UN Population Fund Will Not Account for $200 million of Dispersed Money
Posted on | December 14, 2011 by Lisa Correnti |
An article in the New American reveals that some UN agencies will not account for a large amount of their funding. Two of these agencies, UNICEF and UNPFA, received $3.9 billion in funding in 2009. The article states that this amounted to about thirty percent of UNFPA total dispersed expenditures according to a consulting firm that was hired by the Norwegian development agency “NORAD.”
From the article:
[T]he UNFPA gave government and non-government organizations $200 million per year in ways which prevented IDC auditors from examining the accounts, and thus the auditors could have “have little knowledge regarding the ultimate destiny” of those funds. These amounted, according to the report, to 30 percent of UNFPA disbursed program money each year.
UNFPA also “has not shared with the consultants” information on personnel costs, travel, and other consultants. Translated from more diplomatic financial auditing language, the report simply states: “This means that information that is absolutely essential, not only for this study, but also for a future evaluation of UNFPA activities, is not documented in this report. In this respect, UNFPA fails grossly in living up to its credo of adherence to transparency to which it officially committed.”
The report also noted that the staff at UNPFA increased by 29% and personnel or salaries rose by 70%. None of the agencies mentioned in the report would provide comment.
President Obama began funding the UNFPA when he took office. President Bush blocked funding to UNFPA due to its complicity in China’s one-child policy. U.S. taxpayer dollars going to UNFPA the last three years is over $140 million.
