At
UN, ICP Asks of Confidential
Gender Parity Plan It Published,
Spokesman Stonewalls, Steiner
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Series
UNITED NATIONS,
April 13 – While UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, now
in place for 102 days, has yet
to implement or even propose
reforms from financial
transparency to any due
process rights for those
covering the UN, has put
forward a proposal marked
confidential on gender parity,
which some in the UN staff
complain would essentially ban
promotions of males regardless
of qualifications, and thereby
violates the UN Charter on
merit and on equal access of
men and women. Inner
City Press has obtained a copy
and exclusively publishes it here
and below. On April 13, Inner
City Press asked UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, video
here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you about this
gender policy that the memo
was obtained and published
yesterday by Inner City
Press. Maybe that's
harassment as well.
What's the status of Mr.
Guterres' proposal? Many
looking at the document
labelled "confidential" say it
violates the UN Charter in
that it takes merit and takes
an entire part of the UN and
precludes them from promotion
or even lateral movement. I
heard there was a management
meeting yesterday about
it. What is the status
of the proposal and can you
say why the state, the
proposal as printed, written,
and now published doesn't
violate the UN Charter?
Spokesman: First of all,
you know, I don't know what
you got your hands on or what,
what the veracity of the
document, the document
is. The
Secretary-General has made it
extremely clear from day one
of his wish for greater gender
parity and for a commitment to
gender parity, whether it's in
senior posts or throughout the
system.
There are discussions under
way to ensure that that goes
ahead, discussions within the
system between various parts
of the system and in a way,
that obviously honours,
honours the Charter, honours
the need to recognize people
for the work that they do and
recognize the need for greater
gender parity.
Inner
City Press:
Okay. So just, the
document is called "Systemwide
Strategy in Gender Parity,"
Produced by the Gender Parity
Task Force…
Spokesman: It's not a
final… I mean… It's a…
Inner
City Press:
…and it's 31 pages long if so…
Spokesman: Matthew, it's
not a finalized
document. You've taken
something out of the oven
that's not completely
baked. I think
everything, whether you eat it
or read it, should be judged
once it's completed.
I've just given you the
context.
Inner
City Press:
Okay. My, because I
guess my thing is, if it's his
proposal and the people in the
staff union are saying it
violates the Charter, it
seems…
Spokesman: People are
eating a cake that's not fully
baked.
Half
baked?
Inner City Press:
Achim Steiner, the nominee for
UNDP...
Spokesman: As for who
the next head of UNDP will be,
that is something that will be
announced in due course when
all the "Ts" have been crossed
and all the "Is" have been
dotted.
Inner City Press: If the
commitment to gender is, as
you said in answer to the
question about the stated
policy, how would that be
consistent with the head of
peacekeeping being a male and
the head of UNDP being a
male? How would that be
consistent?
Spokesman: I think one
has to look holistically at
the system.
UN
Gender Parity Proposal,
"Confidential," Published by Inner
City Press by Matthew
Russell Lee on Scribd
We'll
have more on this. Facing US budget
cuts, how does today's UN react? It
extended the UN contract of Jeffrey
Sachs, for example, then refused to
explain his quotes or what the upside of
extending his contract is. Inner City
Press had to repeatedly ask the UN to
get it to acknowledge the contract
extension, which was then re-reported
and added to by Fox, here,
which noted Sachs did not explain
himself. On April 11, Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, video
here, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: you'd said previously
that the Secretary-General had decided
to extend the contract of Jeffrey Sachs
as a Special Adviser on the Millennium
Development Goals. So I wanted to
ask you, he has been quoted that the US
President is "the quintessential
short-term populist and a nonstop font
of lies." So I wanted to know, in
what capacity does he speak? Is
this something that the
Secretary-General considered?
Spokesman: If, indeed, he said
those things, that would not be in his
capacity as a UN envoy, but I haven't
seen those quotes myself.
Inner City Press: Well, there's a
story…
Spokesman: Okay.
Inner City Press: He didn't choose
to answer about them either to deny
them, and he has written an article
talking about climate change fantasy,
and he called… there's a number of
things that he said.
Spokesman: He has a role.
When he speaks as a UN envoy, it's
fairly clear.
Inner City Press: Right. But
my question is, do you think as a recent
article says, do you think this is a
wise thing, by the Secretary-General, if
he’s, in fact, so concerned with
continuing US funding, that he's even
making post decisions for that basis, is
this… what's the upside to Jeffrey Sachs
that justify this downside?
Spokesman: A number of people have
been extended for, for a year during a
transition period.
Why is
Sachs needed, for an entire
transition year? We'll have
more on this. Generally
Guterres' UN has been
cautious; many have portrayed
Guterres' acceptance of David
Beasley as an attempt to keep
the US funds flowing. But
there are more surprises. For
weeks the UN has refused to
answer Inner City Press if the
UN has kept Jeffrey Sachs on
as a UN official. Finally on
April 4, when Inner City Press
asked yet another time,
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric confirmed
that Sachs is still a UN
official -- even after he
stood on the steps of the UN
residence on Sutton Place when
Ban Ki-moon used
it for a campaign
announcement, and said he
would advise Ban's campaign
for South Korean president
(which quickly collapsed.).
Vine Camera video here.
From the April
4 transcript:
Inner City Press:
Yesterday, I e-mailed you
about Jeffrey Sachs.
Does he remain in his
position?
Spokesman: Yes, he does.
That
position is "Special Adviser
to the SG on the Sustainable
Development Goals." According
to the UN website, Sachs has
been a UN official since
2002: that is, for 15
years. As a UN official,
beyond flacking for the Ban
even as corruption scandals
enveloped him, Sachs has
written "Donald
Trump’s Climate Fantasies."
This is apparently a series:
there is also "Why
Millennials Will Reject
Trump." Sachs' forays
into politics have not been
limited to South Korea. From March 31:
"Trump Calls Congressional
Inquiry a ‘Witch Hunt.'
We obviously need a special
prosecutor at this stage."
Sachs is quoted,
on Trump: "'I have to live
with this idiot every day'
#pageberlin."
This
contrasts to the UN's parallel
M.O. of stealth and
stonewalling, with a limited
and carefully picked media,
describing lobbying for funds
as "UN advocacy." When
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres went on a trip to
Kenya, in New York the Press
was not informed of any chance
to go. But there Guterres
appeared with Al Jazeera, and
then in a profile
in the Washington Post from a
usually
hard-hitting reporter,
this time quoting the UN's
Herve Ladsous, who has mismanaged
UN Peacekeeping and the
Press
for five years. The article
described the UN Foundation as
"advocating for UN causes."
But shouldn't issues like
accountability for victims of
UN cholera in Haiti, and
opposing censorship in the UN
and for example in Western
Cameroon, with no
Internet for more than 70
days, be "UN causes"? In fact,
UN Foundation lobbies against
US budget cuts to the UN, even
if targeted and designed to
bring about reform. The UN's
cause, it seems, is to
perpetuate itself.
Recently in the UN basement as
Inner City Press came in late
through a long line of tourists
and students at the metal
detectors Inner City Press must
now use everyday since the UN evicted
it for covering corruption,
a meeting in a windowless side
conference room was ending.
Outside in the hall it was
labeled, Congressional Group.
But inside
on a TV screen it said, “UN
Foundation: Congressional
Learning Trip.” UN Foundation
was set up, with Ted Turner's
money, to help and now defend
the UN. The UN's point person on
sexual abuse, long a topic of
interest for such Republicans as
Senator Bob Corker
(R-Tennessee), is Jane Holl
Lute, who before that was a high
official of the UN Foundation
and of the Obama Administration.
She was notably absent when a
“new” sexual abuse strategy,
immediately critiqued
by the group Code Blue and
others, was announced. On March
13, Inner City Press asked UN
Spokeman Stephane Dujarric, UN Transcript
here:
Inner City Press:
last week, I saw a meeting in
the basement 1B held by the UN
Foundation. It was
called Congressional Learning
Trip. And so, I guess I
wanted to know, number one,
what is the relationship
between the UN and UN
Foundation? Can it hold
a meeting of its own accord
with congresspeople? Are
you aware whether it was only…
you know, was it a bipartisan
meeting?
Spokesman: It was a
bipartisan… I mean, it wasn't…
it was far from a stealth
meeting as you described it,
because, obviously…
Inner
City Press:
On the outside, it was
congressional group, and then,
when you opened the door, it
said UN Foundation, so it was
stealth.
Spokesman: Right.
It was a programme run by the
Better World Campaign, and
they often bring up
staffers. And it was
very much a bipartisan group
of staff members who work with
senators and House members,
both Democratic and
Republican, an information
tour of the UN.
Inner City Press: Can
groups that are more critical
of the UN or do… or are
seeking UN reform, such as
Code Blue, such as Government
Accountability Project, can
they schedule their meetings
in 1B?
Spokesman: I think
we've… I think… I've been here
for about 16 years. I
think often groups that are
very critical of the UN are
able to speak at the UN.
Question: No, but in…
can they sponsor
congresspeople in 1B?
Spokesman: That's… it's
up to them to see who they're
willing to invite.
This is a
bogus answer: could GAP and
Code Blue book UN Conference
Rooms to instruct US
Congresspeople about what
needs to be reformed at the
UN? We'll have more on this.
(One of
Guterres' team is quoted that
Guterres' goal is to say out
of Trump's Twitter feed. Is
telling a newspaper that the
best way to make it come
about? And if Trump or Rex
Tillerson eschewed a traveling
press corps for hand-picked
coverage, there would be and
is outcry. The Free
UN Coalition for Access
asks, Is it acceptable by the
UN?)
Down
in Washington, Democratic
sources on the Hill told Inner
City Press of a visit by the
Obama administration's
appointee to the UN, Jeffrey
Feltman. Strangely, perhaps,
they list the topic not as
involving only Feltman's
specific UN job, the
Department of Political
Affairs he has been held over
to head until April Fools Day
in 2018, but “budget cuts to
peacekeeping.” The head of
that Department, held by
France for more than 20 years,
should be the one lobbying.
But Herve Ladsous is
unappealing in the best of
times; now he left
on March 31, replaced by his
fellow Frenchman Jean-Pierre
Lacroix. Will Lacroix be able
to stave off cuts? Will he
continue to use public funds,
more than a quarter of it from
US taxpayers, to pay
peacekeepers accused of rape
such as in the contingents
from Burundi
and Cameroon?
Inner City Press on March 10,
still under censorship
restrictions imposed without
any hearing or appeal after it
sought to cover the fallout
from the UN bribery indictment
of Macau-based businessman and
former Clinton funder
Ng Lap Seng, was Banned
from a simple photo
opportunity on the UN's 38th
floor. The Ban's by the
Department of Public
Information. When asked the
basis, the UN's holdover
Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
gave no reason or definition
being used; he barely looked
up from his computer, from
which he never did answer
Inner City Press' questions
on Cameroon abuses and the
UN's Cameroon Resident
Coordinator Najat Rochdi blocking
it on Twitter, nor how much
"extra-budgetary" funds the UN
proposes to use on Louise
Arbour's D1 head of office.
The
moves are stealth, like much
in the UN these days - and
have the potential of
backfiring. Watch this site.
***
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