United Nations

Has the UN learned lessons of Bosnian sex slavery?

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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

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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.

Poorest Countries' Capital Is Illegally Exported To The Richest

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Dr. Wolassa Kumo – 23 May 23, 2011

A Report by the United Nations Development Programme released in May 2011 revealed that the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of which 33 are in sub Saharan Africa, 14 in Asia and 1 in Latin America and the Caribbean, illegally transferred a net capital of about US$197 billion mainly to the developed world between 1990-2008.

During this period, all the 48 LDCs received about US$118 in remittances and about US$94 billion in new loans, Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and other related capital inflows while they paid back US$162 billion in debt services leaving them with net capital inflows of US$50 billion.

UN Judges Charge Ban Ki-moon with Power Grab

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George Russell – Published November 11, 2011

Little more than two years after United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon inaugurated a new justice system to safeguard employee rights, the judges he appointed to the main tribunal have unanimously charged that the U.N. chief is trying to “undermine the integrity and independence” of their court in a bid to crimp their powers.

The judges, members of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, also charge him in an open letter to the U.N. General Assembly with offering a “misleading and one-sided” account of their judgments to the Assembly as part of the attempt to get his way. (Ironically enough, the letter was sent to the Assembly as required by protocol by Ban himself, as a document from the Secretary General.)

Why blowing the whistle in the UN is a waste of time

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Rasna Warah

Lords of impunity: Why blowing the whistle in the UN is a waste of time

Rasna Warah – November 2011

The recent protests in Haiti against United Nations peacekeepers who allegedly sexually abused a Haitian man occurred, unfortunately, at a time when the UN is desperately trying to protect its image after the recent release of the feature film The Whistleblower, which reveals UN personnel’s complicity in human trafficking in Bosnia.

The Whistlebloweris a film based on the true story of Katharine Bolkovac, a former UN peacekeeper who, while serving in Bosnia during 1999-2000 stumbled upon a horrific human trafficking ring that involved her colleagues in the UN, the US-based company that contracted her, and a cartel of local traffickers. The film documents Ms. Bolkovac’s desperate efforts to save two Ukrainian girls sold into sexual slavery in Bosnia.

Vigorous debate at UN on whistleblower protection

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Shelley Walden – November 08, 2011

Last week I blogged on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal that whistleblowers be denied the ability to challenge Ethics Office decisions before the UN internal justice system – the mechanism through which UN employees contest violations of their rights.

Because the Ethics Office, which is charged with reviewing retaliation complaints and safeguarding the interests of whistleblowers, has ultimately substantiated retaliation in less than 1% of cases it has reviewed since August 2007, the Secretary-General's proposal would result in UN whistleblowers having little recourse when they are subjected to retaliation and would effectively render whistleblower protections at the United Nations meaningless.

Governments must address corporate corruption, says report

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Mark Tran –October 24, 2011

A joint report by the World Bank and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published on Monday urged governments to devote more resources to training investigators in fighting financial crime, including large-scale corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

According to the Stolen Asset Recovery (Star) initiative of the World Bank and the UNODC, most large-scale corruption cases involve using legal entities to conceal ownership and control of corrupt proceeds – hence the need for greater transparency to reduce opportunities for wrongdoing.

Interview: Kathryn Bolkovac of "The Whistleblower"

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Kathryn Bolkovac

Dana Liebelson – October 12, 2011

In "The Whistleblower," which airs this weekend at POGO's Whistleblower Film Series in Silver Spring, Maryland, Rachel Weisz plays a U.N. peacekeeper who exposes a sex trafficking ring among her colleagues in Bosnia.

The movie is based on Kathryn Bolkovac (find the trailer below the jump), the real-life whistleblower who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia in 1999. She was fired by her employer, DynCorp, after alleging that her fellow U.N. peacekeepers were complicit in the rape and trafficking of underage girls. In 2002, a British employment tribunal ruled that she was unfairly dismissed.

Why blowing the whistle on the UN has become a complete waste of time

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Rasna Warah – October 2, 2011

The recent protests in Haiti against UN peacekeepers who allegedly sexually abused a Haitian man occurred, unfortunately, at a time when the UN is desperately trying to preserve its image after the recent release of the feature film, The Whistleblower, which reveals UN personnel’s complicity in human trafficking in Bosnia.

The Whistleblower is a film based on the true story of Katharine Bolkovac, a former UN peacekeeper who, while serving in Bosnia during 1999-2000 stumbled upon a horrific sexual slavery and human trafficking ring that involved her colleagues in the UN, the US-based company that contracted her, and a cartel of local traffickers.

U.N. sex crimes whistle-blower wrongfully dismissed

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Colum Lynch – September 16, 2011

Madeleine Rees, a former U.N. human rights official and the inspiration for one of the heroines in the film The Whistleblower, was wrongfully dismissed from her job with the Geneva-based U.N. Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in March 2010, according to a ruling by the U.N.'s administrative disputes tribunal.

The ruling comes at an awkward time for the United Nations, which has been struggling to determine how to react to last month's release of a major motion picture that recounts one of the darkest periods in modern U.N. history: the story of how U.N. peacekeepers became implicated in the trafficking of eastern European women into sexual slavery in Bosnia.

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