UN GATE, Dec 12
– How corrupt has
Antonio Guterres made
the UN? Even on
"disaster risk
reduction," Guterres' UN has
been a disaster. With
his spokesman Stephane
Dujarric and
communications chief
Alison Smale
refusing to answer
basic questions
from the Press
that they have banned,
now for
527 days, we note that
there, the
re-structuring
of the office
was led by the
newly
appointed then
Director at D2
level Ms.
Kirsi Madi,
which
consisting of
getting rid of
all technical
staff and
managers who
had been
associated
with precedent
head and SRSG
Ms. Margareta
Wahlstrom, who
led the office
for long time.
Now
UNICEF staff
obviously have
a lot of happy
times ahead
with this
proven downsizer
being
appointed as
Chief of Staff: "
When a little
girl in China
takes the
trouble to
write and
thank you for
helping to
save her life
in an
earthquake,
you must be
doing
something
right. The
letter was
written 25
years ago to
the
then-UNICEF
focal point
for disaster
risk
reduction,
Kirsi Madi, to
let her know
that when the
girl was alone
at home, she
took cover
from falling
masonry under
a table as
soon as she
felt an
earthquake.
This was
thanks to what
she remembered
from playing a
risk-themed
board game Ms.
Madi had
developed.
“Disaster risk
reduction is a
matter of life
and death,”
Madi said as
she reflected
on three years
as Director of
the UN Office
for Disaster
Risk Reduction
(UNDRR) on the
eve of her
departure to
take on the
role of Chief
of Staff at
UNICEF in New
York.
Following her
early field
experiences as
a UNICEF JPO
in Liberia and
Iraq, Madi was
seconded to
the
secretariat
for the
International
Decade for
Natural
Disaster
Reduction
which
eventually
gave rise to
the creation
twenty years
ago of UNDRR."
And now,
slashing in derivatively
censorious
UNICEF...
Back
on April 14 we
published this
account
granting the
request for
anonymity due
to the pervasive
retaliation in
Guterres' UN:
"Dear
Matthew,
Thanks for your coverage
of UN issues, including
grievances of
staff. I would
like to get your
interest to look at the
situation of the UN
Office for Disaster Risk
Reduction (UNISDR) and
its HQ office in Geneva.
Similar to UNEP and CBD,
it went through a
turmoil of
reorganization in the
past few years
(2015-2017) that led to
several serious issues
with leadership and
staff but no one has the
will to address them
including the UN legal
office and the
Ombusman. Below is
summary of
information: The
previous head of office
Mr. Robert Glasser,
under which the
reorganization took
place, was disengaged
and left it all to the
Director and mostly
focused on
representation,
traveling to conferences
and giving talks and
interviews and writing
op-ed in journals. He
served in the post for
only 2 years (2016-2017)
in the UN! The shortest
many believe… The
re-structuring of the
office was led by the
newly appointed then
Director at D2 level Ms.
Kirsi Madi, which
consisting of getting
rid of all technical
staff and managers who
had been associated with
precedent head and SRSG
Ms. Margareta Wahlstrom,
who led the office for
long time. The affected
staff believe they were
targeted through the
re-organisation process
and forced out, some of
them simply by using the
argument they had UNOPS
contracts although
legitimate fixed term
staff contracts , not
consultants or
contractors. No one in
the UN System was
willing to do something
about it including the
UN Legal Assistance
Office and the Ombudsman
which many of the staff
approached for help
citing that the HR
process took legal
steps… the HR
person of UNISDR who
oversaw this process,
under the director
guidance, even nominated
by the office and won
the UN SG award on “her
efforts in the major
organizational change
process with the
greatest degree of
integrity and
efficiency” ! In
total 25 out of 100
employees where either
resigned, took early
retirement or were let
go in the name of
efficiency. While this
small secretariat have
an ASG, D2, and 3 D1 but
that seem efficient use
of resources to some in
the UN! keeping in mind
that UNDP, UNEP and
UNFCCC already take care
of the issues under this
office
mandate. The
latest straw was the
appointment of the new
head of office Ms. Mami
Mizutori
on 1 March 2018 by the
UN SG who has no
experience in disaster
risk reduction or any
related areas. The
appointment read that 'Prior
to joining UNISDR she
was Executive Director
of the Sainsbury
Institute for the Study
of Japanese Arts and
Cultures, University of
East Anglia, UK since
2011.'
https://www.un.org/press/en/
2018/sga1785.doc.htm
Many say this came about
due to the pressure of
the Japanese government
that is eager to control
a UN office with a
bargaining chip of
donation to its
activities. They already
managed to appoint a
Japanese at D1 level for
intergovernmental,
inter-agency and
partnership branch of
the office, who
originally seconded from
OCHA at P5 level and
promoted to D1 within
months from a roster
without advertising the
post properly. They also
have a liaison office in
Japan, which was
suggested to be
abolished in the
reorganization process
then stayed on." This is
how
Guterres
has put the UN up
for sale, not only
to China (which to
him is personally,
through CEFC
China
Energy and the
Gulbenkian
Foundation)
but also to
Japan. We'll have
more on this.
On the
environment, Guterres
has a Deputy Secretary
General who signed thousands
of back-dated certificates to
try to
legalize the
illegal
export of
endangered
rosewood to
China from
Nigeria and
China - and
who never
answered Inner City
Press'
questions
about it, preferring to
have it
roughed and
banned. As Executive
Secretary of
the UN
Biodiversity
Convention
Guterres
has Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer; consider
this,
exclusive to
Inner City
Press:
"Cristiana
Pasca-Palmer
is more
corrupt and
abusive than
the man who
was
instrumental
for her
appointment
When Erik
Solheim
introduced
Cristiana
Pasca-Palmer
as the new
Executive
Secretary of
the CBD at the
high-level
segment of the
13th meeting
of the Parties
to the
Convention
(COP 13) in
Cancun,
Mexico,
on 1
December 2016,
he unwittingly
admitted that
her
appointment
was political,
not merit
based. He
proudly
declared that
her
appointment
was the
Secretary
General's
response to a
wider call to
assign a woman
from the
Eastern
European
region at a
senior UN
position.
Two years into
her term now,
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
proved her
former
benefactor's
admission of
the absence of
merit in her
appointment.
When he
recommended
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
for the job,
Mr. Solheim
himself was
just few
months old on
his own post
as the
Executive
Director of
UNEP. He was
forced out of
his job on 22
November last
year (in just
a two-year
time) after
thorough
investigation
which
confirmed his
contempt to UN
rules, abuse
of authority
and wastage of
scarce
budgetary
resources on
excessive
travels.
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
is a copycat
of her former
boss in her
disregard to
the UN rules
and her
addiction to
travelling
around the
world. But she
is worse in
exercising her
authority in
abusive
manner.
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
lacks aptitude
for learning
how to adapt
to a
multicultural
environment.
After two
years, she
could not
build a
cohesive
multi-disciplinary
team. She
shuns a number
of staff with
good
experience and
good ideas
while she
brings few
others closer
to her for
their
demonstrated
loyalty to
her. She has
constantly
been
condescending
on many
others. She
has not yet
realized the
distinction
between an
intergovernmental
process and a
national, or
even worse, a
privately-run
undertaking.
She cannot
stand people
who do not
agree with
her. Her
strong desire
to be
surrounded by
people who
show absolute
loyalty to her
and do not
question her
actions, has
put her in a
constant
conflict with
a number of
staff, and
with UN rules.
Her hawkish
personality
and impunity
brought to
endless need
to respond to
management
evaluation
review
requests,
talks with UN
ombudsperson,
and to UN
ethics and
dispute
tribunal
investigations.
UNEP seemed to
have chosen to
stand by the
side or to
collaborate
with her
instead of
taking
appropriate
measures to
reign in some
of the
excesses such
as constant
modifications
of job
descriptions
of some staff
members who
have trouble
with Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
The following
are some of
the major
failures and
incidents that
illustrate the
abusive
leadership
styles of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
that brought
fear, anxiety,
fragmentation,
and low morale
to most of the
staff of
the
secretariat of
CBD. 1/
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
lacks coherent
vision for the
biodiversity
agenda and for
the
secretariat
that supports
it. Whatever
ideas she
brings to the
table are
borrowed from
experts that
she hired as
consultants.
Even then, the
ideas shift
constantly as
they become
tasted to be
inapplicable
to the CBD
situation. She
does not
appreciate or
trust the
in-house
knowledge and
advice that
she receives
from staff,
especially
from those who
have been with
the
Secretariat
for some
longer period
of time.
2/ Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
adversity to
experienced
members of
staff and her
heavy-handedness
has led to a
string of
resignations.
The first to
leave was the
Chief of
Administration
and Finance
who chose to
take early
retirement
after briefly
working with
her and
assessing the
difficult
times to come.
Her successor
who has rich
experience
working with
the UN in New
York might
have already
felt the
strange taste
of working
with Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
In the last
one year
alone, more
than four, all
of them women,
senior staff
members and
program
officers left
the
Secretariat.
Her own
secretary left
due to the
harassment
and
discrimination
that she has
felt. From the
early days of
her arrival,
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
was trying to
transfer her
secretary to
another work
unit in the
Secretariat -
It was a kind
of hate on the
first sight:
One of the
program officers
to leave the
Secretariat in
the last one
year, also
felt the same.
According to
the story that
she shared
with her
closest
colleagues,
renewal of her
contract took
unusually
long, and when
she sought
explanation
from Ms.
Pasca-Palmer,
she was told
that, as an
African, she
should rather
feel proud of
herself to
have worked in
the UN, and
not complain
about the
delay in the
renewal of her
contract.
Racism, much?
Guterres and
his
spokespeople
refuse to
answer any
Press
questions, so
corrupt are
they. 3/
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
takes things
personal and
her
retaliation is
immediate and
ruthless. She
seems to get
gratification
from
humiliating
and abusing
any staff
member who
dares to
question her
actions and
stand on her
way. For
example:
She abolished
a division
under the
cover of
restructuring
just to punish
the head of
the division,
D1. The D1,
who has now
lost her post,
and eventually
her job, had
differences of
views with
regard to some
of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
managerial
actions that
she took
against the
division and
the staff.
There was also
another hidden
motive by Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
when she
abolished the
division. Her
decision to
restructure
part of the
Secretariat
came in
September last
year. At the
same time, she
was preparing
a budget
document to
submit to COP
14 held in
November last
year in Egypt.
The budget
document
included a
request for a
chief of staff
post at a D1
level. She
thought that
the COP would
approve her
request as
long as she
used an
existing D1
post. But the
COP did not
approve her
request for a
chief of
staff. All
other new
positions she
asked for,
including a
senior
communication
officer was
rejected.
Instead, the
COP downgraded
the D1 post
vacated by the
head of the
defunct
division. In
the same vein,
the senior
legal officer
who questioned
some of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer's
judgement has
now been
effectively
stripped of
his role as
the senior
legal officer.
She decided to
abolish the
legal unit and
to change his
reporting
line, again,
in the name of
restructuring.
A legal
officer at P-3
level who was
hired by Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
herself and
who joined the
Secretariat at
the beginning
of this year
is now the de
facto legal
advisor of the
Secretariat.
He was
supposed to
report to the
senior legal
officer.
However, as
soon as he
joined the
Secretariat,
he was
instructed by
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
that he would
report to her
directly and
he should not
have any
communication
with the
senior legal
officer. His
terms of
reference is
being revised
and his post
reclassified,
accordingly.
Like her
former boss
and to some
extent similar
to some of her
predecessors,
Ms. Pasca
Palmer
attaches
highest
priority to
communication.
The
Secretariat
has a
well-qualified
communication
officer and a
team. However,
the officer
did not seem
to satisfy Ms.
Pasca Palmer's
wishes. He
does not take
orders without
raising some
pertinent
questions. She
did not like
him for that.
As a result,
she striped
him off his
responsibility
as the head of
his team. She
assigned her
special
advisor (who
has no
expertise on
communication)
as the head of
the
communication
team and the
communication
officer is
obliged to
report to her.
Ms. Pasca
Palmer hired a
communication
consultant who
is now doing
(mostly
remotely) much
of the work
that was
traditionally
been done by
the
communication
officer and
his team. This
consultant who
claims to be
one of the
members of the
former Obama
Administration
communication
team is now
writing every
speech that
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
delivers at
different
forums and,
effectively,
he is the de
facto
supervisor of
the
communication
work of the
Secretariat.
Perhaps, owing
to his
experience
working in a
highly
partisan
political
environment,
the speeches
or other
"communication
materials that
the
communication
consultant
prepares lack
relevance to
biodiversity
issues and
miss political
sensitivities.
Last month, he
made a
presentation,
on behalf of
the
Secretariat,
on
communication
approaches and
needs for the
biodiversity
framework
beyond 2020,
in a workshop
held in
Germany.
Participants
of the
workshop were
CBD parties
and
stakeholders
from Western
Europe and
other
developed
countries. The
participants
were baffled
when the
presenter
began his
presentation
by a quote
from Winston
Churchill's
war time
statement
during Second
World War. It
was a pure
demonstration
of ignorance
of UN values
and arrogance
for political
sensitivities.
One can also
see his
unfitness from
his profanity
filled
Twitters
trashing his
political
opponents
which is
antithesis to
the values of
the UN.
Associating
herself with
such a person
is another
proof on the
poor judgement
of Ms.
Pasca-Palmer.
For Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
raising the
biodiversity
agenda means
raising her
personal and
professional
profile
through
flowery
speeches and
the use of
social media
to publicize
all her
high-level
engagements.
What she sees
in the work of
a
communication
officer is
just colorful
prose. Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
has been
unhappy about
the COP 14
budget
decision that
denied her all
her requests
for new
positions,
especially the
one of chief
of staff for
herself. That
is why, she is
still trying
to hire a
chief of staff
by all means.
She is
exploring all
slant avenues
despite the
fact that the
COP has
rejected it
and that
Secretariat
has about 80
regular staff,
a size that
does not
justify the
need for a
chief of
staff.
(iv) 4/
Like her
former boss,
Mr. Solheim,
who allowed
one of his
senior
managers to
work
(telecommute)
from a
location in a
different
continent for
no justifiable
and
administratively
defensible
reason, Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
too designated
one of her
staff members
as her special
advisor and
allowed her,
for over a
year now, to
function from
the United
Nations office
in New York
for no clear
organizational
reason. The
Secretariat
pays for the
frequent
travel of the
special
advisor who
shuttles
between
Montreal and
New York. This
is a cost on
top of part of
the salary
that the
Secretariat
pays for one
liaison
officer placed
in New York
for the last
several years
and shared
with the
Secretariat of
UNCCD.
5/ Like her
former boss,
Ms.
Pasca-Palmer
does not like
to stay
grounded in
her Montreal
office for
more than few
days and in
rare cases,
few weeks. She
likes
traveling. Her
travel
expenditure is
high. She
frequently
modifies her
itineraries at
the last
minute and as
a consequence
causing huge
financial loss
to the
Secretariat.
Mr.
Pasca-Palmer
knows also
when would be
a good time to
go to certain
places such as
the one she
had last
summer to
Southern
African
countries –
the visit to
the safaris
and the
diamond mining
sitesil it was
all well
planned. The
results of
such travels
range from
nothing to
negligible
political
visibility,
while the
costs are in
tens of
thousands of
dollars,
especially
when
accompanied by
one or more
people.
SCBD is
currently in a
difficult
spot. It is
expected to
deliver so
much during
this biennium.
Yet, the
resignation of
experienced
staff members
is continuing
and the moral
of the staff
is at its
lowest.
Allowing the
mismanagement
to continue
will be a huge
disservice to
the Parties of
this important
treaty which
is at an
important
cross road,
and to the
implementation
of the
Sustainable
Development
Agenda of the
UN and to the
2030
Sustainable
Development
Goals. Urgent
rectification
is needed!"
This is
Guterres' UN.
,
