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UN's Lack of Risk Assessment May Delay Capital
Master Plan, Force Exit of Officials
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City
Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April
15, updated -- The UN's
multi-billion dollar relocation and rehabilitation Capital
Master Plan may be
delayed by the failure of the UN's Department of Safety and Security
(DSS) to
conduct risk analysis of the relocation spaces.
In the
third of a series of resolutions complaining about DSS, the Staff
Council has
unanimously "not[ed] the multiple failures of the Chief of the Security
and Safety Services at Headquarters to follow mandated procedures" and
has
now "request[ed] the Secretary General to suspend all scheduled staff
transfers to the new office spaces until such time as the mandated
Security
Risk Analyses have been properly executed." [Since on-camera UN
Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq said this Resolution 43/5 is not
known, Inner City Press puts it online here.]
In recent months, DSS has
increasingly been surrounded by scandals,
from promotion and placement
irregularities exposed in memo leaked to Inner City Press to the
death of staff
member Jesmel Navoa due to DSS failure or delay in calling New York
City's 911
emergency services providers, and to allow them access to UN
Headquarters,
click here
for that story.
The
chief
of DSS, David Veness, ostensibly resigned in the wake of the deadly
December 2007
bombing of the UN in Algeria. He is still however in his office on 45th
Street across
First Avenue from UN Headquarters -- the only UN building in New York
for which
a Security Risk Analysis had been conducted.
Inner City Press is told by sources that Veness will
finally be leaving
at the end of April, and that the internal short list process has
focused on an
American from the U.S. State Department's diplomatic security service.
The
man
responsible for security of the UN in New York is Bruno Henn.
Many DSS officers
say Henn is rarely present, and for some time used his official car to
drive
back and forth to him home in the suburbs. Questions about his
educational
background and previous employment have gone unanswered by the UN. Now
he is
being targeted by name by the Staff Union, and blamed for the
potentially
expensive delay in implementing the Capital Master Plan.
UN's Henn, at right: some say under Henn UN
Security has gone to the dogs
The
argument is that a Security Risk Management System complete with SRAs
was
mandated by the UN Chief Executives Board in October 2004, then by the
General
Assembly in January 2005. It was implemented at other UN headquarters,
in
Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi and regional hubs in Thailand, Lebanon,
Ethiopia and
elsewhere. Only in New York was it not carried out -- and Bruno Henn is
blamed.
The
counter-argument, as best as Inner City Press can make it out, is that
the UN
in New York relies on the City's government and its Police Department.
But
Article 100 of the UN Charter states that "In the performance of
their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or
receive
instructions from any government or from any other authority external
to the
Organization." [Click here for the
Charter sections 99 and 100; the former Inner City Press has been
citing of late in light of Ban Ki-moon's failure to raise the
"bloodbath" in Sri Lanka formally to the Security Council.] More
practically, NYC officials have been less than
enthusiastic about the UN's security and construction plans.
It is anticipated
that the Staff
Union, pursuant to its recent resolution, will further brief the Press
on April
16. Even before that, Inner City Press will be seek responses from the
UN Secretariat, including on specific risks in the current and
prospective UN buildings. Watch
this site.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
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