Inner City Press -- Investigative Journalism from the United Nations

As Turkmenistan Cracks Down on Journalists, Hospitals and Romance, UNDP Works With the Niyazov Regime

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, October 18 -- The European Union reacted to the torture murder of Turkmen journalist Ogulsapar Muradova while in state custody, and other excesses by Turkmenistan’s Saparmurat Niyazov, by declining the invitation to enter a trade agreement with the Central Asian coungtry. The UN Development Program has taken a different approach, and recently offered praise of Niyazov's government.

Today's Turkish Daily News quotes Niyazov that "for some years the state structures and public organizations of Turkmenistan have successfully realized joint programs and projects in collaboration with such organizations as the UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO and many others."

UNESCO, it should be noted, recently "voiced grave concern at the death of Ogulsapar Muradova in jail in Ashgabat," the capital of Turkmenistan. The UN agency's press release, No. 2006-116, cited Reporters Without Borders that "Ms Muradova's children identified Ms Muradova's body in the morgue of Ashgabat on 14 September. Witnesses are reported to have seen a head wound and many other marks on the rest of her body."

A month after Ms. Muradova's body was identified in the morgue, UNDP's resident coordinator in Turkmenistan Mr. Richard Young told two hundred people at a conference on UN - Government of Turkmenistan cooperation that "as a member of the United Nations, Turkmenistan recognizes the importance of working together to meet concrete targets for advancing development. National ownership is a key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and adhering to global human rights values." The quote is from a write-up provided by the UN System in Turkmenistan. The write-up contained no criticism of Niyazov or his regime.

Cleansing Turkmenbashi

It is not clear what "national ownership" the UN's Richard Young was referring to. In recent years, Niyazov has closed all hospitals outside of the capital, telling the BBC, "Why do we need such hospitals? If people are ill, they can come to Ashgabat."

Niyazov, who has called himself Turkmenbashi, Father of All Turkmen, has also closed all libraries, including those in the capital, on the grounds that "nobody reads books or go to libraries".

In fact, the main book taught in schools in Turkmenistan is one written by Niyazov himself, called Ruhknama. Niyavoz has said Ruhknama, sometimes spelled Ruhnama, "was issued to eliminate all shortcomings." It is available in 22 languages on the Turkmenistan government website, here. A UN staffer who has worked for the UN system in Turkmenistan (and who has read Rukhnama) tells Inner City Press that many of the UN offices in Ashkabat use the government's web servers, which block content objectionable to Niyazov and presumably record and register the communications traveling through them. (The UN staff asked not to be named, as for now still a UN employee.)

Like the Karimov government in Uzbekistan, which UNDP also assists in a range of ways from tax collection to help with open source software, Niyazov is cracking down on and thinning the ranks of non-governmental organizations. Reportedly the human rights group Arkadag "has files full of the most diverse explanations they have received about why they are being turned down – a misplaced comma here, a wrongly ordered paragraph there, or a demand for details of all rank-and-file members even though the law stipulates that only the board members need to be named...Re-registration is also a problem for existing NGOs, in the wake of the Law on Public Associations passed in 2003." A more recent law restricts the ability of citizens of Turkmenistan to marry foreigners.

At UN headquarters on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about these laws, and to explain the contradiction between UNESCO's and even the Secretary-General's own denunciations of the Turkmenistan government's human rights record and UNDP's statement, on its dedicated Turkmenistan website, www.undptkm.org, that "UNDP provides advisory services to selected government agencies in improvement of institutional and legal frameworks for economic and financial management and social protection, statistical capacity development." Video here.

The spokesman has indicated that while this is a good question, it should be answered by UNDP, rather than the Secretariat. The question was asked at noon, but as of ten p.m. no response of any kind had been received. We note that UNDP has now delayed two weeks in providing an update on its previously announced de-funding of violent disarmament in the Karamoja region of Eastern Uganda, and has also delayed in responding to Inner City Press' written request for comment on recent testimony to the Fifth Committee on A/61/5 Add.1, on "UNDP's failure to complete monthly bank account reconciliations," "internal control weaknesses present in the implementation process of UNDP's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system" and "the adverse and qualified opinions on project auditors on the implementation of UNDP program expenditures executed by governments."

To be fair to UNDP, here is another UN agency providing unexplained funding to Turkmenistan's government -- UN/DESA Division for Social Policy and Development providing technical cooperation funds to the Niyazov regime. Other supporters include Deutsche Bank, Turkmenbashi's private banker, and the French construction firm Bouygues, to build another palace. Thus is Turkmenbashi provided UN technical assistance to further the Millennium Development Goals. Developing...

With All Eyes on Council Seat, UN is Distracted from Myanmar Absolution and Congo Conflagration

UNITED NATIONS, October 17 -- After twenty two rounds of voting, the race between Guatemala and Venezuela for a UN Security Council seat has still not yielded a winner. After six p.m. on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton came out last to the stakeout in front of the General Assembly. "Venezuela has lost 21 of 22 votes," he said. "In normal circumstances, they would honorably drop out."

These are not, however, normal circumstances. Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuelan Ambassador Francisco Javier Arias Cardenas brandished a copy of the El Pais newspaper, with its front page picture of Amb. Bolton whispering into the ear of the Guatemalan foreign minister. The Venezuelan translator Melina Garcia -- who twice pointed out that she is not a spokesperson -- spoke darkly about extortion and intimidation carried out by the United States. A copy of a crumpled October 4, 2006 letter was flashed, addressed to the Foreign Minister of Antigua and Barbuda from U.S. Ambassador Mary Ellen T. Gilroy, urging a vote for Guatemala in light of Hugo Chavez's speech to the General Assembly, and Chavez' characterization of terrorist Carlos the Jackal as "a friend." The web site of Harper's Magazine has the underlying quote, click here to view.

The Venezuelan ambassador announced that if John Bolton or George Bush would come to the microphone and announce that countries are free to vote their conscience, Venezuela might be willing to accept "a consensus." This statement appeared to assume that Venezuela would in that case be the consensus candidate.

Inner City Press asked the Guatemalan representative Gert Rosenthal what he thought the vote tally would be, if the U.S. announced that all could vote their conscience. He responded that he didn't think countries were pawns of the United States.

The upshot is that the Latin American and Caribbean group, known by its comical acronym GRULAC, will hold an informal meeting late Wednesday morning. The Guatemalan representative will attend; in response to Inner City Press' question, he stated that Guatemala had initially refused to attend a meeting which would have been conditioned on Guatemala dropping out of the race. Video here. As to when and if Guatemala might drop out, he would not specify the point at which Guatemala would be willing to withdraw, adding that Guatemala is concerned with the integrity of GRULAC. So are we, so are we, muttered one wag at the stakeout.

Inner City Press used Amb. Bolton's moment at the mike to ask him about Myanmar, called Burma by the Ambassador. On October 13, the Group of 8's Financial Action Task Force removed Myanmar from its money laundering blacklist. Click here for Reuters, here for Associated Press. Money laundering, along with drug exports and refugee flows, were reasons given that Myanmar poses a threat to international peace and security and should be on the Security Council's agenda. Inner City Press asked if the U.S. thinks this FATF decision is legitimate. Amb. Bolton said he was not yet aware of the FATF decision. Video here. Now the news has been provided to his staff; developing.

Meanwhile, the Security Council held, or purported to hold, consultations on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Neither U.S. Ambassador Bolton nor most other ambassadors attended. Deputy Head of UN Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi declined to take questions on camera. Inner City Press spoke with Mr. Annabi by the elevator and asked him about the requests that the UN actively defend broadcasting antennae and facilities which have been under attack. Mr. Annabi expressed concern for such attacks, but opined that the most recent one was the result of a short circuit, not arson.

Inner City Press asked about the replacement of presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba's helicopter, a matter previously raised to the UN spokesman, who replied that it was not a UN, but rather a Congolese, decision. The forces of current president Joseph Kabila destroyed Mr. Bemba's helicopter, and Mr. Kabila had said it would be replaced. But as the election entered its final two week stretch, the helicopter had not been replaced. Sources indicate that then an attempt was made by the UN to get a third country to lend Mr. Bemba a helicopter to campaign. Other sources argue that even before it was destroyed, Mr. Bemba's helicopter was hardly in shape for campaigning in a country that is, as the UN often says, a large as Western Europe except -- still! -- with the roads.

Mr. Annabi on Wednesday told Inner City Press that the UN has now provided two helicopters, one each for candidates Bemba and Kabila, through the independent electoral commission. Why this was not announced at a noon briefing, or at least in a stakeout interview, is not clear. As was heard at its headquarters on Wednesday, the UN has a story to tell, but needs to tell it better. Or to tell it at all. Tuesday after 12 days of delay from the UN Development Program in providing an update on a program defunded by UNDP, the UN spokesman was informed of the delay. We'll see.

There was a briefing in honor of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Inner City Press asked French Ambassador de la Sabliere to explain the discrepancy between Monday's UN briefing on the booming of foreign direct investment in the developing world, and UNDP's statement that fully 38% of sub-Saharan Africa will not attain the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty rates by 2015. Amb. de la Sabliere answered that fighting poverty is not the Security Council's work, except in post-war zones. Video here. But why not then the Congo, which is subject to Security Council resolutions? How long will it be, that the old saw of "no roads" will remain?

Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor referred to Europe's subsidies for cows, and acknowledged the need for a new fair trade regime. The chef de cabinet of the General Assembly president said that both NGOs and charities are important. The GA president's spokeswoman, to her credit, answered a previous Inner City Press question about Venezuela's JFK airport complaint by providing a press release summary of the Host Country Committee meeting.

At the UN spokesman's noon briefing, two more questions went unanswered. The prime minister of the UN-supported Transitional Federal Government in Somalia has reportedly written to the UN complaining about the objectivity of the mediators in Khartoum. Has the UN or its Department of Political Affairs (DPA) received the letter? Don't know, the spokesman said. Video here. What about the critique of the DPA in the just-released audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, which recommends that "the Secretary-General should amend the official mandates of the Departments of Political Affairs and Peacekeeping Operations to include reference to the lead department policy in order to enhance its visibility and transparency"?

The Secretariat will respond at some point, the spokesman said, but had no comment at the time. When might OIOS speak to reporters about this and other audits? Never, apparently. The spokesman continues to say he has asked. OIOS during a recent visit told Inner City Press that he hasn't. While we know whom we believe, between the two, the solution here would be for the spokesman's office to call, say, the Under Secretary General for Management and remind him, with his glossy UN Annual Report co-signed by the head of OIOS, that transparency starts at home. Or is the current administration just giving up?

Venezuela and Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona De-Listed

UNITED NATIONS, October 16 -- As Venezuela and Guatemala faced off in ten separate votes for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the names of dark horse or compromise candidates swirled outside the General Assembly, where the voting was taking place. Uruguay and Costa Rica were much mentioned, along with the Dominican Republic. A quick check of the list of countries which have paid their UN dues, and of the nine countries recently excused from this duty, reflected that the Dominican Republic is not on either list and therefore, it seems, ineligible.

Italy, Belgium and South Africa each won non-permanent Council seats, which will go into effect on January 1. In one of two contested elections, Indonesia trumped Nepal 158 to 28. The Venezuela - Guatemala contest will resume on Tuesday.

The longest such contest was in 1979, when after 154 ballots between Cuba and Columbia, Mexico won out as a compromise candidate. As night fell on Turtle Bay and cell phones buzzed, there were dreams of following this dark horse Mexican path.

To win a two-year seat on the Security Council, a country must win two-thirds of the votes cast in the 192 member General Assembly: in this case, over 120 votes. After the tenth vote of the day -- the results each being about the same, with Guatemala moving from 109 votes to 110, and Venezuela from 76 to 77 -- representatives of the two parties, and Guatemala's main backer the United States, took questions from reporters. Venezuela's ambassador used the word dignity repeatedly, saying his country will be in it until the last vote. U.S. Ambassador Bolton characterized the day as nine losses and one tie for Venezuela. Guatemala's representative was more whimsical, saying that his country will certainly stay in a few more rounds.

Inner City Press asked the Guatemalan representative about the status of the UN's investigation into the deaths of eight Guatemalan peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Video on UNTV, here. Sources have told Inner City Press that Guatemala has been less than pleased with those in the UN who blame the deaths on the soldiers themselves, saying that they came upon the Lord's Resistance Army and then "fell asleep." But on camera, the foreign minister said only that recently the UN Department of Peacekeeping, DPKO, gave Guatemala first draft of the report to solicit comments on it. Developing.

At the margins, some complained that the Venezuelan delegation was handing out chocolates despite it being Ramadan, a time in Islam for daytime fasting.

During a break in Council voting, the director the Global Compact, Georg Kell, spoke with reporters about the UN's World Investment Report 2006, a 340-page tome that presents foreign direct investment (FDI) as growing in every region. The Global Compact is the UN's vehicle to engage the private sector on issues of labor and human rights and environmental protection. To critics, it has allowed corporations with no standards to drape themselves in veneer of the UN's blue flag without being held to the principles they say they have espoused.

Monday Mr. Kell acknowledged that most of the growth in FDI is made up of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, only some of which bring benefits to anyone in the target counties, much less those most in need. Nevertheless, the book presents many useful lists and snapshots of the world economy, based on 2005 data.

Inner City Press asked Mr. Kell about these aspect of the report, and then about the Global Compact. Video on UNTV, here. Specifically, Inner City Press raised as an example the case of Deutsche Bank, which is the private banker for the dictator of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, click here for more on Deutsche Bank. Mr. Kell responded that the Compact is about "learning, dialogue and positive change." To Inner City Press' ongoing urging that corporate CEOs who come to the UN seeking positive publicity from meeting the Secretary-General (for example, Turkey's Koch) or lunching with the Deputy Secretary-General (for example, Dow Chemical), be urged to take questions from the press, Mr. Kell said that will take place, the decision to do so has already been made. His spokesman said he will scope out the logistics of allowing question from UN Headquarters to an upcoming Compact corporate get-together in Geneva.

A number of companies have been de-listed from the Global Compact, mostly for failure to file even the most basic updates. Among those de-listed are banks (Banca Monte Parma, Nedbank, Punjab National Bank and Dena Bank of India), accounting firms (Deloitte and Ernst & Young - Brazil), Franklin Covey, Mitsubishi Motors, Petronas and perhaps most intriguingly, the team of F.C. Barcelona. Ronaldino and the club's president Laporta were at the UN recently talking about corporate social responsibility. Apparently, this did not include basic filings with the UN. And given Deutsche Bank's non-response on the Turkmenistan issues, one wonders why it is allowed to remain a Global Compact member...

One wonders, too, why the UN continues working with the Congolese Army, regarding which the most recent report concerns enslavement and forced labor from civilians in Ituri. Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman for a response to the report. Video on UNTV, here. The spokesman answered that the UN is concerned. "But why then does the UN continue supporting this Congolese army?" Click here for the Human Rights Watch report, and watch this space.

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