At
UNICEF, "Children First" Includes Flying N. Korean Officials to Conferences,
Silence
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
January 29 -- "UNICEF has enjoyed close collaboration with the Government of DPR
Korea." That's an unequivocal statement of partnership on
UNICEF's website,
even ten days after
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called
for an external inquiry into at least the North Korea operations of all UN funds
and programs, beginning with the UN Development Program and specifically
extending to
UNFPA,
WFP and UNICEF. Click
here to
view the UNICEF DPRK web page.
It is to UNICEF's credit that the
statement has not been taken down from the Internet, because it is accurate. In
response to questions from Inner City Press, UNICEF has acknowledged that the
Kim Jong Il government chooses or refers many of UNICEF's twenty "local" staff
in North Korea, all whom UNICEF pays in hard currency, Euros.
These are precisely the practices which
resulted in UNDP's proposed 2007-08 program for North Korea not been voted on at
its Executive Board last week, and to UNDP stating that even pending a new
program, it will de-emphasize projects which "develop the capacity" of the
government in North Korea. UNDP also stated that while it paid to fly two North
Korea officials to New York this month, that will be the last time.
UNICEF, however, has made no
such statements. Rather, on the issue of paying for North Korean officials'
travel, UNICEF's Donor Update about the
DPRK,
dated December 8, 2006, states that "a core group of six government trainers
have received training in Singapore on child caring practices in September 2006"
and that "capacity building efforts continue, including participation of two
officials from the Ministry of City Management in a regional training on water
management in Thailand."
UNICEF also
gushes that
"the Family Book, a Korean booklet inspired from the UNICEF publication, Facts
for Life" was with UNICEF's financial support "re-printed in 270,000 copies...
in Democratic People's Republic of Korea this type of communication material is
very effective as all parents are literate and used to reading." Click
here for
that praise of universal literacy, at page 3.
This UNICEF document also
reflects that South Korea provides 43% of the funding for North Korea, related
to one of the follow-up questions below.
At UNDP's Executive Board meeting on
January 22, Japan's representative said that only humanitarian aid, and not
development aid, should be given by UN agencies to countries which violate
Security Council resolutions. The U.S. did not speak at meeting, but afterwards
UNDP's Ad Melkert said in light of this guidance from the Board, UNDP would be
scaling back its programs in North Korea to omit those focused on building the
capacity of the government. The question has been heard: where is UNICEF's Ann
Veneman on these issues?
Tsunami meeting, UNICEF's Ann Veneman at
Clinton's right
UNICEF's
own coverage of the recent Executive Board
meeting omits any mention of
the issue. UNICEF acknowledged the issue in its Jan. 23 response to Inner City
Press, below: "The
US delegation, however, has raised the general issue of internal audits at the
last UNICEF Executive Board."
U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace's speech at the January 18
session
stated:
"We urge UNICEF
to strictly adhere to UN rules and procedures and to strengthen its oversight
and monitoring mechanisms in delivering assistance to the DPRK to ensure that
assistance is not diverted from the North Korean people. We also request UNICEF
to ensure a comprehensive audit of the DPRK programs over the last seven years,
including ensuring that the country office is following established UN rules in
conducting its operations and providing the assistance in the DPRK – including
the rules relating to monitoring, evaluating and auditing the implementation or
execution of projects. All audits should be made available to the Members of the
Executive Board."
This U.S. Ambassador's
statement on UNICEF, to which U.S. Charge d'Affaires Alejandro Wolff and staff
referred Inner City Press on Monday,
is not surprising, given receipt of a January 12, 2006, letter from UNDP stating
that UNICEF paid for the travel to New York of North Korean official Kim Mun Duk.
But while UNDP now states not only that such travel payments will stop, but also
that it agrees that at least internal audits of financial issues should be made
available to member states, UNICEF has made no such statements. On audits,
UNICEF has told Inner City Press, "UNICEF's internal audits are used as a
management tool to evaluate trends in program performance. They are shared with
our external auditors and are not otherwise made available."
"Trust us -- we love children."
This appears to be UNICEF's position of the UN Children's Fund, in the face of
questions about its engagement with government officials in not only North Korea
but also certain other states judged to be less-than-free:
Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan and
Sudan.
A week ago Inner City Press asked UNICEF
to describe it programs and methods of payment in these countries. While UNICEF
on January 23 provided some responses as to North Korea, which are set forth
below, UNICEF has not answered a single one of the follow-up questions, also
below, that Inner City Press submitted six days ago. "Trust us -- we love
children." But particularly if a UN agency's work in the field is exemplary, it
should not be concealed or expect to require no accounting.
This
balancing of development and human rights, and the question of whether building
the capacity of a repressive government must be accepted in the name of
development, will be explored in more depth by Inner City Press shortly. Here
for now were UNICEF's first responses, followed by Inner City Press'
still-unanswered follow-up questions:
Q1) Whether
you pay salary, DSA, utilities, rent and other expense in hard currency (Euros,
dollars or otherwise) in North Korea, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran,
Turkmenistan or Sudan;
A: DPRK -- Of
the 30 UNICEF staff in the Pyongyang office, 10 are international professionals
recruited through New York headquarters and stationed in Pyongyang for up to
five years. They have the bulk of their salaries paid to personal overseas bank
accounts. Twenty are local staff. For local staff, UNICEF transfers their
salaries to the host government, which in turn is responsible for paying each of
the 20 national staff members. The salary rate per month is 358 Euros for
National Program and Operation staff, and ranges from 243 to 315 Euros for
drivers and maintenance staff.
DSA for
overnight travel by international or national staff is paid directly to the
staff, by check in Euros. We do not pay any rent as the UNICEF's office in
Pyongyang is provided by the Government. Utilities are paid in Korean Won.
Uzbekistan,
Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan or Sudan
According to
the UN salary scales for the other countries referenced above, salary payment is
in US dollars. However, salaries in Zimbabwe and Iran are denominated in US
dollars and paid in local currency (converted at the prevailing United Nations
rate of exchange during the month of payment).
Q2) whether
you accept government-seconded personnel in North Korea, Uzbekistan, Myanmar,
Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan or Sudan -- and if, in North Korea, you believe you
have higher standards for seconded staff than other UN affiliated agencies;
A: As a rule,
UNICEF chooses its staff world-wide, whether recruited locally or
internationally, through a rigorous and independent recruitment process, based
primarily on their technical capacities and also, as appropriate, on additional
factors such as language skills.
DPRK: In the
case of DPRK, UNICEF employs 10 international staff and 20 local staff. The
international staff members are hired from New York headquarters through a
competitive selection process and are not government – seconded personnel. In
the case of the 20 national staff, they are selected by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs which then seconds them to UNICEF.
Uzbekistan,
Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan or Sudan
Locally-recruited staff members are independently recruited and not seconded
from the respective governments.
Q3) whether
you fund nationally-executed programs in North Korea, Uzbekistan, Myanmar,
Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan or Sudan, and if so in what percentage, and
descriptions of the program and how they are evaluated;
A: UNICEF does
not do the “national execution” method of operation. UNICEF oversees all its
own programs world-wide, working closely with Governments and other partners.
The basic tenet of UNICEF's work across the globe is helping all children,
regardless of their country of origin or the political system of the government.
Q4) whether
any member state has requested from you audits about your operations in North
Korea, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran, Turkmenistan or Sudan and,
separately, whether you have provided copies of such audits;
A: UNICEF has
not received any formal requests for audits from member states. The US
delegation, however, has raised the general issue of internal audits at the last
UNICEF Executive Board.
Q5) please
provide your policy on disclosing "internal" audits, to member states and,
separately, to the press and public.
A: UNICEF's
internal audits are used as a management tool to evaluate trends in program
performance. They are shared with our external auditors and are not otherwise
made available. The external audits of UNICEF are public and are presented to
the General Assembly.
Q6) We
would appreciate descriptions of UNICEF's programs in North Korea and, on a less
tight deadline, the other above-named countries, including who benefits or is
protected, how funds are raised and from which member states or other donors,
and any comment UNICEF has on the need for its services in countries like North
Korea, the issues that arise and UNICEF's thinking on how to evaluation and
address these issues.
DPRK --
UNICEF's programs in DPRK focus on health and nutrition and water and
sanitation, as well as education for children. In 2006, UNICEF received $5.2
million in funds toward these humanitarian programs, or 54 percent of its appeal
for $11.2 million (as of Dec. 7, 2006 and from donor update at www.unicef.org).
These contributions came from the governments of Australia, Ireland, New
Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Sweden; the French and German
national committees; and the non-governmental organization CARITAS Hong Kong.
Because few
international organizations operate within DPRK, UNICEF is one of the few
outside agencies working on the ground and advocating on behalf of children.
DPRK has been hit by famine and floods in recent years. Children are the most
vulnerable because they and their mothers are most susceptible to malnutrition.
UNICEF programs
are making a difference, and we can see the results in the lives of children.
Women are receiving essential vitamins before and during pregnancy. Children
receive de-worming tablets and vitamin-A supplementation. UNICEF has provided
supplies to support the immunization of children in 4,300 villages. Midwifery
and emergency obstetric care kits have been distributed in rural clinics and
hospitals, respectively.
Acute
malnutrition among children fell from 16 per cent in 1998 to 7 per cent in 2004,
with chronic malnutrition dropping from 62 to 37 per cent and the percentage of
underweight children from 60 to 23 per cent for the same period. This upturn
followed an increase in infant mortality (from 14 to 23 deaths per 1,000 live
births) and under-five mortality (from 27 to 55 deaths per 1,000 live births)
from 1993-1998.
Information on other countries will be sent shortly.
Six days
later, no such information has been sent. Nor have responses been provided to
any of these follow-up questions, submitted on January 23:
Thank you for these answers, and
follow-up: WFP makes a distinction that the staff seconded to it by the DPRK's
National Coordinating Committee, it pays in
Won (to the NCC), while only paying Euros to the drivers and support staff.
Does UNICEF pay Euros even for staff from the NCC? If so, did the NCC / DPKR
government demand this? If so, what could explain a similar demand either not
being made to, or not being acceded to by, WFP?
Separately, a source has told us of a
$10 million contribution from the South Korean government to UNICEF in mid-2005,
to use in North Korea. Can you confirm...
Regarding your response that seconded
staff are accepted in North Korea but not the other countries named, could you
state if there are other countries in which UNICEF accepts staff seconded from
the host government, and if so, what countries these are and why the seconded
staff are accepted?
Since WFP has described to us what it
calls safeguards to ensure that staff seconded from the DPRK do not gain access
to WFP's global computer system, does UNICEF impose any such safeguards on staff
seconded from the DPRK government?
Inner City Press has for months been
asking UNDP to see audits, including some referred-to in UNDP's public audit
(for example, of Russia), and UNDP has said no. On Jan. 22, the U.S.
representative at the Executive Board meeting of UNDP, et al. (on reform)
criticized that "UNICEF and UNFPA have not shared with their boards internal
audit reports." Does UNICEF think it would be a good idea, going forward, for
some or all internal audits to be made available 1) to members states on the
Executive Board or 2) to any member state which requests a copy of the internal
audit (this is the case with the Secretariat) or 3) to the press and public?
As we asked UNDP, are there are issues
in internal audits in the last two years which UNICEF management considers of
serious concern, but which are not mentioned in the most recent public audit of
UNICEF?
From what we take to be the most recent
publicly-available audit, A/61/5/Add.2, we note at page 60 that "in 2004, the
Office of Internal Audit reviewed investigation issues reported by 11 country
offices. It conducted three investigations itself."
Can you state which were the 11 country
offices reporting "investigation issues," and what these issues were? Also,
where OIA conducted the above-referenced three investigations, and what OIA
found?
Page 60 continues that "UNICEF has not
implemented the Board's recommendations to review its overall anti-fraud
policies and tools," and the Audit at page 7 states that "during the biennium
2004-2005, UNICEF reported 42 cases of fraud or presumptive fraud to the Board
(as against 37 in 2002-2003)."
Can you described these cases of fraud or
presumptive fraud, and what was done?
As simply a few more examples, the audit
at 42 states that the "Board found multiple instances of poor documentation or
amendments, inaccuracies in the liquidation process and lack of sufficient
oversight of implementing partners in Indonesia. In Sri Lanka, the documentation
of amendments to cash assistance projects was also unsatisfactory."
Have internal audits been conducted and
if so, can copies or, separate request, summaries be provided?
The Audit at 42-43 states that "UNICEF is
supporting construction projects for schools, health centers, and water and
sanitation networks in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives that represent an
aggregate budget of $152.1 million. The three country offices have little
experience, if any, overseeing major construction works. They entered into
contracts with UNOPS (for permanent structures) and with IOM (for temporary
schools in Indonesia) without clearing their clauses with the UNICEF senior
advisor (Legal) resulting in the interesting of UNICEF not adequately
safeguarded. For instance, the Indonesian school construction contract with
UNOPS ($90 million) committed UNICEF to a set unit cost per building, over a
three-year period, with no clause covering a rise in prices.... UNICEF failed to
set up a consistent mechanism to follow up the implementation of the projects,
monitor the work of the contractors and management the relationship with UNOPS."
Please comment on this, including
specifically on the fact that UNICEF's partner UNOPS has not timely filed its
financial statements.
The audit at 58 states that "The Internal
Audit Committee is composed of 11 members, and has only one external member (the
Director of the UNDP Office of Audit and Performance Review)."
If this refers to Jessie Rose Mabutas,
given that she is leaving UNDP in mid-February, with whom will UNICEF replace
this single external member, and want plans are there to increase external
participation?
Thank you very much for answering these
questions... We also appreciate any and all descriptions of UNICEF's programs in
the above-named countries, and will appreciate another interview opportunity
like last week with UNICEF's Ibrahima D. Fall. [Click
here
for that article.]
On the
Jessie Rose Mabutas question, on January 26 UN Controller Warren Sach confirmed
that she is leaving in mid-February. Video
here,
from Minute 35:12. Mr. Sach also confirmed that UNICEF is an audit target,
along with WFP,
UNFPA and
perhaps UNHCR, the refugee agency. Why then this silence from UNICEF? We'll find
out.
Because a number of Inner City Press'
UN 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
goals and many accomplishment of UNICEF and the vast majority 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
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
UNDP
Backslides on Audits and N. Koreans' Travel, Scope Expands to UNICEF, WFP, and
UNFPA, FAO and UPEACE
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
January 26 -- The day after the UN Development Program acknowledges it was told
by its Executive Board to more narrowly focus its North Korea programs away from
building the capacity of the Kim Jong Il government, and to become more
transparent, Friday there was already backsliding, on audits and on DPRK travel.
During
the last day of the Executive Board meetings, UNDP's Ad Melkert said that while
he now hopes to finalize some additional availability of audits by the Board's
next session, this will not include management audits, which are the kind that
would have earlier revealed the issues in North Korea, including accepting
government staff and not auditing "nationally-executed," but UNDP-funded,
programs.
After a
press conference by UN Controller Warren Sach about how the audits announced and
then scaled-back by Ban Ki-moon will be conducted, the head of UNDP's
Communications Office, David Morrison, spoke to reporters in the hall. Inner
City Press asked Mr. Morrison to answer a question previously posed in writing,
regarding UNDP's involvement in the August 2006 trip by 10 members of the North
Korean government to Lund University. Mr. Morrison responded that "University of
Peace, part of the UN system, did." Click
here for
University for Peace's self-description, complete with photograph of Council
member Ban Ki-moon.
Mr.
Morrison added that UNDP "may have facilitated travel arrangements" through its
Beijing office. Mr. Morrison stated, rhetorically, "Have we funded travel?
That's what UNDP does."
He continued, "Can I say there is not going to be any more travel? Absolutely
not." So then what, one wonders, is being limited about UNDP's North Korea
program pending the audit? 
Melkert
in Belarus
UNDP's Mr.
Morrison also provided a closely argued distinction between hard and soft won,
stating that even paying in hard won, as apparently the World Food Program does
for half of its national staff in the DPRK, is just the same as paying in Euros,
except the UN gets less for its money because the DPRK is able to set the
exchange rate. Inner City Press asked how the salaries of those seconded by the
DPRK government are set. "There is a negotiated salary," Mr. Morrison replied.
Negotiated how? Since UNDP allowed the North Korean government to order whom to
hire, how could UNDP have leverage on how much they'd be paid?
Warren
Sach was asked when the Secretariat knew of the issues in North Korea. "Only
very recently," Mr. Sach replied, emphasizing that there is an "absolute and
total delegation to the Administrator of UNDP" on financial matters. So who's
holding the bag, one reporter wondered.
Inner
City Press asked Mr. Sach to explain how the North Korea issues, identified in
withheld UNDP internal audits of 1999, 2001 and 2004, were not even included in
the 374-page most recently public audit of UNDP. Video
here,
from Minute 24:13. Mr. Sach directed Inner City Press to the UN Board of
Auditors, "only they can answer." We'll see.
Inner
City Press has received a response from UNICEF [see above].
Inner City Press asked Mr.
Sach whether UNICEF would be included in the audit, along with WFP, which has
orally represented paying half of its national staff in DPRK in Euros, and UNFPA,
which while refusing to answer is known to pay in Euros, and to have 80% of its
programs in North Korea executed by the DPRK government. Video
here,
from Minute 25:12.
Mr. Sach indicated that all four agencies
will be included in the audit. He decided to name more agencies, other than
mentioning UNHCR. Inner City Press earlier this week asked the Food and
Agriculture Organization, in writing, to explain its North Korea programs. FAO's
spokesman's response was to inquire into Inner City Press' right to ask the
question, and then to archly state "we are considering how we can respond to
your request for this very large amount of information, and I will revert in due
course." We'll be waiting.
Inner City Press asked Mr.
Sach to confirm something Inner City Press has asked UNDP orally and in writing
without any response, that UNDP's chief auditor Jessie Rose Mabutas is now
leaving in mid-February. Video
here,
from Minute 43:53. Mr. Sach responded, "I think it can be confirmed, what you
indicated." There -- was that so hard? Beyond what has previously been reported
about Ms. Mabutas, close observers note that the U.S.'s Ms. Bertini brought Ms.
Mabutas into the UN system at a high level. And yet what is the U.S. now saying
about the quality of UNDP's audits? Developing.
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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
Other Inner City Press
reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.com --
Copyright 2006 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com - phone: (718) 716-3540
