Ros-Lehtinen: - "Time has come for change at UNDP Leadership"

NEWS
House Foreign Affairs Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Republican
CONTACT: Sam Stratman, January 24, 2008
Alex Cruz
http://foreignaffairs.republicans.house.gov

For IMMEDIATE Release

Ros-Lehtinen Comments on Report Critical of UNDP/North Korea "Without concerted action of responsible nations to link contributions to performance and accountability, there will be little incentive to change the leadership at UNDP or the morally bankrupt way in which it does business"

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today suggested that the United States must link the annual contribution it makes to the UN Development Program (UNDP) to budget and audit reform at the agency. In 2007, Ros-Lehtinen successfully authored an amendment to cut $20 million from UNDP funding during House consideration of the appropriations bill that determines U.S. contributions to the UN. Her statement follows the release of a Senate report detailing systematic failures by the UNDP in North Korea. Statement of Ros-Lehtinen:

"The Senate report released today confirms our worst suspicions about how badly the UN Development Program botched its work in North Korea and then suppressed the truth of its errors by attacking critics and ruthlessly snuffing out all dissent within its ranks.

"Without the courageous action of a handful of UNDP employees, who were subsequently banished for telling the truth, we would probably know nothing of its egregious actions because the agency operates outside of internationally accepted norms of accountability.

"Our annual contribution to the UN Development Program is voluntary, as are those of all its donors. Without concerted action of responsible nations to link contributions to performance and accountability, there will be little incentive to change the leadership at UNDP or the morally bankrupt way in which it does business."