In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee & sources, Exclusive

UN GATE, April 27 – UNESCO, like the whole UN system under Antonio Guterres is falling apart into abuse of power and corruption. Last week, in front of all States members of the Executive board of UNESCO, the two staff associations, in a bold move, spoke out and daringly exposed the mismanagement by the administration of DG Azoulay. 

Despite the regular requests in this sense, Azoulay has still not met with the staff of UNESCO for almost 4 years now. All other previous DGs were happy to meet with their colleagues. All but Azoulay. She has other more important tasks to do such as to plan joining another French Board of Directors and prepare her future political career at national level.

For the French DG Azoulay, the staff counts only if they are French nationals or from the former African French colonies. Then they get promotions and favors. Otherwise, the staff is of little importance in the eyes of the French DG. 

The legitimate concerns expressed by both the President of the STU and of the ISAU are summarized as follows:  211th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO - ORAL STATEMENT OF THE UNESCO STAFF UNION (STU)  “Thank you, Mr. Chairperson, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. STU read the document on strategic transformation with great attention and noted with regret the absence of any reference to staff as key players in this process: this is indicative of the lack of consideration that the Administration gives to its staff in its vision of the Organization, excepting the survey on strategic transformation in May 2020.

This lack of consideration manifests itself in different ways. Many questions remain unanswered for months despite our reminders, and Staff Rules are often not respected.  The Administration sometimes seems to consider the consultation with staff associations on certain subjects optional, whereas according to chapter 9.2.D.6 of the Human Resources Manual, this consultation is indeed obligatory. To justify the lack of consultation as defined in the Human Resources Manual, the Administration considered, for example, that the change in the distribution of hours worked per day by the security agents did not concern "the employment and working conditions of the staff ". 

We also note that several issues have been pending for months, even years. Some colleagues, downgraded in 2014 during the redeployment exercise, are still so today, 7 years later, despite many promises made by the Administration to redress this situation if UNESCO's budget was increased. Unfortunately, this promise was not kept.  The freeze on post reclassifications imposed in August 2018, followed in October 2019 by the abolition of Staff Rule 102.2 which allowed each staff member to request an audit of the level of his or her post (decision taken against the advice of the staff associations, of the Advisory Council on Personal Policies (ACPP) and Member States) also confirms this lack of interest in staff, from whom more and more is asked, without any compensation. All these dysfunctions have already cost a lot of money to UNESCO, regularly condemned by the ILOAT.

 Finally, STU regrets the lack of availability of the Director-General for meetings with staff associations, our last meeting dates back over 18 months, while many other subjects remain pending consideration. STU strongly believes in the need for a constructive dialogue with the Administration leading, through rapid and appropriate decision-making, to improving the working conditions of all UNESCO staff at Headquarters and in the field and hopes that this dialogue can be conducted with respect for the humanist values, the foundations of our common home. Let us never forget that the essence of UNESCO is its staff. Thank you for your attention”.  T

he ISAU President was also very clear about the Administration hiding the truth from member states about the actual critical situation of the Secretariat:  “Dear Presidents, Mr. Representative of the Director General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Delegates, It is a particular honor to address you as I am pleased, on behalf of the staff, to have been able to contribute to your debate by raising important points about the relationship between staff and administration. As the FA debate on the Human Resources Strategy underlined, an organization cannot be agile and innovative if its staff do not feel trusted and therefore heard and listened to. And here I would like to respond to the reaction of the representative of the Director General.  No, Mr. ADG/ADM, it is not because ISAU attends meetings with HRM that it is heard or listened to.  At the FA session last Wednesday, you stated that the tone and content of the meetings between HRM and the associations that you sometimes attend do not reflect what the Member States have heard. Can you tell us when our tone has not been that of professionals, concerned about the welfare of our colleagues, and the success of our Organization? Can you explain to us how the observations and recommendations made in our oral address and our written comments do not reflect the concerns and demands that we regularly raise at our meetings? Can you tell us what concrete or corrective measures the Administration has taken in response to our repeated claims, denunciations or challenges, particularly with regard to:  - A real involvement of HRM in the recruitment process, including PAs, whose recruitment we demand, moreover, to be subject to the TRPs and to geographical distribution. - The regularization of long-term temporary staff. - A better geographical distribution at all grades. - The implementation of a real career advancement policy. - No correlation between performance and promotion, and no link between learning and development activities and promotion. - The abolition of individual requests for reclassification. - The abolition of the Reporting Committee and the Review Panel. We look forward to being heard and listened to by the Member States, and would like to thank those who have spoken out on this issue this week. Thank you for your attention”. 

These two forthright messages rightly sensitized ambassadors about the growing crisis in the Secretariat and the criminal dishonesty of the management team of UNESCO.

 As said by a senior staff: “the most appalling is the lack of any dignity demonstrated by these high UNESCO officials. No ethical or professional standards, no other ambition than to serve proudly the narrow interests of the French DG”.  Problems only accumulate and none get solved. For instance, we wrote about the disorder installed in the security service of the Paris based UN Agency.

This security service is under severe running strain for months now, while its efficient functioning remains highly critical in the context of increasing level of terrorist threats in the host country. Not a single prospect for a viable solution yet. Some internal sources point out the plans of Azoulay to demoralize the security agents to the extent that they walk out from the Organization, so that French retired police officers be selected in replacement. Quite possible, in the current prevalent atmosphere of corruption.

The French Police Commissaire Nicolas Hergot, appointed by Azoulay as Head of Security at UNESCO, regularly shows disrespect and disdain to his security colleagues and especially those from non-European nationalities. He became Azoulay’s jack of all trades.

Recently, for instance, the Director of cabinet Kassianides requested him to investigate about the leak concerning his extra-matrimonial relation with his nice-looking subordinate set for promotion.     Instead of considering measure for taking to remedy the situation in the security service, the DG Azoulay usual puppies, Director HR Kazumi Ogawa and ADG for Management Nicholas Jeffreys, prefer to apply illegal intimidating pressure over the staff.

The DG Azoulay and her crooked team must be recalled that the international civil servants of UNESCO and of the United Nations system have the same rights and freedoms that have been recognized for all human beings in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the other international instruments concerning human rights, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations. They also enjoy the rights set out in international labor conventions adopted by the International Labor Organization. 

 This is UNESCO today, gang-style management by the French clique facilitated by the eyes wide shut of accomplices representing European states and Nordic countries to the Agency. We will have more on that. Watch this site. 

***

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

Past (and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Search innercitypress.com  Search WWW (censored?)

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

 Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for