Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

In Run-Up to Copenhagen, of UN Web Sites Lost and Posts Empty by U.S.

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- On climate change, while even Yvo de Boer of the UN says it's unlikely the deal will be sealed in Copenhagen in December, the UN Secretariat still maintains that there is no Plan B. And apparently that is true: while they got "SealTheDeal2009.org" to advocate for an agreement, "SealTheDeal2010.org" was recently obtained by another, through GoDaddy.com.

With all the resources the UN is devoting to Copenhagen, one might have expected them to at least take the 2010 domain name off the table. But perhaps they thought it would show a lack of faith.

Meanwhile, as a response to Inner City Press' article documenting nepotism in the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly, including PGA Ali Treki bringing his daughter and a cousin into the Office, Inner City Press has been informed that Treki asked the United States to second a staff member to his office on the climate change issue. The Obama administration has yet to come through.

UN's Ban signs Seal the Deal, 2010 not shown

From the October 27 UN transcript:

Inner City Press: I’ve been told that the, the Office of President Treki asked the United States to appoint a staff member to cover the issue of climate change, I guess to second a staff member from the United States Mission or the United States State Department to serve in the Office. Is that something you’re aware of? Is that true?

Spokesperson Jean-Victor Nkolo: Well, I don’t think I would like to go into staffing matters in a specific office at the United Nations. I don’t think that would be proper. But what I can tell you is that the Office of the President of the General Assembly is definitively staffed by a wide array of personnel coming from all horizons -- Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America. It’s a very international team and I think that it will be good that the international profile of this team continues to be reinforced. What I wouldn’t like to comment on are specifics regarding staffing matters.

Inner City Press: Is there currently somebody, I mean maybe you can comment on this one, is there, on the issue of climate change, is there currently a staff member of the Office covering that issue?

Spokesperson Nkolo: What I can tell you is that we are only a few a weeks after the General Assembly started its session, and as you know, the work of any session of the General Assembly starts in mid-September. It takes some time, usually, to actually have all the positions filled and this process is still ongoing and it does not, it’s not limited to the climate change issues. There are other areas that are being filled and the cabinet of the President of the General Assembly is working hard to make sure that all areas are filled quickly, but as efficiently and professionally as possible.

So they haven't filled the climate change post, this close to the Copenhagen meeting? Watch this site.

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On Copenhagen, Un's De Boer and Sachs Dubious, Off Message on Upbeat Seal the Deal

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- UN climate negotiatorYvo de Boer was quoted in the Financial Times last week that "a fully fledged new international treaty under the [UN framework] convention [on climate change] - I do not think that will happen. If you look at the limited amount of time remaining to Copenhagen, it's clear."

Monday at the UN, Inner City Press asked Janos Pasztor, Director of the Secretary-General's Climate Change Support Team, how what de Boer said is consistent with the more upbeat "Seal the Deal" message emanating from the 38th floor. Video here, from Minute 50:05.

"We discussed it with Mr. de Boer extensively afterwards," Pasztor replied. "Not everything he said was quoted. His message is total consistent." Pasztor added that they will go for an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen. We we cannot get a legally binding treat, he said, they we'll do it later.

When Inner City Press asked Pasztor if the UN is claiming de Boer was misquoted by the FT, he did not say yes; So apparently de Boer was read the riot act, and told to get back on message.

Some say de Boer is lucky -- Ban's deputy envoy to Afghanistan got fired for going public with his claims of electoral fraud in Afghanistan being covered up.

UN's Ban and de Boer: on the same page on deal being sealed?

On October 6, another Ban advisor Jeffrey Sachs told an audience including the Press that he doubts the deal can be sealed in Copenhagen. When Inner City Press asked Pasztor about this, he replied that Sachs represents and advises Ban only on the Millennium Development Goals. But perhaps Sachs too has now been read the riot act. If even the UN's small "global goods" team cannot stay on its polyanna message, can they be surprised as other fall away?

At UN, Kung's Ethics Cover Bayer and PetroChina, Some Say, Copenhagen Letdown

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 6 -- The UN Global Compact, which has already rebuffed activists' complaints about PetroChina and its dealings in Darfur and seems ready to reject complaints against Bayer and its pollution in West Virginia, on Tuesday embraced an ethics manifesto by theologian Hans Kung.

In a heady and surreal session in a 4th floor dining room at the UN, Hans Kung spoke against casino capitalism, but said there was still no consensus against the charging of interest. Along with former IMF chief Michel Camdessus and four others, he has launched the six page "Global Economic Ethic" manifesto.

Inner City Press asked Global Compact chief Georg Kell how this manifesto relates to the Global Compact, which rejected complaints against PetroChina's membership by saying that the wrong subsidiary was named. Might these principles require less legalism and more engagement on the substance, for example on the pending complaint with the Compact against Bayer?

Kell's answer, to "our colleague from the UN press corp," was that "there are no silver bullets." He directed the Press to the Compact's web site's presentation of a project -- sponsored, he noted, by General Electric -- showing how complicated the world is, using sample "dilemmas" about doing business in emerging markets. To those who think this sounds like a defense of PetroChina, or even of employing child labor -- they need the money, don't they? -- we refer to this Compact press release.

Bayer, West Virginia pollution and Compact answer not shown

The master of ceremonies of the event was Swiss Ambassador Peter Mauer, who called Kung "the best that Switzerland has to offer the world." Not raised was sponsor Norvartis' position against donating any of its research into H1N1 swine flu vaccine to even the poorest countries. Is that the best that Switzerland has to offer the world? Back to Camdessus, some say Switzerland is about to lose its IMF seat. But that's another story.

Footnote: also at the event, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's advisor Jeffrey Sachs spoke of climate change, and said that "we probably will not complete negotiations at Copenhagen." Inner City Press went down to the day's noon briefing and asked:

Inner City Press: Jeffrey Sachs, speaking at this event, the Global Compact event, said that probably negotiations will not be completed before or at Copenhagen. So I wanted to know is he, is this the Secretariat’s view? Is the seal the deal…?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: No, it’s Mr. Sachs’ view.

Inner City Press: It’s his own personal view?

Spokesperson Montas: Yes

Back upstairs at the event, one of Inner City Press' table-mates said of Sachs, never forget the debilitating orders he gave to Russia. Another wag mused that since Ban's deputy envoy to Afghanistan got fired for disagreeing with his boss(es) about fraud in the Afghan election, why would another Ban advisor so casually disagree with Ban's "seal the deal" mantra? Watch this site.

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At UN, BASF Dodges W. Sahara Phosphorus Fall-Out, Global Compact's PetroChina Denial

UNITED NATIONS, March 2 -- When the UN Global Compact held a meeting on "current anti-corruption efforts by its corporate participants" last week, there were more than a few ironies. Chosen by the Compact as its corporate participant and thus poster-child was the chemical firm BASF. But when Inner City Press asked BASF's chief compliance officer Eckart Suenner about alleged irregularities in his firm's export of phosphate from the contested territory of Western Sahara, and the firm's refusal to make public an expert opinion it claims legitimates the transfer, Suenner dodged the question.

Not only at the press conference on February 26, when he said while he hadn't heard about, BASF has policies on "dual use and stuff," but in the three days since Inner City Press sent him evidence of the refusal of Anne Forst of BASF's "Sustainability Center" to provide the expert opinion, no response from BASF has been received. Video here, from Minute 24:44. The inquiry focused on a shipment of 25,000 tons of phosphates from the Bu Craa mines in Western Sahara, carried by the ship Novigrad to the harbor of Ghent.

While the Global Compact claims to be moving toward increased transparency and credibility, its board recently dismissed a detailed complaint against PetroChina and subsidiaries for their activities in Sudan. Faced with widespread protest of the dismissal, the Compact's Sir Mark Moody-Stuart has written that the issue will be re-visited at an upcoming meeting of the Compact's board.

Inner City Press on February 26 asked when this will take place, and for the views on the matter of another participant, Jermyn Brooks, head of Global Private Sector Programs of Transparency International. Global Compact Executive Director Georg Kell argued that PetroChina is not a member of the Compact, only its subsidiary CNPC is. Video here, from Minute 17:20.

In fact, the opposite appears to be true. In any event, should Compact participants be hiding behind a shell game of subsidiaries, in which all members of a conglomerate can cite an affiliate's membership in the UN Global Compact, but the most controversial parts of the company can say it was not them who joined?

TI's Jermyn Brooks, who gave a detailed answer to Inner City Press' question about gray money being used to bolster the reeling banking sector, at least admitted he was "ducking" the PetroChina question, saying he doesn't have enough information. When he does, and when the Compact board revisits the question -- Kell would not give a date -- we will have more on these matters.

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.

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