Abuse rife in UN Palestinian agency, says ethics report

Mismanagement and abuse of authority are rife at the UN ­agency for Palestinian refugees, an ­internal report says.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. Picture: AFP.

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.

The report was sent to the UN secretary-general in December and UN investigators have since visited UNRWA’s offices in Jerusalem and Amman to collecting information, sources said.

Mr Krahenbuhl said in a statement that “if the current investi­gation … were to present findings that require corrective measures or other management actions, we will not hesitate to take them”.

UNRWA provides vital schooling and medical services to millions of refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories. It employs about 30,000 people, mostly Palestinians, and its UN mandate is set to be debated later this year.

In 2018, the US suspended and later cut all funding for UNRWA, causing a financial crisis that threatened to see its schools and hospitals closed.

Donald Trump’s administration, along with Israel, accuses UNRWA of perpetuating the ­Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The agency disputes that and says the services it provides would otherwise not be available to ­Palestinians.

Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, said yesterday that he was “extremely concerned” about allegations against UNRWA and demanded a full UN probe. “UNRWA’s model is broken/unsustainable & based on an endless expanding of beneficiaries,” he wrote on Twitter.

A Krahenbuhl deputy is ­accused of manipulating the system to find a well-paid job for her husband during the 2018 financial crisis. Her management style is ­alleged to have included bullying, cutting those she disliked out of decision-making and avoiding checks and balances, the report says. The deputy left UNRWA last week for what the agency said was “personal reasons”.

Another senior official is ­described in the report as having bullied staff and acting like a “gangster” and a “thug”. UNRWA said the official was recently “separated from the agency as a result of inappropriate behaviour” linked to the investigation.

A senior UNRWA staffer was fired early this month after what she said was several years of trying to raise ethical concerns.

UNRWA said she was “separated” following a different investigation unrelated to the internal report, calling it a “stand-alone case of misconduct”. She claimed she was fired for retaliation and is appealing. “Most of the time it felt like working for a private company, not the UN where we are supposed to comply with strict rules and regulations,” she said.

AFP