UN
Won't Tell Press
Who's on 38th
Floor, How Paid, As ICP
Digs Into Murky UN Trust Funds
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
March 21 – How transparent, or
opaque, is today's UN? Inner
City Press had asked UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
top two spokesmen simple
factual questions: who works
on the 38th floor? Who pays
them? But the two, both
holdovers from the Ban Ki-moon
administration, refused to
answer, so on March 20 Inner
City Press published its scoop
about the murky use of trust
funds to pay people on the
UN's 38th floor. Even on March
21 when Inner City Press asked
Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq who pays whom, he refused
to answer. Video
here; from the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
I'd asked in writing but,
having gotten no answer, I
want to ask you in person,
which is, on the 38th Floor,
is it possible to get a list
of who is now… now that it's
80-some… 80 days, I guess,
into this Administration,
who's working up there?
And I wanted to know in
particular a breakdown of
who's paid by the UN, who's
paid by countries, and if —
just a yes-or-no
question. If there is a…
any type of fund — some have
called it a Lusophone fund;
some have called it… said it's
run out of UNOPS [United
Nations Office for Project
Services] — that, is in fact,
paying individuals that work
on the 38th Floor. And,
if so, are they UN
staffers? Is it
something else? Can you…
I mean, I asked you on Friday
in… like, is there a list, and
is it possible to get this
breakdown simply to understand
how it's being run up there?
Deputy Spokesman: I
don't believe that there's a
list by payment.
Obviously, we don't go into
the contract details of
individual staff
members. We could try to
get you a list of the people
who are part of the Executive
Office.
Inner
City
Press: But
it's not… I guess… I want to
put it in this context.
It's not a matter of the
personal details of the
individual. It's a
matter of saying it is… it
would be important for the
public to know if somebody
working on the 38th Floor is,
in fact, paid by a country as
opposed from the regular
budget.
Deputy Spokesman: The
financial details of how the
Executive Office works, all
that is shared with the
relevant budgetary committees
of the General Assembly, and
so they have that information.
Inner
City
Press: So
has… has the… has the
Executive Office of the
Secretary-General shared
information about a Lusophone
fund or any fund run by UNOPS
that pays individuals on the
38th Floor?
Deputy Spokesman: I'm
not aware of any such thing as
you're terming it. As
you know, at different times,
if people are seconded by
Governments or otherwise
governments defray
arrangements, that
information, whether for this
Secretary-General or for
previous Secretaries-General,
is shared with the relevant
budgetary committees.
Inner
City Press:
Right, but would it be… this
is my final thing. Would
it be paid directly from a
country to its own national or
through a fund run by some UN
system fund? And, if so,
I'm asking for details about
that because…
Deputy Spokesman: Again,
that is information that gets
shared with the budgetary
committees. They will
have that.
Haq and
his boss Stephane Dujarric
refused for four days to
answer this: "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
including but not limited to
UNOPS and who funds that, and
who is paid by / seconded from
a country." The question about
UNOPS grows from a number of
sources having exclusively
told Inner City Press that
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, a former prime
minister of Portugal, has been
using a "Lusophone fund" in
the UN Office of Project
Services, UNOPS, to pay
several of those working for
him on the 38th floor. Why not
just answer?
On March
20, as Inner City Press
pointed out the seeming
hypocrisy not only of the UN
preaching media freedom while
having evicted and still
restricting Inner City Press
but also of an all-male UN
team meeting with the DR
Congo, it was told Yes, UNOPS
is involved, citing to General
Assembly documents saying that
some working in the UN do not
have to be categories, or
disclosed, as staff. But isn't
this opacity simply inviting
budget cuts? We'll have more
on this.
***
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
2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
