United Nations Association of Australia

MEDIA RELEASE

United Nations Role Defended

8 February 2006

“There is no foundation for Mark Vaile’s claim that the UN failed to scrutinise Oil-for-Food contracts,” John Langmore, the National President of the UN Association of Australia said today.

“The Oil-for-Food Program had an elaborate system of monitoring and verification designed by the Security Council members and implemented by the Secretariat’s Office of Iraq Programme.

“Before Iraq could purchase a single item, it had to submit a detailed proposal showing the areas of greatest need for humanitarian goods and how the proposed purchase would meet those needs. Every proposal was accompanied by a long list, including every item and the quantity Iraq wanted to purchase. The Iraq Office scrutinised the list to ensure that purchases corresponded with humanitarian priorities. Iraq was only allowed to sign the contract after approval was received. This process gave members of the Security Council the opportunity to review contracts, to question them, and to delay or veto them.

“When the UN staff found that a price was suspiciously high they asked the company for an explanation. If the explanation was not satisfactory they notified Security Council members. On more than seventy occasions the Iraq Office told the Council that a price was so high that it might allow for kickbacks and gave members the documentation. Yet Security Council members did not block a single transaction due to suspected kickbacks.

“So if Mr Vaile wants to continue with his defence, he will be directly attacking the US and the other principal members of the Security Council who were responsible for the Programme,” Mr Langmore concluded.

“He will also be blaming the officers of the Australian Mission to the UN in New York, if they did not report this information to Canberra.”

John Langmore can be contacted on 03 9486 5331 or 041 9897 489.