By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 29 --
In the run up
to the
December 24
budget
showdown at
the UN,
diplomats
worked until
six in the
morning, on
issues ranging
from the 2016
budget to the
first
performance
report.
At 3 pm on
December 24,
however, the
outgoing head
of the Group
of 77,
Bolivia's
Sacha
Llorenti, told
G77
representatives
that the other
side said no
more talks
today. Later
in the day it
was rolled-over
to the next
week, and now
Inner City
Press is first
to report some
of the
results.
Beyond the
money (see
below), the
contentious
issue of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's same
sex marriage
benefits, on
which the
Organization
for Islamic
Cooperation
and others
were prepared
to vote no,
has been
pushed over
into the next
session. One
African
Permanent
Representative,
not in the
OIC, told
Inner City
Press Ban
should "just
withdraw" his
policy. Ban is
on annual
leave.
On Yom Kippur,
Diwali and
other religions'
holidays becoming
official UN
system holidays,
sources tell
Inner City
Press that
language has
been arrived
at that allows
these holidays
to be
celebrated
without
requiring it.
The Partnerships
facilities,
which many
delegates linked
to former UN
official
Robert Orr,
ran into
opposition
from those who
say its
modalities and
"programmatic"
elements must
be further
negotiated.
The return of
some $150
million by the
Capital Master
Plan is still
being pushed
for; G77 says
it "held the
line on re-costing."
In the hallway
outside
Conference
Rooms 5, 1 and
3, Inner City
Press
interviewed a
range of
diplomats and
UN Secretariat
officials
about
the
rebellion by
some member
states at
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
policy
position -- or
"executive
order," as one
delegate
called it --
on same sex
marriage.
"Between the
OIC and
African
countries,
it's going
down," one
Permanent
Representative
had told Inner
City Press.
The other side
says that Ban
has the power
to "just do
it." But, even
the person
making this
argument
conceded,
Ban is no
Obama.
And, another
asked, where
IS Ban
Ki-moon, as
his policy is
"going down"
in the Fifth
Committee? On
December 29
the answer
was: on annual
leave.
A delegate
from Uruguay
last week
urged the rest
of the Fifth
Committee of
the UN General
Assembly to do
everything
possible to
come to a
conclusion
before midday
on December
24. That
didn't happen.
Now will it be
done on
December 29?
In
this session
the Fifth
Committee is
considering,
for example,
the proposed
program budget
outline for
the biennium
2016-17. On
this, amid
threats of
cut-backs, the
Group of 77
and China put
a resolution
into an “L
document” on
December 23,
leading to
protests from
diplomats from
Italy, Japan
and the US.
Diplomats
stayed
until 6 am on
December 24,
and returned
for a G77
meeting at 11
am, moved due
to its size
from
Conference
Room 9 to CR
1. Bolivia's
Permanent
Representative
Sacha
Llorenti, soon
to turn over
the G77 gavel
to South
Africa,
reported back
to G77
Ambassador
where things
stood.
For
now, the Fifth
Committee
“plenary” is
not set until
3 pm, with the
full General
Assembly with
no time set at
all.
Other
items include
the Capital
Master Plan,
the
Extraordinary
Chambers court
in Cambodia, revised
estimates for
the Ebola
mission UNMEER
and for the Human
Rights Council
(regarding
cut-backs at
which, see
this Inner
City Press
story) and
UNHQ long term
accommodation
needs,
otherwise
known as building
on a current
New York City
playground.
Another
item
concerns the
UN's UMOJA
system, with
cost overruns
and corruption
scandals. One
former UMOJA
official, Paul
van Essche who
was caught up
in a scandal
-- "PHP
irregularities,"
Inner City
Press exclusive
coverage here
-- now
announces
he'll
resurface as
UNICEF's chief
of information
technology in
January 2015.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
