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Suspended UN Pornographer Opposed
Gays, Liked Dogs, As Higher Ups Escape
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
December 18 -- For months Inner
City Press has heard of an investigation by the Office of Internal
Oversight
Services into widespread use of UN equipment and time to view
pornography. On
December 11, the New York Post broke the story in a short 130-word
article, naming
a single UN staff member, "Mario Antonio, of the Philippines." He is
a relatively lower level staffer, General Service rather than
Professional or
Director, employed in the Plant Engineering Section of the Office of
Central
Support Services.
The
narrative in the Report of
Investigation, marked Strictly Confidential by the UN's
Office of Internal Oversight Services but obtained
by Inner City Press and put online here --
says that
he sent pornography to at least 72 other UN staff members. And what did
they do
with the images? One of the recipients was in OIOS itself; 61 were in
the
Department of Management, 13 in Security and two in the Department of
Public
Information.
Mario
Anthony's defense, included in the Report,
was to describe his "understanding
of pornography as 'any extreme sexual activity,' for example, sexual
activity
between same sex individuals."
The Report
includes
reference to a video clip found on Mario Anthony's computer, sent out
by email
under the header "GERMAN," portraying a woman engaged in sex with a
German Shepherd dog. To fit in with Anthony's defense, it must have
been a male
dog, one wag quipped.
On December 12, the day after the article,
Mario Anthony was suspended without pay. Inner City Press asked the
UN's associate
spokesperson, "Can you confirm that there is a wider investigation? Is
this the only person that was being looked at or is there an ongoing
investigation?" The Associate
Spokesperson answered, "This is all that I can say about this."
At the UN, many screens - but who is watching whom (and what)?
It seems
unfair to throw a low level staffer to the wolves, to suspend him
without pay,
while the investigation is known to involve much higher UN officials.
Who leaked
the name of Mario Antonio? Sources say it came from within OIOS itself.
Was this done to take the air out of the balloon of
the wider investigation, to let off the hook higher level officials? There are others implicated,
including within OIOS itself. So where is OIOS on this? Watch this site.
Footnote: as
France on Thursday presented a
declaration calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality, Syria
and Egypt
presented an alternative, an earlier draft of which denounced
bestiality. Inner
City Press asked France's Rama Yade to respond to the Syrian text, and
to the
legal challenge to France's violation of human rights announced this
week by
Sikhs who say that by
France requiring them to remove their turbans, their religious
rights are being infringed. Rama Yade did not answer the latter.
Video here.
Perhaps, a reporter suggested, Rama Yade
is embarrassed by France's position. No more embarrassed than Mario
Antonio...
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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