For
Syria Study,
OHCHR Paid
Benetech
$25,000 But
Selection
Process Not
Yet Disclosed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 4 --
After the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for
Human Rights
announced on
January 2 that
60,000 people
have been
killed in
Syria, Inner
City Press asked
OHCHR and its
contractor
Benetech how
Benetech had
been selected,
and how much
it got paid.
The
how-much we
can now
report,
answered by
OHCHR:
$25,000. But
how was
Benetech
picked?
One
basis for the
question was
Benetech's
human rights
project's
listed
funders,
including the
US State
Department and
the National
Endowment
for Democracy.
With
all due
respect, Inner
City Press has
asked OHCHR if
"perceived
independence
(including
from funding
by the foreign
ministries of
P5
countries with
a strong
position on
Syria) played
a role in the
assessment and
selection" of
Benetech, and
how exactly
Benetech
was selected,
from among how
many bidders?
Benetech
itself
had told Inner
City Press,
"Yes, there
was an RFP for
this project.
For the
specific
selection
mechanism, you
should
contact OHCHR
who can
provide the
details."
Understanding
that
OHCHR's
hardworking
spokesperson
was busy with
larger if not
more critical
media, Inner
City
Press waited
some hours and
then published
a story,
which was picked
up
in the UK
Guardian.
When the next
day January 3
OHCHR did
respond,
this Inner
City Press questioning,
quoted in the
Guardian,
was
characterized
as "casting
aspersions."
Inner
City Press
replied that
it's not "
casting
aspersions to
ask
questions
about how the
contractor was
selected, and
to note who
the
contractor's
other funders
are... To
listen to the
doubts of some
Security
Council
members and
try to get to
the bottom of
how the
selection of
contractor was
made is, I
think,
journalism,
maybe more
so than just
slavishly
reporting what
a UN agency is
saying."
OHCHR
has for now
said "We
agreed to pay
25,000 dollars
for the work,
and yes due
procedure was
followed."
But
what procedure
is that?
Many readers
have written
in; hence this
interim story.
Inner City
Press has
asked, "Is the
Request for
Proposals
public? How
many companies
responded?
What criteria
were used?"
We anticipate
answers,
despite being
told in
advance it is
a waste of
time, on
Monday,
January 7.
Watch this
site.
, 
