As UN
Tribunal Finds
DPKO Porno in
W. Sahara,
Joshi Part 2,
Liberia Cover
Up?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 1 --
That the UN's
head of
security in of
its MINURSO
"Peacekeeping"
mission
distributed
pornographic
pictures of
women from
Western Sahara
arose Thursday
at UN
headquarters,
in an
ill-attended
session of the
UN
Administrative
Tribunal.
Mr.
Massah, "a
national of
Cameroon, was
employed as a
Security
Officer with
the United
Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara
('MINURSO').
His duty
station was
Laayoune."
And
here,
according to
the UN
decision
appealed from,
is what Mr.
Massah did: he
took and then
emailed around
photographs of
"female sexual
organs" of
local women.
But when he
challenged his
firing, the UN
Dispute
Tribunal sided
with him,
finding that
"the
Applicant took
pictures of
women in his
apartment.
There is no
evidence to
suggest that
the Applicant
forced these
women into
these pictures
or that he
profited
monetarily,
socially, or
politically
from taking
them. Nor is
there any
evidence to
establish any
act of sexual
abuse."
But
weren't there
supposed to be
some rules
about UN
officials'
conduct while
on
Peacekeeping
missions?
Thursday,
after
the death of
the Applicant,
the
above-quoted
decision was
overturned; it
was noted that
the women were
of "highly
sensitive
cultural
background"
and that
sexual
services had
been paid for.
Still, of the
UN especially
in Western
Sahara, the
case is
telling.
Previously,
DPKO
peacekeepers
in Western
Sahara were
found to have
painted
pornographic
graffiti over
ancient case
paintings
there. And
still -- no
Referendum.
Meanwhile
Inner
City Press is
informed of
similar and
current abuse
in the UN
Mission in
Liberia, at an
even higher
level. Does
the UN just
fail to renew
people as a
form of (non)
accountability?
(Click here
for Inner City
Press coverage
of Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations
chief Herve Ladsous'
quiet trip to
Western Sahara
-- some ask,
what is his
role as DPKO
chief in the
events in the
military
component of
the mission in
Liberia?)
Back
in New York,
in the case of
Dushyant Joshi
of whom Inner
City Press
reported the
arrest by the
New York
Police
Department for
sexual abuse,
and most
recently asked
for an update
from Under
Secretary
General for
Management
Yukio Takasu,
further
inquiry has
unearthed the
following from
a source:
Joshi
was for two
years in
Division for
Human
Resources at
UNICEF's New
York
headquarters.
He rose from a
P4 to a P5
through an
elaborate and
very
Machiavellian
scheme. He
first managed
to move out of
his section by
cutting his
reporting line
to his boss,
Rudolf
Messinger. He
convinced DHR
management
that a new
section was
needed for
which he made
them appoint him
Chief without
due process.
He
then managed
to get his old
section - with
the Chief post
- abolished.
His old boss
was moved to
Islamabad. He
appealed in
vain but in
the absence of
evidence Mr
Joshi only had
to , well,
dissemble
before the
Administrative
Tribunal...
We'll
have more on
the UN
Administrative
Tribunal.
Inner City
Press attended
on short
notice
Thursday's
read-out in
North Lawn
Conference
Room 6 of 26
judgments of
the 34 cases
heard. Watch
this site.
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