system
rules by
accepting a
substantial UN
salary as well
as $7,000 a
month from her
government
-- allegedly
as an
entertainment
budget -- and
she was forced
to step
down, she
had reappeared
on the UN
Advisory Group
on social
protection
chaired by
Michele
Bachelet,
convened by
the
International
Labor
Organization.
At
a UN press
conference
Thursday,
Inner City
Press asked if
Ms. Herfkens'
past had been
ignored in
giving her
this new UN
system post.
Ms. Herfkens
was in
attendance, in
the front row,
but did not
answer. The
ILO's Juan
Somavia said
yes, there was
a
"controversy,"
but Herfkens'
"experience"
was deemed to
trump it. This
answer, and
the question,
were omitted
from the UN's
purported
summary of the
press
conference,
click here to
view.
So
high officials
in the UN can
violate the
rules but be
quietly
recycled back
into UN system
"advisory"
jobs based on
their
experience.
Herfkens on
UNTV in 2005,
before the
fall (c) UN
Photo
This
is
only one
example. After
the deadly
bombing of the
UN compound in
the Canal
Hotel in
Baghdad in
2003, then
Secretary
General Kofi
Annan's
spokesman said
that Ramiro
Lopes da Silva
would be
required to
resign but
could "return
to his 'D-2'
(Director)
post in World
Food
Programme,"
emphasizing
that "his
future
assignments
will not
include any
responsibilities
for security
matters."
Two
weeks ago, WFP
staff
contacted
Inner City
Press to
complain that
despite this
history,
Ramiro Lopes
da Silva had
been put in
charge of WFP
security by
chief Josette
Sheeran. On
October 17
Inner City
Press sought
an explanation
from four WFP
official,
including
spokesman Greg
Barrow and Ms.
Sheeran
herself:
"please
respond
to criticism
of having put
Ramiro Lopes
da Silva in
charge of
security for
WFP, given his
role in Iraq
in connection
with the Canal
Hotel
bombing."
Only
after a week
had passed,
and Inner City
Press has
published a
first story,
did WFP
respond,
through its
spokesman Greg
Barrow:
In
response
to your
questions: DED
Ramiro Lopes
da Silva is
one of WFP's
most
experienced
senior
managers, and
we have the
utmost
confidence in
him.
This
did not in
anyway respond
to Ramiro
Lopes da
Silva's role
in Iraq in
connection
with the Canal
Hotel bombing,
much less Kofi
Annan's
spokesman Fred
Eckhard's
statement that
Ramiro Lopes
da Silva's
"future
assignments
will not
include any
responsibilities
for security
matters."
Inner
City Press
wrote back to
Barrow, and
wrote directly
to Ramiro
Lopes da Silva
"I
have asked WFP
without much
substantive
response the
question
below, now
having found
your contact
information in
fairness and
hoping for a
response I ask
you: please
respond to
criticism of
having put
Ramiro Lopes
da Silva in
charge of
security for
WFP, given his
role in Iraq
in connection
with the Canal
Hotel bombing.
Please respond
- on
deadline."
Ramiro
Lopes
da Silva not
having
responded,
Inner City
Press asked
the spokesman
of Ban
Ki-moon, who
has inissted
that UN system
staff security
is important
to him,
whether he
gave Ramiro
Lopes da Silva
a waiver from
the action of
Kofi Annan
after the
Canal Hotel
bombing, or if
there was
simply no UN
system follow
through.
Spokesman
Martin Nesirky
said on
October 25
that he would
answer. But
two days later
he has not.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Herfkens'
fall was in
early 2008,
before the
global
financial blow
out later that
year. On
Thursday Inner
City Press
asked Michelle
Bachelet about
the place of
privatization
and, in
essence, Wall
Street in
social
protection
plans. She
said that the
Report is for
"all
countries,"
but did not
squarely
address the
privatization
question. To
be continued.
, 
