UN's Liberia
Mission Pays Eight Dollars a Day, Is
Disappointed by Complaints to the Press
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN:
News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, January 25, updated below
-- The UN Mission in Liberia pays workers
eight dollars a day, then outsources the
jobs to non-Liberian companies when faced
with complaints, according to the UNMIL
National Staff Association. In a
letter
sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on
January 21, the Staff Association asks
for action on what it contends is a pattern
of racist hiring, corrupt outsourcing,
retaliation against whistleblowers and, in
their words, "neo-colonialism." In the Fall
of 2007, representatives of the National
Staff Association of UNMIL as well as the UN
mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUC) came to New York and met with
officials of the UN's Department of Field
Support, headed by Jane Holl Lute. In
interviews at the time with Inner City
Press, they described the wages as low as $8
a day, and the threat of outsourcing of
their jobs if they complained. Following
their meetings with DFS, they emerged with a
signed document, that recited their concern
that "salaries are too low" and committed UN
management to address the issue.
Inner City Press sought comment on, and
published, a
letter
from UNMIL staff alleging discrimination.
This week, Inner City Press received a copy
of the January 21 follow-up letter to Ban
Ki-moon, which complains that since the
September meeting and seeming agreement,
UNMIL "continues to hire independent
contractors, and pay them less ($8/per day)
in total disregard to UN decision of
September 2007 that ICs be paid national
staff salaries whilst performing the same
job functions."
At the January 23 noon briefing, Inner City
Press asked UN spokesperson Marie Okabe for
a response to the letter. Her office
responded by email and by statement placed
in the
transcript that
UNMIL's
"practices have been guided by a
strict adherence to the
Secretary-General's policies and the
General Assembly's directive requiring,
among other things, that Independent
Contractors (or ICs) should only be
employed for a maximum of 6 months - and
in exceptional cases for a maximum of 9
months. All ICs have willingly
signed contract documents that clearly
state the specific job, the specific
duration and the specific pay." The
statement does not deny that the pay is $8
a day.
New
SRSG Loj arrives in Liberia on January 16,
per UNMIL
The following day, UNMIL in Liberia rushed
out a press release, saying that "the
Mission is deeply disappointed that just
within a week of the assumption of duty by a
new Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and without any attempt to
discuss with her any grievances NASA may
have, the author(s) of this letter chose to
write directly to the Secretary-General in
New York and then distribute it to some
section of the media."
Since out of respect Inner City Press was
continuing asking about the letter prior to
reporting about it, some correspondents in
New York were mystified by UNMIL's defensive
press release. One asked Ms. Okabe on
Friday, what were the underlying complaints?
Ms. Okabe did not say. The time, it seemed
clear, had arrived to
make
the letter public, in part to
explain UNMIL's strange press release. Is it
UNMIL's and DFS's position that their
employees should not seek redress of
grievance from the Secretary-General or from
the press? Will the policies the new SRSG,
Denmark's former Ambassador to the UN Ellen
Margrethe Loj, be any different? Watch this
site.
Update,
January 2012: Four years after publication
of this article, an individual whom the
UNMIL National Staff Association complained
of to the Secretary General has contacted
Inner City Press.
The
individual was asked to submit for this some
specific objection or response to what was
included in the National Staff Association
complaint. This has not been received; and
so the UN Secretariat has been asked for an
update on what it found and did on the
complaint.
* * *
These reports are also available through
Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about
Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here for an earlier
Reuters
AlertNet piece about the Somali
National Reconciliation Congress, and the
UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined
trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
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
stated goals of the UN agencies and many of
their 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
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Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY
10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends): 718-716-3540
