From the intern to the Office of the UN Legal Counsel, to the UN-WFP Legal Department, and to the WHO Legal Department -5 June 2009-

Inquiry for proposal for arbitration proceedings

   Dear Office of the UN Legal Counsel,

   UN-WFP Legal Department,

   WHO Legal Department

    I refer to the letter dated June 18 2008 from the UN Legal Counsel addressed to the Government of Italy concerning me, a former intern of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations, of the Liaison Office of the World Health Organization in XXX, of the Liaison Office of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in XXX and of the Financing for Development Office of the United Nations Department for Economics and Social Affairs.

I also refer to the letter dated February 24 2009 from my lawyer addressed to the UN Legal Counsel containing a request to be informed about how the Organization intends to settle this matter, but in relation to which my lawyer and I have received no response.

I recall that, so far, my 28 April 2009 letter to the Director of the UN-Ethics Office has not received a response.

I also recall that, based on the June 18 2008 decision of the UN Legal Counsel, I have approached the UN Ombudsman’s Office, and, on October 27 2008, the Director of the United Nations Office of the Ombudsman, concluded that “the matter is on the formal system, outside the Ombudsman’s purview”.

I inform you that on May 30 2009 I am been notified that the criminal complaint I had lodged to the Office of the Attorney-General of Italy has been archived by the ‘Giudice di Pace di Milano’ who has recognized that:

 “L’indagata sig.ra XXX poiché funzionario delle Nazioni Unite gode dei privilegi e dell’immunità’ accordate con Convenzione Generale adottata dall’Assemblea Generale delle UN il 13 febbraio 1946 e recepita dall’Italia con atto il 3 febbraio 1958. Il Segretario Generale delle Nazioni Unite ha determinato che ‘gli atti sono stati compiuti dalla Sig.ra XXX durante le sue funzioni ufficiali. Quindi la sig.ra XXX in questo caso specifico gode dell’immunità’ ” – Decreto Penale di Archiviazione XXX/08 R.G. Mob. 21bis P.M. . The case can now be appealed to the Italian Supreme Court, ‘Corte di Cassazione’ and I am determined to use all possible legal means to protect my interests.

It is my understanding that, given the October 27 2008 conclusion of the Director of the United Nations Office of the Ombudsman, in accordance with A/62/748, for non-staff personnel like me, the only alternative left to settle this matter in the justice system of the Organization is by proceeding to arbitration.

In this regard, I hope to be informed within fifteen working days if the UN, UN-WFP and WHO would accept a proposal for arbitration proceedings under UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, or if they would like to propose any other mode to settle this matter.

Your decision can be communicated to me via Email (XXX), phone (Tel: XXX), or to my elected domicile at Studio dell’Avvocato XXX – Tel: XXX – Fax: XXX Email: – XXX .

                                                             Respectfully Submitted,

                                                                          XXX

   Cc: H.E. The Permanent Representative

         of Italy to the United Nations

From the United Nations Ethics Office to the intern -12 June 2009-

 Dear Mr. XXX,

Please be aware that, as a former intern with the WFP office, albeit in XXX, you would fall within the jurisdiction of WFP and not that of the United Nations Ethics Office.   For your information, the Director of WFP's Ethics Office is Mr. XXX; he can be reached by email at XXX@wfp.org.

We take note that in your email below you have appropriately addressed your inquiry to WFP.  Please follow up with WFP accordingly.

Best regards.

XXX
Ethics Officer
United Nations Ethics Office
email:  XXX
tel:        XXX
fax:       XXX

From the intern to the United Nations Ethics Office, UN-WFP Ethics Office and WHO -12 June 2009-

   Dear Ms. XXX,

   Thank you for your letter and interest. If the UN-WFP's Ethics Office, or of the WHO's Ethics Office, would like to collaborate to find a solution for this grave matter, I have nothing against it.

Nevertheless, please note that I am never been in my life an intern if the UN-WFP, but an intern of the FfD Office at the UN-DESA. This information can be verified, inter alia, in the June 2008 letter from the UN Legal Counsel to the Italian Government.

Accordingly, I believe that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the UN's Ethics Office.

Looking forward to your reply at your earliest convenience, I remain,

Sincerely,

XXX

(Excerpt) From Mr. Robert Benson, Director of the United Nations Ethics Office, to the intern -13 July 2009-

From the intern to the Office of the UN Legal Counsel, to the UN-WFP Legal Department, and to the WHO Legal Department -3 August 2009-

(2) Inquiry for proposal for arbitration proceedings

   Dear WHO Office of Legal Affairs,
           UN-WFP Office of Legal Affairs,
           UN Office of Legal Affairs

                                                                             

   Please find the attached letter "Inquiry for proposal for arbitration proceedings". This letter was already faxed to the WHO Office of Legal Affairs on June 05 2009, and e-mailed to the UN Office of Legal Affairs and to the UN-WFP Office of Legal Affairs.

Kindly note that recently, on July 13 2009, Mr. Robert Benson, the Director of the UN Ethics Office, further explained the issue. He referenced the June 18 2008 letter addressed from the UN Legal Counsel to the Italian Government concerning me and explained that OLA would be appropriate entity to whom I should address this matter to explore alternatives for a solution since the Ethics Office does not have the authority to agree to, or to participate in, arbitration or any other type of settlement.

Looking forward to your reply at your earliest convenience, I remain,

Sincerely,

XXX

From the Legal Counsel of the WHO to the intern -18 September 2009-

Cc: Legal Counsel of the UN-WFP

      Office of the UN Legal Counsel

      Diplomatic Litigation Service - Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dear XXX,

This refers to your message below, and to the communication which is
attached to it. Having considered your correspondence, WHO sees no
reason to involve itself in this matter and would therefore appreciate
it if you would cease sending us communications.

Yours sincerely

            XXX
       Legal Counsel
World Health Organisation
      20 Avenue Appia
1211 Geneva, Switzerland
     tel. XXX
     fax XXX
   e-mail: XXX@who.int

From UNJustice to Mr Bartolomeo Migone, General Counsel and Director, UN-WFP Legal Office -24 March 2010-

Cc: Office of the UN Legal Counsel, Ms Patricia O'Brien

      Legal Counsel of the WHO, Mr Gian Luca Burci

      Chief of the Administrative Law Unit of the UN-OHRM, Ms Adele Grant

Dear Mr Migone,

      We are writing with reference to your letter dated 9 December 2009, written on behalf of the UN-WFP. In this letter, you respond to the Italian intern's request to the executive heads of the UN, UN-WFP and WHO to be provided “with an appropriate mode to settle” the various issues that arose in connection with the intern’s internships at the UN-Headquarters, according to the UN Legal Counsel memorandum to the Government of Italy, dated 18 June 2008.

Even if in accordance with the Organization’s obligation to uphold, promote and encourage respect for human rights, a proper end to this long-outstanding dispute can only be achieved through a proper hearing and independent authority, there are substantial issues of fact to which, once again, we would like to bring the attention of the UN-WFP, the UN and the WHO.

In paragraph II and III of your 9 December 2009 letter to the intern, you state the following:

II. “It appears that you are seeking redress from WFP on the basis that a WFP Official provided a statement -which you claim was malicious- during the course of an investigation into allegations against you.”

III. “As you are aware, the investigation in question was not conducted by WFP, which did not authorize nor has even seen any statement that the Official in question might have provided against you. Given the nature of this matter, my conclusion is that any such statement must have been based on information that fell with the Official’s personal knowledge, and was unrelated to her official functions with WFP.”

In relation to paragraph II, please note that it was only arbitrarily decided to conduct the Organization’s investigation into allegations against the intern even if it should have been conducted firstly into the intern’s allegations against the UN-WFP Official and the WHO Official in question. In this regard, during the Organization’s investigations, the intern filed two complaints - on 28 June 2006 with the UN Department of Safety and Security and the UN-OIOS, and on 11 December 2006 with the UN-WFP and WHO in NYC - alleging the serious misconduct of the UN-WFP Official and of the WHO Official in question in this matter. Arguably it was due to the gravity of the intern’s documented allegations of the abuses suffered that the Organization’s investigation was concluded with the 21 December 2006 formal written request by the Director of the UN-OHRM-DOD to the intern “to refrain from communicating about this matter with any third party”.

Paragraph III of your 9 December 2009 letter implies that the UN-WFP did not authorize the Organization’s investigation nor was it aware of the behavior of the UN-WFP Official. In this regard, please note that when the case was still open, Ms Deborah Saidy, Director of the UN-WFP Office in New York and supervisor of the UN-WFP Official in question, had received - along with the Director of the WHO Office in New York - the 11 December 2006 detailed complaint by the intern, alleging, inter alia, that the UN-WFP Official in question had imposed a “truly disgusting sexually exploitative relationship” on the intern.

Please also note that:

On 31 December 2007 the intern sent another detailed complaint with regard to the conduct of the UN-WFP Official in question to Ms Nanayaa Nikoi, Senior Staff Relations Advisor-UN-WFP-ADHS.

On 7 June 2007 a private counsel for the intern sent two letters of complaint to several recipients, including the UN-WFP Human Resources Director, the UN-WFP OEDI Inspector General, and two senior UN-WFP Officials - Ms Deborah Saidy and Ms Nanayaa Nikoi - containing a request of an explanation for the abuses suffered by the intern. 

On 31 October 2007 the private counsel for the intern sent  several recipients, including UN-WFP’s Official Ms Nanayaa Nikoi, another request to take effective action to remedy the utterly injurious treatment received by the intern at the hands of several officials of the Organization. This letter also contained the evidence of illicit behavior during the Organization’s investigation by, inter alia, Ms Deborah Saidy, Director of the UN-WFP Office in New York and supervisor of the UN-WFP Official in question.

On 26 December 2007, the Chief of the Administrative Law Unit of the UN-OHRM, Ms Adele Grant, informed the private counsel for the intern and several other UN Officials that: “The supervisors of the affected staff members – the Director of the UN-WFP Office in New York and the Director of the WHO Office in New York – reported to DSS their concerns about the security risk posed by the intern to the two staff members. On the basis of its determination that these concerns were credible and that the intern poses a security risk to certain staff members, DSS has stipulated that the intern should have access to the Organization’s premises only with a security escort.” The private counsel for the intern has appealed to the Supreme Court of Italy (Corte di Cassazione) against the decision to recognize Ms Grant’s immunity from legal process and to archive the criminal investigation against her for allegedly reporting false or misleading evidence in relation to the Organization’s internal investigation.

Furthermore, even if you state that any statement provided by the UN-WFP’s Official during the Organization’s investigation was unrelated to her official functions with UN-WFP, please note that the information needed to identify those Officials - including the UN-WFP and WHO Officials - has not yet been released. This is despite the information received on 17 June 2007 by the intern’s counsel from the Host Country Mission that the UN’s Office of Legal Affairs had indicated that it was processing the request regarding the release of information concerning the Officials in question in this matter.

In light of the above considerations of fact, we call on the UN-WFP to adjust the position outlined in your letter dated 9 December 2009 and to guarantee, without further delay, the right of access to justice for the intern with regard to the acts imputable to the UN-WFP officials.

                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                   UNJustice, urgent-action

From UNJustice to Mr Brian Gorlick, Director of the UN Office of Staff Legal Assistance (OSLA) -28 July 2010-

Cc: Office of the UN Ombudsman

Dear Mr Gorlick,