FLASH!! Letter from Paul Hoeffel, NGO Section Head, DPI to the "Members of the Peace Caucus" dated 23 November 1999.

The letter is not worth printing! While it has some correct facts, the main points for their action is totally false and unfounded! Anyone knowing Dr. Gell for the past 10 years at the UN and knowing of his SIX years of videotaping will know the letter is another disgusting action by the new and totally incompetent UN management team which has replaced the Boutros Boutros-Ghali team.

They have trumped up lies and charges which are NOT correct. They have still, as of January 4, 2000, not given Dr. Gell a copy of the letter written by John Langmore and cc to Dr. Gell used to make their decision.

For SIX years Dr. Gell has videotaped inside the UN and ALWAYS with the permission of the key person in charge of the meeting. Usually the heads of the UN Division themselves. Oh what short-term, convenient memory we have at the UN.

The most astounding fact is that under Kofi Annan's management, they are extremely restrictive to the NGOs and have decided to stop (after a "track record of SIX years) the sharing of the UN information. Not only to the NGOs, but also to the Ambassadors, their Ministers and the Countries who have benefited from the tapes.

Read below for more accurate facts...

This section represents specific people and countries that are not favorable to NGOs and the open, transparent sharing of information at the United Nations. In fact, they are actively trying and succeeding in blocking information and restricting NGOs at the United Nations.

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While the US Government is deciding whether to pay its back dues...over a Billion $Dollars... Seems ridiculous that we pay the salaries for these kinds of selfish people who make themselves look good and professional by keeping the critical UN information to themselves, and go out of their way to restrict and censor the NGOs, Ambassadors and the developing countries. "Transparency" (A UN preached term) is NOT currently practiced by the UN and its current management team! It is a Hypocrisy!!

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CENSORSHIP !! And DISCRIMINATION!!

UN Shuts Down the Videotaping for the NGOs!

Approved by the new Head of DPI:
Mr. Kensaku Hogen,
Under-Secretary General, Department of Public Information - July 1999

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Hogen cuts off the videotapes for the
Countries, Ministers and Ambassadors!

Hogen Kills the videotaping for not only the NGOs but for all the Heads of the Divisions, Departments, Commissions, ECOSOC, Secretariat and even Kofi Annan; and especially the countries, Ministers, and Ambassadors who have all benefited from the videotapes provided FREE over the past SIX YEARS!

This is the second year he has shut down the videotaping of the "Annual DPI/NGO Conference" 1999. And he has been in office only two years!

What ever happened to "openness" and "transparency" at the UN.

We are just beginning to understand why they did not like Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Under-Secretary General Samir Sanbar, Department of Public Information. Both men had Wisdom.

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We now have Public Information at the United Nations . . . Japanese Style!!

Would a high level Government official understand more about the Japanese and have deeper experience with them, than all the low level NGO's at the UN?

"The Japanese are like ants, they stay up all night working hard, trying to figure out how to screw you in the morning."

- Ms. Edith Cresson, Ex-Prime Minister of France
(Reported in Business Week June 1, 1991 Issue)

And they do it all with such politeness.

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We find this outrageous after a 53 year “track record” of partnership and support of all the NGOs working with the Governments and the other UN offices. There are now specific people and countries who are working hard to restrict the NGOs , the information available to them and their participation in United Nations meetings. This seems like a dangerous trend in “shutting down" the “peoples” voice.

Nearly every head of the UN departments, including the past Secretary-Generals of the UN, Ambassadors and even many Heads of State have said, “If you waited for your Governments, or some of the people who represent their Governments, to get the Human Rights and and positive conditions that exist in their countries worldwide...you would never have them without the positive contribution of the NGOs working at the United Nations over the past 53 years.”

Why suddenly are certain countries and specific people trying to silence the NGOs?

See also “NGO Access at the UN”

We will be posting pictures and names of those people who are not supportive of NGOs. currently (1999).

"Paul Gestapo"

Paul Hoeffel, Chief of the NGO/DPI Section, Department of Public Information, UN Refused to renew Dr. Larry T. Gell's pass after 10 years of dedication to the UN, six years of FREE videotapes for nearly every one at the UN including Kofi Annan, Countries, Ministers and Ambassadors, and "BLACK LISTED" him . . . the first NGO at the UN (Who is next?)

Inge Kaul

SELFISH & SELF CENTERED Inge Kaul is the ONLY person in six years to be upset about the videotaping of meetings. The ONLY person in six years who has said "You can't tape me or my meetings." Even when her boss (Mr. G. Speth) had requested it. She does not like the NGOs, and does not believe in the sharing of information. She has gone out of her way to try to stop the videotaping for the NGOs. Even though in the past she has been happy to get her own personal FREE copies of her tapes.

John Langmore

PUSHED BY INGA KAUL John Langmore has been benefiting from the video tapes of him over the past six years. He has always liked his FREE copies (until the Inga Kaul relationship). And has been generally favorable to the NGOs. (Although, his last meeting he chaired on Copenhagen plus 5 [PrepCom for the Special Session of the General; Assembly on the Followup to the Social Summit - Week of May 28, 1999] he issued a new decree that "No DPI NGOs were allowed in his room.") But, since his recent affiliation with Inge Kaul, he now is the second person who has been trying deliberately to stop the videotaping. (Even when his boss has requested the taping.)

Where have these people been for the past SIX YEARS? If they were so concerned about the United Nations, . . . why don't they reach in their own back pockets and make a contribution to preserving their own history? Oh well, "Givers" and "Takers."

We are NEVER in a room videotaping unless requested. Videotaping was approved by a far sighted former Secretary-General and the past head of the Department of Public Information. This has been going on for the past SIX YEARS and every head of all the departments are aware of the extremely valuable service at NO COST to the UN. (Even the US Government likes it because it stays within the "negative budget constraints" at the UN.

Thank God for the intelligent and farsighted people who know the value of the videotaping. Hopefully the sharing of the UN information may some day lead to solving some of the GROWING world problems.

If nothing else, . . . It is preserving the History of the UN at NO COST to the UN.

"SPOONS": People who like to stir up the pot and cause trouble. With people like these who spoil it for the rest of the very good people at the United Nations including Ambassadors, and Country Ministers who have been benefiting from the videotapes over the past six years; it becomes easy to understand Senator Jesse Helms point of view.

- posted 7/22/99

"We must empower citizens to act for themselves without having to go through a bureaucracy. This is sometimes hard for the bureaucracy to understand. Government agencies have to think of themselves as a resource to citizens and not as an office regulating citizens. But guess what? It's fun to help citizens solve problems."
---Bill Lindner, Secretary, Department of Management Services, State of Florida.

At the UN, it's not who you know but what you know that counts. Unfortunately, the UN does not know how to use one of the most important management tools available, KM.

A business theory called knowledge management, or KM, is one of the more important new trends in corporations worldwide. It is a collaboration strategy that uses networking technology to collect the day-to-day knowledge and ideas that sprout up locally so they can be distributed and used throughout the corporation. The approach seeks to amass in one central location the knowledge that workers themselves naturally create as they go about their jobs.

As desirable as it sounds, it's not so easy to accomplish. That's because the basic tenet of KM - sharing information for the good of the whole organization - runs counter to the traditional corporate (UN) mindset of rewarding individual employees for selfishness, not altruism.

Employees advance their careers by keeping their knowledge to themselves, rather than sharing it with others. KM demands a shift to a culture in which collaboration and team achievement are valued just as much as competition and individual achievement.

See current NGO Access Issues.

What about the new Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations?

Why wouldn't he continue the past SG Boutros Boutros-Ghali's policy of open transparency through videotaping and sharing the UN information? "The biggest bloodstain on the world's conscience in the 1990's... ... the UN's failure to stop the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. the UN dithered; it then turned its back while some 8000,000 people (African) were slaughtered. The report, drawn up by a group under Ingvar Carlsson, a former Swedish prime minister, does indeed show that Mr. Annan acted as an ultra-cautious bureaucrat, who urged his staff to stick strictly to their mandate in the midst of murder, asked for information not action and, worst of all, failed to follow up a critical telegram that gave warning of impeding planned genocide." - from The Economist, Millennium special edition, January 1st 1000 - December 31st 1999 issue.

For a more positive upbeat section see the Champions of the NGOs.

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