UNDP Hamstrung by Scandals, Herfkens, Algiers, Insurance, Corimec, Kenya and Pakistan

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

UNITED NATIONS, January 15 -- The UN Development Program, which spent much of 2007 trying to fend off scandals, has begun the new year with another slew of problems. The head of the UNDP-administered Millennium Campaign, Eveline Herfkens, has admitted to receiving $280,000 in housing subsidies from the Dutch government, impermissible under applicable rules. The best the UNDP has been able to say, even after Mr. Herfkens admission, is that it is looking into the issue. At Tuesday's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked what will now happen with the money, and with Ms. Herfkens. The UN Secretariat spokesperson said, "she obviously received that subsidy from the Dutch Government through the end of 2005.  I think UNDP will be able to answer additional questions about what will be done about her contract.  Those additional questions should be directed to UNDP."

            UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis has, as luck would have it, scheduled a rare press availability for January 16.  The expectation is that he will address the issue of Ms. Herfkens and others. Inevitably he will also have to address the documents showing that UNDP continued contracting with Corimec after it was suspended by the UN Secretariat for bribery. Sources say that Dervis plans to announce an internal investigation and that some discipline will be meted out. But how high up? Meanwhile, it appears that UNDP is redoubling its efforts to prevent whistleblowing, now telling all users of its computers and computer systems that they can be monitored at all times.

            More explosively, UNDP has refused for a week to answer whether its staffer in Algiers, Marc de Stanne de Bernis, blocked safety improvements and threat index raising requested by UN staffers in Algiers including Babacar Ndiaye, who was killed in the December 11 bombing, on the basis that he thought the government of Algeria might be offended by threat level raising or the installation of more substantial security around the UN building. This is another issue that Dervis will have to address.

            UN-wide on Algiers bombing fall-out, it's said that within UNDP an attempt is afoot to not tell the applicable insurers, Willis and Lloyd's, that December 11 was an act of terrorism. This may explain the so-called "voluntary solidarity payments" to families of victims. But it raises questions, not only about security and insurance, but also about UNDP's pervasive use of "consultant" contracts, to which UNDP was trying to convert Ms. Herfkens.

Dervis framing issues, Herfkens, Corimec, Algiers whistleblowers not shown

            Sweden recently cut its contribution to UNDP by $10 million, due to Dervis' new plan not even mentioning human rights. UNDP Communications Office staff have declined to address this now week-old question, but presumably Dervis will have to answer on this, as well as on UNDP's questionable forays into elections, in Pakistan and more recently Kenya. Development is sorely needed in the Global South, and there are many experienced and well-meaning staff within UNDP. If the agency were being better run, much could be accomplished.

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These reports are 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

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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