For
UN's Syria
Report, There
"Was No
Contract,"
Funded
by
Anonymous
Donor
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, June
13 -- With
media
worldwide
reporting that
"the UN"
today reported
93,000 killed
in Syria,
Inner City
Press has inquired
further into
the authorship
of the new
report.
Not
only is it not
a UN report
-- the UN
didn't even
pay for it.
The
California-based
Human Rights
Data Analysis
Group tells
Inner City
Press there
was no
contract... we
did the work
pro bono
because doing
analysis of
this kind is
the mission
for which we
receive
support
from our
donors."
So
HRDAG's donors
paid for the
report. But
who are they?
Inner City
Press asked,
and Patrick
Ball of HRDAG,
previously
(January 2013)
of
Benetech,
replied that
"Regarding our
anonymous
donor: I
cannot
tell you who
they are. I
can tell you
that they're
US-based."
Well
that's
re-assuring.
An anonymous
US-based donor
paid for
HRDAG's
report on the
Syria death
toll, which
the UN Office
of the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights
released and
many media
called a "UN
report."
From
Patrick Ball's
response:
From:
Patrick Ball
Subject: your
queries
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Date: Thu, Jun
13, 2013 at
7:41 AM
dear
Matthew,
--
HRDAG was not
paid for this
report. There
was no
contract, no
RFP. We
did the work
pro bono
because doing
analysis of
this kind is
the
mission for
which we
receive
support from
our donors.
--
In terms of
spinning off
from Benetech,
here are the
announcements: https://hrdag.org/welcome/
http://benetech.blogspot.com/2013/02/benetechs-human-rights-spin-off.html
(I'm
not sure why
the date on
Benetech's
announcement
is 15 Feb, I
think
we posted it
on 18 Jan, but
it might have
been edited in
Feb)
--
Regarding our
anonymous
donor: I
cannot tell
you who they
are. I can
tell you that
they're
US-based,
they're not
especially
interested in
Syria (we
didn't know we
would be
working on
Syria when we
wrote the
proposal to
them), and our
support from
them can be
used for any
purpose within
our mission.
Anonymous,
and US-based.
If
there was "no
contract," can
say a
Russia-based
or funded
NGO hand in
its report to
Navi Pillay
and get it
released on
the
OHCHR's
website? Who
decided to do
it this way?
We have asked
the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights and
will
publishing
their response
upon
receipt.
The
last report
issued in
January 2013
by the OHCHR
used San
Francisco
based
Benetech.
Inner City
Press looked
into it
and found
Benetech was
funded in part
by the US
National
Endowment for
Democracy.
Ball is
one of the
four authors
of the new
report, along
with Megan
Price, Jeff
Klingner and
Anas Qtiesh.
(The last of
these was not
listed on the
January 2013
report; we
have asked.)
Watch
this site.
, 
