United Nations

Leadership failure weakens UN

Topics: 
United Nations, Whistleblowers, Corruption
Rating: 
2

David Rohde – April 14, 2013

Reforms are needed for the organization that is asked to solve the world’s problems to have a chance. It is the world’s most important organization, yet remains one of the most dysfunctional.

This week a former United Nations employee described a pervasive culture of impunity inside the organization – one in which whistle-blowers are punished for exposing wrongdoing. James Wasserstrom, a veteran American diplomat, said he was fired from his job and detained by U.N. police – who searched his apartment and placed his picture on wanted posters – after he reported possible corruption among senior U.N. officials in Kosovo.

Tribunal Judgment Questions Effectiveness of UN Ethics Office

Topics: 
United Nations, Whistleblowers, Watchdogs
Rating: 
2

On March 15, the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) issued a judgment on relief in whistleblower James Wasserstrom’s case. The Tribunal – the court of first instance of the two-tier internal justice system through which UN employees contest violations of their rights – issued a scathing critique of the UN Ethics Office, which is charged with reviewing retaliation complaints from whistleblowers.

Wasserstrom disclosed a possible kickback scheme involving local politicians and senior UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) officials related to a controversial proposed power plant.

Tribunal orders United Nations to pay $65,000 to whistleblower

Topics: 
United Nations, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
2

Michelle Nichols – March 20, 2013

A United Nations whistleblower has been awarded 2 percent of the $3.2 million he wanted by a tribunal that found U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Ethics Office failed to properly review claims he suffered retaliation for alleging U.N. corruption in Kosovo.

The whistleblower, American James Wasserstrom, described the award of $65,000 as disappointing and said on Wednesday it sends the wrong message to other U.N. staff contemplating speaking out. Wasserstrom had headed a U.N. agency overseeing publicly owned companies in Kosovo and drew attention to suspicions of a kickback scheme.

Kathryn Bolkovac Introduces 'The Whistleblower' at the UN

Topics: 
United Nations, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
4

Kathryn Bolkovac had a passion for doing what is right, representing an institution that symbolizes the culture of peace, humanity and international justice like no other in the world: the United Nations. After living up to the moral standards set by the very same institution, her career in international law enforcement ended in April 2001.

Bolkovac disclosed the horrors of sexual enslavement of young women, trafficked mainly from Russia and the Ukraine -- also performed by UN peacekeepers in Bosnia. According to a report provided by Human Rights Watch, the "clientele" in Bosnia consisted of International Police Task Force (IPTF) members, SFOR (Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina) staff, local police, international employees, and local citizens.

Protecting Whistleblowers at the UN

Topics: 
United Nations, Anti-corruption efforts
Rating: 
2

Shelley Walden – November 12, 2012

The United Nations promotes the rule of law around the world, especially in its peacekeeping missions.

But while the UN advocates for frameworks through which people, institutions, and nations are held accountable under laws that meet human rights standards, a new study has found that it needs to do more to uphold the rule of law effectively within the organization itself.

Victory for the UN’s leading whistleblower

Topics: 
Whistleblowers, Corruption, United Nations, Victories
Rating: 
3
James Wasserstrom

The Economist – June 30, 2012

In theory the United Nations cherishes and protects whistleblowers. In practice, a clubby atmosphere prevails in which dissent counts as disloyalty. Now the UN’s highest tribunal has vindicated a victim of official harrassment.

James Wasserstrom (pictured), was posted to Kosovo to fight corruption. In 2007 he started raising concerns about what he saw as misconduct involving links between UN officials and a local utility company. His worries were ignored. After he complained to the UN’s oversight office, he says, his boss cut his staff, in effect abolishing his job, and had him investigated for misconduct. That culminated in his detention, the search of his house and car, and other indignities.

UN tribunal finds ethics office failed to protect whistleblower

Topics: 
Corruption, United Nations, Victories, Watchdogs
Rating: 
0
Ban Ki-moon

Julian Borger – June 27, 2012

A landmark case brought by a former United Nations employee against the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has cast light on what activists describe as a pervasive culture of impunity in an organisation where whistleblowers are given minimal protection from reprisals.

James Wasserstrom, a veteran American diplomat, was sacked and then detained by UN police, who ransacked his flat, searched his car and put his picture on a wanted poster after he raised suspicions in 2007 about corruption in the senior ranks of the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik).

Panel says UN failed to protect whistleblower

Topics: 
Corruption, Videos, United Nations, Victories
Rating: 
0

Kristen Saloomey, Al Jazeera– June 23, 2012

A tribunal has found the UN liable for failing to protect a former high-ranking official, after he reported his superiors for possible corruption.

The UN Dispute Tribunal has sided with James Wasserstrom, who was forced out and subjected to a smear campaign.The tribunal’s hearings are open and its decisions are binding on the UN senior officials, including Ban Ki-Moon.

Has the UN learned lessons of Bosnian sex slavery?

Topics: 
United Nations, Human trafficking
Rating: 
2

The Whistleblower is a shocking film that reveals how Balkan peacekeepers turned a blind eye to kidnapping, torture and rape. But these abuses still go on

Ed Vulliamy – January 15, 2012

We do not see the torture inflicted on one girl for trying to flee her captors, but we see the tears of her fellow slaves forced to watch. We see the iron bar tossed on to the cellar floor when the punishment is over, and we know what has happened.

The Whistleblower spares you little. It is a film about that most depraved of crimes: trafficking women for enslaved sex, rape and even murder. As a dramatised portrayal of reality, however, The Whistleblower is "a day at the beach compared to what happened in real life", says its director, Larysa Kondracki.

Developing World Lost $903 Billion In Illicit Funds In 2009

Topics: 
Corruption, United Nations, Financial industry, Developing countries
Rating: 
3

Christopher Matthews – December 16, 2011

Developing countries lost $903 billion in illicit financial outflows in 2009, with China, Mexico and Russia ranking as the top three hemorrhagers,  according to a new study by Global Financial Integrity.

The study, titled “Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries over the Decade Ending 2009,” estimates the developing world lost $8.44 trillion during that 10-year span.

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