UNDP SCANDAL: Helen Clark's Chief Lobbyist in Washington earns as much as a Member of US House of Representatives


Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who happens to be also the Chairwoman of Foreign Relation Committee at US House of Representatives, earns almost as much as the Chief Lobbyist of UNDP in Washington DC.

Meanwhile UNDP keeps all accounts of its office in Washington D.C. under total secrecy, so no one knows how much office costs, how many consultancy contracts they award in Washington, who are those hired, etc.

Please click here to visit UNDP's Washington Website and judge for yourself. Good luck trying to locate the detailed budget for the office.

Paolo Galli: Chief Lobbyist of UNDP in Washington

How can a public non-for-profit organization, who is paid by Membership dues afford to have a full Lobbyism Office in Washington D.C. ?






UNDP SCANDAL: - Does UNDP high level officials brake UN rules on Gifts ?

WHAT DOES UNCLE HELEN DO WITH GIFTS
SHE RECEIVES WHILE ON OFFICIAL TRIP?


Helen Clark receiving a Nepali Pashmina Scarf during her recent visit in Nepal

Pls note that Electoral Committee of Nepal is a direct recipient of UN/UNDP funds.


ST/SGB/2009/7 (page 4)



Honours, gifts or remuneration


(j) No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any Government;


(k) If refusal of an unanticipated honour, decoration, favour or gift from a Government would cause embarrassment to the Organization, the staff member may receive it on behalf of the Organization and then report and entrust it to the Secretary-General, who will either retain it for the Organization or arrange for its disposal for the benefit of the Organization or for a charitable purpose;


(l) No staff member shall accept any honour, decoration, favour, gift or remuneration from any non-governmental source without first obtaining the approval of the Secretary-General;

Asia Talk: How to reform United Nations - a view from Khalid Malik from China

The Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at U.C. Hastings Fellowship

The Refugee and Human Rights Clinic (RHRC), in collaboration with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), at U.C. Hastings is seeking applications for a two-year teaching fellowship (July 2012-June2014). The fellowship provides the opportunity to learn how to teach in a clinical setting. The fellow will work under the supervision of the RHRC Director, and will share in the full-range of responsibilities of teaching the RHRC, including co-teaching the clinic seminar, and supervising the clinical students' work.

Requirements:
  • Experience in asylum, immigration, or human rights law
  • Excellent academic record
  • Two to five years minimum practice experience, including some direct representation
  • Admission to a State bar
  • Excellent analytical and writing skills
  • Aptitude for student supervision
  • Prior teaching experience is a plus; and
  • bilingual ability in Spanish is desirable
Salary: Fellow will receive $50,000 per year with full benefits, which includes health, dental, and vision care insurance plans.

To Apply: Send resume, law school transcript, a writing sample, and a statement of interest by January 15, 2012. The statement should address: 1) why you are interested in this fellowship; (2) how your experiences make you particularly suitable to contribute to the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic; 3) your specific experience with asylum, or other immigration cases, and/or international human rights litigation or advocacy; 4) your professional goals and how this fellowship is related to your longer-term goals; 5) your understanding of the objectives of clinical teaching.

For more information on how to apply please visit the CSO Simplicity site, Job ID #7052.

The megalomania of UNDP's Director of Human Development Report - leads him to publish his own blog - but does UNDP endorses its content?


Does UNDP's Helen Clark endorses this Blog content? Does Khalid Malik's statement in this blog reflect those of UNDP's management and its executive board?





Khalid Malik

Khalid Malik

New York, NY, USA

Asking a simple question to Khalid Malik - UNDP's data making king

Why is UNDP's Khalid Malik afraid to engage in public debate about Aurelien Agbenonci's claims that "UNDP's data on Rwanda were manipulated and didn't reflect the reality"?


Khalid Malik

Khalid Malik

New York, NY, USA




undpwatch
says: UNDP's HDR 2011 was misleading and had inaccurate data - what would you say about that?

Mentioned in this Tweet

How many Iranian Government Officials were trained by UN/UNDP (and other UN Agencies) out of Iran, where and who are they?

3,053
Government Officials

were trained by UNDP in various disciplines in the last 10 years outside of Iran (since 2002).

But in Iran, UN (or any specialized agency: ie. UNDP, UNOPS) never had a say in selecting the candidates who were trained. All their nomination came from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign affairs after a scrutinized process of validation and how trustful these officials were for the Iranian regime.

Having no way to verify their credentials, UN/UNDP had to take Iranian Government word and include all the "selected" into the list of officials sent abroad to attend international conferences, regional round-tables, or short-medium term training and exchanges in various countries (in the West but also Region).

Today the United Nations, and its operation arm in Iran (UNDP), are very reluctant to make public the names of all Iranian Officials it trained thru out the past 10 years with the World Tax-payers money. Why?

UNDP's Helen Clark brags about the transparency and accountability of UNDP's programmes, how difficult could be to have the following data published:

Individual Name:
Affiliated State Institution:
Purpose of trip:
Country of Destination:
Duration of trip:

This is the UNDP Iran Website. You can all visit and witness the transparency of data UNDP makes available to outsiders on how it conducts business in Iran.

Chattanooga Will Have A Recall Election

After certifying the petitions to Recall Mayor Ron Littlefield, the Hamilton County Election Commission (HCEC), in accordance with Tennessee State Law, affixed the date of the Recall Election to the next local General Election on August 2 2012. This means that all interested parties can pick up papers to file for candidacy on January 6 2012 and the qualifying deadline is April 5 2012. An election calendar is available from the HCEC here.

In August we will be voting for someone to fulfill Mayor Littlefield's term (and Littlefield can, of course, run for election to finish out his term).

Why am I so certain that this election will now commence? Because the Attorney General has several responses to potential legal strategies for blocking the election. Let's take a look at the Attorney General's opinion in relation to case law:

Roberts v. Brown, 43 Tenn. App. 567, 310 S.W.2d 197 (1957), p.t.a. denied (1958)
The Attorney General cited this case as stating:
In Roberts, the Court found that a city official could not challenge the constitutional validity of the very charter under which he had accepted office. 
State ex rel. Hammond v. Wimberly, 184 Tenn. 132, 196 S.W.2d 561 (Tenn. 1946)
The Attorney General cites this case saying that in this action:

the Tennessee Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction to restrain the Knox County Election Commission from conducting a recall election in Knoxville. The plaintiffs in the action claimed that the election commissioners had failed adequately to perform several functions with regard to the recall petition, including removing defective pages and signatures. The Court found that courts of equity in Tennessee ordinarily will not enjoin the holding of an election. The Court noted, further, that at least some of the duties were discretionary and that the commissioners were the proper judges of the sufficiency of the recall petition. The Court declined, therefore, to review the commissioners’ certification.
Depending on the particular charter provision involved, a court could reach a similar conclusion with regard to any lawsuit challenging the decision of a county election commission to place a recall issue on the ballot. Further, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-11-202(a)(4), the Coordinator of Elections must “[a]uthoritatively interpret the election laws for all persons administering them.” (Emphasis added). Where the Coordinator is made a party to a lawsuit challenging a recall petition, a court is likely to defer to that official’s interpretation of the requirements for the petition.

So what is decided by this case law is that:

  1. Elected officials may not challenge the constitutionality of the very charters through which they are empowered to be elected.
  2. Under questions of the validity of signatures and proper interpretation of the law for recall, the proper authority is the County Election Commission and the Courts have set precedent in deferring to their authority.

What if an elected official that is subject to a recall brings about a challenge to the City Charter claiming that it is superseded by State Law?

Here the Attorney General is less certain on what a Court would potentially rule:

we think a court would conclude that a city official is not estopped from asserting a claim that the recall provision in the city charter is superseded by general state law. As discussed above, however, it is not clear whether a Tennessee court would find that an official has standing to challenge the decision of a county election commission to place a recall issue on the ballot.
I strongly believe that, based on the case law and precedent of the Tennessee Supreme Court, lower court judges would be unlikely to find Littlefield to have standing to challenge and stop an election certified by the Election Commission. The Supreme Court has long upheld the authority of Election Commissioners are the proper judges of the sufficiency of recall petitions - the Chancery and Circuit Courts of Hamilton County will likely follow this pattern.

On a side note
Initiative, Referendum and Recall are all three forms of Direct Democracy that were introduced into state constitutions and municipal charters during the progressive era for the purpose of creating greater accountability in politics and creating democratic mechanisms through which ordinary, everyday citizens might organize to combat machine politics. The Recall of Mayor Ron Littlefield has created a historical precedent for the power of grassroots organizing to bring about structural change through the powers afforded us by the Chattanooga City Charter.

UNDP Admistrator Helen Clark India visit

UNDP's Rebeca Grynspan on Nobel Peace Prize

Helen Clark remarks on Liberia film

Helen Clark: Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

image
I congratulate our Korean hosts and the OECD for organizing the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness here in Busan.

We are here representing governments, multilateral organisations, civil society, the private sector, parliaments, research institutions, and more. We are a very large and diverse group of development actors.

In that diversity lies opportunity. Experience shows that there are many paths to development, but we come together to signal our shared resolve, across the disciplines, perspectives, and countries we represent, to meet the Millennium Development Goals, thereby empowering people to build better lives and laying strong foundations for sustainable human development.

As we prepare for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development at Rio de Janeiro next year, and as the 2015 target date for achieving the MDGs looms, the task before us is urgent.

That is why Aid effectiveness matters


Evidence suggests that having principles and targets for effective development assistance is important and has worked. More aid is now untied, action is better co-ordinated, and evidence is increasingly being used to gauge success .

From trial and error as well as from concerted efforts such as the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, we have learned what matters in aid effectiveness.

It matters that development actors work in partnerships which reduce fragmentation, and that aid is transparent, predicable, adequate, and based on mutual accountability.

It matters that developing countries drive their own development with priorities defined by the needs and aspirations of their citizens.


Capacity development support matters a lot too. National authorities managing development assistance need the systems, know-how, and tools to make the best possible use of aid for stimulating inclusive growth, meeting the needs of marginalised groups, advancing human rights and gender equality, and adapting to and mitigating climate change.

In conflict-affected countries, capacity building and development are particularly important. For security and enduring peace, countries need effective national justice and security systems, dispute resolution mechanisms, and the ability to meet the most urgent needs of their citizens.

Through its multi-stakeholder dialogue the UN’s Development Co-operation Forum is helping countries distil and apply best practices. In doing so it is helping to address the “unfinished business” of aid effectiveness, as well as to fulfill our collective commitment to achieve MDG 8 and establish global partnerships for development which address the challenges countries face in a rapidly changing world.


Meeting needs in a changing world

In that world the tremendous progress in many countries, from reducing poverty to improving school enrolment and child health, demonstrates that the MDGs are achievable. Two-thirds of developing countries are on target or close to being on target for all the MDGs.

Yet, the global challenges do make our task more difficult.

The lingering global economic crisis, financial instability, high food prices, climate change, and increasing numbers of natural disasters have left the world’s poor more vulnerable. Increasing inequalities, between and within countries, also create cycles of poverty, violence, and instability.


Aid is not a panacea for overcoming these challenges, but used in catalytic ways, it can help address them. Those ways can include helping to grow capacity to trade, attract investment, levy taxation, and access climate finance and to put those capacities at the service of sustainable human development.

Emerging economies are making ever more significant contributions to global development. Increasing numbers of citizens and civil society groups are making their voices heard, and contributing to the development of their communities.



These trends present us with new optimism, energy, and opportunity. Here in Busan, we need to agree to harness this energy and pursue the opportunities before us. I make three proposals:


1.The gap in the financing needed to meet the MDGs needs to be closed.


In these difficult times, there is more reason than ever to invest in inclusive growth and equitable approaches to development.

2.To maximize the impact of these investments, we need to agree on actions which will improve the quality and reach of development assistance.

From its work supporting development co-operation, the UN has seen how mutual accountability frameworks, with clear targets and regular reviews, can help. In Rwanda, for example, targets have been agreed to assess the government’s efforts to implement its national development strategy, and donors’ efforts to improve aid quality. The framework is embedded in Rwanda’s national aid policy, and is endorsed by all providers.


3.To keep pace with changes in development co-operation, we must shift from a focus on aid effectiveness to development effectiveness.

For development partners that will mean more coherence in their own policies, from trade to agriculture, migration, and development assistance.

For all of us, it means going beyond aid to maximize the use of all available resources of development finance. That also means working through partnerships which bring together diverse actors.

The UN Secretary General’s ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ initiative is a good example of bringing a wide range of stakeholders together with its alliance of traditional donors, multilateral organisations, emerging economies, the private sector, and grassroots organizations.

To keep pace with a changing world, we need to make forward looking and principled changes in the ways we work.

Through its convening power, the UN offers a platform for the wide range of development actors to learn continually from best practices, and improve on our collective efforts to achieve a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future. A bold and practical agreement in Busan can bring us all a step closer to reaching the goals we share. Over the next three days, the United Nations development actors present look forward to working with you to take best practice in development co-operation forward.