Jan Egeland
12/28/2004
Flash forward to December 23, 2005. Allegations of mismanaged funds collected by the United Nations result in numerous calls for audits of UN funded relief organizations.
Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Up to about a third of the $590 million U.N. fund spent for the Indian Ocean tsunami relief may have gone to pay for overhead.
The Financial Times says its two-month investigation showed the money appears to have been spent on administration, staff and related costs. The $590 million was part of the United Nation's $1.1 billion disaster flash appeal. The newspaper also found several U.N. agencies continue to refuse to disclose details of their relief expenditure in spite of earlier pledges of transparency by senior officials. The flash appeal covered the money donated by governments to the world body in the first weeks after the disaster to fund the early aid work, the Times reported. The newspaper said details of that appeal it obtained from U.N. agencies such as the World Health Organization and the World Food Program showed 18 percent to 32 percent of the expenditure related to staff, administration and other costs. Some agencies say non-profit aid organizations should claim no more than 10 percent of project funds for administration costs, the report said. |
Speaking of stingy:
In addition to the U.S. government response, the American people responded in great numbers. According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the total for U.S. private tsunami donations, including both cash and in-kind donations, is more than $1.8 billion.
Another shining example of the ineptness and arrogance of the UN. Enough is enough, the US needs to withhold all monetary support until the UN either reforms or disbands. In the meantime, any future charitable donations I make will not be to UN funded relief agencies. A small individual measure that will make a big difference to those in need.
