UN
Internet
Fiasco
Excludes
Low-Bandwidth
Young
Professional
Applicants
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 20,
updated -- As
recently
appointed UN
officials and
envoys have
gotten older
and older, the
UN's Young
Professionals
Program which
recruits
people under
32 years old
ostensibly
fairly
worldwide is
viewed a one
solution.
But
Inner City
Press has
received
complaints
that due to UN
Office of
Human
Resources
Management
computer
problems with
its INSPIRA
system,
deadlines for
applications
had to be
extended --
and then were
NOT extended,
disproportionately
excluding
applicants
from countries
with low
Internet
bandwidth.
The
UN has an
office of
Information
and
Communications
Technology,
and is
considering
replacing its
former chief
Choi with Rudy
Sanchez or a
deputy
controller,
sources tell
Inner City
Press.
Sanchez has
headed UN
Peacekeeping's
computer
system,
including a
large and
reportedly
under- and
mis-used
program in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo in
the MONUSCO
mission which
top UN
peacekeeper
Herve Ladsous
refuses to
answer Press
questions
about.
But
OHRM,
apparently to
keep a pool of
money all for
itself,
decided to
(unsuccessfully)
administer
this Young
Professionals
Program
application
cycle itself
-- for some
reason, from
Bangkok.
After granting
extensions,
when it should
have granted
another one
due to
difficulties
of uploading
into the
system,
suddenly no
extension was
granted.
This
is bad form
for the UN,
even worse
when one
considers
which
countries are
now
disproportionately
excluded.
From
the UN's
September 20,
2012
transcript:
Inner
City Press:
This is not a
political
question, it’s
more of an
Internet
question.
There is the
Young
Professionals
Programme
that’s
run by OHRM
[Office for
Human
Resources
Management]
and the
Inspira
system and
there were, at
least I have
heard of a
number of
complaints by
people that
the deadline
for
application
was extended
because the
computer
system wasn’t
taking any
applications,
but in
the final
analysis, it
wasn’t
extended any
further, and
there seems
to be a
concern that
this left
people,
particularly
in countries
with
low bandwidth,
unable to
submit their
applications.
And I wanted
to
know, I don’t
expect you
necessarily to
have it with
you, but if
there is a
response from
the UN system
to what were
the problems
with
accepting the
applications
and especially
what do they
make of this
criticism that
people in the
countries
where they
don’t have
broadband, as
some others
might,
couldn’t apply
equally to
work for
the UN?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, first of
all, I am
aware, as I
think many
people in
the UN system
are, that
there was a
difficulty
with Inspira
recently
that was
tackled and
addressed.
There was an
extension of
deadlines;
I am also
aware of that.
I would need
to check with
our human
resources
colleagues how
widely that
extended
deadline
applied and
what
provision, if
any, has been
made for those
who might have
had
difficulties
because of low
bandwidth or
because of the
technical
problems that
I just
mentioned. But
let me check.
Watch
this site.
, 
