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UN moves to guard against tsunami aid corruption
The United Nations is adopting new steps in its global tsunami-relief campaign to guard against improprieties like those alleged in the oil-for-food program for Iraq, U.N. officials said Monday.
Among the measures in the works are a way to let the public to track every aid dollar via a Web site and the drafting of new rules to protect U.N. staff whistle-blowers.
The world body is applying lessons learned from the now-defunct humanitarian aid program for Iraq by adopting measures to ensure "greater accountability and transparency" in the effort it is coordinating to provide relief for victims of last month's Indian Ocean tsunami, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The United Nations has accepted a no-fee offer from the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting and consulting firm to help track aid to victims of the giant wave that smashed into Southeast Asian and East African coastlines on Dec. 26, said Kevin Kennedy, a senior official in the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The firm may also be asked to help promptly investigate any allegations of fraud, waste or abuse that might surface in connection with the tsunami relief drive.
Internal audits released over the weekend by an independent commission identified many management lapses during the seven-year life of the $64 billion oil-for-food program.
But Kennedy dismissed concerns that donors might be worried about possible corruption in the tsunami aid program, noting that more than $2 billion in donations poured into U.N. coffers last year in response to various humanitarian appeals.
"If there were real concerns on the humanitarian side about how monies were received and expended, I don't think we would have received over $2 billion," he told reporters. "We are reasonably confident with the procedures we have in place. However this will certainly enhance our ability to track money and make sure it is used wisely"
Some $4 billion has been pledged to date for tsunami aid by governments, international agencies and private relief groups.
But not all that money is tracked by the United Nations, Kennedy said. Donors, for example, funnel some funds directly to affected countries.
While the relief effort continued to make "great strides," he acknowledged it had not yet met the urgent needs of many victims.
The death toll from the disaster had already surpassed, 156,000 and eventually could go as high as 200,000, "but this will be seen in the coming days," he said. |
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