Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

UN Science Under Fire, Pharma Role in Swine Flu to Pressure on Lancet on MDG 5

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- The UN system and World Health Organization made much of swine flu, and pharmaceutical companies made much money selling vaccines. On April 14, Inner City Press asked WHO's Margaret Chan how she could accept as a major advisor a man who heads a group lobbying for vaccine makers. Video here, from Minute 32:58.

WHO's Doctor Chan said "I respect the media" but "we have to work together to get the right information out." Next to her, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nodded. He was headlining a press conference about material mortality. While the UN says that the situation has not gotten better, The Lancet has reported a 35% decrease in the past 28 years.

The Lancet's editor has said he was pressure not to release this positive news while the UN is seeking to raise funds. Mr. Ban denied this, calling it "speculation and rumor." It was unclear if he meant that the Lancet's editor had been misquoted, or was simply wrong.

Earlier, the UN's flu coordinator David Nabarro had told Inner City Press that only Doctor Chan would answer for WHO. He disclosed, however, that the UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes is no longer on food security. One wondered where John Holmes is, as the UN falls under fire for renting luxury cruise ships for its staff members in Haiti.

UN's Ban, WHO's Chan, safeguards against corporate interests not shown

These officials are part of the UN's Chief Executives Board which met in Vienna last week. Inner City Press was told, and Mr. Ban's spokesman confirmed, that former Deputy S-G Mark Malloch Brown was at the Vienna meeting, providing an "outside view." The spokesman committed to find out who invited Malloch Brown. Watch this site.

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Pachauri's Opaque Moonlighting Critiqued by Figueres, of 2 Costa Ricans and the Alba Group, UNFCCC

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 -- The embattled chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, refuses to disclose how much money he makes from his simultaneousconsultancies with Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and other institutions. Now, a candidate to head the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, has announced she would cease all outside consulting if given the "full time and a half" post.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Figueres on Monday for her view of Pachauri's side business and other IPCC matters. "That would not be my choice," Ms. Figueres said, of Pachauri's side work for business. She also said diplomatically that "Doctor Pachauri I believe is at freedom to allocate his time as he sees fit." Video here, from Minute 27:18.

But shouldn't Pachauri at least be required to formally disclose who he works for on the side, and how much he gets paid? He has resisted even this.

Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon and his spokesman for the UN view on this lack of transparency. The answer was that the IPCC is not a UN body, and that Pachauri would answer the questions himself. But when he came to the UN, seeking to use Ban Ki-moon as a prop and character witness, neither took any questions from the press.

Ms. Figueres, the daughter of a former Costa Rican president, is viewed as a serious contender to replace Yvo de Boer, who is moving to KPMG (some are calling it cashing in). Inner City Press asked her if the recent appointment of another Costa Rican, Rebecca Grynspan, to the number two post at the UN Development Program might make it less likely she will get this job.

At UN, climate speakers Sept. 09, Costa Rica's president there, gender balance not shown

"It may be a stretch," Ms. Figueres agreed, that a country of four million people could get two high posts. India's candidate is said to also have the support of China.

Inner City Press asked Ms. Figueres about the opposition to the Copenhagen process by the five Latin American countries in the Alba Group. Surprisingly to some, Ms. Figueres responded that the Alba Group was "correct in the moment," that all now agree with them. An Alba Group-er afterwards said skeptically to Inner City Press, "Costa Rica never gets along with the Alba Group." Hey -- climate change bring everyone together...

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At UN, Ban and Pachauri Take No Questions on IPCC and Outside Income, Transparency Charade

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 -- Seeking to dampen controversies about the Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change's use of NGO press releases as science and about IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri's outside income from sources like Deutsche Bank, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Pachauri "encountered" the Press on Wednesday.

It was a one way encounter. Each man made a statement, each praising the other and the IPCC -- and then they left the stakeout, taking not a single question. Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe was left telling reporters, no questions, no questions. Video here.

The UN press corps was essentially used as a prop or as extras, to make it appear to viewers not paying attention that this was a legitimate press conference or Q&A. In fact, as put by one climate change activist, this was mere propaganda, like "something out of North Korea."

Or perhaps Tiger Woods is the more apt analogy, given the "racy" novel recently published by Mr. Pachauri, another correspondent noted, in which an aging Indian scientist flies around the world bedding young followers.

Back on December 21, Inner City Press asked Ban about Pachauri's presumptive financial conflicts of interest and failure to disclose, but Mr. Ban did not answer the question.

UN's Ban and Pachauri at photo op, no questions allowed

Later, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said that Ban did not have to respond to the controversies surrounding the IPCC, and that Pachauri would answer questions himself.

On Wednesday, Pachauri did not allow or answer any questions, and neither did Ban Ki-moon. What was first advertised as a sit down press conference at 12:30 was converted into a stand up stakeout from which the two men left immediately after speaking. So much for transparency. Watch this site.

Footnote: while refusing to take or answer questions in supposed press encounters, the UN is holding two separate events for journalists in the next five days. Inner City Press will not be present at the first, but may report on the second, unless questions are taken and answered before then. Watch this site.

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations