By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
When the UN's
Budget
Committee took
up the plans
to repair the
UN's Palais
des Nations in
Geneva, there
was praise of
Switzerland's
contributions
but little
talk about
Swiss banks
being
solicited.
There should
have been.
Back
on July 28,
Inner City
Press asked
UN Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq:
Inner
City
Press: At the
UN in Geneva,
the Acting
Director said
that he’s
going to
solicit
contributions
from private
Swiss banks
for the
renovation. He
said that this
could help
them rebrand
themselves
from the
financial
crisis. I
wonder are
there any
possibilities
of conflicts
of interest,
given, for
example, the
multi-billion
dollar Pension
Fund, or would
there be any
prohibitions
on banks that
have contracts
with the UN or
are seeking
contracts in
the UN, making
such
donations?
Would there be
disclosure of
who makes the
donations? And
I want to
return again
to the topic
of last week,
is it possible
to know on
whose plane or
if it was an
outside
donation that
the
Secretary-General
few to Cairo
and came back
to New York?
And, two, this
request that
of the ten
most recent
trips, is it
possible to
know trips
funded by
non-UN
sources? Who
paid for them
and where they
went?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: No, that
would take
considerable
work involving
going over the
details of
many different
trip
participants
and trip
captains.
Regarding the
flight back
from Cairo,
that was a
commercial
flight. I’m
aware that
several of the
flights that
he took were
also on UN
planes, so
there was a
mixture of
commercial, UN
planes, and as
you know, as
we pointed
out, there was
one
Qatari-funded
and one
Saudi-funded
plane.
[The
Deputy
Spokesperson
later shared
the following
with the
correspondents:
“The General
Assembly has
asked the
Secretariat to
look for
innovative
sources of
funding to
cover part of
the ?costs
associated
with the
Strategic
Heritage Plan
for the
renovation of
the Palais des
Nations. To
that end, the
Acting
Director-General
of UNOG
actively
engages with
an increasing
number of
different
actors, both
governmental
and private,
in Switzerland
and beyond.”]
The
UN's doctored
transcript
says that Haq
later shared
information
with the
correspondentS,
plural --
Inner City
Press received
the above by
direct email
but it is not
clear it was
sent to anyone
else.
In the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee on
November 21,
Swiss Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Olivier
Zehnder
concluded,
“Switzerland
is bringing
its full
support to the
project and is
committed to
its success.
Switzerland
also expects
that Member
States
shoulder their
responsibility
as the owners
of the Palais
des Nations
and calls upon
them to
continue their
support for
this important
project.”
But
what about the
UN soliciting
banks for
money - what
are the
standards?
Where are the
disclosures?
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
which presses
for a Freedom
of Information
Act to cover
the UN, is
asking. Watch
this site.
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