UNITED NATIONS: UN Aviation Safety Compromised

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 3 1997 (IPS) - The UN’s investigative agency -the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) – has uncovered serious flaws in the aviation safety standards of aircraft and helicopters ferrying peacekeeping troops in battle zones.

The agency says in a confidential report, seen by IPS, that it had been asked to investigate the lack of airworthiness of aircraft used in U.N. peacekeeping operations, the provision of false documents by a vendor, the violation of international aviation regulations and the provision of false air operator’s certificates.

“The most serious concern for the United Nations in the procurement of aviation services is that of safety,” says the OIOS report. It implicity accuses the world body of engaging vendors who “fail to adhere to accepted international aviation safety standards.”

“The United Nations, like many governmental corporations, seeks to procure the best possible service for the smallest outlay. In order to achieve the first, it is sometimes necessary to lose on the second,” the OIOS observes.

With the dramatic rise in peacekeeping operations in the early 1990s, U.N. spending on aviation contracts rose from 26 million dollars in 1990 to 53.7 million dollars in 1991, reaching a peak of 205 million dollars in 1992. Since then, costs of U.N. aviation contracts have declined: 172 million dollars in 1993, 161 million dollars in 1994, 102 million dollars in 1995 and 49 million dollars in 1996.

Since 1945, there have been more than 42 U.N. peacekeeping operations, 29 of which were created in 1988 and 1996. The U.N.’s peacekeeping budget rose from 379 million dollars in 1990 to 3.2 billion dollars in 1995 and then declined to 1.3 billion dollars in 1996.

In researching U.N. aviation activities, OIOS found that the United Nations attracts low bidders for contracts in the aviation industry. A number of these companies do not always adhere to the stringent safety and maintenance requirements of international aviation.

“The United Nations does not encourage the checking of each individual vendor against selection criteria designed to weed out unsafe or unethical operators. The United Nations accepts vendors on the basis of their self-submitted documentation alone,” the report notes.

A U.N. source, speaking on condition of anonymity, says that some aircraft leased to the United Nations were found to be rat- infested. Some vendors manipulate the system in such a manner that one company whose business was registered in a Scandinavian country had its aircraft registered in sub-Saharan Africa.

Until July 1993, more than 50 to 70 percent of all aviation contracts went to a single company, the Canadian-based Skylink. The company was later suspended and deprived of all U.N. contracts.

Asked about the suspension, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in May this year that the OIOS was preparing a report on the subject and, since it was still confidential, he was not prepared to comment. There was clearly a feeling that it would be irresponsible to conduct further business with Skylink in light of the findings in the OIOS report, he added.

The aircraft and helicopters used by the United Nations are either loaned by member states or in most instances leased from private vendors through open bidding.

In mid-September a U.N. helicopter crashed into a mountainside in central Bosnia killing all 12 passenders, including a high ranking German mediator and at least five U.S. nationals. A U.N. team is investigating the cause of the crash.

The MIL Mi-8 Russian-made helicopter was loaned to the United Nations by the Ukraine and the only survivors of the crash were the four members of the Ukrainian crew. The accident was described as the deadliest involving foreigners in the Balkan region since the crash last year of a plane carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown who died along with 34 others.

The OIOS says that the difficulties of managing the procurement and operation of aviation services in the United Nations should not be underestimated. The agency’s probe has revealed several discrepancies, including shortcomings in actual procurements, technical assessments of vendors and prices offered, the review of legal documents and the monitoring of the vendor during the contract.

One vendor had been the subject of complaints by two member states, relating to safety, cleanliness and general airworthiness of the aircraft used to rotate troops from U.N. missions to their home countries during 1996.

“It should also be noted that the United Nations had evidence that air operator and airworthiness documents supplied by the vendor, or its agent, another United Nations vendor, were false,” the report says.

If the United Nations wishes to improve its aviation services, there has to be a change in culture, says the OIOS. “Resources, both financial and physical, must be found to strengthen the capabilities of the units in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.”

The report says that aviation experts in these units should be responsible for assessing each vendor’s viability and suitability, including safety records and compliance with international safety regulations, for approval as a certified aviation operator with the United Nations.