Monday, August 10, 2009

UN Stonewalls as Alleged Biter Rejects Deal, Doss To Meet Hillary Clinton

UNITED NATIONS, August 10, updated -- In Criminal Court in lower Manhattan Monday morning, former UN Development Program contractor Nicola Baroncini, whostates that his job was stolen by the UN's top envoy in the Congo Alan Doss for his daughter Rebecca, rejected an offer of reduced charges and anger management in the assault case against him. His next court date is October 28.

At the UN's regular press briefing later on Monday, UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe was peppered with questions about the pepper spray used on Mr. Baroncini, and from Inner City Press about about jurisdiction for investigation of Alan Doss, who is slated in the midst of this development nepotism scandal to meet today with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Half an hour after the briefing, Ms. Okabe told the Press that UN Security, "as part of standard operating procedures, is looking into the incident" in which Officer Peter Kolonias was bitten, but only after Mr. Baroncini says he was tackled, handcuffed and pepper sprayed.

Two months before the June 22 incident inside UNDP's building in which Mr. Baroncini was pepper sprayed and then bit UN Security Officer Peter Kolonias, Alan Doss wrote an email about awarding Baroncini's post as assistant to the Deputy Director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific to his daughter.

As first reported by Inner City Press, Doss asked to be shown "leeway" so that he could transfer from a UNDP to a UN Peacekeeping contract before or on the day she got to job, to evade anti-nepotism rules. Inner City Press first published the email on July 30, here.

On August 10 in the courthouse at 100 Centre Street, Baroncini told the Press that July 1 was the last day Rebecca Doss could be given a UNDP contract that would not have to be reviewed by a higher panel. He insists, however, that for Rebecca Doss to have been considered and offered the job while her father was still with UNDP violated the rules. For 16 days now, the UN and UNDP have repeated that the matter is under review.


Alan Doss in the Congo, pepper spray and NY courthouse not shown

The question arose Monday if immunity applies to Baroncini, or to the testimony that would be required later in the case from UN Security Officer Peter Kolonias. Some opined that Baroncini's immunity was lifted, by operation of law or by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, who after more than 100 days in the post has yet to hold a press conference.

Others named Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, himself sensitive to questions about nepotism following the promotion of his son in law Siddarth Chatterjee at the UN in Iraq and this year at the UN Office of Project Services in Copenhagen. Inquiries among the press corp have begun into the related hirings of Mr. Ban's daughter. It is all coming to a head. Watch this site.

Update of 1 p.m., August 10 -- at Monday's UN noon briefing, all of the questions were about the man bites man story originated by Inner City Press more than two weeks ago. Reuters, which is now preparing a piece on the matter, asked if Mr. Baroncini had been pepper sprayed before any biting took place. The Times of London, which reported on the story over the weekend, asked about immunity. Inner City Press asked how Alan Doss, the UN's envoy to Congo and an employee of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, can evade full investigation of his conduct by limiting the review to the Office of Audit and Investigation of UNDP, which no longer has jurisdiction over him. Inner City Press requested (again) in person media availabilities by UNDP's Helen Clark and the head of the UN Department of Safety and Security Gregory Starr. Watch this site.

Footnotes: the proceedings Monday morning in Room 405 of the courthouse at 100 Centre Street involved, one after the other, a defendant in a Miami Heat "Wade" jersey, handcuffed behind his back; another defendant, female, with a baby strapped in front; a defendant named Mamadou Bah with a seemingly disinterested assigned counsel; the removal of a camera from the Press, and admonitions to those in the courtroom not to wear caps, eat, drink or talk.

One wondered how documented nepotism by the UN's top Congo envoy could devolve into retaliation against a whistleblower down this level. Don't call me the biter, Baroncini asked. I don't want my child (now two years old) to have that impression in twenty years. Okay then. We will continue reporting this story, with an array of related puns: the whistleblower's mordant critique of the UN's toothless protections against retaliation, the gnawing problem in the UN of nepotism, leading to an open and shut case.

Received on Saturday:

From: [Alan Doss] @un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 8/8/2009 2:32:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Re: Hi, Press(ing) Q re Alan Doss [and Rebecca Doss, UNDP]

Dear Mr. Lee,

In reference to your email, I can only say that UNDP is currently reviewing the matter. It would be premature therefore for me to make any public comments at this stage. I can confirm, however, that I transferred to DPKO on 1 July 2009.

Alan Doss

4 comments:

External said...

Stupidity in action;
If they really wanted to hire Becky Doss ( yeah I always wonder why these children from the "advantageous" career International Civil Servants who have been "working for the good of the world" (sic) for their entire life don't queue like everybody else to apply for a job in the international organizations) why didn't they give her the job in the office of Bill Clinton,Envoy for Haiti in lieu of the Russian woman, thus avoiding any argument from Baroncini. Well I guess you scratch my back and I will scratch yours. All these well-off European kids whose parents are either politicos or members of cabinets of politicos working as professionals for the Directors, ASG, USGs.
No field assignment for these fils/filles à papa ou maman. Schooling in Switzerland or NYC, uni subsidized and they will understand "poverty, racism, gender differences, hunger or unhealthy conditions". Four star hotels and biz class travel because daddy or mommy has always make sure that I am treated like a rich brat. Pedigree and dynasties will survive at the UN whilst the tax payers of the donor countries have to work hard for everything else.

Anonymous said...

Becky Doss should go - this is shameful for us all.

Anonymous said...

Baroncini behaved very badly. He could have used proper avenues to find ways to solve this situation.

External said...

Article from NYT via Reuters;
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/10/world/international-uk-un-biting.html

Baroncini, who worked at UNDP and had access to his boss' e-mails, saw one from Doss referring to Rebecca's application to work at that agency, which does not normally employ members of the same family.

"I have asked for some flexibility, which would allow a very long serving and faithful UNDP staff member a little lee-way before he rides off into the sunset," Doss wrote in the e-mail, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Doss said he had no comment pending the UNDP review.


It takes someone brave enough to go up against this type of nepotism and whether Barocini is right or wrong in his actions, let's hope that the UN upper management has enough integrity to stop this kind of "laissez-faire" from some civil servants who believe that they are above the law and that their " progeniture" are entitled to a job at the UN ( wonder under which criteria). Meritocracy should be higher than dynasties because only dictators tend to remit power to their sons and daughters and the UN is not a country and their actions defeat the purpose of the establishment of the UN.
Why is Becky Doss or the Russian woman more qualified than Baroncini? Is it because of their parents being employees of the UN?
-Mervat Tallawy recruited and kept for under two years Faroug Idris (who was fired from FAO in Iraq where he worked under another name), the nephew of Kamal Idris (another player), the former Director General of WIPO. And guess what, MT’s daughter (who by the way works for the UN) Cherine Rahmy, who could not get promoted to P-3 in UNOV, suddenly gets a P-4 in WIPO. Rahmy stayed less then a year in WIPO when Mummy finally found a way to get her a P-4 in UNOV where she still is IIRC. Few months after Rahmy’s return to Vienna, Mr. Idris’s contract was not renewed
-SG BAN’s daughter was an intern (working without salary or international status) for six months at UNHQ/NY (starting during the high-point of the year in NY, the annual General Assembly - and right about the time of 9/11 - the attacks that felled the World Trade Center), in what is now the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Then, she returned — with a salary paid by the South Korean government, while her father was an official in the South Korean government — as a Junior Professional Officer at UNHQ/, apparently, in late 2002
-Kurt Waldheim’s daughter had a nice cozy professional or higher level post in the Palais des Nations, the UN Office in Geneva, while he was UN Secretary-General — but those were different times
- Kristina Mayo, who worked as her stepfather’s UN assistant for two years before she resigned April 21 2005. Step daddy is Maurice Strong (special UN adviser on North Korea )
Then there was Imran Riza , senior political adviser to Kofi Annan’s personal representative to southern Lebanon whilst daddy was CdC ( pre-circa 2005).

Another “all in the family ” conflict :one of the candidates for the last UNSG run has a son who works for the UNCHR as a Senior repatriation Officer in Myanmar/Burma ( BTW:Sivanka Dhanapala has been working at the UNHCR since 1995)
-Saahir Lone, son of Salim Lone (who worked for many years for DPI until his retirement after the bombing of the UN HQ in Baghdad in August 2003) — Saahir was (and maybe still is) the personal assistant of the chef de cabinet of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, and was hired by Salim’s friend and colleague Mian Qadruddin…
The daughter of the head of UNOG Medical Service was working for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights…
The son of a secretary for the confidential medical dossiers in the UNOG Medical Service was working as a UNOG Security Officer, and his fiance was working in the sensitive office of the UNOG legal adviser…
Then what has transpired at UNDP with MMbrown, Dervis and the Dutch politicos turned Civil servants.