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At UNDP, Human Rights Are Left for Last, While Legal Empowerment of the Poor Is At Least Discussed

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, January 11 -- What is the place of human right at the UN Development Program? Thursday Inner City Press asked Peggy Hicks of Human Rights Watch, offering the example of UNDP helping Uzbekistan's Karimov regime to collect taxes, organizing a National Commission on Human Rights in Zimbabwe which is controlled by Robert Mugabe and boycotted by non-governmental organizations, and having funded "voluntary" disarmament in Karamoja in Uganda, which devolved into the torching of villages and killing of civilians. Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Karamoja are all named as hotspots of rights violation in HRW's World Report 2007, in which Ms. Hicks has a chapter on human rights and the UN.

            Ms. Hicks replied that there is a long road to go, to "mainstream" human rights within not only the UN but also its funds, agencies and programs, specifically UNDP. She said that more than is the case as present, the UN's human rights units need to have prominent places in country teams and to be listened to by UNDP resident representative at the country level. She suggested that Ban Ki-moon begin to judge and evaluate the performance of existing senior UN officials on human rights. How would Messrs. Dervis and Melkert fare? Or, for the Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe examples , Messrs. Fikret Akcura and Agostinho Zacarias, respectively? More to follow.

Ad Melkert: have human rights been "mainstreamed" from the UN to UNDP?

            On the other hand, and in fairness, UNDP co-sponsored an interesting forum on Wednesday afternoon, entitled "Legal Empowerment of the Poor: From Concept to Action." Surprising for an event involving UNDP, at least two of the speakers were openly critical or questioning of the UN system. Ashraf Ghani said that during his time as Minister of Finance for Afghanistan, his "biggest problem was the lack of transparency" of UN agencies in Afghanistan, which included and includes UNDP. He recounted who he was given a single page to show how much money was spent.

            Sheela Patel, the founder of Slum Dwellers International, said that "UNDP is very, very behind in looking at the urbanization agenda."

            To their credit, the questioners who followed, nearly all of them UNDP staff, including an ex-resident representative from Ghana and also a staffer who'd worked on women and development in Central Asia, rather than get defensive, mused about the implications of Mr. Ghani's critique. One of the questioners called the implications radical. Well, yes. In any event it focused attention on the plight of the poor, and was more than propaganda. We try to give credit where it's due.

* * *

            An aside we can't resist, about the Human Rights Watch report. It covers 70 countries. Inner City Press asked why, for example, neither the Central African Republic nor Somalia were included. Ms. Hicks responded that it came down to deciding where to spend HRW's resources, with the criteria involving where reporting can bring about change, and where there are governments and decision-makers willing to listen. It's sad that Somalia, earlier in 2006, did not pass this test. It is also unfortunate because many people take these HRW World Reports as listings of the worst human rights hotspots on the planet. If the standard is really about ease of impact, controlled by places that opinion-makers and funders would rebel against excluding (North Korea, Darfur, Belarus), that should perhaps be disclosed more prominently.  That said, the 556-page volume is very much of use, and this year's critique of the EU and of the UN (in writing) and UNDP (orally) were much needed.

  Again, because a number of Inner City Press' UNDP sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of UNDP and many of its staff. As they used to say on TV game shows, keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

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At UNDP and at DESA, Countries Call All the Shots for a Four Percent Cut, UNDP's Trust Funds

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, January 10 -- How much should a country be allowed to dominate a UN program or fund?  While this question has arisen with regard to the UN Development Program, which runs separate trust funds for many countries, allowing the country to dictate how and where the money is spent and who is hired, while taking a four percent cut, Wednesday Inner City Press asked the head of the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, DESA, which is embroiled in scandal. (Regarding the scandal, which even UN's write-up had to include, see the bottom of this report for a letter to the editor Inner City Press has received.)

            Jose Antonio Ocampo answered that countries run their money through the UN, often to hire their own nationals, "because they can achieve something purpose they want to achieve." Video here, from Minute 52:34. Obviously. But what might these purposes be?

            A case into which Inner City Press has been inquiring involves Italy funding UNDP in Somalia, in order to place Italian intelligence agents there to monitor Italy's economic interests in the country. Inner City Press has asked UNDP to describe these operations in Somalia and the nationalities of the non-Somalis hired. UNDP has refused to provide this information. A month ago, Inner City Press asked UNDP for information about various of its trust funds. Neither has this information been provided.

Dervis: 468 trust funds, audits withheld, no answers for a month

            The most recent publicly-available audit of UNDP states that  "83 of the 468 trust funds established by UNDP... were in a deficit position as at [sic] 31 December 2005." Some of the trust funds listed in the audit include:

UNDP/Italy Trust Fund for Anti-Poverty Partnership Initiatives;

UNDP Trust Fund for Somalia;

Germany Trust Fund for UNDP Program for Accountability and Transparency -- this from one of the countries that complained this week about UNDP violating its own rule requiring documents to be available six weeks before the UNDP Executive Board meeting;

UNDP/Republic of Korea Trust Fund;

Japan Trust Fund for Scholarships to East Timorese Students in East Timor;

UNDP/Australia Trust Fund for Fiscal and Monetary Management Reform and Statistical Improvement, Phase II -- it was one of these trust funds for improvement of statistics and reporting, funded by the UK, which has been put into jeopardy by Nora Lustig's blow-up, in front of a visitor from the UK's DIFID, at a staffer seconded by the UK.

There is the Trust Fund for UNDP History Project -- presumably the book on which UNDP spend over $500,000, "UNDP: A Better Way?"

Norway Trust Fund for Municipal Employment Assistance Program in Macedonia (note to UNDP: you might want to call it FYROM);

EEC Trust Fund for Enhancing Border Control Management in Moldova;

EEC Trust Fund for Strengthening Border Management on the Belarusian - Ukrainian Border;

EEC Trust Fund for Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine;

Swedish Trust Fund on Efficiency and Effectiveness Enhancing Measures within UNDP -- this from another one of the countries that complained this week about UNDP violating its own rule requiring documents to be available six weeks before the UNDP Executive Board meeting;

EEC Somalia Trust Fund Proposed Feasibility Study on Financial Services;

EEC Trust Fund for Support to the Rule of Law and Security (ROLS) Program for Somalia;

Fonds d'Affectation Special Francais;

EEC Trust Fund for Partnership for the Future - Cyprus (note that UNDP's UNOPS is embroiled in controversy for funding propaganda to promote "the Annan plan" for Cyprus); etc.

            And this is not even considering UNDP's "sub-trust funds," into which we will inquire in future installments.

             While UNDP has, with the single exception of UNDP's Global Environmental Facility's Goa junket, refused to answer any of Inner City Press' questions for the past month, Wednesday evening the UN Counselor of a UNDP-donor nations offered a different perspective on UNDP's resistance to providing copies of internal audits not only to the press, but even to member states. The Counselor speculated that UNDP wants to protect the details of its relationships with host countries. The Counselor and his Ambassador expressed ambivalence about UNDP's standardless embrace of repressive regimes in such countries as Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and North Korea (these were this country's examples). On the other hand there might be reasons to engage with dictatorships. But if UNDP refuses to provide any information or to answer any questions (unlike, as today's example, UNHCR, click here to view), it is impossible to make or report UNDP's case for what it does and doesn't do. Here's hoping for some much-delayed responses to long-ago requested information, some as simple as UNDP's agreements with nations, which are explicitly supposed to be public.

Guido Bertucci

  Here now a letter to Inner City Press about DESA:

In a message, [Name withheld from fear of retaliation] writes:

Dear Mr. Lee -- As a former DESA staff member, I would like to thank you for your coverage of the United Nations. There is another other matter on which I would like to draw your attention -- the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. UN staff members have watched with interest the recent news coverage of Mr. Guido Bertucci and allegations of mismanagement, abuse of power, and favoritism/retaliation which have characterized his career with the UN, and more recently his service to the Organization as Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management, DPADM.

Some news stories have covered specific instances of favoritism and abuse of power, particularly the case of the consultant who received an obscene amount of money for providing functions which are already within the capacity of UN/DPADM or DPI staff, and then tried to cover it up by doctoring her website.  The cardinal rule concerning the award of consulting contracts is that no contract may be awarded for a function which already exists among the staff.  A more complete examination, whether it be by the media or by OIOS, will find that many of the so-called consultancy contracts awarded by Bertucci were to his friends or associates, and that more alarmingly, in many cases the Organization received no tangible benefit -- no reports, no services -- just money, for nothing more than attendance at this conference or that workshop.
Other news stories have focused on various trust funds and how Bertucci has used these trust funds to accomplish pet objectives of a particular government.  It is clear to those who have followed this man that Bertucci has placed the interests of a certain member state above those of the United Nations.  Bertucci has said that recent press coverage "is an attack against all Italians."  The reality is that for eleven years as division chief, Bertucci's own conduct has been an attack against all international civil servants who believe in the mission of the United Nations...

I want to encourage you to spend some time soliciting the input of current and former staff of DESA/DPADM, and in particular those of us who have worked hard to survive under the Bertucci Regime. Without too much difficulty, you will find that we fear retaliation because Bertucci has threatened retaliation.  You will find that in general, we are pleased with recent media coverage of DESA because we know that it will be in the best interest of the United Nations and for DESA that the new Secretary-General is informed of Bertucci's activities, and has the opportunity to put a new leadership team in place to restore the credibility which has been lost over the past several years. You will find that for many years, staff members have wanted to challenge Bertucci for his imperial and self-interested management style, but that we feared the consequences.  You will find we believe that finally, the Bertucci era of malfeasance and abuse looks like it is drawing to a close.  Most importantly, you will find that we are committed to our work, but that Bertucci's actions have made a mockery out of our UN mandate: to promote improved public administration and governance, ethics and professionalism.

It is a positive thing that OIOS has been called to investigate these various allegations against Bertucci.  The fact remains, however, that many DESA staff do not trust OIOS.  We have seen Bertucci win at the OIOS game before -- when OIOS was under its previous management.  No one will feel comfortable coming forward to OIOS unless Mr. Bertucci is first removed from his position.  Until that happens, staff may feel more comfortable approaching the attentive media.  Perhaps you have a role to play in this unfolding story.
Sincerely, NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST, IN FEAR OF RETALIATION

            Sounds like UNDP -- except that at UNDP, there is no OIOS, and there is even more resistance at the highest levels to reforms and improved transparency....

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

At the UN, Mysterious Deletion from Iran Sanctions List of Aerospace Industries Organization Goes Unexplained

At the UN, Iran Resolution Passes 15-0 Amid Media Frenzy While Somalia and UN Reform Are Ignored

At the UN, Security Council and GA Games and Holiday Spirit As Revolving Door Ban Disappears on Final Day

UNDP Not Covered By Weak UN Post-Employment Restrictions, Dervis and Mizsei and Aid to the Scapegoated

UN Post-Employment Restriction Are Watered Down for Senior Officials, Comparison to June Draft Reveals

At the UN, Curt Eulogies for Dictator, Revolving Door and Budget Left for the Last Day

UNDP's Dervis Backtracks on Transparency, Promises Accounting of Funds, Denies Role in Uganda Abuse

At the UN, Jeffrey Sachs Answers the $75,000 Question But Not on UNDP, Still Laudable Goals for 2025

Burundi Spin at the UN, Amid Coup Trial and Ceasefire Not Implemented, Great Lakes Commission Moves In

At the UN, Iran Resolution Goes Blue as Ivory Coast is Traded Away With No Follow-up on Hmung

At the UN, Annan's Long Goodbye, With Oil for Food in the Air and Hothouse Musical Chairs

At Kofi Annan's Farewell, UNDP Transparency is Raised, and Brian Gleeson Steps Up

At UN in Beirut, Dueling Charges of Job-Trading and Tax-Evasion, the Burden of Mervat Tallawy, Retaliation from Below

UNDP Will Be Called to Greater Transparency, Says President of Spain, on UNDP's Board, and Flaws of UNOPS

UNDP's Ad Melkert Says He Will Finally Increase Transparency, Describes Fraud in Russia, Dodges Uganda

In Eastern Congo, Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made a Colonel, Clooney And Now Guehenno Might Stay

At the UN, Ocampo 1 Says Kony To Jail and Ocampo 2 Sees No Serious Bertucci Charges, Dueling Parties

In UNDP's Book, Strong's Scandals Are Missing, While Workers Complain, MMB Schmoozes the Korean Mission

At UNDP, Flighty Rhetoric Founders in Mismanagement, MMB's Net, a Genocidaire and Whither ECOSOC

At the UN, Disabled Are Freed from a Footnote, Murky Answers from Gbagbo to Kosovo to a Genocidaire

Countering UN's Vanity Press, UNDP Histories from Below, Brussels and Two Views of Omar Bakhet

At the UN, Indigenous Indignation, Revolving Door Mysteries and Peace Pipe Belatedly Smoked

At the UN, Questions of Congo Mass Graves and Kazana, Mugabe and Forests and Rich German Ships

UNDP Is Important For The Poor, and Therefore Must Be Made Transparent

As UN Speechifies, UNDP Audits Are Still Being Withheld, While War in Somalia and Sudan, Pronk Blogs On

Waste, Fraud and Abuse at UNDP in Vietnam, While UN Secretariat Urges Censorship

At the UN, Questions of Humanitarian Aid and Congo Body Count, Despots' Crackdown on Dissent

In UNDP, Questions of Money Wasted, Neutrality Trampled, Russian Office Audits Withheld and Sachs Expenses

From Baidoa to the UN, Denials on Ethiopian Troops Being in Somalia, Resolution Is Passed

Retaliation Found at UNDP, While Dervis Is Focused on Turkey, In Two Weeks Will Take Questions

Annan's Spokesman Silent on 150 Dead in Congo, War in Somalia - But in Loud Defense of UNDP's $567,000 Book

At the UN, Interlopers into Somalia Are Discussed, With Chadian Pull-Back, Peacekeepers and Uganda's Karamoja

UNDP Spent $567,000 on Book to Praise Itself, While the Well-Placed Feed Off UNDP's Core Budget and Prime Postings

As UNDP Questions Mount, Mark Malloch Brown Calls Them Irresponsible, Answers Only in Vanity Press

In UNDP Series, Questions of Jeffrey Sachs and Associates Payments, From $1 to $75,000

From Sleaze in Vietnam to Fights in DC-1, UNDP Appears Out of Control at the Top

On Somalia, Past Arms Embargo Violations Forgiven in Zeal to Contain Islamic Courts

In UNDP, Drunken Mis-Managers on the Make Praised and Protected, Meet UNDP's Kalman Mizsei

From Violent Disarmament in Uganda to the National Bank of Serbia, UNDP Leaves Others to Answer for It

UNDP Sources Say Dervis Fires Malloch Brown-linked Officials, Then Offers Hush-Up Jobs

On Somalia, Fiji and Oil-for-Food, UN Ambiguity Leads to Hypocrisy and Corruption

At the UN, Indigenous Rights Get Deferred, As U.S. Abstains, Deftly or Deceptively

At the UN, Threat and Possible Statement on Fiji Spotlights Selection and Payment of UN Peacekeepers

At the UN, China and Islamic Dev't Bank Oppose Soros and World Bank On How to Fight Poverty

At the UN, Misdirection on Somalia and Myanmar, No Answers from UNDP's Kemal Dervis

UNDP Dodges Questions of Disarmament Abuse in Uganda and of Loss of Togo AIDS Grant, Dhaka Snafu

At the UN, The Swan Song of Jan Egeland and the Third Committee Loop, Somalia Echoes Congo

UN Silent As Protesters Tear Gassed in Ivory Coast, As UNMOVIC Plods On and War Spreads in Somalia

In the UN, Uzbekistan Gets a Pass on Human Rights As Opposition to U.S. Grows and War's On in Somalia

At the UN, Cluster Bombs Unremembered, Uighurs Disappeared and Jay-Z Returns with Water -- for Life

From the UN, Silence on War Crimes Enforcement and Conflicts of Interest on Complaint from Bahrain

En Route to Deutsche Bank, the UN's Door Revolves, While Ban Ki-moon Arrives and Moldova Spins

As Two UN Peacekeepers Are Killed, UN Says Haiti's Improving, Ban Ki-moon on Zimbabwe?

Nagorno-Karabakh President Disputes Fires and Numbers, Oil and UN, in Exclusive Interview with Inner City Press

Inside the UN, Blaming Uganda's Victims, Excusing Annan on Mugabe, and U.S. Blocked Darfur Trip

U.S. Blocked Council's Trip to Darfur Meeting, Brazzaville Envoy Explains After U.S. Casts a Veto

At the UN, Council Works Overtime To Cancel Its Trip About Darfur, While DC Muses on John Bolton

UN Panel's "Coherence" Plan Urges More Power to UNDP, Despite Its Silence on Human Rights

On Water, UNDP Talks Human Rights, While Enabling Violations in Africa and Asia, With Shell and Coca-Cola

Will UN's Revolving Door Keep Human Rights Lost, Like Bush's Call and WFP Confirmation Questions?

On Somalia, We Are All Ill-Informed, Says the UN, Same on Uganda, Lurching Toward UNDP Power Grab

On WFP, Annan and Ban Ki-Moon Hear and See No Evil, While Resume of Josette Sheeran Shiner Is Edited

Would Moon Followers Trail Josette Sheeran Shiner into WFP, As to U.S. State Dep't?

At the UN, Positions Are Up For the Grabbing, Sun's Silence on Censorship, Advisor Grabs for Gun

In WFP Race, Josette Sheeran Shiner Praises Mega Corporations from Cornfield While State Spins

At the UN, Housing Subsidy Spin, Puntland Mysteries of UNDP and the Panama Solution

In Campaign to Head UN WFP, A Race to Precedents' Depths, A Murky Lame Duck Appointment

At the UN, Gbagbo and his Gbaggage, Toxic Waste and Congolese Sanctions

WFP Brochure-Gate? John Bolton Has Not Seen Brochure of "Official" U.S. Candidate to Head World Food Program

Ivory Coast Stand-Off Shows Security Council Fault Lines: News Analysis

At the UN, It's Groundhog's Day on Western Sahara, Despite Fishing Deals and Flaunting of the Law

"Official" U.S. Candidate to Head WFP Circulates Brochure With Pulitzer Claim, UN Staff Rules Ignored

Senegal's President Claims Peace in Casamance and Habre Trial to Come, A Tale of Two Lamines

A Tale of Two Americans Vying to Head the World Food Program, Banbury and Sheeran Shiner

At the UN, the Unrepentant Blogger Pronk, a Wink on 14 North Korean Days and Silence on Somalia

At the UN, Literacy Losses in Chad, Blogless Pronk and Toothless Iran Resolution, How Our World Turns

Sudan Pans Pronk While Praising Natsios, UN Silent on Haiti and WFP, Ivorian Fingers Crossed

UN Shy on North Korea, Effusive on Bird Flu and Torture, UNDP Cyprus Runaround, Pronk is Summoned Home

At the UN, Silence from UNDP on Cyprus, from France on the Chad-Bomb, Jan Pronk's Sudan Blog

Russia's Vostok Battalion in Lebanon Despite Resolution 1701, Assembly Stays Deadlocked and UNDP Stays Missing

As Turkmenistan Cracks Down on Journalists, Hospitals and Romance, UNDP Works With the Niyazov Regime

At the UN, Darfur Discussed, Annan Eulogized and Oil For Food Confined to a Documentary Footnote

With All Eyes on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo Conflagration

As Venezuela and Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed

At the UN, North Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales

At the UN, Georgia Speaks of Ethnic Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas Denied by the U.S.

At the UN, Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems

At the UN, Annan's Africa Advisor Welcome Chinese Investment, Dodges Zimbabwe, Nods to Darfur

At the UN, Richard Goldstone Presses Enforcement on Joseph Kony, Reflecting Back on Karadzic

UN Defers on Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia

Afghanistan as Black Hole for Info and Torture Tales, Photos and Talk Mogadishu, the UN Afterhours

Amid UN's Korean Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya Exposer

UN Envoy Makes Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled Election

Sudan's UN Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist Groups in Pakistan

At the UN, As Next S-G is Chosen, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments, Quiet Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions

Chaos in UN's Somalia Policy, Working With Islamists Under Sanctions While Meeting with Private Military Contractors

U.S. Candidate for UN's World Food Program May Get Lame Duck Appointment, Despite Korean Issues

At the UN, U.S. Versus Axis of Airport, While Serge Brammertz Measures Non-Lebanese Teeth

Exclusion from Water Is Called Progress, of Straw Polls and WFP Succession

William Swing Sings Songs of Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of Intel

Warlord in the Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time Between Elections

In Some New Orleans, Questions Echo from the South Bronx and South Lebanon

In New Orleans, While Bone Is Thrown in Superdome, Parishes Still In Distress

At the UN, Tales of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While Copters Grounded

US's Frazer Accuses Al-Bashir of Sabotage, Arab League of Stinginess, Chavez of Buying Leaders - Click here for video file by Inner City Press.

Third Day of UN General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran and Montenegro and Still Somalia

On Darfur, Hugo Chavez Asks for More Time to Study, While Planning West Africa Oil Refinery

At the UN, Ivory Coast Discussed Without Decision on Toxic Politics, the Silence of Somalia

Evo Morales Blames Strike on Mobbed-Up Parasites, Sings Praise of Coca Leaf and Jabs at Coca-Cola

Musharraf Says Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring Civilian Rule

At the UN, Cyprus Confirms 'Paramilitary' Investigation, Denies Connection to Def Min Resignation, CBTB Update

A Tale of Three Leaders, Liberia Comes to Praise and Iran and Sudan to Bury the UN

UN Round-up: Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton Talks Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast

As UN's Annan Now Says He Will Disclose, When and Whether It Will Be to the Public and Why It Took So Long Go Unasked

At the UN, Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S. Mission Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored

At the UN, Financial Disclosure Are Withheld While Freedom of Information Is Promised, Of Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops

UN's Annan Says Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial Disclosure

A Still-Unnamed Senior UN Official in NY Takes Free Housing from His Government, Contrary to UN Staff Regulations

UN Admits To Errors in its Report on Destruction of Congolese Village of Kazana, Safeguards Not In Place

As UN Checks Toxins in Abidjan, the Dumper Trafigura Figured in Oil for Food Scandal, Funded by RBS and BNP Paribas

Targeting of African Americans For High Cost Mortgages Grew Worse in 2005, While Fed Downplays Its Own Findings

The UN and Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen Conflicts Unchanged; Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo

The UN Cries Poor on Lawless Somalia, While Its Ex-Security Chief Does Business Through Ruleless Revolving Door

At the UN, Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly's Surface, While Incoming Council President Dodges Most Questions

"Horror Struck" is How UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments Would Leave U.S., Referral on Burma But Not Uzbekistan

Security Council President Condemns UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments, While UK "Doesn't Do It Any More"

At the UN, Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by Member States

Rare UN Sunshine From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell in its Ear on Nigeria

Annan Family Ties With Purchaser from Compass, Embroiled in UN Scandal, Raise Unanswered Ethical Questions

At the UN, from Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovars to Lezgines, Micro-States as Powerful's Playthings

Inquiry Into Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, As Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond

On the UN - Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost

Stop Bank Branch Closings and Monopolies in the Katrina Zone, Group Says, Challenging Regions- AmSouth Merger

Ship-Breakers Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh, Largest UNIFIL Troop Donor

With Somalia on the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian Invasion

In UN's Lebanon Frenzy, Darfur Is Ignored As Are the Disabled, "If You Crave UNIFIL, Can't You Make Do With MONUC?"

UN Decries Uzbekistan's Use of Torture, While Helping It To Tax and Rule; Updates on UNIFIL and UNMIS Off-Message

On Lebanon, Russian Gambit Focuses Franco-American Minds, Short Term Resolution Goes Blue Amid Flashes of Lightening

Africa Can Solve Its Own Problems, Ghanaian Minister Tells Inner City Press, On LRA Peace Talks and Kofi Annan's Views

At the UN, Jay-Z Floats Past Questions on Water Privatization and Sweatshops, Q'Orianka Kilcher in the Basement

In the UN Security Council, Speeches and Stasis as Haiti is Forgotten, for a Shebaa Farms Solution?

UN Knew of Child Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN Facilitated

Impunity's in the Air, at the UN in Kinshasa and NY, for Kony and Karim and MONUC for Kazana

UN Still Silent on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo Spin

UN's Guehenno Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues

With Congo Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is Distracted

In DR Congo, UN Applauds Entry into Army of Child-Soldier Commander Along with Kidnapper

Spinning the Congo, UN Admits Hostage Deal with Warlord That Put Him in Congolese Army

At the UN, Dow Chemical's Invited In, While Teaming Up With Microsoft is Defended

Kofi Annan Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers

UN Silent As Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News Analysis

UN's Guehenno Speaks of "Political Overstretch" Undermining Peacekeeping in Lower Profile Zones

In Gaza Power Station, the Role of Enron and the U.S. Government's OPIC Revealed by UN Sources

UN's Corporate Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and UNDP Continues

BTC Briefing, Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations

Conflicts of Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts

UN Grapples with Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without Explanation

UN Gives Mugabe Time with His Friendly Mediator, Refugees Abandoned

At the UN, Friday Night's Alright for Fighting; Annan Meets Mugabe

UN Acknowledges Abuse in Uganda, But What Did Donors Know and When? Kazakh Questions

In Uganda, UNDP to Make Belated Announcement of Program Halt, But Questions Remain (and see The New Vision, offsite).

Disarmament Abuse in Uganda Leads UN Agency to Suspend Its Work and Spending

Disarmament Abuse in Uganda Blamed on UNDP, Still Silent on Finance

Alleged Abuse in Disarmament in Uganda Known by UNDP, But Dollar Figures Still Not Given: What Did UN Know and When?

Strong Arm on Small Arms: Rift Within UN About Uganda's Involuntary Disarmament of Karamojong Villages

UN's Selective Vision on Somalia and Wishful Thinking on Uighurs

UN Habitat Predicts The World Is a Ghetto, But Will Finance Be Addressed at Vancouver World Urban Forum?

UN's Annan Concerned About Use of Terror's T-Word to Repress, Wants Freedom of Information

UN  Waffles on Human Rights in Central Asia and China; ICC on Kony and a Hero from Algiers

UN & US, Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty and Senator Tom Coburn

Human Rights Forgotten in UN's War of Words, Bolton versus Mark Malloch Brown: News Analysis

In Praise of Migration, UN Misses the Net and Bangalore While Going Soft on Financial Exclusion

UN Sees Somalia Through a Glass, Darkly, While Chomsky Speaks on Corporations and Everything But Congo

Corporate Spin on AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence

The Silence of the Congo and Naomi Watts; Between Bolivia and the World Bank

Human Rights Council Has Its Own Hanging Chads; Cocky U.S. State Department Spins from SUVs

Child Labor and Cargill and Nestle; Iran, Darfur and WHO's on First with Bird Flu

Press Freedom? Editor Arrested by Congo-Brazzaville, As It Presides Over Security Council

The Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens

Background Checks at the UN, But Not the Global Compact; Teaching Statistics from Turkmenbashi's Single Book

Ripped Off Worse in the Big Apple, by Citigroup and Chase: High Cost Mortgages Spread in Outer Boroughs in 2005, Study Finds

Burundi: Chaos at Camp for Congolese Refugees, Silence from UNHCR, While Reform's Debated by Forty Until 4 AM

The Chadian Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come

Through the UN's One-Way Mirror, Sustainable Development To Be Discussed by Corporations, Even Nuclear Areva

Racial Disparities Grew Worse in 2005 at Citigroup, HSBC and Other Large Banks

Mine Your Own Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the Paparazzi

Human Rights Are Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the Letter, But the Process is Still Murky

Iraq's Oil to be Metered by Shell, While Basrah Project Remains Less than Clear

Kofi, Kony, Kagame and Coltan: This Moment in the Congo and Kampala

As Operation Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's Civil War and Has No Answers if Iraq's Oil is Being Metered

Cash Crop: In Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in their Camps

The Shorted and Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't Add Up

UN Reform: Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance Contract

In the Sudanese Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says

Empty Words on Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia

What is the Sound of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War at UN

Kosovo: Of Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of Ferronikeli Mines

Abkhazia: Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia

Post-Tsunami Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives

Citigroup Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference

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