Thursday, April 25, 2013

United Nations Jew-basher Richard Falk blames Boston Marathon attack on Israel

Click here for this story in full at : http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/beneath-contempt-article-1.1326653

Richard Falk’s crazy Jew-baiting has to stop.

CEM TURKEL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES




United Nations anti-Semite-in-chief Richard Falk has pinned blame for the Boston Marathon bombing on America and, you surely guessed, Israel.

So once more, the call goes out for the UN to fire Falk as the Human Rights Council’s special investigator of conditions in the Palestinian territories, a post he uses to groundlessly bludgeon the Jewish state.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/beneath-contempt-article-1.1326653#ixzz2RVCXOA7h

Is Satinder Bindra linked to the corruption scandal in Nairobi?


UNEP official accused of diverting money still heads unit tied to Olympic Games


A key United Nations official has been charged with spending hundreds of thousands of dollars donated outside normal channels, gaining financial benefits for his family and friends, contrary to...


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Hachim Badji, Senior Coordinator for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Development Program (UNDP)

Click here for this @: http://vimeo.com/63805150

In this video, Hacim Badji speaks about his daily work as Senior Coordinator for Disaster Risk Reduction at the United Nations Development Program, his motivations and his career.

Obama firing 20,000 marines to save 10 billion - while giving more CA$H to United Nations

Click here to read this in full @: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obama-cuts-military-boosts-un-spending-to-3-6-billion/



Obama is firing 20,000 Marines to save 10 billion dollars.

Meanwhile the 2014 budget raises the cash giveaway to the United Nations to 3.6 billion dollars… or 7200 Marines.

Cold as Ice: Why It Matters that the Canadian Government is Backing Out of UN Climate Change Efforts

Click here for this story in full @: http://gppreview.com/2013/04/15/cold-as-ice-why-it-matters-that-the-canadian-government-is-backing-out-of-un-climate-change-efforts/

Canada
by Jacob Patterson-Stein

At the end of March, while answering questions in the House of Commons, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calmly explained why he was stopping payments to an organization that, in his words, “spends less than 20 percent of the funds that we send […] on programming.” At a time when governments everywhere are feeling the urge to justify spending, it is not surprising that representatives cheered after the PM’s brief statement. What caught many international observers off guard, however, was the organization to which Harper was referring: the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Indeed, even the UN was surprised to learn that Canada was withdrawing from the Convention and reportedly only found out about Ottawa’s decision after being reached for comment by Canadian press.

IATI (or should we say UNDP) wants you to read only those blogs that tell the story "IATI's way" - and not the truth about Aid transparency !


Click here for this @ : http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/

There has been a lot of interesting discussion on the U.S. blogosphere about aid transparency and IATI. If you haven't already, why not give these blogs below a read?

For 11.5% cut UNDP will give you access to project developers and holders of carbon credits in Africa ! Hurry Certificates are limited !

Click here to read this in full @: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/54/40/92093.html

Promoting access to low-carbon development in Africa


As part of their work to support African nations along a low-emission path to development, partner UN agencies, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Bank group are hosting the fifth Africa Carbon Forum in Cote d'Ivoire, on 3-5 July 2013.
 
This annual event is an opportunity for participants to meet project developers and buyers of carbon credits in Africa, through formal presentations and more informally in matchmaking sessions that bring together interested parties to discuss possible projects under the clean development mechanism (CDM).

"The African continent has historically not benefited much from the CDM," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "The current state of the market opens the possibility for African nations to increase their participation, in particular via a programmatic approach that caters to smaller projects. The Africa Carbon Forum aims to further improve the access to and spread of the CDM on the continent."

The CDM allows emission reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reductions (CERs), commonly known as carbon credits, each equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide. CERs can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

UNDP says: Social conflict in Latin America sparked by inequality and not communist regimes

Click here for this story @: http://www.nzweek.com/world/social-conflict-in-latin-america-sparked-by-inequality-undp-report-60067/

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 — The Latin American countries with greatest numbers of conflicts are those with broad social inequalities and governments with limited capacity to manage unrest, said a report released on Tuesday in English by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The report, titled “Understanding Social Conflict in Latin America,” revealed that social, institutional and cultural tensions in Latin America are numerous, compared to other regions, and were characterized by a high degree of citizen participation.

According to the report, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina were the countries with the highest number of social conflicts, with more than 200 cases for each of the countries, while those with the lowest levels of unrest were Costa Rica, Chile and El Salvador, with an average of 58 conflicts each.

John Kerry pledges Climate Change Cooperation with China

Click here for this in full @: http://theenergycollective.com/globalwarmingisreal/211066/us-pledges-far-reaching-climate-cooperation-china-and-japan

John Kerry made climate change a centerpiece of his first Asia tour as Secretary of State over the weekend, signing agreements with both Japan and China for cooperation in implementing practical measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The agreements with both nations stressed practical measures available for reducing greenhouse gases, largely ignoring the contentious United Nations process for hammering out an international climate change agreement that has to date fallen far short of its goal.

China and the United States represent the two largest carbon emitting nations and analysts have said the agreement between the two nations could mark a significant move forward and put China and the US at the “center of serious clean energy work.”

EU cap-and-trade system suffers blow

Click here for this story in full @: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130416/eu-carbon-trading/?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=business

BRUSSELS — Europe's fight against climate change was dealt a setback on Tuesday, when EU lawmakers voted against a proposal that would have made it more expensive for utilities and other businesses to burn fossil fuels.

The European Commission wanted to make companies pay more for each ton of carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere – activity that scientists say contributes to climate change. The European Parliament rejected the proposal by 334 to 315, with 63 abstentions.

Businesses applauded the decision which spares them facing increasing costs for pollution permits, but environmental groups decried it as a fatal vote that "undermines Europe's credibility in fighting climate change."

The European Union cap-and-trade system – the world's biggest – was introduced in 2005 in the hope of encouraging industries to reduce emissions and invest in greener technologies.

Zimbabwe withdraws UNDP election cash appeal


Click for this story in full @: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-10845-Zim+withdraws+UNDP+election+cash+appeal/news.aspx


THE government has withdrawn a request to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for help to finance elections due later this year and will now source the money locally, a cabinet minister said Tuesday.

Zimbabwe had appealed to the UN agency for help to raise about US$132 million needed for the key elections which will choose a successor to the fractious coalition administration.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Despite corruption and millions lost in fight against poverty - Ban Ki-moon gives a second term to Helen Clark (What a shame !)

Click here for this in full: http://www.nzweek.com/world/undp-chief-gets-second-term-59393/

UNITED NATIONS, April 12 — The administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Helen Clark, was given a second term Friday to remain at the helm of the UN development agency.

The 67th session of the UN General Assembly confirmed Clark’s reappointment as the head of the UNDP.

While addressing the UN General Assembly, Clark pledged that during her second term, UNDP would continue to focus on sustainable human development and poverty eradication. “I will remain firmly focused on MDG achievement and on accelerating efforts up to 2015 and beyond.”
MDG stands for a set of eight anti-poverty target, adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 and designed to be achieved by the deadline of 2015.

“I look forward to implementing this vision and to making UNDP an ever more transparent, accountable, and effective organization, ” she said.

Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, became the UNDP administrator in April 2009. She is the first woman to lead the organization.

She is also the Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of the heads of all UN funds, programmes and departments working on development issues.

The UNDP is put in charge of UN’s global development network and is mandated to work with countries to reduce poverty, promote development and combat climate change. With activities in more than 160 countries, the UNDP works throughout the developing world helping countries meet their development goals.

Tax Havens 101: How many UNDP staffers have accounts in ...Virgin Islands ? Mauritius ? Panama?

Click here to view this video : http://youtu.be/gy2RgjIIZyA

Friday, April 12, 2013

United Nations start trading certificates - big business, lot's of deals - great profits for those who know how to play the game !


Click here to read this in full at: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/new-partnership-to-offset-un-carbon-emissions-and-support-sustainable-development

New Partnership to Offset UN Carbon Emissions and Support Sustainable Development


airobi/Copenhagen, 5 April 2013 - A wind farm in India and a waste management project in Colombia are set to benefit from a new to offset the carbon emissions of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
Ever since the UN Secretary-General first announced a directive for UN agencies to move toward climate neutrality in 2007, the organization has been measuring its greenhouse gas emissions and identifying opportunities to reduce them.

UNEP, which has been climate neutral since 2008, recently requested UNOPS, an operational and central procurement arm of the UN, to buy 50,000 certificates of emission reduction (CERs), to cover UNEP’s emissions for 2010-2013.

As part of its own emission-reduction plan, UNOPS decided to purchase additional offsets and added almost 14,000 certificates to the order, one for every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted by its global activities in 2011.

Combining the procurement volumes allowed the two organizations to buy the certificates from Swiss company First Climate at a reduced price. As a result, the emissions from both organizations were offset in a landfill gas management project in Colombia, while UNEP also contributed to the installation of a 15 megawatt wind farm in Tamil Nadu, India.

Did UNDP's inaction killed thousands in cholera case in Zimbabwe?

U.N. IMMUNITY AT ITS BEST !




Click here for this : http://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-11-how-zanu-pf-ties-stopped-un-boss-from-acting-on-cholera

It is alleged that due to the warm relations between Agostinho Zacarias, the former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) chief in Harare and Zanu-PF in 2008, the UN in 2008 ignored internal cholera warnings months before an outbreak that claimed more than 4 000 lives.

This has come to light after a recent tribunal hearing looking into the unfair dismissal in 2009 of Georges Tadonki, who headed the UN humanitarian office in Harare at the time. He was dismissed by Zacarias.

UNDP Scandal in Zimbabwe goes viral, while Helen Clark promotes Agostinho Zacarias ...again !

HELEN CLARK's DEALS


CLICK HERE TO READ THIS IN FULL : http://www.theindependent.co.zw/2013/04/12/zim-un-officials-under-spotlight/

AS Zimbabwe approaches crucial general elections after holding a relatively peaceful recent referendum albeit under a shadow of resurging political repression and violence, the United Nations (UN) — whose focal point for electoral assistance mission is soon expected in the country to assess the political and security situation to see if it could help fund the polls — will be under close scrutiny following revelations its Harare office in 2008 ignored internal cholera warnings months before its outbreak exploded into a full-blown epidemic.


The Atlantic/Staff Writer

A recent UN tribunal 104-page ruling reveals how former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) chief in Harare, Agostinho Zacarias, who had close links with President Robert Mugabe’s previous Zanu PF regime, was unable or unwilling to take measures to combat cholera — which eventually affected about 100 000 and killed at least 4 000 people.

Zimbabwe, a potential economic powerhouse which critics say has been ruined under Mugabe’s rule, is heading for a potential turning point.

A mostly peaceful, popular referendum on March 16 approved a relatively progressive constitution that includes a theoretically strong bill of rights, and general elections are likely be held later in the year.

But the past couple of months have also seen another, less noted development that adds an additional layer of ambiguity to the country’s future.

On February 26, a UN tribunal in Johannesburg determined that Georges Tadonki, the head of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Zimbabwe in 2008, had been wrongfully fired from the UN after he attempted to warn UN headquarters of an oncoming cholera epidemic, whose severity was compounded by the on-going political violence.

He was fired after Zacarias, then the UN’s country chief in Harare and currently the UNDP resident co-ordinator in South Africa, decided that his own closeness to Zanu PF overrode his responsibilities to the UN’s missions and values.

Yet Zacarias was actively abetted by officials at the UN headquarters in Turtle Bay, a New York neighbourhood around Manhattan, who gave in to his demands, which included the marginalisation and eventual firing of Tadonki, even as conditions inside Zimbabwe deteriorated.

The case raises the question of just how the UN will perform in Zimbabwe if the events of 2008 repeat themselves — or in the event that the country finally experiences its long sought-after democratic transition.

Tadonki filed a wrongful termination claim against the UN after the organisation effectively fired him in early 2009.

The UN’s bulletproof legal immunity necessitates an unusual system for adjudicating such cases. Because the UN cannot be sued, tribunals convened by the UN itself deal with employment claims, pseudo-courts that do not adhere to several important aspects of accepted US and European legal procedure.

Legal immunity

The UN-appointed judges found that Tadonki’s firing was the result of concentric layers of favouritism and bad faith, tendencies that defined not only the country head’s relationship with Mugabe’s government, but Turtle Bay’s apparently backward view of the UN’s entire mission in Zimbabwe.

According to the tribunal, in addition to upholding the egalitarian values of the UN Charter, Zacarias’ job charged him with “speaking out about humanitarian issues and defending humanitarian principles”.

In these respects, he was a clear failure. He had a tight relationship with members of Mugabe’s then Zanu PF ruling party.

According to Robert Amsterdam, who was one of Tadonki’s lawyers, Zacarias’ testimony revealed that he had known various Zanu PF leaders when they were based in Mozambique during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the 1970s.

According to the decision, during his posting in Zimbabwe, Zacarias “would spend most of his social time with Nicholas Goche, a Zanu PF politburo member and current Transport minister. This closeness spurred a wilful ignorance of the country’s deteriorating conditions”.

In the run-up to the bloody 2008 elections, “Zacarias seemed to not take cognisance of the fact that there was likely to be widespread and unprecedented violence”, despite the mobilisation of pro-Zanu PF paramilitary forces.

Even as pro-Mugabe militants savaged the opposition MDC and its supporters, Zacarias did his best to shield himself from the ruling party’s scrutiny, even if it meant discarding commonly-held humanitarian protocol.

“The bottom line,” the tribunal concludes, “is that the political agenda that Zacarias was engaged in with the government of Zimbabwe far outweighed any humanitarian concerns that Ocha (Tadonki’s office) may have had.”

In the report’s most scathing section, the judges explain that Zacarias’ closeness to Zanu PF made it impossible for Tadonki to carry out his duties as the head of Ocha — a stance which had deep consequences for Zimbabweans counting on the UN’s assistance in the midst of a cholera epidemic and political emergency.

“There was a humanitarian drama unfolding and people were dying. Part of the population had been abandoned and subjected to repression. The issue between Tadonki and Zacarias was to what extent these humanitarian concerns should be exposed and addressed and the risk that there was of infuriating the Mugabe government,” reads part of the report.

Zanu PF links

“Matters started to sour when Tadonki started doing his job. Zacarias preferred that he remain quiet. But if he remained quiet, Ocha at (the UN) headquarters would say he was not doing his job. Therefore, while silence would bring him trouble from Ocha, noise would infuriate Zacarias.
“When the applicant started organising a forum made up of the NGOs, the United Nations and the donors to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe with the approval of Zacarias and to achieve a common understanding of the humanitarian situation, Zacarias became angry.”

Tadonki did not stay silent however; he “had the courage to inform the Ocha headquarters in New York that Zimbabwe was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis while Zacarias was pretending to the contrary”.

Zacarias had undermined Tadonki at other points during the Ocha head’s brief yet eventful stint in Zimbabwe, most notably by convincing the Zimbabwean government not to approve residency accreditation for Tadonki’s wife and children, who were living in South Africa during his period of employment.

But Tadonki paid an additional and even deeper price for his willingness to warn Turtle Bay about Zimbabwe’s humanitarian plight — he was fired in January 2009, after he had warned of the potential ravages of the looming cholera outbreak. Tadonki was investigated by a UN bureaucrat at Zacarias’ behest, even when there was no proof of professional malfeasance.

“Part of the reason nobody could take on Zacarias was that his role was unassailable,” explains Amsterdam. UN headquarters was convinced that in terms of their Zimbabwe operations, “Zacarias was the absolutely critical pivot, and everything could be sacrificed to him.”

Tadonki’s two predecessors were also fired after brief and tumultuous postings to Harare, and Amsterdam believes that the UN knowingly sent his client into an extremely hostile work environment.

“That they could have put anybody into the situation after Zacarias had savaged the prior two occupants of that post was just inhumane. It was like they were setting him up for exactly what transpired,” said Amsterdam.

Still, the UN has stated that it is appealing its own tribunal’s decision.

For Amsterdam, the decision to appeal reveals just how little the UN has learned from the Tadonki affair.

“If you had a normal organisation, heads would roll,” he says. “Structures would change. But clearly this is not a normal organisation. This is an organisation that’s pathological in its respect for its employees.”

The events in the Tadonki case mostly happened in 2008, but they are less distant than they seem — and not just because of the UN’s plans to appeal.

In a plausible worst-case scenario, this year might bear a similarity to the crisis of 2008. With elections planned for an as-yet-unannounced date later in the year, the country could be heading towards another inflection point, or even another explosion — situations in which international organisations must take on heavy humanitarian and moral responsibilities.

New elections

“The UN was being asked, and will be asked in the future, to play a key role in the transition in Zimbabwe, and they have been completely contaminated by their behaviour,” says Todd Moss, a senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development, and an official in the US State Department’s African Affairs office during the 2008 election crisis.

“It comes down to trust. Who is the UN supposed to be working for?

The signals were pretty clear that parts of the UN office in Harare were working very closely with Zanu PF,” he said.

The successful constitutional referendum raises the possibility of elections that are at least procedurally sound.

In addition, Zimbabwe and Zambia are co-hosting the UN World Tourism Organisation’s general assembly in August, raising hopes that some within Zanu PF genuinely want to re-integrate the country with the rest of the region and the international community more generally. A clean vote would be an ideal place to start.

But Moss sees little reason to believe that the party’s brutal electoral calculus has changed.
“There’s no prospect of an opposition victory as long as Mugabe is alive,” he says.

There is evidence that Zanu PF is already going after opposition and civil society organisations in the run-up to elections.

Police have of late targeted civil society groups and activists, including human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, while the MDC parties are complaining of resurgent violence.

“There’s an impressive level of political direction and assertiveness by ordinary citizens, human rights defenders, and civil society,” says Jeff Smith, an advocacy officer for the Robert F Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights. “What’s worrying is that the Zanu PF regime has really been able to keep these social forces in check.”

This year’s vote could be no more legitimate than 2008’s. The question however is still whether Mugabe will allow the opposition to win — and whether it is possible to have any kind of democratic process in a country where the government is so determined to hold onto power.

Fox News: John Kerry cuts UNDP core contribution for 2014 by 18% (ouch...does this hurt Helen Clark?)

Despite sequester, State Department ups support for the UN


By George Russell (Twitter @GeorgeRussell. )

Even as the mandated sequester bites into U.S. federal spending -- and newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry boasts that he is cutting his budget by 6 percent -- the State Department is planning to boost spending on the United Nations in 2014 by more than 4 percent to at least $3.6 billion.

That is likely to be far from the final tally of Obama Administration support, as hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. development, health and other funds are usually channeled through U.N. agencies and institutions -- with the U.N. agencies taking administrative fees as part of the deal. The most recent tally on the website of the White House Management and Budget website, for example, lists support for the U.N. at $7.7 billion -- in 2010.

WSJ: - U.N. Aide to Seek Redress on Cash Award


Click here for this in full at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820304578408644005335884.html
UNITED NATIONS—A U.N. whistleblower who won a wrongful-dismissal case after accusing top U.N. officials of corruption, but who was then awarded a fraction of his claim, is appealing to the State Department to withhold a portion of American dues to the multilateral organization.
James Wasserstrom, an American who was a senior U.N. official in Kosovo, said his award in March of $65,000 by a U.N. tribunal, 2% of his $3.2 million claim, could have a chilling effect on future U.N. whistleblowers.

"This is not really about the money but the small amount does send a message to whistleblowers: keep quiet," Mr. Wasserstrom said in an interview. "The deck is now even more heavily stacked against people coming forward and trying to do the right thing."

UN Whistleblower Wasserstrom to Speak in NY; Letter to be Sent Requesting US Government Withhold Funds

click here for this in full at: http://www.whistleblower.org/press/press-release-archive/2013/2613-media-advisory-un-whistleblower-wasserstrom-to-speak-in-ny-letter-to-be-sent-requesting-us-government-withhold-funds


(Washington, DC) – Pioneer UN whistleblower James Wasserstrom will speak at a press conference next Monday, April 8, about a recent decision in his landmark whistleblowing case. Wasserstrom will travel from his post in Afghanistan to New York for the event. That morning he will also announce, and make available to the press, a letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting the US government to withhold 15% of its funding to the United Nations in accordance with federal law requiring such if the organization fails to protect whistleblowers from retaliation.

The press conference will be held at 10:00 am in the Landmark Room of the ONE UN Hotel, 1 UN Plaza, 44th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue, in Manhattan.

Shelley Walden, international program officer for the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a nonprofit whistleblower protection organization representing Wasserstrom on advocacy issues, will join the whistleblower to discuss the broader implications of the recent judgment for UN whistleblowers. Stated Walden, "The Wasserstrom relief decision is just the latest evidence that the United Nations is not serious about protecting whistleblowers or holding itself accountable. Instead, the organization is sending a loud and clear message to its staff: Keep quiet."

Wasserstrom's letter, which will be distributed to journalists who attend the event, will describe the UN's failure to meet the whistleblower protection criteria established in the 2012 US Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 2055). The law requires a 15% withholding of the US contribution to any UN agency if it "is not taking steps to ... implement best practices for the protection of whistleblowers from retaliation, including best practices for legal burdens of proof, access to independent adjudicative bodies, [and] results that eliminate the effects of retaliation..." Wasserstrom's letter suggests potential steps that the United Nations could take to address these shortcomings, and will request that the US government advocate for the release of a UN report on internal corruption in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). To date, the United Nations has failed to publicly release this investigative report, which is based in part on Wasserstrom's disclosures.

UPDATED 4/8/2013: You can read the letter here.

Background on Wasserstrom's Case

From 2002-08, Wasserstrom served with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations as a senior official at UNMIK. In 2007, he alleged internal corruption involving UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative (SRSG) Joachim Ruecker, Principal Deputy SRSG Stephen Schook, and UNMIK Legal Advisor Alexander Borg-Olivier. After his whistleblowing came to light, he was detained by UNMIK police officers on trumped-up charges, his home and person were illegally searched, his photograph was posted on all UNMIK premises barring his entry, and the United Nations and UNMIK subjected him to criminal and administrative investigations.

In 2008, Mary Dorman, Wasserstrom's attorney, filed a case against the Secretary General in the UN's internal justice system. Specifically the complaint alleged that the UN Ethics Office, which has the responsibility to protect whistleblowers, and the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which investigates claims of retaliation referred to it by the Ethics Office, failed in their responsibilities. In a June 2012 decision, the UN Dispute Tribunal agreed, calling his treatment "appalling." In a decision issued last month, the judge concluded that it is "difficult to envisage a worse case of insensitive, highhanded and arbitrary treatment in breach of the fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." However, the Tribunal awarded a paltry $65,000 in damages and costs, or 2% of the amount sought by Wasserstrom. This amount does not address the full consequences of retaliation experienced by Wasserstrom.

"This low award will have a chilling effect for would-be whistleblowers, plain and simple," said GAP's Walden. "Wasserstrom's case exemplifies the persistent failure of the United Nations to protect whistleblowers from retaliation. This landmark judgment shows that even when UN whistleblowers win their cases, they still lose as they are left far worse off financially than if they had simply remained silent."

The Ethics Office's Dismal Track Record on Whistleblowers
Wasserstrom's letter will also detail the failure of the United Nations to protect whistleblowers. UN Ethics Office reports show that at least 343 protection-against-retaliation inquiries were submitted to the Office over the period from 2006-12. The Office completed a preliminary review in 87 of these cases and Wasserstrom's was one of only nine cases in which it found a prima facie case of retaliation. After further review, the Ethics Office found in favor of only one whistleblower, ultimately rejecting 99% of UN whistleblowers' retaliation claims, including Wasserstrom's. In 2011, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon tried to shut down whistleblowers' access to the justice system, but was unsuccessful.

For more information about the event or letter, contact GAP's Shelley Walden at shelleyw@whistleblower.org, or at 202.457.0034, ext. 156. Regarding the ongoing litigation, contact attorney Mary Dorman at mddorman@gmail.com or 646.230.7444.

Contact: Dylan Blaylock, GAP Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 137
Email: dylanb@whistleblower.org

Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Fox News: UN humanitarian aid financing is disorganized, unpredictable and hard to track, two-year watchdog study says

Click here to read this in full @ Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/29/un-humanitarian-aid-financing-is-disorganized-unpredictable-and-hard-to-track/#ixzz2PNUX5eGW

The United Nations spends billions annually to relieve the suffering caused by natural disasters and civil war, but those costly efforts are uncoordinated, overlap or duplicate effort, and often don’t show where the money went, according to a report by a special U.N. watchdog unit.

Nor, the report adds, has the world organization done much about it, with several internal efforts to get a grip on at least part of the problem among a tangle of funds, agencies and programs with different operating procedures either ending in frustration or failing to materialize.

The result: a sometimes chaotic U.N. global relief effort, where “basic humanitarian financing needs are only partly met, and in an inconsistent and unpredictable way;” keeping track of where the money goes frequently doesn’t happen (or, as the report delicately says, for some unnamed U.N. agencies “the reporting and monitoring of financing remain somewhat elusive);” and even a coherent definition of “humanitarian assistance” seems to be lacking.

UNDP works hard to spread Chinese "success stories" around the world !

Click here for this story in full @: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-04/02/content_16367278.htm

Developing economies that have experienced dynamic growth are reshaping the world and should share this success with their partners, a UN official said.

Khalid Malik, director of the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme, told China Daily that more than 40 developing economies, including China and the other four BRICS countries, have done better than expected in terms of human development.

A UN official who worked in China for seven years, Malik affirmed the country's progress in human development, a concept that includes poverty reduction and infrastructure modernization.

Malik said that China will face the challenge of balancing economic growth with environmental concerns and social development.

China, together with other developing economies, must address the issues of aging, the environment and inequality to sustain current progress, Malik said, urging Beijing to share its experience with other developing countries.

To tackle these issues, the government should pay more attention to the policies that focus on human development, he added.

Zimbabwe: Zim Keeps UNDP Waiting On Poll Funding

Click here to read this in full @: http://allafrica.com/stories/201303281249.html

THE government, which has requested financial assistance from the international community to bankroll general elections likely to be held this year, is procrastinating a United Nations needs assessment mission to visit Zimbabwe to determine the country's requirements for the plebiscite.
Earlier last month, Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa wrote on behalf of government to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative requesting at least US$250 million for both the referendum and the general elections.

UNDP had responded by saying it would need to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe to access how much the country would need for the harmonised polls ZANU-PF wants held by June 29.
But The Financial Gazette can exclusively reveal that Harare is still to respond to a letter by the UN Focal Point of February 15, stating the regular terms of reference of the proposed needs assessment mission for consideration by the government.

"As of 15 March 2013, the United Nations awaits clearance from the Government of Zimbabwe on the dispatching of the needs assessment mission," a spokesperson of the UNDP disclosed in response to questions from The Financial Gazette this week.

According to the UNDP, a needs assessment mission constitutes the first step in responding to a request from a member state for electoral support submitted to the UN.

United Nations Development Programme Country Director to leave Sierra Leone for Malawi

Click here for this @: http://www.slbc.sl/?p=410

United Nations Development Programme Country Director to leave Sierra Leone for Malawi United Nations Development Programme Country Director has taken formal leave of President Ernest Bai Koroma at State House. Madam Mia Seppo thanked the President for his support to UNDP for the past three years. She said it has been a tremendous experience to her providing direction of UNDP programmes in the country.

President Koroma however told the outgoing UNDP Country Director that government appreciates support UNDP has been providing to development programmes in the country. He said his agenda for prosperity is now on steady course through support from UNDP.

The President said madam Seppo quickly built a strong relationship with government which enables her to execute UNDP programmes more effectively. He said he is grateful to the UN family for standing firm behind the country through her difficult times. The country will continue to build on its success and deepen the democratic process in a bid to provide for an improved quality of life for its people.

Madam Mia Seppo is leaving for Malawi to take up another international appointment.

New development goals must address complementary aims: UNDP chief

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Helen Clark
There's been a call for new development targets that focus on how growth, poverty alleviation and sustainability can complement one another.

It comes from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark while opening a two-day conference in Costa Rica, on a new agenda after the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pass their 2015 target date.

She said "At UNDP we believe it is critical to link the poverty eradication, social equity and environmental sustainability agendas together".

She explained that "Environmental sustainability cannot be a mere add-on to a new global development agenda—or stand alone in a vertical silo". Rather, she added, "The imperative now is to move from a discourse focused on trade-offs among growth, poverty and environment to one that looks at how to advance the three strands of sustainable development together".

Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP, speech at 7th Broadband Commission meeting