The UN, protector of corrupt officials who steal aid from desperate victims

APRIL 19, 2015 |  BY- RASNA WARAH

In 2009, Ban Ki-moon disbanded the UN Procurement Task Force that was set up by his predecessor, Kofi Annan, to investigate financial irregularities within the organisation. 

The task force had revealed astounding levels of corruption and theft within the organisation. It found, for instance, that one million dollars were being siphoned from a safe in Kabul every day and that nearly half of $350,000 intended for a UN-funded radio station in Baghdad was used to pay off personal loans and credit cards. 

In Somalia, UN agencies routinely look the other way when local implementing partners or cartels divert or steal food and other aid. Those who dare speak out against such irregularities are castigated, ignored, demoted, or fired. 

One UN police officer stationed in Haiti who exposed sexual exploitation by her fellow police officers of women living in a camp for earthquake victims was transferred, given a negative performance evaluation, threatened, and terminated without notice. In 2000, Kathryn Bolkovac, a former UN peacekeeper, was fired for exposing a human trafficking ring in Bosnia. 

When Georges Tadonki, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Zimbabwe, raised the alarm about a possible cholera epidemic in 2008, he was admonished, subjected to an investigation, and informed that his contract would not be renewed. 

Apparently his organisation was under pressure by the Zimbabwean government to downplay the cholera risk. The UN Dispute Tribunal ruled in favour of Tadonki and even ordered a formal investigation into the matter. However, the UN Secretary-General appealed the decision. 

Early this month, Wasserstrom and eight other UN whistleblowers, including myself, sent a joint letter to Ban Ki-moon demanding that he establish an external independent mechanism and external arbitration process for claims of retaliation against UN whistleblowers. 

We further requested that the UN extend whistleblower protection to UN peacekeepers, police officers, contractors, victims, and any other person who provides information about misconduct that could undermine the UN’s mission. We have yet to receive a response from his office. 

rasna.warah@gmail.com