U.S. Loses Battle to Make Public Internal U.N. Reports On Waste, Fraud and Abuse

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

A battle waged by the U.N.’s top internal watchdog against fraud, waste and abuse, backed by the U.S., to bring more daylight to the world organization’s internal operations has wound down -- and the U.S. is the loser.

The idea, to put the reports of the agency on a public U.N. website, has been mired for months in the quicksand of U.N. procedures by a coalition of developing-world countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua, with the behind-the-scenes backing of China and Iran.

On April 2, as the U.N.’s powerful fifth Committee on finances ended its session, supporters of the reform acknowledged that they had lost the campaign, at least for now -- though they vowed to renew fighting in the near future.

“We are very disappointed, but we are not going away or giving up on this issue. In the long run, this is where the world is moving, and the U.N. should move with it,” declared Joseph Torsella, the Ambassador for Management and Reform for the U.S. mission to the U.N., who has spearheaded the fight. “We want to convey our determination, along with lots of other allies, to continue this fight.”

This amounts to a second setback for Torsella, who launched an agenda of change at the U.N. in January that stressed fiscal stringency and management accountability. Since then, Torsella has lost one other significant fight: to get the U.N. to rescind a cost of living increase for New York staff -- the bulk of the Secretariat -- while U.S. civil servants suffered a pay freeze.

________

 

What happens at the UN stays in the UN...