| UNODC Head Out in
Vienna But Others Remain As
Inner City Press Reapplies
to Enter
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
UN GATE,
June 30 – How corrupt
and decrepit has the UN system
become under Antonio Guterres,
in this case due to Guterres?
Today's example is again from
the Office of the High
Commission for Human Rights,
to which Guterres appointed
his unqualified Austrian crony
Volker Turk more than two
years ago.
Now in Vienna,
the head of UNODC is out -
staff sent Inner City Press
this on why: "
Turk dreams of an
elected position in Austria.
But:
From OHCHR
staff: Dear Mr Lee,We, the
staff of UNOV/UNODC, welcome
Ghada Waly's recent decision
to step down with relief and
satisfaction, even if she will
stay on for a few more months.
However, we remain deeply
concerned that corruption,
harassment and lack of
transparency will continue to
prevail at UNOV/UNODC.
Ghada Waly
has appointed senior officials
who share her corrupted
practices and prohibited
conducts. They all come from a
very small group of northern
countries, despite her
preaching all the time about
the importance of geographical
diversity. Without removing
this gang, the situation in
Vienna will not
change. For
example, we have the
UNOV/UNODC Chief of Staff,
Jeremy Douglas.
Appointed by
Ghada Waly without any open
and transparent selection
process, Jeremy Douglas has
given a very well-paid
consultancy to Mark Shaw, a
very good friend of his who
heads of a research institute
in Vienna that has always been
very critical of UNOV/UNODC.
Not only: Mark Shaw is also
the husband of Brigitte
Strobel-Shaw, the head of the
anti-corruption branch of
UNOV/UNODC. This trio of
friends and family members is
wasting much needed resources
of the organisation for
personal gains. We ask for an
in-depth investigation of this
case, the termination of this
expensive consultancy and the
suspension of both Jeremy
Douglas and Brigitte
Strobel-Shaw from their
positions until the
investigation is
finalized.
Now that Ghada
Waly is about to leave, Jeremy
Douglas is looking for a
suitable alternative post, and
that he will be offered the
position of Deputy Director,
naturally without any open and
transparent selection process,
by the most feared of this
closed group of advisors: Bo
Mathiasen, the master of all
UNOV/UNODC operations around
the world, who was promoted by
Ghada Waly to the rank of
Director. He is
notorious for his lack of
empathy, for his repeated
harassment of staff, and women
in particular, for threatening
to terminate the contracts of
staff who do not submit to him
and for his discriminatory
attitudes towards staff from
southern countries. UNOV/UNODC
staff also complain about the
preferential treatment he
reserves to a small circle of
friends, who are free to do
whatever they want, while most
managers and staff under him
are subjected to countless
controls and restrictions in
whatever they do.
Bo Mathiasen also distributes
appointments and promotions
according to personal
relationships and loyalty to
him, not because of merit or
seniority, and with results
that speak for themselves: we
have just heard that the
UNOV/UNODC Director for Kenya,
chosen by him and appointed by
Ghada Waly, is leaving her
post in rush to avoid being
found guilty, by an official
investigation, of serious
prohibited conducts...
Bo Mathiasen's
name is well known to the
UNOV/UNODC Staff Union, which
has received a long list of
complaints about him from many
staff members. However, he can
count on a strong network of
friends and allies, especially
in the UNOV/UNODC human
resources department, whose
head comes from his region.
Therefore, he can continue to
abuse people with total
impunity and give senior jobs
to friends and acolytes: two
posts as UNOV/UNODC Regional
Directors will soon become
vacant, and staff in Vienna
are assuming they will go to
close friends of Bo
Mathiasen's. The same will
happen to the post of Deputy
Director in his department, if
he ends up not giving it to
Jeremy Douglas. Earlier this
year, two other senior and
coveted jobs in his department
have already gone to close
associates of his, despite the
strong candidatures presented
by other colleagues who were
more seasoned and more
experienced. Is
this justice? Is this what the
UN should be about? For how
long will staff in Vienna have
to tolerate all
that? More will
follow on this gang of
untouchables
Turk as a staffer
on Guterres' 38th floor did
nothing when his boss Guterres
had the critical Press roughed
up and thrown out. There
has been no due process since,
not even a response to Guterres'
Melissa Fleming to a pro bono inquiry
for Inner City Press from the
law firm Quinn Emanuel. On June
19, 2025, this
re-application.
Watch this site.
***
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