At UNDP, Dervis Dodged Questions for a Month, Now Hides Behind Melkert, Slickly Edited

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

UN, January 20, 5:55 am -- As the UN Development Program tries to deflect the scandal and investigation now surrounding its failure to release damning internal audits of its programs in North Korea, including by quickly offering "broadcast quality" snippets of Friday's press conference, other issues emerge from the recent correspondence between UNDP and the U.S. Mission.

            Inner City Press has and has had in its possession the chain of letters, extensively quoted from below. Among other things, it is clear that Kemal Dervis tries to refer even major funders to his do-it-all Number Two, Ad Melkert, or even simply to his chief of staff, Tegegnwork Gettu. As regards the seeming commitment to stop paying in hard currency by March 1, 2007, in fact there is a loophole, under which such payment could continue if certified by the Administrator. Just as questions have grown about UNDP's OAPR, this auditing unit's director, Jessie Mabutas, has decided to leave. While UNDP has refused to confirm Inner City Press' earlier report about Ms. Mabutas' decision to leave to a job at IFAD, staff have confirmed she is leaving at latest in March.

UNDP's rarely-seen David Morrison with Melkert, filling in for the rarely-seen Dervis

            UNDP's press conference on Friday, announced for the first time to the UN press corps less than 20 minutes before it began, now appears in a different light. During the 39 minute press conference, a half-dozen journalists asked questions highly skeptical of UNDP's answers and operations. Click here for full 39 minute video from UN Television, and compare it and even the UN's News Service write-up to the video now offered near the bottom of this UNDP web page. UNDP went and prepared carefully edited excerpts, excluding questions that UNDP didn't like, and tacking on a mock interview in which Melkert says that the purpose of the forthcoming audit is to prove that UNDP is right. As with the book for which UNDP used $737,000 in funds meant for the poor, UNDP would be sure to try to characterize such a pre-determined audit as "an independent work."

   One irony is that UNDP has asked for a correction of Inner City Press' review of the book as bought and paid for by UNDP, and has more recently request a correction of how Inner City Press presented excepts from a press conference by the UN's then-spokesman Stephane Dujarric, even where Inner City Press linked to the full transcript. UNDP's requests are now even more ludicrous. A source calls it "vintage UNDP, expensive damage control on steroid, as if they'll now show how UNDP would have defended against, and prevail over, the Oil for Food scandal." We'll see.

            In the spirit of excerpt, here are some from the exchange of letters between U.S. Mission and UNDP that preceded and led up to the widely reported January 16 letter from Ambassador Wallace to Melkert, with some analytic notes, labeled as such, in brackets.

Amb. Wallace to Dervis, December 14, 2006: "While your office suggested that we meet with Associate Administrator Ad Melkert, my government views this subject as one of great and urgent importance and requests the opportunity to discuss the matter directly with you."

[Note: in his December 21 press conference, Kemal Dervis answered Inner City Press' question about releasing internal audits, as the Secretariat does, by saying the "privacy" prevented such release.]

Amb. Wallace to Dervis, December 22, 2006: "Thank you for the follow-up meeting December 22 to discuss United States concern with the UNDP program in North Korea... As we agreed at the meeting today, we are expecting to receive from you [audits and] confirmation that you will formally take action to retain and preserve any and all documents and materials including, but not limited to, electronic media related in any way to UNDP's program in North Korea during the past seven years."

Amb. Wallace to Dervis, January 4, 2007: "Thank you for returning my call and it was good speaking with you yesterday evening. In our call you advised me that UNDP -- after your consultations with other UN Programs -- would not provide the United States Government (USG) with copies of Internal Audit9s) of UNDP programs in the DPRK. You did indicate that you and your UNDP colleagues (specifically Ad Melkert) were in the midst of reviewing and compiling relevant UNDP financial and program information for the DPRK...UNDP's refusal to provide copies of its internal audit(s) of the UNDP program in DPRK is non sustainable... UNDP has been and is continuing (per your representation, at least until March) to transfer hard currency directly to the Kim regime."

[Note: So, by January 4 (in fact, on December 22, see below) Dervis had made the recited commitment to stop hard currency payments by March. But later, see below, UNDP says that the hard currency payment may continue, if certified by the Administrator.]

Dervis to Amb. Wallace, January 5, 2007: "I will convene a special meeting of the Executive Committee agencies to discuss the issue of direct access to internal audit reports of DPRK and others more generally."

Melkert to Amb. Wallace, January 5, 2007 (first of two letters on that date) -- "As stated by the Administrator in our meeting on December 22, 2006 we have informed the government earlier that salaries of seconded national staff, local purchases of goods and services, local travel allowances and other similar expenses will in future be paid in convertible won. This can only be obtained by converting hard currency in the state bank of DPRK."

Melkert to Amb. Wallace, January 5, 2007 (second of two letters on that date) -- "Five audits could not be completed due to other urgent unplanned priorities at OAPR...

[Note: As Inner City Press has previously reported with regard to Kemal Dervis' "discretionary" budget for 2006, it devoted tens of thousands of dollars for an unplanned urgent audit in a country which UNDP has still refused to name. On January 19, Inner City Press twice asked Ad Melkert to disclose what other "tough cookies" are not mentioned in the most recent public audit of UNDP. Melkert refused, saying it would be "too much at random." The second time, when asked to provide the information after the briefing in a non-random manner, he also declined. Yet he's said, as to transparency and specifically in response to Inner City Press' requests, "You ain't seen nothing yet."  Technically, that's true. We have not seen the long-ago requested audits for UNDP in Russia, Honduras, Afghanistan and elsewhere, nor much other requested information.]

Amb. Wallace to Dervis, January 8, 2007: "Is the permission or authorization from the Executive Committee required in order for UNDP to share the internal audits of DPRK with Executive Board members? If so, please indicate what authority imposes this requirement."

Dervis to Amb. Wallace, January 9, 2007: "We will provide you the opportunity of an on-site examination of the documents. UNDP is, on an exceptional basis, adopting this approach on a voluntary basis and with the full preservation of privileges and immunities."

Also on January 9, 2007, U.S. Amb. Richard T. Miller formally notified Dervis that the U.S. was requesting discussion of the DPRK program before the Board. At an informal consultation of the Board attended and reported on by Inner City Press, the UNDP chairperson of the meeting said that program would only actually be discussed if five country made writing requests, which hadn't happened. That meeting was after Amb. Miller's letter, so apparently the five-request threshold had not yet been reached. Subsequently it was, including with the request of Serbia.

Melkert to Wallace, January 12, 2007: "We have instructed the DPRK Country Office that all payments in hard currency to government, national partners, local staff and local vendors should end at the latest by 1 March 2007. In case the Country Office will need an exception, prior approval from Headquarters will be required... within the context of the 'single audit' principle, I am unable to accede to your request for various documents, such as memoranda and other forms of communications."

In this letter, Ad Melkert also makes a point of naming UNICEF as the funder of a DPRK official's travel. How UNDP's attempt to deflect criticism by referring inquirers, including the reporters at Friday's press conference, to other UN agencies will play out remains to be seen.

Reuters reports that "UNICEF said it had not decided at this point to change the way it pays for its programs in North Korea. 'We do pay national staff through the host government in euros. There has been no decision at this point to change that,' said Geoffrey Keele, a UNICEF spokesman." The Washington Post, citing an anonymous "snior UN official,"  emphasizes to readers that UNICEF and the World Food Program are headed by Americans, while UNDP has not been. If as news (and source) analysis we're right, this particular "senior UN official" is praised in "UNDP: A Better Way?" and now intends to take a leave of absence from, but retain his rights and privileges in, the UN. There are other agencies, on which we will report. Developing.

  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. 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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In the Face of UNDP Scandals, Ad Melkert Says "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" In Terms of Transparency

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 19, 5 pm -- "You ain't seen nothing yet." So said Ad Melkert, the Associate Administrator of the UN Development Program when asked Friday about UNDP's refusal to provide copies of audits of its country operations, reported on for months by Inner City Press and Friday by the Wall Street Journal, in connection with North Korea. "Cash for Kim" Jong Il, the Journal has nicknamed the scandal. (Click here for the Journal's articles, and click here for the eleventh installment in Inner City Press' now over 30-part series on UNDP.)

            While the Journal describes how UNDP would not provide copies of internal audits to member states, it is additionally significant that in UNDP's publicly-available audit, despite mentions of fraud in for example the UNDP-Russia country office, there is no mention of the North Korea issues that UNDP now claims it was taking so seriously. Friday Inner City Press asked Mr. Melkert to now publicly identify any other issues of concern to him and Kemal Dervis that are not disclosed in the last public audit. Video here, from Minute 31:05. Mr. Melkert claimed that to now make such a disclosure would be "too much at random." Disclosure would certainly be out of character for UNDP, at least for now.

            Mr. Melkert met Friday morning with new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon -- at Mr. Ban's request, his spokeswoman told Inner City Press -- and then quickly scheduled an 11:30 press conference. At the podium a decision was made to pull the curtain over the UN's logo, leaving only a UNDP banner next to Mr. Melkert as he fielded questions. Logistics sources ascribe the curtain-pulling to a decision by the Secretariat to distance itself from UNDP. But as Inner City Press pointed out to the spokeswoman, most readers and most headline-writers don't make any distinction. This is a United Nations scandal, and must be addressed by the Secretariat and member states.

            An easy starting place, a bare minimum, should be getting UNDP's policy on the disclosure of audit in line at least with that of the UN Secretariat, which gives copies of internal audits to any member state which requests them. As this North Korea example illustrates, UNDP refuses to provide copies of its internal audits to member states, or the press or public. Having been denied access to UNDP audits, Inner City Press asked Ad Melkert about this discrepancy on December 15. At that time, Mr. Melkert committed to greater transparency, specifically with regard to this withholding of audits. Video here.

            Kemal Dervis, however, ostensibly running UNDP, on December 21 answered the same question by saying that audits would have to continue to be withheld, in the name of privacy. As one journalist -- not from Inner City Press -- joked on Friday, Kim Jong Il's privacy seems to have been important to UNDP, indeed.

            On Friday, Ad Melkert thanked Inner City Press for "referring to our previous exchange." Melkert said, "I promised more transparency, and that is what we have delivered." Video here, from Minute 10:23.  He went on to say that rather than having taken steps since December 15 to change UNDP's policy, he holding discussion on the issue and "that will take some time." What exactly has been "delivered," then, in terms of transparency as well as in terms of concrete assistance to the poor in North Korea remains unclear.

            Responding to the scandal at UNDP, Ban Ki-moon has called for an "urgent, system wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe by the UN funds and programs." On Friday, Inner City Press asked him spokeswoman if Kemal Dervis was asked to submit a letter of resignation, as even Assistant Secretaries-General have. The spokeswoman said that she did not know. Video here, from Minute 8:35. Inner City Press has asked UNDP for a list of those in the agency who have submitted letters of resignation, but no response has been provided. As one reporter pointed out Friday, when performance is bad enough and brings disrepute on the UN system, a letter offering to resign is not always needed.  As captured by a detailed account on the UN's own News Service, for now the defense appears to be that Mr. Dervis hasn't been there long. UNDP sources says after 17 months, it would be more accurate to say that Mr. Dervis hasn't been there much.

Ad Melkert: "You ain't seen nothing yet."

            Ad Melkert was asked to explain his "you ain't seen nothing yet" response to Inner City Press' request for the audits for UNDP in Russia, Honduras and Afghanistan. (Technically, Mr. Melkert's statement is accurate: Inner City Press hasn't seen anything yet, not a single page of these audits.)  Mr. Melkert's response might seem to bode well. He explained, "In terms of transparency. Mr. Lee [Inner City Press' UN correspondent] is particularly interested in knowing what is going on at UNDP. And right he is." Video here, at Minute 32:43.

            Taking that statement at face value, one would now expect to actually see long-ago requested documents and audits, and to get direct answers to questions such as whether UNDP allows donors (for example, Italy) to dictate which staff to which with their money, and where to deploy them (for example, Baidoa in Somalia). Inner City Press has asked that question to UNDP, and has been sent extraneous documents, with no direct yes or no answer to a simple factual question. The same holds true for UNDP's policy about awarding consulting contacts to companies staffed or advised by recent UNDP officials. Inner City Press asked for this policy and days have gone by. We will have more on all this soon.

UNDP's North Korea Scandal, Just a Tip of the Iceberg, Opens Window on Larger Problems

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 19, 3:30 a.m. -- This morning one part of the UN Development Program's lack of accountability is exposed in conservative media: the Wall Street Journal at midnight, and Fox News online thereafter. The Journal's story is more detailed, quoting a Kemal Dervis letter earlier this year that "internal audit reports are important management tools for Executive Heads and, therefore, confidential." 

   How Mr. Dervis' ultimate boss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will feel this looks for his widely-stated new, more transparent and trustworthy UN, will soon be seen. While 58 senior officials were asked to submit resignations by January 15, Mr. Dervis was not among them.

            Since the Journal's headline is "United Nations Dictators Program," we note earlier reports by Inner City Press that for Uzbekistan's Karimov regime, UNDP helps collect taxes and work with computer software. Karimov blocks Internet access to most critical websites. In Zimbabwe, UNPD has sponsored and legitimated a Mugabe-dominated "Human Rights" Commission. It's not only wrong when a UNDP-assisted dictator is seeking nuclear weapons. Mugabe evicted 700,000 poor people and now threatens to do it again. The need for scrutiny of UNDP goes well beyond North Korea.

UNDP's man in Uzbekistan

            The Journal's story also quotes UNDP's rarely heard-from head of Communications David Morrison, that UNDP is taking "all necessary measures to avoid misperceptions or unintended consequences." Last we heard from Mr. Morrison, he was writing to all UNDP staff on December 8, 2006, denouncing Inner City Press for, among other things, daring to ask UNDP and then UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric for copies of UNDP audits.

            On December 7th at the UN's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked for "an investigative audit of the Russian Federation office of UNDP that has never been released." Mr. Dujarric, using talking points provided by UNDP, responded that

"Mark Malloch Brown did use that word [jerk]. It was in response to a specific question that Matthew had asked him in the hall as the Deputy Secretary-General was going from one meeting to another.  The question was thrown at him... I think, Matthew, as I’ve said before, you’ve asked numerous and numerous questions of UNDP, which I think is your right to do.  No one would ever challenge that right.  More than 50 questions, including 16 additional overnight, which UNDP is working to address."

            But more than 40 days later, still the audit of UNDP Russia hasn't been released, nor requested audits of UNDP's operations in Afghanistan, Honduras and elsewhere. UNDP's strident secrecy, and over-reaction to all inquiries in the last two months, now appear in different light. UNDP was aware of requests for the U.S. mission and then the Wall Street Journal. Internally, UNDP's senior management and Communications staff comforted themselves with the story that they are helping the poor, if only with or in their minds, and that anyone who asks questions must be conservative. In fact, UNDP is open to far more damning criticism from those who care about the poor. Junkets to Goa, open-ended consultant contracts to insiders, $737,000 for "UNDP: A Better Way?" -- these are all funds that could and should have been spent on the poor.

            In recent days, UNDP has bombarded Inner City Press with requests for corrections of such things as photo captions and any critical analysis. Both the Journal and Fox News pieces are more opinionated. Will UNDP request, much less get, corrections or retractions from either outlet? Or are UNDP's demands limited to smaller, more forward looking media?

            Inner City Press began in earnest its UNDP series on November 29, 2006, when Brian Gleeson was without explanation removed from his post as head of Human Resources of UNDP. Initially it appears that UNDP's fight-back was to defend Mr. Gleeson. But having spoken with Mr. Gleeson, and considered all the timing, it was the question of audits, and of Kemal Dervis' bending of the rules, that presaged UNDP's outbursts. Now Mr. Dervis' position on withholding audits even from UNDP's funders has been highlighted in a global business newspaper. Mr. Dervis was conveniently out of town when the news broke, but coming back, for the Executive Board's start.

   Recent weeks have included a number of "informal" Executive Board meetings. Observers say these informals are used to co-opt supposed overseers. There are also other consultations. Now a recent comment by a Swiss development staffer, than UNDP accused Inner City Press of being a stalking horse for the U.S. mission, makes more sense. UNDP knew these stories were coming, and in bad faith or by error tried to link any and all of its critics to what it will portray as a conservative, pro-U.S. attack in the Wall Street Journal and Fox.

            What is lost in all this, as so often at the top echelons of UNDP, is the poor. Developing.

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

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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

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

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