UN GATE, Oct 22 –
How has Antonio
Guterres impacted
the UN? While
Guterres is
missing for
the sixth day
without explanation,
he has had as
Executive
Secretary of
the UN
Biodiversity
Convention
Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer. Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
exposed her,
like Guterres,
as corrupt.
Now Inner
City Press
hears that not
Guterres, who
should, but
Pasca-Palmer
is resigning,
effective
November 30,
2019. Consider
this,
exclusively
published in
August by
then
and still now
banned
Inner City
Press:
"Cristiana
Pasca-Palmer
is more
corrupt and
abusive than
the man who
was
instrumental
for her
appointment
When Erik
Solheim
introduced
Cristiana
Pasca-Palmer
as the new
Executive
Secretary of
the CBD at the
high-level
segment of the
13th meeting
of the Parties
to the
Convention
(COP 13) in
Cancun,
Mexico,
on 1
December 2016,
he unwittingly
admitted that
her
appointment
was political,
not merit
based. He tied it
to Guterres,
before being
fired for the
same murky
travel it
appears Guterres himself
engages in,
even amid the
UNRWA scandal.
Now
this, also
exclusive: the
dysfunctional
Secretariat of
the Convention
on Biological
Diversity
(SCBD) in
Montreal has
reached new
lows under its
current boss,
ASG Cristiana
Pasca Palmer.
Pasca Palmer
who stands
accused in
many formal
complaints
submitted by
the SCBD of
racism against
people of
color,
harassment,
abuse of
authority, and
retaliation,
has struck a
deal with the
World Economic
Forum (WEF) to
recruit on her
behalf a
director for
Director of
Partnership
and Business
Engagement,
Nature Action
Agenda. As
indicated in
the JO, the
position will
be recruited
by the Forum
but the
Director will
be seconded to
and report to
the Executive
Director of
the UN
Convention on
Biological
Diversity with
a dotted line
connection to
the Head of
Forum’s
Biodiversity
work. The
proposed
recruitment
which clearly
violates a
number of UN
rules and
regulations
prompted a
sharp and
quick response
from the CBD
alliance in an
open letter,
in which 22
signatories of
the global
network of
civil society
organizations
with a common
interest in
the CBD
expressed
their dismay
of the
recruitment
and demanded
that this
recruitment
process be
immediately
halted until
fully put into
consideration
by all Parties
to the CBD.
They also
demanded the
Conference of
the Parties to
the Convention
to clarify
that it is a
multilateral
organization
of States
Parties, and
thus
organizations
which
represent
transnational
business like
WEF cannot be
involved in
employing
staff
¨representing
the interest
of the
Executive
Secretariat
and the
Parties of the
CBD. Meanwhile
staff in UNEP tell
Inner City
Press about
a damaging
OIOS audit of
poor human
resources
management and
lack of trust
between
management and
staff in the
SCBD. Further
Inner
City Press
has learned
that Pasca
Palmer has
found 11 days,
including 4
days of travel
by plane and
train, for an
expedition
into the
Nunavut
country in the
Northwest
Canadian
Territories
which cost the
SCBD a small
fortune. The
purpose of
Pasca Palmer’s
expedition
provide a
lecture to The
Students on
Ice 2019
Arctic
Expedition... This
is done
despite the
travel
guidelines by
UNEP and OIOS
recommendations
that official
travel should
be linked to
expected
results and
should be
followed by
filing a
mission report
that includes
the results
achieved. It
seems that
Pasca Palmer
is made like
her former
boss, Erik
Solheim, who
was assailed
by OIOS and
forced to
resign
following an
OIOS review of
his excessive
travel and
uncontrolled
spending.
We'll have
more on
this. Since
Guterres has
had Inner City
Press roughed
up and banned
and the vast
majority of
its written
questions are
not even
acknowledged
much less
answered, the
above is run
as such. Inner
City Press
will add some
of the above
to the written
questions it
submits to
Guterres and
his spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric - and
now his Global
Communicator
Melissa
Fleming - and
will report
any response,
as well as the
changes that
must come.
Three
years into her
term now, Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
proved her
former
benefactor's
admission of
the absence of
merit in her
appointment.
When he
recommended
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
for the job,
Mr. Solheim
himself was
just few
months old on
his own post
as the
Executive
Director of
UNEP. He was
forced out of
his job on 22
November last
year (in just
a two-year
time) after
thorough
investigation
which
confirmed his
contempt to UN
rules, abuse
of authority
and wastage of
scarce
budgetary
resources on
excessive
travels.
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
is a copycat
of her former
boss in her
disregard to
the UN rules
and her
addiction to
travelling
around the
world. But she
is worse in
exercising her
authority in
abusive
manner.
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
lacks aptitude
for learning
how to adapt
to a
multicultural
environment.
After two
years, she
could not
build a
cohesive
multi-disciplinary
team. She
shuns a number
of staff with
good
experience and
good ideas
while she
brings few
others closer
to her for
their
demonstrated
loyalty to
her. She has
constantly
been
condescending
on many
others. She
has not yet
realized the
distinction
between an
intergovernmental
process and a
national, or
even worse, a
privately-run
undertaking.
She cannot
stand people
who do not
agree with
her. Her
strong desire
to be
surrounded by
people who
show absolute
loyalty to her
and do not
question her
actions, has
put her in a
constant
conflict with
a number of
staff, and
with UN rules.
Her hawkish
personality
and impunity
brought to
endless need
to respond to
management
evaluation
review
requests,
talks with UN
ombudsperson,
and to UN
ethics and
dispute
tribunal
investigations.
UNEP seemed to
have chosen to
stand by the
side or to
collaborate
with her
instead of
taking
appropriate
measures to
reign in some
of the
excesses such
as constant
modifications
of job
descriptions
of some staff
members who
have trouble
with Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
The following
are some of
the major
failures and
incidents that
illustrate the
abusive
leadership
styles of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
that brought
fear, anxiety,
fragmentation,
and low morale
to most of the
staff of
the
secretariat of
CBD. 1/
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
lacks coherent
vision for the
biodiversity
agenda and for
the
secretariat
that supports
it. Whatever
ideas she
brings to the
table are
borrowed from
experts that
she hired as
consultants.
Even then, the
ideas shift
constantly as
they become
tasted to be
inapplicable
to the CBD
situation. She
does not
appreciate or
trust the
in-house
knowledge and
advice that
she receives
from staff,
especially
from those who
have been with
the
Secretariat
for some
longer period
of time.
2/ Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
adversity to
experienced
members of
staff and her
heavy-handedness
has led to a
string of
resignations.
The first to
leave was the
Chief of
Administration
and Finance
who chose to
take early
retirement
after briefly
working with
her and
assessing the
difficult
times to come.
Her successor
who has rich
experience
working with
the UN in New
York might
have already
felt the
strange taste
of working
with Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
In the last
one year
alone, more
than four, all
of them women,
senior staff
members and
program
officers left
the
Secretariat.
Her own
secretary left
due to the
harassment
and
discrimination
that she has
felt. From the
early days of
her arrival,
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
was trying to
transfer her
secretary to
another work
unit in the
Secretariat -
It was a kind
of hate on the
first sight:
One of the
program officers
to leave the
Secretariat in
the last one
year, also
felt the same.
According to
the story that
she shared
with her
closest
colleagues,
renewal of her
contract took
unusually
long, and when
she sought
explanation
from Ms.
Pasca-Palmer,
she was told
that, as an
African, she
should rather
feel proud of
herself to
have worked in
the UN, and
not complain
about the
delay in the
renewal of her
contract.
Racism, much?
Guterres and
his
spokespeople
refuse to
answer any
Press
questions, so
corrupt are
they. 3/
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
takes things
personal and
her
retaliation is
immediate and
ruthless. She
seems to get
gratification
from
humiliating
and abusing
any staff
member who
dares to
question her
actions and
stand on her
way. For
example:
She abolished
a division
under the
cover of
restructuring
just to punish
the head of
the division,
D1. The D1,
who has now
lost her post,
and eventually
her job, had
differences of
views with
regard to some
of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
managerial
actions that
she took
against the
division and
the staff.
There was also
another hidden
motive by Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
when she
abolished the
division. Her
decision to
restructure
part of the
Secretariat
came in
September last
year. At the
same time, she
was preparing
a budget
document to
submit to COP
14 held in
November last
year in Egypt.
The budget
document
included a
request for a
chief of staff
post at a D1
level. She
thought that
the COP would
approve her
request as
long as she
used an
existing D1
post. But the
COP did not
approve her
request for a
chief of
staff. All
other new
positions she
asked for,
including a
senior
communication
officer was
rejected.
Instead, the
COP downgraded
the D1 post
vacated by the
head of the
defunct
division. In
the same vein,
the senior
legal officer
who questioned
some of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
judgement has
now been
effectively
stripped of
his role as
the senior
legal officer.
She decided to
abolish the
legal unit and
to change his
reporting
line, again,
in the name of
restructuring.
A legal
officer at P-3
level who was
hired by Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
herself and
who joined the
Secretariat at
the beginning
of this year
is now the de
facto legal
advisor of the
Secretariat.
He was
supposed to
report to the
senior legal
officer.
However, as
soon as he
joined the
Secretariat,
he was
instructed by
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
that he would
report to her
directly and
he should not
have any
communication
with the
senior legal
officer. His
terms of
reference is
being revised
and his post
reclassified,
accordingly.
Like her
former boss
and to some
extent similar
to some of her
predecessors,
Ms. Pasca
Palmer
attaches
highest
priority to
communication.
The
Secretariat
has a
well-qualified
communication
officer and a
team. However,
the officer
did not seem
to satisfy Ms.
Pasca Palmer's
wishes. He
does not take
orders without
raising some
pertinent
questions. She
did not like
him for that.
As a result,
she striped
him off his
responsibility
as the head of
his team. She
assigned her
special
advisor (who
has no
expertise on
communication)
as the head of
the
communication
team and the
communication
officer is
obliged to
report to her.
Ms. Pasca
Palmer hired a
communication
consultant who
is now doing
(mostly
remotely) much
of the work
that was
traditionally
been done by
the
communication
officer and
his team. This
consultant who
claims to be
one of the
members of the
former Obama
Administration
communication
team is now
writing every
speech that
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
delivers at
different
forums and,
effectively,
he is the de
facto
supervisor of
the
communication
work of the
Secretariat.
Perhaps, owing
to his
experience
working in a
highly
partisan
political
environment,
the speeches
or other
"communication
materials that
the
communication
consultant
prepares lack
relevance to
biodiversity
issues and
miss political
sensitivities.
Last month, he
made a
presentation,
on behalf of
the
Secretariat,
on
communication
approaches and
needs for the
biodiversity
framework
beyond 2020,
in a workshop
held in
Germany.
Participants
of the
workshop were
CBD parties
and
stakeholders
from Western
Europe and
other
developed
countries. The
participants
were baffled
when the
presenter
began his
presentation
by a quote
from Winston
Churchill's
war time
statement
during Second
World War. It
was a pure
demonstration
of ignorance
of UN values
and arrogance
for political
sensitivities.
One can also
see his
unfitness from
his profanity
filled
Twitters
trashing his
political
opponents
which is
antithesis to
the values of
the UN.
Associating
herself with
such a person
is another
proof on the
poor judgement
of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
For Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
raising the
biodiversity
agenda means
raising her
personal and
professional
profile
through
flowery
speeches and
the use of
social media
to publicize
all her
high-level
engagements.
What she sees
in the work of
a
communication
officer is
just colorful
prose. Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
has been
unhappy about
the COP 14
budget
decision that
denied her all
her requests
for new
positions,
especially the
one of chief
of staff for
herself. That
is why, she is
still trying
to hire a
chief of staff
by all means.
She is
exploring all
slant avenues
despite the
fact that the
COP has
rejected it
and that
Secretariat
has about 80
regular staff,
a size that
does not
justify the
need for a
chief of
staff.
(iv) 4/
Like her
former boss,
Mr. Solheim,
who allowed
one of his
senior
managers to
work
(telecommute)
from a
location in a
different
continent for
no justifiable
and
administratively
defensible
reason, Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
too designated
one of her
staff members
as her special
advisor and
allowed her,
for over a
year now, to
function from
the United
Nations office
in New York
for no clear
organizational
reason. The
Secretariat
pays for the
frequent
travel of the
special
advisor who
shuttles
between
Montreal and
New York. This
is a cost on
top of part of
the salary
that the
Secretariat
pays for one
liaison
officer placed
in New York
for the last
several years
and shared
with the
Secretariat of
UNCCD.
5/ Like her
former boss,
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
does not like
to stay
grounded in
her Montreal
office for
more than few
days and in
rare cases,
few weeks. She
likes
traveling. Her
travel
expenditure is
high. She
frequently
modifies her
itineraries at
the last
minute and as
a consequence
causing huge
financial loss
to the
Secretariat.
Mr.
Pasca-Palmer
knows also
when would be
a good time to
go to certain
places such as
the one she
had last
summer to
Southern
African
countries –
the visit to
the safaris
and the
diamond mining
sitesil it was
all well
planned. The
results of
such travels
range from
nothing to
negligible
political
visibility,
while the
costs are in
tens of
thousands of
dollars,
especially
when
accompanied by
one or more
people.
SCBD is
currently in a
difficult
spot. It is
expected to
deliver so
much during
this biennium.
Yet, the
resignation of
experienced
staff members
is continuing
and the moral
of the staff
is at its
lowest.
Allowing the
mismanagement
to continue
will be a huge
disservice to
the Parties of
this important
treaty which
is at an
important
cross road,
and to the
implementation
of the
Sustainable
Development
Agenda of the
UN and to the
2030
Sustainable
Development
Goals. Urgent
rectification
is needed!"
Also
consider
this
sent to Inner
City Press
from her Romania asking
"asks the
Minister of
Environment,
Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer,
to urgently
respond to the
emergency
traffic
purchases in
favor of the
Conservation
Carpathia
Foundation,
following an
investigation
by "Nostra
Solva" - the
Federation of
Owners of
Forests and
Pastures in
Romania and
published in
the daily
"Power".
Owners of
forests with a
surface of up
to 30 hectares
will benefit
... "As
president of
the
Parliamentary
Committee on
the
Environment,
but also of a
simple citizen
concerned
about the
situation of
Romania's
forests, I
make a public
appeal to
Cristian Pasca
Palmer, the
responsible
minister, to
respond as
soon as
possible to
the very
serious
accused in the
press "Survey
Nostra Silva.
German
Promberger,
Conservation
Carpathia
Linker -
Ministry of
Environment »,
appeared on
October 19 in
the" Power
"daily," said
deputy Carmen
Moldovan. The
PSD deputy
states in a
press release
that the
investigation
revealed "very
serious
information
and
indications of
possible
criminal
offenses and
guilty
complicity"
between the
leadership of
the Ministry
of
Environment,
represented by
Cristiana
Palmer and
state
secretaries
Erika Stanciu
and Viorel
Lascu, and
various
foreign
businesspeople
with major
interests in
forests,
grouped around
the
Conservation
Carpathia
Foundation.
"In essence,
journalists
claim that a
publicly-funded
public
institution,
the Ministry
of the
Environment,
has been
confiscated by
private
interests, and
very powerful
businesspeople
have succeeded
in putting
their people
in key
positions by
the end of
2015. Through
the public
functions that
these people
are now only
promoting the
good of those
who have put
them in office
and supporting
the robbery of
Romania's
forests, "the
deputy
communiqué
said. Thus,
PSD deputy
Carmen
Moldovan asks
the Minister
of Environment
to clarify
this situation
and the
accusations
brought to
him. "If the
Minister of
the
Environment
does not want
to provide the
public
explanations
that are being
made then, as
chairman of
the Committee
on the
Environment, I
will use all
the legal and
parliamentary
instruments
available to
them to learn
the truth. The
accusations
against
Cristiana
Palmer and his
collaborators
from the
Ministry of
the
Environment
are too
serious to be
hidden under
pressure,
"said the
chairman of
the
Environment
Committee of
the Chamber of
Deputies.
Also, the PSD
deputy
addresses to
the Minister
of
Environment,
in his
statement to
the press,
some
questions: "1.
Have you
influenced the
projects
supported by
your
colleagues,
millionaires
in euros, from
the
Conservation
Carpathia
Foundation? 2.
Have you
influenced
traffic for
the project to
build the
Fagaras
National Park,
a business
entirely
controlled by
your friends
at the
Conservation
Carpathia
Foundation? 3.
How have you
been rewarded
for the
devotion
shown? 4. Are
you going to
resign from
being the
Minister of
the
Environment or
are you
expecting your
friends to
defend you? 5.
Why did you
not react
publicly to
the
accusations
brought to
you, since
they seriously
harm the
institution
you are
leading? 6.
Did you inform
the Prime
Minister of
the charges
against you?
Is he willing
to tolerate
another
minister in
his government
to protect his
private
interests?" Birds
of a feather,
in the
name of
biodiversity.
But
so far only
one is
leaving.
,
