At
UN, Complaint to EU After Man Bites Man, Biter Seeks Meeting and
Consular Protection
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 29 -- In the wake of the UN macing and calling the NY
Police Department to arrest a UN Development Program staffer who
complained and bit a UN Security Officer, the UNDP staffer has
complained to the European Commission. Click here for
Inner City
Press' first exclusive report.
Mr.
Nicola Baroncini has written to the
Legal Counsellor to EC Delegation to the UN, asking for assistance in
obtaining a meeting with the head of the UN Department of Safety and
Security, Gregory Staff.
The EC's Roland
Tricot, calling it
a "consular protection" matter, has urged Baroncini to
write to his Italian mission. Mr.
Baroncini, citing another report by Inner City
Press, which beyond reporting exclusively on the biting incident last
week continued reporting this week, says he see no reason to
meet with Starr's subordinate Bruno Henn, to whom UNDP referred him.
Baroncini writes that "Mr. Henn is under investigation and is
about to leave is position with UN DSS."
Below
is the pertinent portion of a message Mr. Baroncini has sent today to
numerous officials in the EC and Italian government, as well as to
Inner City Press.
UN's Ban and DSS' Starr, biting incident and
consular protection not shown
Subj:
Re: Asking for EU assistance
From:
Nicola Baroncini
To:
Roland.TRICOT [at] ec.europa.eu
cc's
Sent:
7/29/2009 9:26:16 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Dear
Mr. Tricot,
Thank
you very much for your concise and very clear message. Also thank you
for confirming my position. European institutions are run and shape
their culture upon Treaty not common sense even when the two do not
get along. I also acknowledge that none of European Institutions is
willing to use their "moral suasion" for my case, i.e.
asking for a meeting with UN DSS USG or somebody senior and get down
to what really happened. UNDP told my lawyer to contact Mr. Bruno
Henn. I do not know who he is. I know however from the media that Mr.
Henn is under investigation and is about to leave is position with UN
DSS therefore I do not think he will ever reply and if he will I
doubt it has any leverage.
Still
looking forward to receive a copy of your organization policy and
procedure about how staff has to handle relation with the public.
On July
27, after publishing the first exclusive story about the biting
incident, Inner City Press asked UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq:
Inner
City Press: I wanted to ask you if you can either provide
information on or comment on an incident that took place last week in
which a UN security officer was apparently bitten by a staff member
who had a contract terminated in DC-1. What was the cause of that?
Associate
Spokesperson: That wasn’t last week. That was actually several
weeks ago, unless there’s a more recent biting incident. But I
assume what you’re referring to took place about a month ago,
roughly. The basic point is, yes, I can confirm that that did
happen. It had to do with a frustrated jobseeker. The only thing I
can say is the information I got from UNDP [United Nations
Development Programme] on this is that the hiring process regarding
that particular vacancy at UNDP was filled in accordance with their
rules. And beyond that, I’d refer you to UNDP.
Inner
City Press: Just to make sure we’re talking about the same biting,
was the biter maced and taken to the Seventeenth Precinct?
Associate
Spokesperson: I know that UN security, and then outside security,
handled the situation. I am not aware of any sort of use of mace. I
can’t imagine that we’re talking about more than one biting
incident. This doesn’t happen all the time!
Inner
City Press: When you say outside security, you mean like the New
York City Police Department? What do you mean?
Associate
Spokesperson: I think outside security was brought in eventually
after the initial response by UN security.
Inner City Press then asked UNDP in
writing:
Please
provide all available UNDP information on the biting incident I asked
about at noon: Farhan says UNDP tells him the biter was a job SEEKER,
and that the recruitment was transparent. Please name the underlying
job, the job seeker, and what happened.
Six
hours later, UNDP's Christina LoNigro replied:
There
was an unfortunate and isolated incident involving an employee of
UNDP on 23rd June 2009. UN Security and the New York Police
Department responded, and it is now being handled by the authorities
of the host government.
Inner City
Press, now naming the bitee, asked for confirmation and explaination:
"On the
biting
incident, while UNDP did not provide the name as requested, now I'll
ask you to confirm or deny that the the biter (and macee) was Nicola
Baroncini, and to provide the requested description of the
recruitment process, the name of the post and th person awarded, and
whether they have any family or personal relationship with the
supervisor or selector."
UNDP
responded, "unfortunately
we cannot comment further on this
case at this time as the legal process is ongoing." UNDP suggested to
Mr. Baroncini that he speak with Bruno Henn, of whom Mr. Baroncini
writes, he
"is under investigation and is
about to leave is position with UN DSS."
Henn,
after the UN's rejection of his request to become security chief
for the Capital Master Plan renovations of the UN, is said to be
seeking outside employment, on information and belief with an energy
company in New Jersey. The UN has repeatedly be requested to produce
Mr. Henn for a press conference or other Q & A, but has not. Watch
this site.
*
* *
At
UN, Man Bites Man as Contracts Cut, Snafus of Relocation, Flushing Out
the Press
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 24, updated July 27
-- A UN security officer was bitten earlier this month, not
by a dog but by a just-terminated staff member. Special Operations
officer Peter Kolonias, responding to a disturbance in the UN's
building on the west side of First Avenue and 44th Street, was
confronted by an individual distraught by his contract's termination.*
The
UN sources who
told Inner City Press about the biting, which has not been reported
by the UN at its noon briefing nor in any other media, said that
further adverse reactions by staff are to be expected, with the UN
having eliminated the so-called permanent contract as of July 1, and
now moving remaining staff members out of its headquarters to
locations as far west as Madison Avenue and as far east as Long
Island City.
In
the course of
Inner City Press' reporting on July 24 to confirm the man bites man
story, a range of staff members complained about their moves, in
connection with the UN's Capital Master Plan renovation. Members of
the Office of Human Resources Management, after being told there
would be no more changes to the relocation plan, were recent told
they will move across the East River into Queens.
Longtime Conference
Management staffers have been told they will relocate to "above
the liquor store" on Second Avenue. "Whiskey for
breakfast," one staffer said, questioning moving his unit four
blocks away from the meeting rooms they service.
UN Security with dogs, human bites not shown
The
UN's Under
Secretary General for Management Angela Kane told the Press earlier
this week that the temporary General Assembly building rising on the
UN's North Lawn will not have a bar, as the current building does in
its second floor Delegates' Lounge. Ms. Kane spoke rosily of the
contract changes that resulted in the elimination of permanent
contracts -- and, the Staff Union says, in the death of the
independent international civil service -- and of progress with the
Capital Master Plan.
CMP
chief Michael
Adlerstein, who along with Ms. Kane changed previous plans for
enclosed media work space to an "open office" system in
which whistleblowers could not approach the Press, is said to be
angered concerned about a Dear
Colleague letter circulated in the
U.S. House of Representatives about this aspect of the CMP, and a
Kane-led meeting to target the Press. But this reporting on
events at
the UN will continue -- particularly when man bites man. Watch this
site.
Update of July 27 -- Three days
after Inner City Press published the above, UN Associate Spokesperson
Farhan Haq confirmed the a biting incident took place in the DC-1
building, and stated that the biter was, according to the UN
Development Program, a job seeker, and argued that the underlying
recruitment process was transparent. Haq referred all other questions -
including whether the individual was maced and taken to the local
police precinct - to UNDP. Inner City Press has asked UNDP, which has
declined in the past to answer basic questions, and any update will
appear on this site.
Update
of July 27, 6:35 p.m. -- Inner City Press asked UNDP in writing:
Please
provide all available UNDP information on the biting incident I asked
about at noon: Farhan says UNDP tells him the biter was a job SEEKER,
and that the recruitment was transparent. Please name the underlying
job, the job seeker, and what happened.
Six
hours later, UNDP's Christina LoNigro replied:
There
was an unfortunate and isolated incident involving an employee of
UNDP on 23rd June 2009. UN Security and the New York Police
Department responded, and it is now being handled by the authorities
of the host government.
But
what of the biter's name, the specifics of the post and recruitment,
and what happened at and after the 17th police precinct? Watch this
site.
* * *
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