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UN Refugee Agency Workers Impacted by Algiers Bombing Were Uninsured, Funds Diverted, Sources Say

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

UNITED NATIONS, April 7 -- Of the seventeen UN victims of the bombing on December 11 of the UN premises in Algiers, four were UN system contractors for whom the UN had not bought any insurance, according to Inner City Press' sources and as partially confirmed by the UN's Deputy Communications Director. While payments are being made to victims, in the case of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, this is coming out of the operating budgets, insiders say -- that is, from funds meant to be helping the poor and refugees. Specifically, UNHCR sources describe internal documents in which $1.5 million is set aside for uninsured workers for UNHCR, and say that since this cannot be paid out of the administrative budget, it must come out of operations, funded intended for refugees.

            Among the uninsured UNHCR victims according to colleagues were Mouloud Bouledroua, who was killed; Zaidi Hasina, broken foot and several injuries, Zeccar Yasine, broken feet and several injuries; Boutaiba Sofiane, several injuries; Zeccar Yasine, broken feet and several injuries, and Kamel Housnia, both legs amputated. How $1.5 million will be split between them is unclear. The UN's Deputy Communications Director Stephane Dujarric, in an April 7 e-mail to Inner City Press, put UNHCR's fatalities at two, and noted that one fatality each at the World Food Program and the International Labor Organization were outside of the coverage of the UN system's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy.

            While the majority of those killed were Algeria, other UN system workers who got killed came from Senegal, the Philippines and Denmark; higher-level UN officials focused on this last Danish case, noting the tragedy that since he had only recently arrived in Algeria, he was not covered by insurance. But UNHCR, and it is believed WFP and ILO, routinely leave their national staff uninsured. No one Inner City Press spoke to in preparing this story suggested that the UN does not owe these people. Most, in fact, felt that the UN pays too little. Rather, many questioned UNHCR's use of uninsured contracts, the lack of accountability for the decisions make in the run-up to December 11, and the UN's lack of transparency.

UN visit to Algiers bomb site, no UNHCR insurance shown

            Twelve days ago, Inner City Press asked the UN refugee agency UNHCR and the UN Development Program about the insurance coverage. UNHCR said answers would be provided March 27, but none arrived. On March 26, the UNDP's Christina Lonigro, to whom Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office referred Inner City Press, said she was getting right on the information request. On March 27, she said she was soon have answers from UNDP's Arab States bureau, except they were out at a meeting. She added, " if you are you insinuating that I am purposefully not answering your questions, I assure you that is not the case." A UN staffer in the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General supported the delay, arguing that the UN provides responses more quickly than Wal-Mart (whose employment practices UNHCR seems to be emulating, in the lack of insurance coverage).

            On April 2, UNDP's Lonigro changed course and said "on your questions regarding compensation for the Algiers bombing, due to the ongoing processing of claims and the Brahimi investigation, I have no information to give you at this time." A spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon echoed that "UNDP is the lead" on this issue and that "claims are still being reviewed." Ultimately, and to his credit, Deputy Communications Director Stephane Dujarric agreed to provide a response, and Inner City Press agree to wait an additional five days to get it.

            It was worth it. Mr. Dujarric confirmed that several UN agencies, including UNHCR, ILO and WFP, are outside of the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. He told Inner City Press:

Thirteen out of the seventeen staff members or SSA contractors killed in Algiers are covered by the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. Their claims are being processed by insurers. Disability claims will be identified on completion of medical process. The additional staff/SSA that belonged to non-participatory agencies is having their claims processed by their 'home' agencies. [UNHCR (2), ILO (1) and WFP (1)].

 In addition, claims for payments for killed and injured staff/SSA contractors on official duty are being handled under the internal self-insured scheme called Appendix D of the Staff Rules which leads to payments for injured staff members or to recognized dependants in case of death... So far, 13 claims have been received by the UN.  There is internal system in place for reviewing these claims by a board consisting of representatives of staff and management.

            This Appendix D is derided as being out of date, specifying low set payments for example for the loss of a limb. Those confined to this internal UN justice system contrast their situation with that of "outsiders" who alleged negligence by the UN, for example in the aftermath of the flying glass at the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad in 2003. There is talk of large settlements to certain outsides, while some trapped in the UN system's justice system have cases pending in the UN Administrative Tribunal since 2003.

            But even some long-time UN watchers expressed shocked when informed today that UNHCR, and perhaps WFP and ILO, are outside of the UN's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. One source indicated WFP had at least tried to get insurance for its contractors. But it would seem that the Executive Boards and governing bodies of each of these agencies -- and applicable national governments -- should demand answers from management, and make the answers public.

            Many view the Lakhdar Brahimi inquiry -- Brahimi himself said not to call it an investigation -- as not conducive to finding the truth about and assigning some responsibility for, or even learning lessons from, the run-up to and aftermath of the December 11 Algiers bombings. Brahimi has said he will focus on why people target the UN; it is highly unlikely he will report on whether those impacted had insurance. Nor has the UN said if his report will be made public. The first UN report, by the Department of Safety and Security, is being withheld. One of its lines, though, is known: "care has been taken not to apportion blame or responsibility." And so it goes, for now, at the UN. Watch this site.

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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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