UN
Budget Cuts
Lead to 2d
Staff Session
& Draft to
Deplore the
Changes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 4 --
Budget cutting
proposed by UN
Security
General Ban
Ki-moon,
including
"outsourcing
and
off-shoring,"
first gave
rise to a staff
emergency
meeting on
November 27,
to which Ban
himself was
invited.
Inner
City Press
obtained and
put online the invitation
letter, here,
and the flier
for the
meeting, here.
Back
in October,
Inner City
Press covered
the proposed
budget cuts,
also
exclusively.
Now,
that meeting
has given rise
to another
emergency
meeting on
December 5, at
which a draft
resolution
expressing
dismay "that
the 'business
model'
proposed by
the
Secretary-General
will, in
particular,
Erode the
international
character of
the United
Nations and
weaken the
status of its
international
civil servant;
Result in
further
deterioration
of staff
working
conditions and
overall
conditions of
employment,
further lower
staff morale
and
motivation,
and severely
undermine the
quality of
program
delivery."
Inner City
Press has
obtained the draft
resolution,
and
exclusively
puts it online
here.
Back
on November
23, Inner City
Press asked
Ban's three
top spokesmen,
"What is the
Secretariat's
response to
the 44th Staff
Council's
November 14
letter to the
Secretary
General
raising
concerns about
staff welfare
and working
conditions and
inviting the
SG and senior
managers to
attend their
Emergency
General
Meeting on
November 27?"
A day
later on
November 24,
Ban's
Spokesperson's
Office told
Inner City
Press:
"The
Under-Secretary-General
for Management
has replied to
the letter on
behalf of the
Secretary-General.
The letter
makes clear
the
Secretary-General
plans a town
hall meeting
with staff in
early January.
Before that,
the Chef
de Cabinet plans
to meet staff
unions in the
Secretariat on
27 November."
But the
resolution has
staff "Gravely
dismayed that,
even though
the Chef de
Cabinet
assured staff
representatives,
at the
briefing of 27
November 2012,
that the
budgets were
not yet
finalized and
that no final
decisions had
been made, the
Organization
is making
plans to
implement
proposals
through
transitional
measures."
Watch
this site.
Footnote:
At
least Ban's
spokespeople
provided an
answer to the
question. By
contrast,
Ban's chief of
Peacekeeping Herve
Ladsous openly
refuses to
answer Press
questions.
His spokesman
Kieran
Dwyer on
November 23
purported to
respond to
simple DRC
questions
which Ban's
office
forwarded to
him by saying
"I am looking
into this."
Sixty
hours
later,
those
questions have
not
been answered,
including
questions
about threats
and injury to
UN staff in
the DRC,
occasioned by
inaction by
peacekeepers
under Ladsous'
command.
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