Intern’s case: a
test of fairness for the UN's internal justice principles
22 June 2010
The intern’s case is evolving into a crucial fairness test for
the administration of justice in the United Nations. Two years
on, the decision contained in the 18 June 2008 UN Legal Counsel
memorandum –“Under Article VIII, Section 29 (b) of the General
Convention…(the intern) must be provided with an
appropriate mode of settlement of this matter”- is held in
abeyance.
This case has been on the desks of the heads of the legal
departments of the UN, UN-WFP and WHO several times but no help
has come since the July 2009 conclusion of the Director of the
UN Ethics Office , that “…the Office of Legal Affairs would be
the appropriate entity to whom (the intern) should
address this mater for a solution”.
While the officials involved in this matter have refused to
proceed to mediation through the Ombudsman's Office, the
Organization appears to have adopted an “I do not hear, I do
not see, I do not speak” approach, which can no longer be
justified.
The primary responsibility for this scandal is with the involved
UN-WFP official, for seeking an unhealthy relationship with the
intern, for lying to her colleagues and supervisor, with her
greatest error being her calumnies in the course of a formal UN
internal investigation. Under the circumstances, the situation
was looked at in the wrong way by the WHO, the UN-WFP, the UN
Security and the UN-OHRM.
The abuses committed against the intern are so appalling
that the most senior official in charge of this case, a director
of the UN-OHRM, had to request in writing to the intern “to
refrain from communicating about this matter with any third
party”. The intern was a foreigner having no contract with the
Organization and living thousands of miles away from the UNHQ.
Absurdly, the intern was not even granted by Ms. Adele Grant,
Chief of the Administrative Law Unit of the UN, a managerial
review of the decisions concerning the case, which is provided
under the rules of both the old and the new internal justice
system of the Organization.
One may legitimately ask why the intern’s individual right to be
treated fairly has been reduced to nothing. As reminded several
times by the General Assembly, the internal law of the
Organization cares too little for the right to access justice
and fair treatment in cases involving non-staff personnel. For
instance, the reformed justice system of the Organization
specifically denies this category of personnel to have recourse
to the formal dispute resolution mechanism through the UN
Tribunals. This places the Organization in a potential breach of
its international obligations under the UN Charter, General
Convention and human rights law.
In any view, it would be cruel and disproportionate to use this
discriminatory feature of the internal justice system of the
Organization, or worst, its immunity from criminal
proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, to legalize the
mistreatment of the most vulnerable category of its personnel.
Rather than imposing silence on unpalatable truths, the
Organization should be able to handle the UN Legal Counsel's
undertaking and the intern’s request. Let the intern be provided
with a mode to settle this matter; this is what a fair system of
administration of justice would do.
Related information:
UN-WFP Official to the intern:
a “bag as
payment” for
the minutes of a UN-DPI meeting on the Oil for Food Programme
affair, and some
EXPLICIT SEXUAL MATERIAL. We wish to advise readers that these
pages are NOT RECOMMENDED TO MINORS and TO PEOPLE WHO ARE
OFFENDED BY ADULT CONTENT.
UN-OHRM to the intern:
“You are
requested to refrain from communicating about this matter with
any third party”
Barred from the UNHQ.
UN-OHRM to the
intern: “this is not an area which we deal with”;
UN-DSS to the UN-WFP: “based on the letter of the UN-OHRM,
the intern is barred from accessing the UNHQ”
Access to the UN internal justice system/Managerial review of
the decisions concerning this case. UN-OHRM:
“the
review procedure is not applicable to you” (April 2008).
In the old UN internal justice system the review procedure and
access to the UN Administrative Tribunal could be granted to
non-staff personnel [Judgement No. 212
(Ayah) (1983)]. Since July 2009, the new internal justice system
of the Organization provides that: “interns, type II gratis
personnel and volunteers (other than United Nations Volunteers)
shall have the possibility of requesting an appropriate
management evaluation but shall not have access to the United
Nations Dispute Tribunal or to the United Nations Appeals
Tribunal”
(A/RES/63/253)
UN News Centre: General Assembly’s legal
Committee reviews new, comprehensive system for administration
of justice at the UN. Rules and scope discussed, equality for
all is emphasized
(5 October
2009)
Urgent
Appeal, UN-WFP
official imagines she is a “slave girl” and has “the sickest
fantasy of being punished”. The UN’s call on an Italian intern
to keep a scandal secret: justice urgently needed (20
May
2009)
|
