Abuse of authority and mismanagement were rife at the highest levels of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees even as the organisation faced an unprecedented crisis after US funding cuts, according to an internal ethics report.
The report says the allegations include senior management engaging in “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives”.
The report describes “credible and corroborated” allegations of serious ethical abuses by some top officials with the UN Relief and Works Agency, including the commissioner-general, Pierre Krahenbuhl.
Mr Krahenbuhl is alleged to have been romantically involved with a colleague who was appointed in 2015 to a newly created role of senior adviser to the commissioner-general after an “extreme fast-track” process, the report says. This enabled her to join him on international business-class flights, the report claims.
The report paints a picture of a small number of mostly foreign senior leaders centralising power and influence while disregarding UN checks and balances.
The allegations are being scrutinised by UN investigators. The UNRWA, which said it was co-operating with the investigation, issued a statement saying it was “probably among the most scrutinised UN agencies in view of the nature of the conflict and complex and politicised environment it is working in”. “Over the past 18 months, UNRWA has faced immense financial and political pressure, but its entire staff body has steered it, serving 5.4 million Palestine refugees through the most unprecedented financial crisis in its near 70 years of history,” it said.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).