UNITED
NATIONS, June
28 -- In a
time with the
UN Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services has
gone quiet or
worse, the UN
Appeals
Tribunal
on Friday
morning
dismissed an
appeal from
Robert
Appleton, to
whom
former OIOS
chief Inga
Brit Ahlenius
wanted to give
a D-2 post.
Ahlenius,
it
will be
remembered,
left the UN
with a volley
of criticism
of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
leadership,
or what she
called the
lack thereof.
Inner City
Press story
here.
Ahlenius'
replacement,
Carman
Lapointe, has
no only not
criticized or
meaningfully
investigated
the Ban
administration:
she has
quashed
various
investigations
which had been
ongoing,
including one
involving
UMOJA, as
Inner City
Press has
covered, here.
There are
cases her OIOS
should look
into, but one
hesitates to
even refer
them.
Appleton
was
in line for
the
investigative
D2 position in
OIOS, but in
March
2009 it was
re-advertised.
He was again
recommended to
get it, but
was turned
down again a
full year
later in 2010.
After
litigating
inside the UN,
he was awarded
$30,000 in
“moral”
damages,
nothing in
compensatory
damages.
(Inner City
Press covered
that decision
in August
2012, here.)
Apppleton
appealed, and
Friday
lost on every
count. There
was one
dissent, Judge
Chapman, who
in
reading out
the decision
said he could
have gotten
compensatory
damages. But
the other
judges sided
entirely with
Ban, as they
did in
case after
case read out
on Friday
morning.
One
litigant was
ordered to pay
costs --
Appleton was
denied the
costs of
his appeal --
and various
appeals were
called “non
receivable,”
the term Ban
used to turn
down the
claims for
5,000 deaths
from the
UN bringing
cholera to
Haiti.
Ban
wanted to
redact even
recommendations
from a UN
Dispute
Tribunal
case, and
contested the
right of the
Tribunals to
estimate
people's
harm. Appeals
about pensions
being pegged
to the
consumer price
index, in
Argentina,
were denied.
UN staffers
were
criticized for
pornography
and
“authorized
outside
activity.”
Meanwhile
the
UN answered
Inner City
Press'
questions
about
conflicts of
interest and
(anti)
revolving
doors rules
with this,
limited only
to
procurement:
Subject:
Your
question on
post-employment
rules
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do
Not Reply [at]
un.org
Date: Wed, Jun
26, 2013 at
12:06 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Employment
restrictions
for staff
participating
in procurement
activities
under
ST/SGB/2006/15.
For all staff,
and former
staff, staff
regulation
1.2(i)
applies:
Regulation
1.2
(i)
Staff
members shall
exercise the
utmost
discretion
with regard to
all
matters of
official
business. They
shall not
communicate to
any
Government,
entity, person
or any other
source any
information
known
to them by
reason of
their official
position that
they know or
ought
to have known
has not been
made public,
except as
appropriate in
the
normal course
of their
duties or by
authorization
of the
Secretary-General.
These
obligations do
not cease upon
separation
from service.
We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this site.
, 
