UN Accused of Harboring Vendetta Against Whistleblowers

By teleSUR

01 May 15

The child abuse case in Central Africa Republic suggests that the U.N. is failing to protect whistleblowers.

former U.N. official declared Thursday that the way the U.N. handled allegations of child sexual abuse by French soldiers in the Central AfricaRepublic proved how the organization took down its own whistleblowers.

James Wasserstrom, a former top anti-corruption official and veteran U.S. diplomat, condemned the U.N.'s “reckless disregard for serious allegations of wrongdoing,” reported The Guardian.

Anders Kompass, director of field operations at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, leaked an internal U.N. report to The Guardian this week about allegations against U.N. French peacekeepers in Central Africa. The U.N. immediately suspended him and opened an administrative investigation into Kompass, who now faces dismissal. In response, the Swedish Ambassador to the U.N. warned that “it would not be a good thing if the high commissioner for human rights forced” Kompass to resign, threatening to engage in a potentially ugly and harmful debate for the organization.

According to Wasserstrom, who lost his job at the U.N. after reporting a corruption scheme in a 2009 mission in Kosovo, this case confirms that the U.N. turns on its whistleblowers: “Over and over and over again, the UN goes into denial, into dismissal and into coverup, and then tries to retaliate against the whistleblower.”

“The fact that the French authorities have decided to take these allegations seriously underlines this,” he added, referring to an earlier statement today by French President Francois Hollande that a judicial investigation had been opened.

When Wasserstrom revealed a scheme that involved $US500 million kickbacks paid to Kosovo officials and senior members of the U.N. mission, he was put under arrest and dismissed until the U.N.'s Dispute Tribunal — the court in which U.N. employees contest their administrative rights — found that Wasserstrom had suffered humiliating and degrading treatment at the hands of his employer. However, the decision was reversed in an appeal court convened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 2009, Ban also disbanded the U.N. Procurement Task Force that was set up by his predecessor Kofi Annan to investigate financial irregularities within the organization. The task force had revealed numerous cases of corruption and misconduct.

On April 8, nine current and former U.N. staff members, including Wasserstrom, sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban demanding a better protection system for whistleblowers who expose crimes or any wrongdoing inside the international organization. The letter argued that the current protection system (implemented in 2005) offered “little to no measure of real or meaningful protection” from retaliation that can include sacking, harassment and intimidation. The authors requested the implementation of an external independent mechanism and external arbitration process for claims of retaliation against U.N. whistleblowers.