UNITED NATIONS: U.S. and U.N. Quarrel Over Housing Fund

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 1996 (IPS) - The United States and the United Nations are embroiled in a dispute over the funding of an upcoming U.N. conference on human settlements (Habitat II).

The United States has challenged the decision of the Nairobi- based Habitat secretariat to dip into a housing fund for 1.4 million dollars to pay for the conference’s preparatory work.

“We do have serious questions about the financing and accountability of activities in the centre in Nairobi and will urge the U.N. Inspector General to audit and investigate those activities,” said James Rubin, a spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

But Wally N’Dow of Gambia, Secretary-General of Habitat II, says his secretariat has done nothing irregular or devious.

“We did this very openly and very transparently,” he said here Tuesday. “All concerned knew about it, including the donors.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that several Western countries were demanding an investigation into the accounts of the Jun. 3-14 conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

Habitat II, which is being overseen by the Nairobi-based U.N. Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), is the last in a series of major U.N. conferences since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The primary objective is to help resolve the world’s housing problem.

The United Nations estimates that about half a billion people have no homes or adequate shelter. In the next 20 years, nine in 10 of the world’s megacities are expected to contain more than 24 million people, and all except Japan will be in the developing world.

The Habitat secretariat has borrowed about 1.4 million dollars from a fund set up to aid housing projects in developing countries. “So far we have paid back 500,000 dollars, and we are actively pursuing the rest,” N’Dow said.

Mark Hildebrand, director of programmes at the Habitat office, told reporters the fund from which the money was borrowed was not earmarked to build houses for the poor. Rather, it financed the programme activities at the Habitat headquarters and technical assistance to improve settlements. The fund supports projects in 81 developing nations, Hildebrand said.

Responding to questions from reporters, U.N. spokeswoman Sylvana Foa said she did not know “what all the fuss was about.”

“When the United Nations borrows over a billion dollars from peacekeeping operations — not paying the money we owe to some very poor countries — to keep our regular programmes going, no one says anything,” she said.

“But when we borrow about a million dollars to give this conference a shot in the arm, there is all this fuss and much ado. I think that some people have different values here,” Foa said.

When the General Assembly sanctioned the first U.N. conference on human settlements — the 1976 Habitat I — countries voted seven million dollars for the meeting. But when the Assembly called for Habitat II 20 years later, the body only voted for 1.7 million dollars.

N’Dow said that through “our own efforts,” the secretariat has been able to mobilise an additional 23 million dollars. As a result, about 95 percent of the resources needed for Habitat II is coming from external resources.

N’Dow also pointed out that “it has been known from the beginning that in the absence of resources, no conference preparatory activities could take place.”

“Yet, with only two years to go — half the normal preparatory time for such global conferences — it was also clear we could not afford to wait the one year or so normally required for such resources to start coming in,” he said.

N’Dow said that under these circumstances, he was forced to borrow some resources from the fund.

“What I cannot emphasise too strongly is that everything has been done in strict conformity with the applicable U.N. Financial Rules and Regulations,” he said, adding that at no time did the programme of the U.N. Centre for Human Settlements suffer.

The U.N. spokeswoman said there was nothing irregular about borrowing because “we have been doing this for years.”

“We need to get this conference on the road, that’s for sure,” Foa added. “Those funds will be paid back.”