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Spending on Vanity Press History of UNAIDS Called a
"Detail" By Peter Piot Before Mexico Confab
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
July 29 -- In advance of the International
AIDS Conference started August 3 in Mexico City, UNAIDS director Peter
Piot was
asked about his use of agency money to publish what some call a vanity
press
book, "UNAIDS: The First Ten Years." Piot responded defensively that
"this is the classic way of doing things" and that it cost only
"half a million dollars." Inner City Press asked about reports that
it cost, in fact, $1 million, and asked Piot to respond to criticism by
his
former senior advisor, who criticized
Piot's publishing frenzy and use of funds. "Definitely
not true," Piot said,
looking over at this spokeswoman. Video here, from Minute 21:16.
But
concerns have arisen, too, about his "Art for Aids" coffee table
book, which reportedly cost nearly $400,000. "It
is standard to record," Piot
said, sitting next to Kemal Dervis, the Administrator of UNDP, an
agency which
begrudging admitted spending more than Piot's half-million dollar
figure for
its own official history, UNDP: A Better
Way?
UNAIDS' Peter Piot, publishing costs and
criticism not shown
Dervis on
July 25 told Inner City Press that he will not answer questions in the
UN
hallway, as other UN system officials do, and that he will no hold a
UNDP press
conference until after the "high summer season" is over.
Inner City
Press asked Piot if he expects his spending on "UNAIDS: The First Ten
Years" to be raised in next month's conference in Mexico City. "I
can't imagine," he said, "it's a real detail." So, half a
million dollars is a detail? Watch this site.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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[at] innercitypress.com
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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