UN
Guterres Spending
Plan To
Move
Jobs to China As He
Covers Up For UN
Briber CEFC
Montreal and
From Bribee
Uganda
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive, 1st docs, II
UNITED NATIONS
GATE, January 22 – At the UN
with Antonio Guterres 25
months into his term as
Secretary General, there's
talk of reform but little
transparency. Now Guterres has
quietly changed his failed
proposal to move UN jobs out
of New York, Uganda and Geneva
- now proposing the jobs go
to, where else, Shenzhen in
China, while Guterres covers
up for convicted UN briber
China Energy Fund Committee.
Guterres also proposing to
move jobs to Montreal in
Canada, a tip of his cap to
Francophonie, and again to
Nairobi from Uganda. Inner
City Press which has reported
exclusively on Guterres' bogus
reforms from the beginning,
and has for its troubled been
roughed up by his Security and
banned from entering the UN
now for 202 days and counting,
will have more on each of
these proposals. We have put
in written questions to
Guterres and his spokesmen
Stephane Dujarric - already
off to Davos - and Farhan Haq,
who has not answered. For now,
here's more on Guterres'
proposed additional spending:
"Consultants 24. The
amount of $210,000 relates to
the requirements to engage a
consultant to design and build
an external website for the
Global Shared Service Centres,
which will act as an
information resource for
clients and staff.
Travel of staff 25. The
amount of $317,300 relates to
the official travel required
during the implementation of
the service centres, including
trips to the shared service
centre locations to conduct
host country negotiations and
office start-up activities,
and trips from the shared
service centre locations to
other offices for client
engagement.
Contractual services
26. The amount of $281,100
relates to the requirements of
training for all new staff at
the Global Shared Service
Centres, including cost of
training materials and
conducting instructor-led
inductions and functional
training sessions.
27. The amount of $319,000
relates to the requirement to
engage OICT resources to
develop and roll out new iNeed
functionality (including
multiple language capabilities
and new workflows within the
initial scope of the Global
Shared Service Centres).
General operating
expenses 28.
The amount of $552,000 relates
to the provision of
information communications
technology equipment, computer
hardware, OICT helpdesk
support and IT network set-up
costs for the Global Shared
Service Centres.
Supplies and materials 29. The
amount of $93,700 relates to
the requirements for
promotional materials to
socialize concepts related to
the new service delivery model
and assist both change
management efforts and
recruitment drives." and
here's about Shenzhen - in
connection with which,
consider Guterres omission of
his paid board membership on
Gulbenkian Foundation which
tried to sell its Partex Oil
company to CEFC even after the
indictment of its Patrick Ho
for UN bribery: "The proposed
Global Shared Service Centre
in Shenzhen will consist of
the Office of the Chief, as
well as the Finance Section,
headed by a P-5 Section Chief,
and the Client Support Unit,
headed by a P-4 Unit Chief,
who would report to the Chief
of the Global Shared Service
Centre in Shenzhen. The
service centre will also
manage a local client support
desk staffed by three General
Service (Local Level) in
Bangkok to provide local
client support services. The
local client support desk
positions will be funded by
general temporary assistance
for a period of up to two
years after implementation.
61. The proposed “Chief of
Global Shared Service Centre
in Shenzhen” at the D-1 level
will report to the Director,
Global Shared Services and
would be fully accountable for
the service quality and
operational performance of the
Global Shared Service Centre
in Shenzhen, including the
implementation of the
performance management
framework at section and
individual staff levels. He or
she would be responsible for
the following: • Implementing
the business plan of the
Global Shared Service Centre
in Shenzhen, whose primary
objective is to efficiently
and effectively provide
administrative transactional
services in the areas of
financial transactional
services; • Planning, managing
and overseeing the activities
of all administrative and
operational components of the
service centre; leading and
managing the operations of the
office of 195 staff (173 posts
+ 22 GTA positions); •
Ensuring effective service
delivery and achieving the
operational targets and key
performance indicators; •
Developing and implementing
quality control mechanisms in
place to improve the quality
and timeliness of
services; 18 [A/73/706]
• Cultivating a culture of
client orientation and service
delivery by ensuring
responsiveness of service
centre staff to client
queries, systematically
evaluating client satisfaction
and making adjustments as
necessary; • Leading the
implementation of change
management initiatives focused
on process improvements,
increased automation and
optimization of systems and
tools; • Leading the
implementation of a
communications strategy that
provides information to all
service centre’s stakeholders
through open and frequent
communication channels; •
Leading the implementation of
future service expansions in
this service centre location,
including expansion of client
base, implementation of new
services, recruitment for new
service sections or units, and
upgrade of office facilities
and ICT infrastructure as
necessary; and • Liaising with
the host country as necessary
and appropriate on all matters
pertaining to the host country
agreement. 62. The proposed
P-5 post would be section
chief of the Finance Section
with a number of 164 staff
(148 posts + 16 GTA),
responsible for leading and
overseeing the operations of
the section, managing staff
performance and resources, and
coordinating activities and
reports related to budget and
staffing. The Finance Section
consists of the Accounts
Payable Unit (140 staff) and
the Special Global Operations
Unit (23 staff), which will
initially include processes
related to bank reconciliation
and calculation of travel and
shipping lump-sum payments.
63. The seven proposed posts
at the P-4 level include the
following: • One post would be
unit chief of the Client
Support Unit (19 staff in the
centre + 3 staff in the local
client support desk in
Bangkok), responsible for the
management and operations of
the unit to ensure
standardized and efficient
client support. • One post
would be Administrative
Officer in the Office of the
Chief, responsible for the
overall coordination of human
resources management, budget
preparation and financial
management (including funding
and cost recovery) for the
service centre. • Four posts
would be Finance Officers in
the Accounts Payable Unit of
the Finance Section,
responsible for overseeing
service delivery and assist
the section chief in managing
staff performance in the unit.
• One post would be Finance
Officer in the Special Global
Operations Unit, responsible
for overseeing service
delivery and assist the
section chief in managing
staff performance in the unit.
64. The ten proposed posts at
the P-3 level would include
the following: • One Human
Resources Officer, a Finance
Officer and an Information
Systems Officer located in the
Office of the Chief,
responsible for assisting in
the coordination of human
resources management, budget
preparation, financial
management and information
technology support for the
service centre. • Six Finance
Officers assisting the P-4
Finance Officer in overseeing
service delivery in the
Accounts Payable Unit and the
Special Global Operations Unit
of the Finance Section. • One
Administrative Officer
assisting the Chief of the
Client Support Unit in
overseeing the daily
operations of the unit. 65.
The proposed P-2 post would be
Associate Finance Officer in
the Accounts Payable Unit of
the Finance Section to assist
in ensuring the delivery of
transactional services. 66.
The proposed fifteen General
Service (Principal Level)
posts would be responsible for
assisting the professional
officers in the supervision of
larger teams of General
Service (Local Level) staff in
the 19 [A/73/706] Finance
Section (13 PL) and the Client
Support Unit (2 PL), as well
as carrying out more complex
transactions. The 138 General
Service (Local level) posts
would be responsible for
carrying out administrative
transactional services in the
Finance Section (122 OL), as
well as providing client
support services in the Client
Support Unit (13 OL) and
administrative support in the
Office of the Chief (3 OL)."
On 1 July 2018 there was a
claim that the peacekeeping
budgets tied to the supposed
reforms had been "approved,"
with no open meeting of the
Budget Committee and with
Inner City Press which covers
it still banned from entering
the building on the weekends
or evenings when the Committee
had consultations, having been
ousted June 22 by Guterres'
gun-toting guards who refused
to give their names. Video
here,
story here,
new
petition here.
So Inner City Press on July 3
went to cover the Fifth
Committee meeting, of which it
had been officially informed
by UN spokespeople. But once
there, it was physically
ousted by rogue UN Security
Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins
and another, right in front of
ASG Christian Saunders. On
July 5, Inner City Press was
banned from entering the UN,
even as the UN bragged of
approvals. But even UN
meetings coverage says what
the GA approved: "Under the
draft’s section IV titled
“Global service delivery model
for the United Nations
Secretariat”, the Assembly
endorsed the conclusions and
recommendations in ACABQ’s
report (document
A/72/7/Add.50), requesting
that the Secretary-General
submit a new proposal for the
model no later than the first
resumed part of its
seventy-third session — which
would take fully into account
paragraph 5 of the ACABQ’s
report, as well as comments,
observations and
recommendations of the Joint
Inspection Unit — and to both
consult and consider Member
States and relevant
stakeholders." So they ousted
and are banning the Press for
this - disgusting.
Fox
News story here,
GAP blogs I
and II.
On July 23,
with Inner
City Press banned
by the now
vacationing
Guterres for a
20th day from
the UN, it
asked Guterres'
spokesmen
in writing:
"Confirm or
deny what USG
Khare told
journalists
after a
closed-door
meeting with
the Prime
Minister, Dr
Ruhakana
Rugunda, that
“there is no
decision yet”
following the
July 5
resolution by
the UN’s 5th
Committee
which rejected
the proposal.
“No decision
has been taken
yet, and all
contracts of
local and
international
staff were
extended for
one year until
June 2019.”
Has this
extension been
done elsewhere
in the UN
system? Where?
Under what
authority?" Of
the five
questions
Inner City
Press, this
was the only
one responded
to so
far during
the briefing's
time, by Farhan Haq:
"On your
fourth
question, we
confirm the
accuracy of
the quote and
are seeking
further
information."
On July
24, the Observer
in Uganda cited
Inner City
Press as “the
‘nosy’ media
that covers
the workings
of the UN" - for
22 days
from a bus
stop outside the
UN gate, due
to censorship
decisions by
Guterres and his
Alison Smale.
Now
on July 25,
with Inner
City Press
still banned
from the UN
and the noon
briefing after
22 days, and
counting,
this:
"Regarding
your questions
yesterday
related to
comments by
Mr. Khare, we
have the
following: On
the decision
of the 5th
Committee on
the GSDM
proposal: In
July, the 5th
Committee
reviewed the
Secretary-General's
Global Service
Delivery Model
proposal, and
requested a
new proposal
be submitted
no later than
the first
resumed part
of its 73rd
session (March
2019). No
final decision
has been taken
on the matter. On
the extension
of national
staff
contracts: The
budget for the
RSCE is
approved until
the end of
June 2019,
allowing for
the extension
of these
contracts
until 30 June
2019."
Guterres'
proposed Global Service
Delivery Model (GSDM) may,
despite Guterres' murky
attempts to over-ride his
advisory team's
recommendations, be an
exception, as it would
eliminate jobs in New York,
jobs held by Americans. But
the UN's Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary
Questions slammed the
proposal, as Inner City Press
exclusively asked about on
June 14, see below. In the UN
Budget Committee at the
beginning of the week members
criticized Guterres' request
to vote on the moving-target
plan by the end of the
Committee's session on Friday
June 22. On June 21 Inner City
Press asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq if
Guterres expected a vote by
June 22, and to explain why
Guterres wants to move more
jobs to Budapest given Prince
Zeid's critique of just
enacted Hungarian laws. Haq
said the placement of UN jobs
has nothing to do with human
rights - clearly - and
referred Inner City Press to
the spokesman for the
President of the General
Assembly, who said the session
is being extended to Sunday,
June 24. But since Inner City
Press has been evicted and
restricted, by Guterres'
spokespeople and Global
Communicator Alison Smale, it
cannot enter the UN to cover
this big money budget session
which it, alone about the UN
press corps, is following. In
fact, the session were held
Saturday and Sunday, after Inner City
Press
was
ousted on
Friday, June
22, video
here,
story here.
On June 29, under the same
UNexplained threat of
"Gooters' Goons," Inner City
Press came to cover the budget
end game. Diplomats said that
the US is conditioning
softening its threatened
budget cuts on getting
reforms. Fine - but a reform
that fires Americans in New
York, to move jobs to Mexico
City? Has their boss heard of
this? Near midnight between
Friday and Saturday Inner City
Press asked the Chair of the
UN Budget Committee Tommo
Monthe of Cameroon if it would
get done tonight. He said
maybe. Guterres has gone
beyond his own natural
disinterest to actively cover
up Cameroon's Biya's killings
in order to get the chairman's
help. But when the chips are
down, Guterres is mostly
about censoring and
attacking the Press that
covers it and him. At the cusp
of June 30 and July 1, with
Inner City Press barred from
the UN while Guterres virtue
signals with taxpayers' money
in Bangladesh, UN sycophants
gushed that a $6.7 billion
peacekeeping budget was
approved. But that can only
legitimately be done in an
open session on UNTV, and
there is no indication of
that. Guterres' leaving town
during this, and barring his
lone critic, is disgusting,
and those who "report" without
mentioning either. All there
is a document with modest
reductions in peacekeeping
missions. The mission in Haiti
MINUJUSTAH goes does from
Guterres' proposal of $124
million to $121 million;
MINURSO in Western Sahara goes
down from $53.9 million to
$52.3 million. UNAMID in
Darfur, which is being blocked
in its movements to Jebal
Marra, takes a hit. But no
Fifth Committee plenary on
UNTV, no answer to written
questions, Guterres in
Bangladesh claiming he will
"continue" to pressure Aung
San Suu Kyi's Myanmar while
Sheikh Hasina continues to
speak of putting the Rohingya
on a far away island... well,
we'll have more on this. On
June 25 Guterres spokesman
refused to explain, and the
PGA's spokesman while
confirming the sessions took
place referred questions on
media access to the
Secretariat - which, it seems,
is a corrupt censor. On June
18, Inner City Press asked
when or if the criticized
Guterres proposal would be
considered by the UN's Fifth
(Budget) Committee. Summary by
UN: "The Spokesperson was
asked for updates related to
the General Assembly’s
consideration of the
Secretary-General’s Global
Service Delivery Model (GSDM)
report. The Spokesperson later
said that an advance copy of
the relevant report by the
Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary
Questions (ACABQ) had been
released last week. As of now,
no date had been announced for
this agenda item to be
introduced in the General
Assembly’s Fifth Committee."
Then Inner City Press was
helpfully informed that it
would be considered on June
19. At that meeting, Egypt for
the G77 said it was all being
rushed, as did Switzerland
(which would lose jobs) and
Uganda (natch). The Joint
Inspection Unit panned the
proposal, too. It would be
absurd to consider it before
the slated June 22 end of the
Committee session. But this is
the UN. Strangely, the US
Mission to the UN supported
the proposal, which would
involved its citizens, General
Service staff, losing jobs.
This an hour before a White
House press call about trade
with and tariffs on China. Are
these policies coherent? From
Guterres, on his way to the
World Cup, silence on this,
and on the US impending
withdrawal from the UN Human
Rights Council. We'll have
more on this. The GSDM
proposal, which Inner City
Press first wrote about in
early March, is to move to
cheaper location(s) back
office functions like human
resources, payments and
payroll.
Inner City Press
reported -- and has published
full documents on Patreon, here -- the four
cities in Guterres' initial
filing with ACABQ. On June 14,
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner
City Press: the Administrative
Committee on Advisory and
Budgetary Questions [Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions] has
put out a report on the
Secretary-General's proposal
on the global service delivery
mechanism, the three cities,
and moving… moving several
jobs. They… I guess the
word is, reject it.
They're saying that they don't
accept three cities.
There should only be two
cities, one in Africa.
And they're also saying that
the Secretary-General should
provide further information to
those impacted, including
staff. What… what is the
Secretary-General's response
to that? And… and seems
to… will slow down the
implementation. So
what's he going to do?
Deputy Spokesman:
Regarding that, we're going to
continue our dialogue with the
Member States, including
through the Advisory Committee
on Administrative and
Budgetary Questions, and we'll
follow up with the intention
of trying to get the system in
place as early as possible
next year." We'll have more on
this. The initially proposed
four cities were Budapest,
Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and
Nairobi. The first three were
each the product of conflict
of interest. Guterres wanted
Budapest, those involved say,
in order to support or cover
up his Budapest move while at
UNHCR. But given Victor
Orban's statements, why is
Antonio "Mister Migration"
Guterres tweaking the process
to reward Hungary? On Kuala
Lumpur, UNDP in that country
"lent" John Kidd to mediate or
change the outside
consultants' recommendations -
and include KL. Now Malaysia
has said it cannot or will not
commit the requisite
resources, and Inner City
Press is informed - not by
Guterres spokespeople which it
has repeatedly asked - that
Kuala Lumpur is out. And then
there were three. Inner City
Press asked in each article in
this series, What will happen
to Entebbe which was set up by
DFS for their GFSS Global
Field Support Strategy? And
now Uganda's Museveni has
protested to Guterres, without
response. Museveni called the
decision "unfair;" his foreign
minister Sam Kutesa has
threatened to call a vote in
the General Assembly, of which
he was president (and
allegedly accepted bribes
from Patrick Ho of China
Energy Fund Committee, still
in Special Consultative status
with UN ECOSOC. On May 7,
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, again, about the
GSDM and specifically about
Uganda - and it turns out
Guterres spoke with Kutesa,
though presumably not about
the CEFC bribery scandal, on
which Guterres has yet to act.
From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: I want to
ask you again about this
global service delivery
mechanism. Seems that…
you'd said you were going to
give some granular guidance,
but I wanted to ask you if
it's the case that Kuala
Lumpur has dropped out of the
four cities and, if so, why,
and also if you can confirm
the receipt of a letter by the
President of Uganda
protesting their
non-selection in… despite
having this Entebbe situation
and the various critiques he's
made in it. There's been
a call… at least they've said
that Sam Kutesa, which… a name
from the past, may call a vote
in the General Assembly about
the selection of Nairobi over
them. And staff are…
are… many people and I've
asked here to see the
underlying recommendations of
how these cities were
selected.
Spokesman: Not aware of
Kuala Lumpur. On
Entebbe, the Secretary-General
spoke last week with the
Foreign Minister of Uganda to
explain the situation to
him. A number of
functions related to
peacekeeping will remain in
Entebbe.
Inner
City Press:
Could I ask you…
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Inner City Press: I want to
ask you another… since it
seem… so, was that called
before or after the reported
letter from the President?
Spokesman: It was
before. I'm not… I can't
confirm the letter's been
received." On May 18, Inner
City Press asked UN spokesman
Farhan Haq about reports in
Uganda, video here,
UN transcript here:
in Uganda it's reported that the Global
Service Delivery Mechanism
reform would result in the
loss of 290 jobs in the
Entebbe centre and 205 of
whom are Ugandan nationals,
and so this is all over
press there. And I've
also seen it described that
58 jobs from Geneva would be
moved to Budapest. Are
these the real numbers?
And… and when is the
time where the
Secretary-General will
actually publicly say the
impact of this proposed
reform?
Deputy Spokesman:
Well, this is still
something that's under
discussion, so I don't think
we can treat anything as
final. As we've made
clear, we will continue with
the use of Entebbe as a
regional base for many of
our functions." Many
now say, particularly seeing a
recent directive of ECLAC (on
Patreon here)
which is Alicia Barcena's
other job, that Mexico City as
a late replacement for Brazil
was a favor for her.
(Guterres, who only returned
to New York on May 4 and from
whose Lusophone garden party
in the UN on May 5 his UN
Security sought to ban
Inner City Press from covering
despite it being in the Media
Alert of Alison Smale's DPI,
will on May 7 and 8 be in Cuba
with ECLAC; we'll have more on
this). Impacted staff in
Santiago are being told they
can move to Mexico City - but
G staff in New York cannot.
We've put a memo on suspended
external recruitment on
Patreon,
here. Now staff have
provided Inner City Press with
these critiques and comments,
from before KL's drop out,
posted and awaiting response
from Guterres' Secretariat:
"So the basis on which to
choose the four locations,
potentially leading to
significant job losses
elsewhere, was made on the
basis of the three-page report
(A/72/801/Add.1) mentioned
above? Or are there other
reports and behind-the-scenes
decisions that aren't being
shared in this rather brief
article?
(2): In A/72/801/Add.1, one of
the Assessment criteria is
language requirements (II. 3.
(c) “The specific requirements
of different parts of the
Secretariat, including
language requirements”).
However, the results of the
assessment indicated that
Budapest, Nairobi, Kuala
Lumpur and Mexico City were
the highest scoring as they
were deemed, among other
criteria, to have “sufficient
language capacity to serve
global clients”, IV. 6. (c).
Knowing that there are six
official languages of the UN:
Arabic, Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish
with English and French as the
working languages, how did the
drafters of the Report of the
Secretary-General and those
who carried out the assessment
(whomever they are) appraise
that these locations do have
“sufficient language capacity”
unless it was decided that the
official languages of the UN
is only English, and
incidentally Spanish?
(3): It is striking that the
costs (staff, operations,
setup) do NOT include the
heavy and continuing costs of
headquarters staff trying to
work with out-stationed staff.
The 2016 JIU report
identified this as a weakness
in past business case analysis
and it is repeated here. I see
the costs here with my FAO
colleagues trying to work with
Budapest and they are quite
significant in terms of lost
staff time." Guterres? On
April 18, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Dujarric again, UN transcript
here:
Inner City Press: I've asked a
couple times about this global
service delivery mechanism,
which sounds very dry, but
would actually move 600 jobs
out of New York to Mexico
City, Budapest…
Spokesman: You know, I
apologise. I will have
language for you on that.
Inner City Press: Even more
than language, I want to add
an extra question before…
maybe this… maybe the language
is already written, but there
seems to be a question, not
only just about how the cities
were selected, particularly
Budapest, where, in the past,
the Secretary-General, António
Guterres, in his former job,
already moved jobs to
Budapest. And I'm
wondering, does he have any
thoughts now that there are
protests about Viktor Orbán
and the position on migration
of moving more jobs to
Hungary?
Spokesman: I will get
back to you on all of that.
Inner City Press: And… and
has… how was it decided that
four cities was the right
run…? There seems to be
a question about that.
Spokesman: I will get
back to you. " But he hasn't.
On April 13, Inner City Press
again asked Guterres'
spokesman Dujarric who dodged
and then said he'd get
"granular guidance" - then
hours later left for the
weekend having provided no
information. From the UN
transcript: Inner City Press:
I had also asked you sometime
before about this… this is I
think you will know about, the
global supply delivery
mechanism or GSDM, and the
proposal by the
Secretary-General to move jobs
out of New York and elsewhere
to four cities. I mean,
it's now an official document,
the ACABQ [Advisory Committee
on Administrative and
Budgetary Questions], and I
guess I wanted… what I'm
hearing from people in the
process is that the
consultant's recommendation of
cities, in fact, were not the
ones that the
Secretary-General has proposed
to a ACABQ, that there were
some changes, for example, to
include Mexico City, that…
that an individual from Kuala
Lumpur, from… from Malaysia
UNDP was involved, a Mr. John
Kidd, and somehow Kuala Lumpur
showed up…
Spokesman: You know, I
think there's a process.
The report will go to the
Fifth Committee.
Inner
City
Press:
My question is whether the
underlying consultant's report
that was paid for with public
money will be released, as I
understand ACABQ has asked
they should get it, but I’m
saying since it's the public's
money…
Spokesman: I have no
information it to share with
you on this at this
point. Yes, go ahead.
Inner
City
Press:
And you said, I asked you,
it’s not just sharing, in your
previous answer you had said,
“Don't worry. Staff have
a right to move.” That
was my understanding of your
answer, when I said the effect
of this proposal, just as to
the United States…
Spokesman: I think I
said… the thrust of my answer
is that there are procedures
in place.
Inner
City
Press:
But my question to you, and
maybe you'll answer it or not,
is that G staff have no right
to move, even if they wanted
to move to Mexico City and
keep their jobs, they are
unable, as G staff, to do so.
Spokesman: I will try to
get some granular guidance.
Inner City Press: On
ECLAC [Economic Commission for
Latin America and the
Caribbean], as well, because I
see an amendment on moving
ECLAC to Mexico. It’s
public money.
Spokesman: I'm not
debating the fact that it's
public money." Then, no
answer. Public money wasted,
without accountability. We'll
have more on this.
Inner City Press
was exclusively told by
whistleblowers that Guterres
wanted to pick Budapest as he
did at UNHCR - among his other
nicknames he's become known to
some as Antonio "Budapest"
Guterres. There's talk of
wasted spending to try to get
Entebbe on the list. On April
5 after publishing this
exclusive, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, who six
hours later provided no
explanation at all. From the
UN transcript: Inner City
Press: My understanding is,
after a review of 45 cities,
António Guterres has selected
four cities as the winners of
684 UN posts: Mexico
City, Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur,
and Budapest, which it had
chosen previously. And I
just wanted to know, it seems
like it's a big thing that
they've just told ACABQ what
the four cities are.
What's the logic behind
it? What's the impact
on… on… are the people… are
people that are employed here,
particularly local staff… are
they able to move to these new
jobs, or are they going to
terminated? Are new jobs
going to be found for
them? And how did he
select these four out of the
45 cities listed?
Spokesman: It went
through a rigorous process you
know, I will have to check,
but my understanding is that,
obviously, whenever jobs are
moved, staff always have the
option of moving with the
post. But let me try to
get some more detailed
language on that." Six hours
later, nothing. Inner City
Press also asked the spokesman
for the President of the
General Assembly, who replied
"On the Secretary-General’s
Global Service Delivery Model
(GSDM) report, an advance
unedited version of the report
has been shared with Member
States and is being considered
today by the Advisory
Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions
(ACABQ). The report will then
be considered by the Fifth
Committee in its second
resumed session in May before
going to the General Assembly
plenary. Fifth Committee
decisions are traditionally
based on consensus." We'll
have more on this. Earlier
documents referred to
Locations A (Budapest) B
(Nairobi) C (Kuala Lumpur) and
D (Mexico City) in the
report. The
supplementary information
containing the locations were
distributed to the ACABQ
members on April 4, Inner City
Press has learned. The other
(losing) candidates: "The
United Nations Secretariat is
currently conducting
negotiations with the relevant
member states. The names of
the locations will be released
to the committees through
supplementary information. The
45 locations include Abidjan,
Addis Ababa, Almaty, Amman,
Apia, Bangkok, Beirut, Bonn,
Brindisi, Budapest,
Cairo, Copenhagen, Dakar,
Dubai, Entebbe, Fukuoka,
Geneva, Incheon, Istanbul,
Johannesburg, Kathmandu,
Kigali, Kingston, Kuala
Lumpur, Kuwait City,
Lusaka, Manama, Mexico
City, Montevideo, Nairobi,
New Delhi, New York, Niamey,
Panama City, Port of Spain,
Rabat, Rio de Janeiro, Rome,
Santiago, Suva, Tashkent,
Valencia, Vienna, Washington
D.C., Yaoundé." Some are
surprised Guterres didn't go
with Yaounde, Cameroon, since
he took Biya's golden statue.
Washington DC never had a
chance... The
whistleblowers tell Inner City
Press that dozens of jobs
would be eliminated in New
York, 75% of them held by
women, of whom Guterres speaks
so much. More than three
dozens of those fired would be
from the United States, which
as was pointed out in
September pays a quarter of
the bills. What ever the
wisdom, more transparency is
needed. But to the contrary,
Guterres and his Global
Communicator Alison Smale continue
to restrict the Press that
asks, awarding its long time
UN work space to a no-show
Egyptian state media, Sanaa
Youssef of Akhbar al Yom. On
February 28, Guterres' UN
Security told Inner City Press
to stop
recording, as Guterres was
offering his "very very warm
regards" to Sisi. Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
does not answer Inner City
Press' written questions; he
evicted and still restricts
Inner City Press. This is
today's UN. And this: after
Inner City Press asked at noon
on March 2 about Guterres'
"reform" and his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric promised to
look into it and provide an
answer, five hours later...
nothing. Some reform. From the
UN's March 2 transcript:
Inner City Press: I've
been hearing a lot talk about
this “global service delivery
model” and some people it
seems if… unless I have it
wrong, that there's going to
be an outsourcing or
offshoring of human resources
and payroll jobs, and from
what I've heard they're mostly
general service jobs,
basically a straight
elimination of some 90
posts. But what I wanted
to know is people don't know
where it's going. One,
can the general service staff,
if they choose to, follow the
jobs? And is it true
that Brazil is one of the
candidates? There's just
a lot of… it's supposedly by
March 15th they have to
present…Spokesman: Let
me… I will try to get an
update for you." Five hours
later, nothing. Even on the
environment, the UN's last
refuge as it fails under
Antonio Guterres on conflict
prevention and
anti-corruption, the UN is in
decay. Guterres' deputy Amina
J. Mohammed has refused Press
questions since November on
her role in signing 4000
certificates to export from
Nigeria and Cameroon
endangered rosewood already in
China. Guterres, Mohammed and
Alison Smale's only response
has been to censor
and continue to restrict
the Press which asks, despite
5000 signature petition,
UNanswered...
***
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