As
UN
Says No
Response to
Security
Whisteblower,
Starr Says
Prosecute
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 20 -- Two
days after
Inner City
Press exclusively
published
portions of an
"Open Letter"
to Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
about
mismanagement
in UN Security,
it asked Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about it,
without answer
- and then
learned more.
While
Nesirky said
"I don’t have
anything for
you on that,"
after 5 pm on
Wednesday the
head of UN
Security
(DSS), Gregory
Starr, replied
to
all within
DSS. Rather
than
addressing the
particular
complaints
made
in the letter,
Starr focused
on its
anonymous
nature, and
said that
if he
discovers who
sent it, he
will pursue
them.
But
what message
does this
send? It is
not credible
to claim that
the UN yet has
adequate
whistleblower
protections.
So to say you
will prosecute
those who
complain is
problematic.
Here
is what Inner
City Press
asked on June
20:
Inner
City
Press: There
is within the
Department of
[Safety and]
Security,
a widely
circulated
open letter
talking about
the management
of
security. It
is a pretty
comprehensive
view and is
addressed to
the
Secretary-General,
delegates, I
have spoken to
literally
dozens of
people that
have received
it. And I
wanted to ask
you about a
particular
part of it
that goes back
to the
incident in
September
where there
was a conflict
or a
misunderstanding
between
Turkish
security and
UN security.
It talks about
Chief David
Bongi, saying
that he was
present, but
then
criticizing
him for doing
nothing. It
was implicit
in that
incident that
the
Secretary-General
went ahead
and
apologized. I
wanted to
know, what is
the response?
The letter
goes ahead
with a lot of
other stuff
which I won’t
go into. Is
the
Secretary-General
aware of this
critique from
within
Security and
what is his
response to
it,
particularly
on this
incident,
still, of
live
controversy
within
Security about
the incident
of September?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: I
don’t have
anything for
you on that,
Matthew. Okay?
All right,
thanks very
much. Have a
good
afternoon.
Is
Starr's
letter,
which does not
even mention
much less
address the
Turkish
"Erdogate"
dust up, all
the response
that there
will be? Watch
this site.
, 
