UN accountability: it's catching on

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Now that President Bush, Fox News, and certain key Republican lawmakers are finally pressuring UN administrators to abide by their mandate, newly liberated employees are now emboldened to begin criticizing the flaws that have been ignored for all these years. Sunlight helps to sanitize. The New York Sun reports:

Staffers at the United Nations Development Program have demanded that the agency's outgoing administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, fire an employee who they say has violated rules designed to assure the world body's neutrality by working for the Democratic presidential campaign.

The letter, signed by "12 UNDP Staffers" demands the immediate dismissal of Justin Leites, who heads the UNDP internal communications department. The unnamed staffers call on Mr. Malloch Brown to dismiss Mr. Leites "before you relinquish office as UNDP administrator." A Turkish national, Kemal Dervis, has been named to replace Mr. Malloch Brown at UNDP, starting August 15, as Mr. Malloch Brown dedicates himself fully to serving as U.N. chief of staff.

Ed Lasky   6 23 05