At
UN,
As
Ban
Ki-moon Promotes Indian Ambassador's Wife, Are Rules Needed on
Lobbying for 2d Term?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
13,
updated -- A UN Secretary General asks for the support of
UN member states, not only to endorse his programs but also, as is
the case these days with Ban Ki-moon, to vote for a second term.
Should there be rules governing how he goes about lobbying for this
support?
On
March 11, Ban's
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq announced that Ban has appointed Lakshmi
Puri as an Assistant Secretary General in the new UN Women entity.
Haq dismissed
the question of if Ms. Puri is the wife of Hardeep Singh Puri,
the Permanent Representative of India,
currently a member of the
Security Council which must vote on Ban getting, or not getting, a
second term as Secretary General.
Haq said, "I
am not aware of the family relationships of the people I just
named. I only just got this list." [See update below for Haq's
March 14 statement.]
On
March 12, Inner
City Press wrote directly to Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri to ask for
confirmation, and ask for a “response to those that say it might
have or appear to have any impact on how the Secretary General is
viewed or treated, especially but not only as he goes for a second
term.”
On
March 13,
Hardeep Puri called Inner City Press and presented his side. He said
that he and
Lakshmi have been married for some 35 years, adding that “my being
here and her being there has not made any difference in terms of one
influencing the other... She was in Geneva with UNCTAD... Then here
in New York as director of High Representative on Least Developed
Countries, since October or November of 2009. She applies for jobs as
do several others in the UN system.”
Inner
City Press
asked Hardeep Puri if he thought that any rules should apply to the
Secretary General giving jobs to spouses of the Permanent
Representative who will vote on his second term.
Hardeep
Puri to his credit acknowledged
that if a person “completely from the outside, without the
qualification, were offered the job... in this kind of situation,
obviously eyebrows would be raised.”
Rightly
or
wrongly, in this case some eyebrows have
been raised. One analogy is
to a public corporation, in which it would be problematic for a chief
executive to give a job to the spouse of a board member who is
supposed to oversee his performance and continued employment.
Hardeep
Puri
issued a challenge, telling Inner City Press to watch “if you
suddenly find Hardeep Puri restrained.” We will.
Hardeep & Lakshmi Puri, center, S-G rules not shown
The
question
remains, should the UN enact rules to govern this situation which is
fraught with the possibility of conflict of interest?
Footnote:
after
this
response,
Hardeep Puri called back to make two final
arguments, first that it was Michele Bachelet that interviewed
Lakshmi Puri, and not Mr. Ban himself. In fact, this was pointed out
in spokesman Farhan Haq's announcement, perhaps acknowledging that if
Ban himself did the interviews and was entirely responsible, there
would be an issue. But Ban is the decision maker here, and the issue
remains.
Second,
Hardeep
Puri argued that a country's position would not be influenced by such
a hire. But it is widely reported that France conditioned its support
of Kofi Annan second term as Secretary General on being given the
Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping post. So the danger of
conflict of interest and improper lobby remains. There should be
rules.
Update of March 14:
While on March 11 the UN's Haq said
"I
am not aware of the family relationships of the people I just
named," when Inner City Press asked again on March 14 if the
Secretariat was claiming it hadn't known of the spousal relationship,
Haq said "I don't believe that is regarded as a relevant criteria,"
then sought for a question from any other journalist. Video here,
from
Minute 10:44.
Later
on March 14, even an official close to Ban said these concerns
existed and were expressed internally, and that Haq and the UN should
have had an acknowledgement and answer. Watch this site.
* * *
