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At the UN, Complaints Against New Labor Chief Unanswered, Moonlighting Sportsman

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

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- With the UN's top human resources post vacant for months now, speculation grew and then crystallized about Jan Beagle's replacement. More than a week ago, people in the know began to say it would be Catherine Pollard, currently Jean-Marie Guehenno's chief of staff in UN Peacekeeping, prior to that a budget expert on the same topic. Almost immediately, concerned staff began circulating and offering to the Press a three page complaint about harassment and discrimination, in which Ms. Pollard is described as being at the top of the chain and personally responsible. The complaint also describes UN supervisors forcing lower level staff to buy insurance, software and even computers from them.

    Because of the broad nature of the complaint, Inner City Press on April 1 sent a copy to Ms. Pollard's official e-mail address, along with a request for comments "on the issues raised in the attached letter, and for you to confirm or deny that you are seeking the ASG of OHRM post, and your understanding of where the selection process stands, and any other comment you have." Ms. Pollard did not respond, or seek to rebut the complaints in the letter in any way. Two days later, the Deputy Spokesperson announced Ms. Pollard as the new "Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management... bring[ing] to OHRM her demonstrated capacity to forge collaborative partnerships with different groups of stakeholders in order to get the job done."

            Inner City Press asked, "there's a pretty widely circulated staff complaint, and I admit it’s a complaint, regarding Ms. Pollard.  It's standard to ask her for a comment, which I didn’t receive, but is the Secretariat aware of this complaint, which seems widely circulated in this building, and did they look into it and reject it, or how did it relate to the appointment?"

            [The above is a mis-transcription, Inner City Press said that Ms. Pollard had been provided an opportunity to comment on the complaint but did not respond, for the past two days.] The Deputy Spokesperson said, "I’ll look into that for you." But ten hours later, no answer had been provided, even a confirmation or denial that the 38th floor had considered the complaint.

Ms. Catherine Pollard, complaint not shown, response not received

  The surreal Q&A continued:

Inner City Press: can you confirm that Ms. McAskie is leaving as head of the Peacebuilding Commission?

Deputy Spokesperson:  I cannot.

Inner City Press: And Mr. Lemke, the new Sports Envoy.  I asked before but I didn’t get an answer.  Is he still employed as a Bremen State politician in Germany or not?

Deputy Spokesperson:  I don't know.

Inner City Press: It seems like if you appoint somebody, whether they have another job seems relevant?

Deputy Spokesperson:  I'll look into that for you.

            Again, after nine hours, no answer from the UN Secretariat which appointed Mr. Lemke. But the German mission told Inner City Press that

"At the moment, Mr. Lemke is a member of the government of the German federal state of Bremen. He was, however, appointed by the Secretary-General to his new post on the understanding that he will resign from his post in Bremen. He will of course tender his resignation to the Bremen parliament before he assumes his new post in Geneva, which will both happen after his visit to New York."

      There -- is it so difficult, for the UN's Communiations Office? Apparently yes. That Ms. McAskie is leaving was told to her entire staff. Some have speculated that the outgoing Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Field Support might shift laterally (or slightly downward) to the Peacebuildin position. Others say a demotion is not in her character, and also that the U.S. cannot get all of these slots. We'll see.

            Many UN insiders are expressing surprise that the 38th floor is now taking power from the so-called Senior Review Group, and is now getting involved in every so-called D-2 appointment. Some SRG recommendations have been reversed, some give as their example a post in Sierra Leone, for which a Nigerian national had been selected, then un-selected by the 38th floor.

            These insiders, late on Thursday, expressed surprised that the UN rushed forward with Pollard's announcement as head of OHRM -- some had though they would wait to name her Controller, given that she has more financial than human resources experience. We'll see.

* * *

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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