Your support
means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you
access to exclusive bonus material on
our Patreon page. Click
here to become a patron. MRL
on Patreon
Amid
UNAIDS #MeToo Harassment, SG
Guterres Refused Inner City
Press Question, Now UNSOS
Allegations
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive; Vine;
Video
here
UNITED
NATIONS, April 2 - UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres says
he has a "zero
tolerance"
policy for
sexual
harassment,
and for
retaliation. But
when Inner
City Press
asked
Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan
Haq on March
15 about
Michel
Sidibé's reported
threats of retaliatory
investigations
against those
making
and offering
support to sexual
harassment
complaints at
UNAIDS, Haq said
this is entire
a matter for
UNAIDS. Earlier
Inner City
Press story here.
On March 29
when
Inner City
Press
audibly asked
Guterres, if
he had even
yet spoken to
Sidibe,
Guterres did
not answer.
Vine video here.
The unaddressed
rot is not
only at UNAIDS.
Inner City
Press has been
informed, and
now
exclusively
reports, that
there are also
sexual
exploitation
and abuse
allegations at
the UN Support Office
in Somalia
in Somalia
(UNSOS), whose
outgoing
director Hubert
Price Inner
City Press previously
questioned
about negligent
imposition of
sewage on Somalis.
Now the
allegation is
of paying for
sex,
against the senior
level of UNSOS
just below
Price's now
Amadu Kamara's
post. It's
what Inner
City Press
called "blue
on blue," a
terms like so
many difavored
by today's UN
in denial. There
are also
allegations of
theft of fuel
and fraud in
rations -
we'll have
more on this.
Present
on March 29,
before
Guterres' unannounced
four day
junket to
Lisbon, was
Guterres'
Global
Communicator
Alison Smale,
who
orders UN
staff to
"speak with
one voice" -
hers - on
allegations of
sexual harassment.
She has
continued to
restrict Inner
City Press,
declining for
months to
even answer
what
the rules are.
Inner
City Press has
been receiving
detailed complaints
about mismanagement
and harassment
in UNAIDS, but
the UN refuses
to answer. So
below
are
some more
of the
complaints.
Tellingly, the
day after
Guterres
refused Inner
City Press'
question
about UNAIDS,
here
are Loures' victims
speaking publicly,
in their own
names:
Martina
Brostrom, a
policy advisor
at UNAIDS, said of
Loures at
a conference
in Bangkok,
Thailand in
2015: "I
was pleading
with him, and
I was just
bracing with
all that I
could just to
not leave the
elevator."
Guterres? No
answer -
and no action.
Where is
Guterres on
this? Where is
Guterres?
Malayah
Harper, who
used to run
UNAIDS'
programs in
Uganda and
Kenya, on
Loures
a year
earlier, also
at a hotel: "He
got into the
lift with me,
and then kind
of lunged
forward to --
you could call
it -- kiss me,
but I thought
a kiss had to
be
consensual."
We'll have more on
this, and on retaliation. Some
more of the
complaints
exclusively
published by
Inner City
Press: "Michel
Sidibé
has established
this 'boys
club'
culture where
qualified
women are made
to feel less
worthy, are
openly
ridiculed by
male
colleagues
except those
women who are
providing
favors to him
and his 'boys,' he
continues to
give perks
to his boys
who serve as
his connectors
to presidents,
prime
ministers etc
by appointing
them to
important
positions as
well as even
when they
retired
bridging them
back on
special
assignments
for them to
make easy
money. People
such as Fritz
Lherisson,
Georges Shaw
and more
recently
Abdoul Dieng."
There are the
Mali connections,
beyond
what Inner
City Press
reported about
Burundi on March
23, here:
"Ben
Wahab - A
Malian
recently
appointed as
UNAIDS Country
Director for
Burundi with
no country
level and no
management
experience. He
came in as a
P4 Adviser and
very quickly
in 3 years he
rose to his
present
position of
UNAIDS Country
Director.... Theresa
Poirier, a
Malian
Canadian,
UNAIDS Country
Director for
Malawi .Also a
relatively new
comer to
UNAIDS
appointed by
Michel as
Director in
Mali and now
serving in
Malawi as
UNAIDS Country
Director... Fode
Simanga a
Malian serving
as senior
adviser in
Geneva but
graded at
Director level... Dado
SY Kagnsssy a
Malian before
UNAIDS Country
Director for
Djibouti, very
little
experience,non
articulative
and a fairly
new comer to
UNAIDS who was
appointed to
this position
whilst many
longer serving
staff members
are over
looked and now
posted to
Guinea as
UNAIDS Country
Director.. Amakonde
Sande (moved
from
consultant to
P4 in short
order to
P5 as UNAIDS
Country
Director in
Malawi and
then sent to
Uganda a
D1 position
where she
stayed only
for 3 months
only to be
appointed to
China as
UNAIDS Country
Director... Bridgitte
Quenum
recently
appointed as
UNAIDS Country
Director but
she has no
leadership,
management
experience and
was appointed
over other
more
senior
persons. It is
reputed that
her family
is/was a great
friend of
Michel Sidibe
and that is
how she
entered UNAIDS
and now gained
this
distinguished
position." But
note - not
only has
Antonio
Guterres
bragged
recently that
now at the
UN "we have
some Portuguese
things" - he
also has his
own hiring and
traveling
patterns.
As to
UNAIDS and
Sidibe, there is
talk of mining
business; there
are harassment
complaints
and findings
that Sidibé
refuses to act
on. Of
Girmay Haile,
the current
UNAIDS country
director in
Zimbabwe, whistleblowers
tell Inner
City Press
that a recent
internal
investigation
came
unanimously to
the conclusion
of severe
bullying and
intimidation
just two weeks
ago - but Sidibé
has refused to
move him. This
followed a
previous
investigation
against
Girmay Haile Girmay
HaileGirmay
HaileGirmay
Hailein
Kenya;
Sidibe
refused the
recommendation
of the
internal team
and promoted
him to country
director
Ghana. Girmay
Haile
has reportedly
said
he knows too
much and if he
falls they all
fall. We shall
see.
Back
on March 15 when
Inner City
Press asked
about the UN
Secretariat's
own investigation
of
whistleblowers,
for the second
day in a row,
Haq again
defended it,
as somehow
benefiting
member states.
From the UN transcript:
Inner City
Press: I'm
sure you've
seen the
article in The
Guardian
quoting Michel
Sibidé [sic]
of UNAIDS
[Joint United
Nations
Programme
against
HIV/AIDS].
What I wanted
to ask you is,
he seems to be
attacking
those who came
forward in the
sexual
harassment
case against
Luiz
Loures.
He's attacked
them.
He's said that
Loures is a…
is… made a
courageous
decision.
And, of his
detractors, he
says, we know
these people
are taking
their golden
shan…
handshakes
from us here
and knowing
they have a
job and then
attacking
us. We
know all about
that. We
know every
single
thing.
Time will come
for
everything.
When I hear
anything about
abuse of our
assets, I ask
for an
investigation.
Maybe these
investigations
are going
on. And
so, many staff
and many
people in the…
in the
“#MeToo”
movement see
this as a
direct threat
against those
who came
forward.
And I wonder,
what does
António
Guterres… who
I'm… I… I
would assume
is a reader of
The Guardian,
what does he
think of these
comments?
Deputy
Spokesman:
We're aware of
this
article.
Obviously,
it's for
UNAIDS and
Mr.
Sidibé to
explain what
the comments
attributed to
him are.
At
UNESCO in Paris
there are cover-ups
and retaliation in
the wake of the
two-step firing of
Assistant Director
General Frank La Rue
for sexual
harassment.
But
when Inner City
Press on March 20
asked Guy Berger,
the grandly titled
Director of Freedom
of Expression and
Media Development at
the United Nations
Educational,
Scientific and
Cultural
Organization, if he
thought reporting on
l'affaire La
Rue, which has
included Inner City
Press' exclusive
report that after
his suspension he
was still getting
paid and now
questions about
UNESCO Ethics
Adviser Rebecca
Trott, Berger said
he was unaware of
the specifics of the
case and to ask
UNESCO's press
officer.
Since Inner City
Press published the
video
of the Q&A, it
has heard from
UNESCO staff in New
York that Berger
"lied - he was among
the best friends of
La Rue, defended him
at every turn, while
also trying to take
his job." This is
how the UN works -
work with
collaborators like
Berger's former
student, to cover up
abuse, while seeking
mutual advancement.
It is disgusting. So
too on Rebecca
Trott, UNESCO's
"Ethics" adviser. As
question mount about
cover up, it will be
interesting to know
who is still
protecting her
within the
organization. We'll
have more on this.
Likewise,
after Berger has
spoken and joked
with a former
student (given the
first question)
about the importance
of independent media
and even holding
power in check, when
Inner City Press
asked about the UN's
FAO and WIPO going
after the press, he
said he was unaware
but implied it might
be justified.
When
Inner City Press
asked about the UN
Department of Public
Information's
continuing lack of
content neutral
media access rules,
despite Inner City
Press' repeated
requests to DPI boss
Alison Smale, both
his student and the
UN moderate looked
surprised, as if
they didn't
understand.
OK:
Inner City Press was
evicted from its UN
work space for
pursuing the Ng Lap
Seng UN bribery case
in the UN Press
Briefing Room - an
event of the group
headed by Berger's
student - and has
been a non-resident
correspondent
requiring DPI
“minders” to cover
the UN General
Assembly and its
President. Meanwhile
its office was given
to a no-show
Egyptian state
media, Akhbar al
Yom's Sanaa Youssef,
who has not ask the
UN a question in ten
years.
Media
that rarely come in
and ask anything
have arrived since
Inner City Press'
eviction and have
been given UN office
space. Inner City
Press has been told
it is not even on
the list, and Smale
has not answer a
single email. No
rules. We'll have
more on this
(charade) - and on
UNESCO. Watch this
site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2018 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for