At UNDP, Kemal Dervis' Private Briefing Excludes North Korea Answers Despite Claims of "One UN"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, February 1 -- It's "One UN," announced Kemal Dervis on Thursday to a select group of journalists in New York. With Mr. Dervis were the top UN officials from six of the eight countries selected as pilots for the consolidated approach.

            It was a rare press availability with Mr. Dervis, who in the sixteen months since been named Administrator of the UN Development Program has held only two press conferences, fifteen months apart. Even as the UNDP - North Korea scandal broke last month, it was Associate Administrator Ad Melkert who appeared to take the heat, first at a meeting called by new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, then a hastily arranged press conference. (In fairness to UNDP, the explanations given are that Mr. Dervis was only recently back in New York, and was soon to leave for Paris.) The following week as the UNDP Executive Board met about the North Korea program, it was again Ad Melkert on the podium, and then taking reporters' questions in a stakeout interview.

            It is said that Ad Melkert runs UNDP while Kemal Dervis thinks and is, as a supporter of his puts it, a "visionary." Thursday in UNDP's Hank Shannon conference room, talking to five and then six journalists while accompanied by a dozen staff members, Mr. Dervis referred to think tank studies and Financial Times articles, summarizing "fifty years of experience" in development with the principle that if a country's government is not supportive, and supported, no real progress is possible.

            Perhaps this thinking explains the close relations with the Kim Jong Il government, which at least two of UNDP's main funders criticized during the Executive Board meetings last month, and UNDP's engagement with reportedly repressive regimes in for example Uzbekistan. Beyond the issue of government-provided staff in North Korea, which Ad Melkert said UNDP will move away from, Inner City Press has been told that the head of UNDP - Uzbekistan's economic unit, Bakhodur Eshonov, is a government plant who reports to the Karimov regime, which is known to torture its opponents by submersion unto death in boiling water. (We are told, in fairness, that UNDP also seeks to work with grassroots women's groups in Uzbekistan.)

            UNDP's attraction to dictators is profiled by Peter Collins in a recent article in The Economist about UNDP - Thailand. Collins writes that

"Perhaps it makes sense for the new government to obscure its predecessor's achievements while stealing its best clothes. The question is why the UNDP thinks it should provide cover for this whitewash by puffing the sufficiency economy as a miracle-cure for the developing world's woes. The answer is that the UNDP is a sucker for this sort of new-age waffle, especially if it has royal patronage. It has also lauded the not entirely dissimilar 'Gross National Happiness' theory of Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. In publishing such an unbalanced report on a theory that is untried on a national level, the UNDP has abandoned all sense of objectivity. It is also lending legitimacy to a regime that took power by force."

            While far from boiling water, UNDP's strategy with critical independent press in its headquarters city has latent totalitarian tendencies. Focusing only on Thursday, Inner City Press can affirm that its correspondent went with another UN-accredited reporter to UNDP's 21st floor executive offices. The spokeswoman for Mr. Dervis and Mr. Melkert, referred to as the "blond woman" in Inner City Press' report from the January 25 Executive Board meeting, stood in the conference room doorway. This is by-invitation-only, she said.

            Inner City Press asked on what basis the invitations had been made, and to whom. She responded, in the conference room doorway and in a subsequently telephone interview, that UNDP hadn't thought that many reporters would be interested, that those invited were the ones covering UNDP, and that geographic balance had been sought.  But no representative was present, for example, from media from Japan, which is a major UNDP donor and one of the member states most critical of UNDP at its recent Executive Board meeting. At least three Japanese media outlets later on Thursday said they would have attended, and expressed anger at not having been invited. Some wondered, was Japan's criticism of UNDP's payment of hard currency to the Kim Jong Il regime the basis for the exclusion of Japanese media?

Kemal Dervis with Argentine flowers

            Barred from attending Mr. Dervis' event, Inner City Press' correspondent left UNDP's building. Subsequently, the spokeswoman called and said that due to a broken foot, she had not been able to catch up with the correspondent, but that he should come back, he was now invited.  The hour-long briefing was half over by then, but Inner City Press still managed to ask a few questions:

            How would this "One UN" concept apply, for example, to the UN's operations in North Korea, where internal audits show that the UN Population Fund and Food and Agriculture Organization pay their government-provided employees in Euros, through UNDP? How much money has UNDP paid, on behalf of these other UN agencies as well as on its own behalf, to the North Korean government?

            Mr. Dervis did not answer this question. Nor before 9:45 p.m. deadline did his spokeswoman, even after the question had been reiterated orally and in writing. How can it be "One UN" if the purportedly coordinating agency, which already in North Korea and elsewhere controls most of the funds, either cannot or will not disclose how much money is being spent?

            The spokeswoman, while not providing the requested dollar figure, pointed out that the "One UN" reform is just starting, and has to be given time.  But present at the briefing was the Resident Coordinator for Cape Verde, Patricia de Mowbray, who told Inner City Press that she has represented all four "Exec Comm" agencies since January 2006. A perusal of these agencies' websites may indicate the range of approaches they will take to "One UN." The World Food Program's Cape Verde site describes its programs, but mentions that it is part of a coordinated group. Additional responses have been requsted from WFP.

            The UN Children's Fund does not mention the coordinated group on its Cape Verde webpage. It has been noted that UNICEF raises by far the most money from the public, and therefore perhaps is less comfortable folding its operations -- and "brand" -- into a consolidated group. The UN Population Fund barely has a Cape Verde site, just a page listing Ms. de Mowray as contact with a unfpa.org email address and a link to a matrix of the four agencies' proposals.  In fairness to UNDP, even its slow answering of questions tops the performance to date of UNFPA. Mr. Dervis on Thursday said that the High Level Panel he served on had decided against mergers of UN agencies. There are some that say UNFPA should be merged out of existence, at least as it is currently run.

            Inner City Press asked Kemal Dervis about the proposal to merge UNDP's procurement unit IAPSO into UNOPS, a topic much discussed during the UNOPS segment of last month's Executive Board meeting. Mr. Dervis said since IAPSO is part of UNDP, that would not be a merger. He continued that "there are agencies without country presence or capacity" which uses UNDP for payroll functions, but this does not mean that UNDP takes over management of the agencies. "Fragmentation leads to inefficiency," he said, adding that "coherence can improve efficiency."

            Mr. Dervis was asked if this process will lead to job loss. In his answer, Mr. Dervis began saying the word "re-profiling," and then stopped. That re-profiling process, much denounced by employees whose jobs were taken, was begun under Mark Malloch Brown, and is closely associated with Brian Gleeson, from whom Mr. Dervis took away human resources duties on November 29, 2006.  Recently Dervis supporters have offered yet another off-the-record explanation for Mr. Gleeson's demotion: that when ordered to approve the paperwork for the irregular hiring of a Dervis ally to work directly under Brown ally Bruce Jenks, Mr. Gleeson refused, and told Team Dervis to play by the rules. He was then demoted. We will return again and again, if necessary, to this intrigue in $5 billion a year UNDP, which the agency still refuses to explain.

            UNDP on Thursday sought to invite only a select few reporters to an hour-long briefing by Kemal Dervis himself. Of those invited by UNDP, as of deadline it appeared that only AP had reported on the briefing. EFE did as well, in light of Spain's recent contribution. But elite print media, lured by the prospect of a by-invitation-only meeting, had yet, due to space constraints, to publish a word about the Dervis briefing.  This did not surprise UNDP, a person there said. Then why the invitation-only? It appears that Mr. Dervis, now increasingly derided as out of touch, wants to get to know the media, or to get known by the media. It is said that after sixteen "lost" months, surrounded by staff from his predecessor Mark Malloch Brown, now Mr. Dervis says he's finally ready to lead. But is it too late?

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

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UNDP Backslides on Audits and N. Koreans' Travel, Scope Expands to UNICEF, WFP, and UNFPA, FAO and UPEACE

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 26 -- The day after the UN Development Program acknowledges it was told by its Executive Board to more narrowly focus its North Korea programs away from building the capacity of the Kim Jong Il government, and to become more transparent, Friday there was already backsliding, on audits and on DPRK travel.

            During the last day of the Executive Board meetings, UNDP's Ad Melkert said that while he now hopes to finalize some additional availability of audits by the Board's next session, this will not include management audits, which are the kind that would have earlier revealed the issues in North Korea, including accepting government staff and not auditing "nationally-executed," but UNDP-funded, programs.

            After a press conference by UN Controller Warren Sach about how the audits announced and then scaled-back by Ban Ki-moon will be conducted, the head of UNDP's Communications Office, David Morrison, spoke to reporters in the hall. Inner City Press asked Mr. Morrison to answer a question previously posed in writing, regarding UNDP's involvement in the August 2006 trip by 10 members of the North Korean government to Lund University. Mr. Morrison responded that "University of Peace, part of the UN system, did." Click here for University for Peace's self-description, complete with photograph of Council member Ban Ki-moon. Inner City Press' source name these 10 as the travelers:

            Mr. Morrison added that UNDP "may have facilitated travel arrangements" through its Beijing office. Mr. Morrison stated, rhetorically, "Have we funded travel? That's what UNDP does." He continued, "Can I say there is not going to be any more travel? Absolutely not."  So then what, one wonders, is being limited about UNDP's North Korea program pending the audit?  Melkert in Belarus

            UNDP's Mr. Morrison also provided a closely argued distinction between hard and soft won, stating that even paying in hard won, as apparently the World Food Program does for half of its national staff in the DPRK, is just the same as paying in Euros, except the UN gets less for its money because the DPRK is able to set the exchange rate. Inner City Press asked how the salaries of those seconded by the DPRK government are set. "There is a negotiated salary," Mr. Morrison replied. Negotiated how? Since UNDP allowed the North Korean government to order whom to hire, how could UNDP have leverage on how much they'd be paid?

            Warren Sach was asked when the Secretariat knew of the issues in North Korea. "Only very recently," Mr. Sach replied, emphasizing that there is an "absolute and total delegation to the Administrator of UNDP" on financial matters. So who's holding the bag, one reporter wondered.

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Sach to explain how the North Korea issues, identified in withheld UNDP internal audits of 1999, 2001 and 2004, were not even included in the 374-page most recently public audit of UNDP. Video here, from Minute 24:13. Mr. Sach directed Inner City Press to the UN Board of Auditors, "only they can answer." We'll see.

            Inner City Press has received a response from UNICEF in writing that

"Of the 30 UNICEF staff in the Pyongyang office, 10 are international professionals recruited through New York headquarters and stationed in Pyongyang for up to five years.  They have the bulk of their salaries paid to personal overseas bank accounts. Twenty are local staff.  For local staff, UNICEF transfers their salaries to the host government, which in turn is responsible for paying each of the 20 national staff members.  The salary rate per month is 358 Euros for National Program and Operation staff, and ranges from 243 to 315 Euros for drivers and maintenance staff. DSA for overnight travel by international or national staff is paid directly to the staff, by check in Euros."

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Sach whether UNICEF would be included in the audit, along with WFP, which has orally represented paying half of its national staff in DPRK in Euros, and UNFPA, which while refusing to answer is known to pay in Euros, and to have 80% of its programs in North Korea executed by the DPRK government. Video here, from Minute 25:12.

            Mr. Sach indicated that all four agencies will be included in the audit. He decided to name more agencies, other than mentioning UNHCR. Inner City Press earlier this week asked the Food and Agriculture Organization, in writing, to explain its North Korea programs. FAO's spokesman's response was to inquire into Inner City Press' right to ask the question, and then to archly state "we are considering how we can respond to your request for this very large amount of information, and I will revert in due course."  We'll be waiting.

            Inner City Press asked Mr. Sach to confirm something Inner City Press has asked UNDP orally and in writing without any response, that UNDP's chief auditor Jessie Rose Mabutas is now leaving in mid-February. Video here, from Minute 43:53. Mr. Sach responded, "I think it can be confirmed, what you indicated." There -- was that so hard? Beyond what has previously been reported about Ms. Mabutas, close observers note that the U.S.'s Ms. Bertini brought Ms. Mabutas into the UN system at a high level. And yet what is the U.S. now saying about the quality of UNDP's audits? Developing.

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

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UN & US, Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty and Senator Tom Coburn

Human Rights Forgotten in UN's War of Words, Bolton versus Mark Malloch Brown: News Analysis

In Praise of Migration, UN Misses the Net and Bangalore While Going Soft on Financial Exclusion

UN Sees Somalia Through a Glass, Darkly, While Chomsky Speaks on Corporations and Everything But Congo

Corporate Spin on AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence

The Silence of the Congo and Naomi Watts; Between Bolivia and the World Bank

Human Rights Council Has Its Own Hanging Chads; Cocky U.S. State Department Spins from SUVs

Child Labor and Cargill and Nestle; Iran, Darfur and WHO's on First with Bird Flu

Press Freedom? Editor Arrested by Congo-Brazzaville, As It Presides Over Security Council

The Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens

Background Checks at the UN, But Not the Global Compact; Teaching Statistics from Turkmenbashi's Single Book

Ripped Off Worse in the Big Apple, by Citigroup and Chase: High Cost Mortgages Spread in Outer Boroughs in 2005, Study Finds

Burundi: Chaos at Camp for Congolese Refugees, Silence from UNHCR, While Reform's Debated by Forty Until 4 AM

The Chadian Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come

Through the UN's One-Way Mirror, Sustainable Development To Be Discussed by Corporations, Even Nuclear Areva

Racial Disparities Grew Worse in 2005 at Citigroup, HSBC and Other Large Banks

Mine Your Own Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the Paparazzi

Human Rights Are Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the Letter, But the Process is Still Murky

Iraq's Oil to be Metered by Shell, While Basrah Project Remains Less than Clear

Kofi, Kony, Kagame and Coltan: This Moment in the Congo and Kampala

As Operation Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's Civil War and Has No Answers if Iraq's Oil is Being Metered

Cash Crop: In Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in their Camps

The Shorted and Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't Add Up

UN Reform: Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance Contract

In the Sudanese Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says

Empty Words on Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia

What is the Sound of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War at UN

Kosovo: Of Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of Ferronikeli Mines

Abkhazia: Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia

Post-Tsunami Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives

Citigroup Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference

Other Inner City Press reports are available in the ProQuest service and some are archived on www.InnerCityPress.com --

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