The United Nations in-house oversight office said today that in the past year it has identified some $37 million in potential savings, of which about $15 million has been recovered.
The United Nations in-house oversight office said today that in the past year it has identified some $37 million in potential savings, of which about $15 million has been recovered.
The annual report from the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) also said that it had made 2,700 recommendations, about half of which had been implemented.
Under-Secretary-General Dileep Nair, the Director of OIOS, said it was launching an Organizational Integrity Initiative, "to put integrity-building on the radar screen of the United Nations."
In a briefing to reporters after the release of the ninth annual report, Mr. Nair said "the profile of the United Nations should be raised" to demonstrate leadership in the worldwide battle against corruption, especially, he said, in view of the gathering in December in Mexico, where countries will sign a UN treaty against corruption.
"The United Nations itself must lead by example and ensure that integrity and professional ethics guide all its work," he said.
Asked about allegations of corruption in the United Nations, Mr. Nair said, "I think the United Nations is like any big organization. We are no exception. I think it is a reflection of the numbers people in it, the extent of our operations, the multifaceted nature of the operations, being not just one place, but all over the world.
"So having said that, I think we do monitor the state of affairs. I will not go to the extent to say that we are in dire straights or we are a corrupt organization, but on the other hand we want to make sure that if there are problems we come to grips with it first, rather than these problems becoming scandals, or coming out into the open just by themselves."
Mr. Nair said the UN wants "to make sure that we have a good handle on such malfeasance, fraud, corruption so to speak. In fact in that context we are launching this Organizational Integrity Initiative. It is not necessarily a response to fraud and corruption becoming of a very big magnitude, but rather to make sure that we put into place preventive measures; we put in place training; we take cognisance of where our gaps are so that fraud and corruption does not actually become a problem that overwhelms us."
Among the highlights of the report, he said, were the successful discovery, prosecution and incarceration of a former UN employee for a fraud in Kosovo which cost the organization some $4.2 million; an audit of UN Information Centres worldwide which soon will result in cost saving consolidation; improvements in the liquidation of peacekeeping equipment which have already had a positive financial impact, and an investigation of allegations of sexual exploitation of refugees in West Africa, which resulted in referrals to national authorities for prosecution and improved camp management.