| In UN Corrupted by Guterres
Now Lowcock Aims To Move Staff Without Any
Consultation
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
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UK - Honduras
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UN GATE, Nov 10 –
In the United Nations from
which SG Antonio Guterres has
banned Inner City Press 861
days for asking about his
complicity in the killing of
civilians in Cameroon and
Sudan and their mass
imprisonment by China in
Xinjiang, there are blatantly
double or triple standards
between national staff,
"regular" international staff
and then, at the top, corrupt
Tony and his cronies.
Below Inner City Press
publishes a complaint sent to
it on November 10 by OCHA
staff, about USG Mark Lowcock
(who refuses to file any
public financial disclosure)
deciding to move them out of
Geneva without consultation:
"Geneva, 10 November
2020 Dear Mr. Lowcock, I
would like to commend through
you all OCHA staff for their
hard work in delivering OCHA’s
mandate under very difficult
and increasingly challenging
humanitarian and personal
circumstances. I am writing to
you following the information
that we have recently received
regarding the relocation of 23
positions at the professional
level from OCHA Geneva office
to Istanbul and the abolition
of 6 General Service positions
in 2021, which comes in
addition to the first wave of
relocations to The Hague that
led to a reduction of staff in
2020. We have also learnt
about your intention to
offshore administrative
positions from Geneva for
financial reasons and to make
future positions in Geneva as
temporary job openings in
order to make OCHA staff more
mobile. We are seriously
concerned regarding these
decisions that were never
consulted with the staff
representatives despite the
fact that they have a clear
impact on the future of the
Geneva office and its staff.
First of all, based on the
information that has been
communicated to staff, the
main reason behind the
relocation is to get closer to
those who benefit from OCHA’s
humanitarian assistance. If
this is indeed the case, we
wonder about the rationale
behind the choice of both The
Hague and Istanbul as places
for the relocation. We also
wonder why the Geneva office
is the one that has been
witnessing a significant
reduction in its staff since
the beginning of the process.
The logical conclusion that
can be drawn is that the only
rationale behind these
decisions is a short-term one,
with the aim to cutting costs
by considerably reducing the
size of the Geneva office, yet
missing out on the long-term
benefits of being located in a
humanitarian hub. Further,
this restructuring and
relocation process has been
ongoing for more than two
years and comes quick on the
heels of earlier restructuring
and relocation processes.
Cumulatively, this has created
huge uncertainty and
unnecessary stress for staff.
Year after year they live in
fear of having their position
abolished or relocated, often
for no obvious reason. The
stress inflicted on OCHA staff
by its leadership has been
exacerbated by its occurring
during the pandemic. Staff
were and are still obliged to
take decisions about their
move despite the fact that the
overall world, including the
United Nations, is struggling
to overcome the pandemic and
its consequences on the health
and lives of people. As one
staff member rightly put it:
“While the UN continues to
focus on the stresses caused
by COVID, they have completely
ignored those caused by the
cruel approaches OCHA senior
management has taken to
decentralization”. It is
unfortunate to conclude that
this reflects a total lack of
duty of care from OCHA towards
its own staff. In addition, we
regret to note that relocation
decisions are being taken
without putting the staff at
the center, as it should be
for a humanitarian entity like
OCHA. We also fail to
understand what OCHA is trying
to achieve by forcing staff
who are close to retirement or
who have personal constraints,
to move against their own
will. As you know, refusing to
relocate means for many staff
leaving OCHA despite years of
dedicated service. While we
understand the need for
mobility of staff, we believe
that decisions should be first
and foremost human- centered.
Instead, your leadership has
conspired to take the human
out of “humanitarian”.
Based on the above, we would
like to get a confirmation
from you that your decisions
in terms of relocation do not
aim at closing the Geneva
office. We also would like to
kindly ask you to inform
us about the real rationale
behind the choices of Istanbul
and The Hague as places to
relocate. We also would like
to see an immediate suspension
of the relocation process
until the pandemic, currently
raging across Europe, is well
contained. As you know,
without a pool of dedicated
staff, OCHA will not be able
to deliver on its crucial
mandate. Making savings at the
expenses of your own staff is
not the best way to go." But
this is Guterres' corrupt UN.
Inner City Press will ask his
spokespeople Stephane Dujarric
and Melissa Fleming in writing
- but probably they will not
answer. Totally UNaccountable.
And here's one
from October 31 by UN national
staff in Sudan, screwed as the
UN and AU close down the
failed but cash cow UNAMID
mission.
The
complaint was triggered by the
total contempt shown to them
by Tony's head of
peacekeeping, the sixth
Frenchman in a row to hold the
post, Jean-Pierre Lacroix. He
is traveling around, which
would in New York require a
two week quarantine upon
return.
(Guterres
complained of this in a Zoom
call with diplomats that Inner
City Press published, with
Guterres bragged he's doing to
Boston to meet a plane from
Portugal, evading the rules
amid the UN Covid outbreak).
So can it
be that Guterres lets his
highest cronies live wherever
in the world they want, on the
public dime, while "regular"
international staff were all
told they had to return to
their duty stations like New
York, or not get paid? Who
else has this secret and
sleazy deal? Guterres'
spokespeople Stephane Dujarric
and Melissa Fleming refuse to
answer any of Inner City
Press' written questions, so
we'll find out in other ways -
watch this site.
The Sudan
national staff says they have
been in a sit-in strike in
front of the mission since
August. But gallivanting
Lacroix didn't even stop to
see them. We'll have more on
this, too.
Back on
September 1 Inner City Press
wrote to the Niger Mission, as
incoming UN Security Council
president, with questions
about Cameroon, Somalia and
UNsexploitation.
The email
address on the Niger Mission's
UN web page did not work; it
bounced back. A Direct Message
on Twitter to @Niger_ONU was
not answered.
And now as
the UN closes down for COVID
spread multiple sources told
Inner City Press it is the
Niger Mission. Inner City
Press was the first to report
this. And also, Guterres'
sleazy plan to evade
quarantine, even now, and
spread it to Boston.
The
United Nations
General
Assembly in
New York will
be closed on
October 27 as
at least five
members on a
member state's
mission have
tested
positive for
COVID-19,
letter first
tweeted by
Inner City
Press here
and
below.
But
many
hours later,
at 8:30 am on
October 27,
still nothing from
Guterers or
his Media
Acceditation and
Liaison Unit.
It is surmised
that Guterres,
ever selfish,
still wants to
slip away to
Boston and
meet a plane
from Lisbon
this coming
weekend. As if
Massachusetts
should let him
in without quarantining
there? No answers.
"Following
information from the
Secretariat regarding five
COVID infections at a Mission
of a Member State, the advice
of the Medical Unit is to
cancel in-person meetings at
UNHQ tomorrow, Tuesday 27
October, pending contact
tracing. Accordingly, after
consulting the Main Committee
Chairs, and in light of the
need to safeguard public
health, all in-person meetings
of the Main Committees of the
General Assembly tomorrow are
cancelled."
This is
the UN whose Secretary General
Antonio Guterres, a week ago
bragged about evading
quarantine, video here.
This while his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric briefing
maskless in a windowless room,
five feet from equally
maskless correspondents from
Al Jazeera and other state
media, here.
Their UN should leave New
York.
This as Sani I.
Mahamadou, Deputy Chief of
Staff to Niger's president,
bragged online of a "Very big
day for Niger, who begins his
month of presidency of the
United Nations Security
Council." They're off to a
terrible start.
Apparently
Niger PR Abdou Abarry could
only handle questions from
pre-screened in-house
correspondents, one of whose
media has no
story by her since
2017, another with
no stories at all, at
least one - actually, more --
a repeated #MeToo violator.
Periscope here.
Niger has
not said a word about the
slaughter in Cameroon, nor
about the UN Peacekeeping
sexploitation exposed by Inner
City Press.
The
Program belatedly went up -
with countries on which Niger
ignored and censored
questions: Myanmar, Somalia,
where UNMAS sent local staff
to be killed, and Colombia and
South Sudan. There will be
Francophonie on September 8.
We have now written directly
to the Mission's 404 spokesman
- and will have more on this.
When Guterres'
spokes- / hatchetman Stephane
Dujarric holds his noon
briefings this month while
refusing all questions from
Inner City Press despite an on
camera promise.
And Indonesia? We'll report.
Watch this site.
***
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