UN chief wants audit of certain UN funds abroad
Source: Reuters
(adds US criticism of UNICEF, paragraph 14-15) By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called for external audits of some U.N. programs to see if they were free of government interference but softened earlier statements on the scope of the probe. Ban was reacting to U.S. criticism that the U.N. Development Fund, or UNDP, was channeling hard currency into the hands of North Korea's rulers by paying local staff, recruited by the government, in euros. Ban on Friday had called for a "systemwide and external inquiry" into "all" U.N. funds and programs, a task that would be costly and take many years. Monday's U.N. statement said Ban would assign auditors only to U.N. funds and programs "in countries where issues of hard currency transactions, independence of staff hiring and access to reviewing local projects are pertinent." Audits would be "simultaneously carried out in select cases of countries" identified by the funds and programs, it said. Funding for the project must first be approved by the U.N. General Assembly's budget committee. UNDP has said there was no reason to believe that programs were subverted in North Korea. UNDP has some 20 projects in North Korea on economic, social, the environment and food management. Its board meets on Thursday. Mark Wallace, the U.S. envoy for U.N. financial management, accused UNDP in a letter last week of violating rules by hiring North Korean government officials and by paying salaries in cash through the government. Ad Melkert, the UNDP associate administrator, said on Friday the agency would by March 1 start paying North Korean staff in won, the local currency. He said only a small part of the program was administered by North Korea. Wallace, a member of the UNDP board, also insisted that all UNDP board members receive copies of all audits rather than just be allowed to read them. And he said staff procuring UNDP supplies should be regularly rotated. UNDP spends some $2 million to $3 million a year in North Korea, including $100,000 for local salaries. It has some 16 North Koreans and four international staff. The agency said North Korea handled just $337,000 in UNDP funds over two years. TWO OTHER PROGRAMS COULD BE AFFECTED Two other U.N. agencies, the U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF and the World Food Program, both headed by Americans, have used similar practices in North Korea, officials said. UNICEF said it had not yet decided to change its practices in North Korea. "We do pay national staff through the host government in euros. There has been no decision at this point to change that," said Geoffrey Keele, a UNICEF spokesman. Wallace this month also urged UNICEF "to strengthen its oversight and monitoring mechanisms in delivering assistance to the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) to ensure that assistance is not diverted from the North Korean people." He said the United States was "deeply concerned that the assistance provided by UNICEF in the DPRK is actually going to its intended purpose -- the North Korean people -- and not the DPRK government. He made a brief statement to the UNICEF board on Jan. 18 that was transmitted to Reuters on Monday. In his reform efforts, Ban also announced on Monday he would open 12 posts in his office that could be filled by staff from other departments in an effort to encourage mobility so employees are not stuck in one job forever. He asked other managers in the bureaucracy to follow his example, although this was not compulsory, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said, adding that he was working for a more comprehensive mobility program later in the year.
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