By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 8 --
In the budget
committee
showdown at
the UN in late
December, an
issue that was
almost voted
on and then
was deferred
at least until
March
was
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
policy
position -- or
"executive
order," as one
delegate
called it --
on same sex
marriage.
This was Ban's
administrative
action to pay
benefits for
LGBT families.
"Between the
OIC and
African
countries,
it's going
down," one
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City
Press.
But ultimately
it got put
off, at least
until March.
Ban Ki-moon in
a speech to
the UN General
Assembly on
January 8 said
"I must
express my
deep concern
that the
General
Assembly was
unable to
agree on many
important
management
issues in
December. I
trust that you
will resolve
your
differences
and review
your working
methods when
your
discussions
resume in
March."
After
the speech,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon, video here:
Inner
City Press: in
your speech
you said you
were
dissatisfied
with the
General
Assembly not
acting on
management
issues. I
wanted to know
if that means
LBGT or same
sex benefits
for UN staff,
and what would
you have the
Assembly do?
SG
Ban: on LGBT,
I have made my
position
clear. This is
an issue of
human dignity
and there
should be no
discrimination
whatsoever for
any staff, any
people, on the
basis of
sexual
orientation or
religion or
belief. So
this is the
fundamental
principle of
human rights,
and that is
why, on the
basis of that
I have taken
some
administrative
measures to
allow the same
and equal
treatment for
the staff who
are having
that sexual
orientation.
This is, I
think, the
proper thing
to do.
But what will
the General
Assembly do in
March? What
lobbying is
taking place
behind the
scenes? We'll
stay on this.
Other
items in the
late December
crunch
included the
Capital Master
Plan, the
Extraordinary
Chambers court
in Cambodia, revised
estimates for
the Ebola
mission UNMEER
and for the Human
Rights Council
(regarding
cut-backs at
which, see
this Inner
City Press
story) and
UNHQ long term
accommodation
needs,
otherwise
known as building
on a current
New York City
playground.
Another
item
concerns the
UN's UMOJA
system, with
cost overruns
and corruption
scandals. One
former UMOJA
official, Paul
van Essche who
was caught up
in a scandal
-- "PHP
irregularities,"
Inner City
Press exclusive
coverage here
-- now
announces
he'll
resurface as
UNICEF's chief
of information
technology in
January 2015.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
