A UN disgrace
[i-UN reform]
The UN is cancelling its corruption task force. The Chigao Tribune covered the story under the title "A UN disgrace":
(The United Nations) created a special task force in 2006 to investigate bid-rigging, bribery and other alleged abuses in the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts the UN handles every year.
By all accounts, the unit has been busy—and successful. It has uncovered about $630 million in allegedly tainted contracts. Its work has resulted in a criminal conviction of a UN employee and a contractor, disciplinary actions against 17 other UN employees and the suspension or removal of more than 45 private companies from the contracting process. (...)
With that record, you might think the UN would beef up this unit, allow it to ferret out corruption and attempt to restore the UN's shattered reputation. Wrong. The UN thinks the UN has had enough scrutiny, thank you.
The task force expired Jan. 1. The world body failed to renew funding for it. That endangers the 175 investigations the task force did not get to complete.
So much for the UN's zeal to clean up its act.
Some UN bureaucrats harrumph that the task force was not intended to be permanent, that it was a stopgap until the UN could find a permanent way to battle fraud and abuse. That one deserves to be enshrined in the UN's Hall of Lame Excuses. (Full)
Discovered via International Aidworkers Today.
More on The Road about the UN.
Picture courtesy Capitalism Magazine Read the full post...
News: Iraq: Largest war profiteering ever (BBC)
Iraq war addiction[i-Iraq war addiction]
A BBC investigation estimates around US$23bn may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.
The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.
A US gagging order applying to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies, prevents any discussion of the allegations.
Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, said: "The money that's gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it's egregious. "It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."
As an example, in the run-up to the invasion, one of the most senior officials in charge of procurement in the Pentagon objected to a contract potentially worth $7bn that was given to Halliburton, a Texan company which used to be run by Dick Cheney before he became vice-president. Unusually only Halliburton got to bid - and won.
The BBC aired the programme on Panorama. The video was posted on Google Video, but later removed. (Full)
More articles on the Road about Iraq.
Cartoon courtesy People's Geography
News: UN Peace Keepers muffle negative inspection report
link[i-link]I wrote before about the BBC and the Human Rights Watch reports on abuse by UN peace keepers in Congo, smuggling gold and drugs out of the country in exchange for weapons they gave to the rebels.
The UN decided that "in the absence of corroborative evidence" its investigators "could not substantiate the allegation" that Pakistani peacekeepers supplied weapons or ammunition to the militia.
The New York Times just published an article by Matthias Basanisi, the UN's deputy chief investigator in Congo at that time. He reveals nothing short but an orchestrated cover-up of the scandal:
I was the investigator in charge of the United Nations team that in 2006 looked into allegations of abuses by Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo and found them credible. But the investigation was taken away from my team after we resisted what we saw as attempts to influence the outcome. My fellow team members and I were appalled to see that the oversight office’s final report was little short of a whitewash.
The reports we submitted to the office’s senior management in 2006 included credible information from witnesses confirming illegal deals between Pakistani peacekeepers and warlords from the Front for National Integration, an ethnic militia group notorious for its cruelty even in such a brutal war. We found corroborative information that senior officers of the Pakistani contingent secretly returned seized weapons to two warlords in exchange for gold, and that the Pakistani peacekeepers tipped off two warlords about plans by the United Nations peacekeeping force and the Congolese Army to arrest them.
And yet, much of the evidence we uncovered was excluded from the final report released last summer, including corroboration from the warlords themselves. (Full)
I wonder what is worse now: Trading weapons with warring fractions you are supposed to protect the people from, in exchange for gold and drugs you smuggle out of the country. Or covering up the inspection report revealing this abuse?
Source: The Gstaad Project, International Aidworkers Today Read the full post...
News: UN troops smuggled gold, ivory and 'armed Congo rebels'
link[i-link]An 18-month BBC investigation for Panorama has found evidence that:
- Pakistani peacekeepers in the eastern town of Mongbwalu were involved in the illegal trade in gold with the FNI militia (described by Human Rights Watch as "some of the most murderous individuals that operate in eastern Congo"), providing them with weapons to guard the perimeter of the mines.
- The Indians traded gold, bought drugs from the militias and flew a UN helicopter into the Virunga National Park, where they exchanged ammunition for ivory.
A UN investigation concluded that one officer had been responsible for dealing in gold - allowing traders to use UN aircraft to fly into the town, putting them up at the UN base and taking them around the town. But the UN decided that "in the absence of corroborative evidence" its investigators "could not substantiate the allegation" that Pakistani peacekeepers supplied weapons or ammunition to the militia.
It did, however, identify "an individual who seemed to have facilitated gold smuggling".
The BBC allegations were confirmed by militia leaders. UN insiders close to the investigation told the BBC they had been prevented from pursuing their inquiries for political reasons. (Full)
My comments:
This is despicable and a slap in the face of those UN humanitarians who do try to make a difference.
It is not the first time the UN peacekeeping (UNDPKO) troops have been discredited by scandals (see the post Sometimes I am ashamed to work for the UN). A lack of consequent leadership in UNDPKO, a lack of accountability, direct and clear lines of command, proper supervision, proper screening of the troops, justice for those offending the rules, transparent and public auditing... and above all a lack of political will to structurally make a change to avoid similar scandals from happening again and again.
Update May 2: Human Rights Watch claims UN investigators in Congo ignored misconduct (Full)
Via International Aid Workers Today
Picture courtesy Marco Longari (AFP), BBC
News: Corporate Hall of Shame. Open for Voting.
Click to vote[i-Click to vote] Global warming. Toxics in toys. Sub-prime mortgage lenders preying on the poor. Hired US guns killing civilians in Iraq. It’s been a year of corporate abuse.
Corporate Accountability International opened its poll booths. Vote for the Corporate Hall of Shame or submit a company you think should be set as an example of unresponsible corporate behaviour.
This year’s nominees include:
- ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), for helping make Indonesia the world’s third worst contributor to global warming through its clearing of endangered forests and wildlife habitat for palm oil plantations.
- Blackwater Worldwide, for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians, hiring paramilitaries trained under military dictatorships, and using its close political and financial ties with the Bush Administration to secure lucrative contracts.
- Countrywide, for predatory mortgage lending to elderly and non-English-speaking borrowers, and for gouging minority borrowers with discriminatory rates and fees.
- Mattel, for producing tens of millions of lead-contaminated children’s toys, and aggressively lobbying against bans on other highly toxic chemicals
- Nestlé, for numerous labor violations — including child exploitation — contributing to the obesity epidemic, and threatening community water supplies with its bottled water brands.
- Toyota, for aggressively lobbying against increased fuel economy standards and state measures to reduce global warming gas emissions while hypocritically spending millions to advertise its environmental “leadership” and popular Prius hybrids.
- Wal-Mart, for displacing local businesses, failing to cover employees under the corporation’s health plan, and opposing legislation that would increase homeland security.
- Wendy’s, for its contribution to the growing childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, and for refusing to meet nutritional labeling regulations.
News: UN Budget Cuts Threaten to End Corruption Investigation.
link[i-link]The UN General Assembly is preparing to put an early end to an in-house panel that has exposed more than $600 million in tainted United Nations contracts and is currently investigating an additional $1 billion in suspect agreements.
A budget committee of the General Assembly is scheduled to vote as early as Friday on a resolution that would force the panel to close down its operations in six months. (Full)
OK. That makes sense. UN budget cuts do not allow to continue the investigation of alleged corruption...
