When
UNSG Guterres Met Takijistan
Team, Like DRC, No
Women On Either Side, ICP
Asks
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 22 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres and
his team met
with the foreign minister of Tajikistan
Sirodjidin Aslov and his team
on March 22, it was an
all-male affair just like the
previous day with the the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo's Vice Prime Minister
Léonard She Okitundu. Tweeted
DRC photo
here; video
here. After the unisex
DRC meeting, and Guterres' speech
at a "Gender Champions" event
right after that, Inner City
Press on March 22 asked
Guterres' holdover deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq, UN
transcript here:
Inner City
Press: there was a
meeting yesterday afternoon
between the… the… I guess
first Prime Minister of the
DRC and the Secretary-General
and his team. And I have
to say, because there was this
event called “Gender
Champions” afterwards, I did
notice, not just on the DRC
side but on the
Secretary-General's side, it
was six men. And I just
wanted to know, is there some…
I heard him say at the Gender
Champions that there's an end
to all-male panels and a lot
of things about gender
parity. Was this some
kind of an oversight? Is
it something… did someone who
was supposed to attend not
attend or what's your… how
would you characterize the
makeup of that meeting?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
the Secretary-General has made
it very clear he wants to see
an end to panels which are
just… only male. If
there are any problems getting
the right mix, people are
encouraged to do what they can
to get the right mix of
panellists. Sometimes,
inevitably, whether it's
through absences or whatever,
it doesn't work out that
way. But we're trying to
make sure that, as a general
practice, that all panels will
have some gender balance to
them.
This
two days in a row, no women,
stands at odds with that the
UN Staff Unions say are Guterres'
plans for gender parity at
levels of the UN below Under
Secretary General (at which,
at least for UN Peacekeeping,
a man Jean-Pierre Lacroix was
chosen over a female
candidate, Sylvie Bermann. At
the March 20 UN noon briefing,
Inner City Press asked Guterres'
holdover deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq about the still
murky plans, after asking
about the recent lack of
read-outs of Guterres'
meetings. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: the staff unions
are saying they’ve become
aware of a proposal within the
Secretariat, a gender equity
proposal, in which all
external recruitment will be
restricted to female
candidates and which all
lateral moves will be
restricted to female
candidates and promotions
restricted to women at both
the P and D level. So
they’re getting responses from
staff. Some are in
favor. Others are saying
they should be looking at
things like parental leave,
maternity cover, child
care. But is this
true? Is this where the
Secretariat is moving?
And, if so, why didn’t this
apply, for example, to DPKO
(Department of Peacekeeping
Operations), where I know at
least one of the three
candidates was a woman and
was… Mr. [Jean-Pierre] Lacroix
was selected. What would
be the rationale for applying
this to P and D but not to the
higher levels of the UN
system?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
this is not something that is
policy at this point.
Whether this is something that
becomes developed later on is
something that will have to be
developed as a result of
discussions, including
discussions with staff and
with management. So I
don’t have anything to confirm
as a policy change at this
point.
Question: I know that
there’s some election coming
up and there’s some
controversy around it.
Would it await the results of
an election of a New York
staff union, or what would be
the mechanism to consult with
staff about this?
Deputy Spokesman: We
consult with many of the
different staff unions with
whoever is there to represent
them. If there is a
resolution to the situation in
New York and there’s a staff
union here in New York, that
would also be a welcome part
of the process.
Less
welcome, apparently, is
transparency about Guterres'
meetings on the 38th floor,
and even who is working there.
On March 17, Inner City Press
asked Haq and lead spokesman
Stephane Dujarric written
questions including "for a
read-out of the SG's meeting
with Polisario and as also
previously requested with the
FMs of Bahrain and Armenia.
This is a request to know
where the Secretary General
is. This is a Press request
for a list of who is working
in the Executive Office of the
Secretary General; within
that, who is paid by the UN
general budget, who is paid by
or through any other
UN-affiliated fund." Not
only did Dujarric and Haq not
answer, they and UN official
Cristina Gallach had Inner
City Press evicted from the UN
without any hearing and no
appeal; it remains restricted
to minders, a scam Egyptian
state media in its office.
We'll have more on this.
***
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