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POLITICS: U.N.’s Public Image Dented by Growing Scandals

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 2005 (IPS) - Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, wants the United Nations to return to his city, where the world body was signed into existence 60 years ago.

The invitation to relocate the U.N. headquarters was prompted by the reluctance of New York City legislators to permit the U.N. Secretariat to expand and renovate its existing 39-storey building, which is threatening to fall apart.

A neo-conservative, rightwing non-governmental organisation called "Move America Forward" (MAF) has launched a relentless campaign to "get the U.N. out of the U.S."

"How can we in good conscience continue to serve as host and largest financial backer of an organisation that is clearly overrun with corruption and wrongdoing at every level, from peacekeepers to quite possibly the Secretariat’s office?" rants Howard Kaloogian, co-chairman of the California-based MAF.

"We wouldn’t stand for this conduct from our elected officials. We shouldn’t tolerate it in an international body we host. It’s time we showed the United Nations the door," he complained.

But neither New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg nor the administration of Pres. George W. Bush seems in a hurry to jettison the world body.

As the New York Times pointed out Friday, the United Nations generates about 18,000 jobs and bolsters the local economy to the tune of a hefty 2.5 billion dollars annually.

"And it is largely because of the U.N.’s presence that we refer to New York City as the ‘capital of the world"’, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani once confessed.

Still, these are not the best of times for the world body, whose international image has been dented by charges of mismanagement, nepotism and corruption.

Worse still are the continuing charges of rape and sexual harassment against its peacekeepers and even its civilian staff worldwide.

Last week, Under-Secretary-General Ruud Lubbers, a former Dutch prime minister and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, was forced out of office after denying five allegations of sexual misconduct against him by his staffers.

"While the secretary-general (Kofi Annan) had accepted legal advice that the original allegations made against Mr. Lubbers could not be substantiated, the continuing controversy has made the high commissioner’s position impossible," U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters last week.

Annan said he was pleased that Lubbers had made the decision to resign in the wider interest of the organisation.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Staff Union has forced Annan to reopen investigations against another under-secretary-general, Dileep Nair of Singapore, which involved mostly charges of administrative abuse.

According to the New York Sun, Nair had been accused of promoting personal friends while overlooking others who might have been more qualified, in addition to sexual misconduct and harassment.

Although the original U.N. investigation cleared him of the charges, the Staff Union has provided new information in writing, prompting the Secretariat to reopen the case.

The Staff Union has also dismissed his original exoneration as "a complete whitewash." Nair is the head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the investigative arm of the world body.

On Friday, a U.N. board of inquiry began investigating new allegations that two U.N. peacekeepers, both civilian police officers from Pakistan, had raped a woman in Haiti.

The original charges were dismissed as "a case of prostitution". But the new investigation is expected to broaden the inquiry, which will be completed by mid-March.

But even if the original charges are sustained, the United Nations has no legal authority to bring charges against the officers. Only the Pakistani government retains the responsibility for charging them in a court of law.

"The governments don’t delegate to us the authority to discipline them" Eckhard told reporters, "So, they would be dismissed from the (U.N. peacekeeping) mission by us, and returned to their home country where they would face disciplinary action."

So far, the most widespread charges have been against U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

But still, the only known prosecution has been by South Africa against two of its soldiers, and by France against a civilian U.N. staff member who has been jailed on charges of rape and making pornographic videos of children.

In a letter to the Security Council in early February, Annan said he was introducing a "non-fraternisation policy" for peacekeepers – a ban on sex with the local population, a curfew for military contingents, comprehensive training and awareness-raising for all mission personnel, and proposals for improving recreation and welfare facilities for peacekeepers.

Although these new measures apply only to peacekeepers in DRC, Annan said he hopes the measures will have some impact on other peacekeeping missions.

"I want to use this to send a message to all 17 UN peacekeeping missions around the world," he told a London newspaper.

Annan will also reinforce this message to the heads of all peacekeeping missions when they arrive in New York in mid-March for a U.N. conference.