In what seems to be an unending and seemingly unavoidable catastrophe, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General, United Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO], has been forced again to pen a letter to member nations , explaining in what many believed to be power play.
Many including this writer believed that the secretary general and the entire regional representatives are in Madrid, Spain for their personal interests; mostly culpable, the few Africans at the headquarters.
Unlike other United Nations agencies, the UNWTO operations and representations are strange and unrepresentative in its operations. Despite the many obvious anomalies, most African member nations have continually fallen into UNWTO traps which are well orchestrated with the support of the Africans within the agency.
Without a doubt, the UNWTO is overdue for reform and it cannot come fast enough. With the presence of Africans at the secretariat, letters like the one below are usually not shared or distributed to the continent’s media; rather, news from the UNWTO are sourced from secondary media outlets in America or Europe.
In the face of all these aforementioned obvious scenarios, the African ministers are not bothered, but rather unwilling collaborators as their participation at any UNWTO programmes are motivated by the estacode earned from their national coffers.
Just as I have observed in the last 20 years, the African s are the first to arrive and the last to depart any UNWTO events and sadly the agency has not added any commensurate value to member nations tourist arrivals.
The time to reform the UNWTO is now!
By Lucky Onoriode George: Publisher: African Travel Times Magazine and Executive Director, African Travel Commission [ATC].
Madrid, 19 November 2021
Dear Member States,
I hope that my communication finds you well. I have the honour to address you in order to inform you that I am deeply saddened by the recent communications made by former UNWTO staff members published on certain media. At a time when the whole tourism sector is struggling with the devastating consequences of the pandemic and the World Tourism Organization is calling for unity and solidarity, its work is being constantly being disrupted by a series of unfounded accusations by former UNWTO senior staff.
Unfortunately, these publications made through public letters and on youtube.com[1] undermine the transparency and credibility of the Organization, which is currently working hard on the preparation of the forthcoming General Assembly in Madrid. They also affect the UNWTO Member States who want to see the Organization strong and united, and call into question the legitimacy of the decision-making process of its Governing Bodies. This is the reason why I cannot keep silent anymore and feel obliged to respond.
Breaching the standards of conduct of international civil service
The accusations made by the former UNWTO personnel are disheartening and alarming, in particular, taking into consideration that, having served for the Organization for years, they, better than anyone, should protect and defend its image and integrity. Upon the formalization of contractual relations with UNWTO, any staff member, including myself, pledged not to unduly interfere in the affairs of the Organization and those of its Governing Bodies during his/her tenure and after the termination of the employment relationship. Unfortunately, in the build-up to our General Assembly this pledge has been broken, not only once, but on several occasions. I deplore that such attacks are nothing more than a sustained attempt to manipulate and hinder the decision-making processes of the Organization, as established in its Statutes. It is even more disturbing when during the tenure of the former UNWTO representatives, signatories of an open letter, irregularities were made and many important Member States withdrew, a situation which the Organization has been trying to remedy since that time.
Ignoring the sovereignty of the Governing Bodies
The election procedure and timetable for the nomination by the Executive Council of a candidate to be presented to the General Assembly falls within the purview of the Executive Council itself. Said procedure and timetable, adopted by the Executive Council at its 112th session, as well as the date and venue of the 113th session, were strictly followed and fully complied with by the Secretariat, including the receipt, opening and review of applications, procedure done in close cooperation with the Representative of the Chair of the 113th session of the Executive Council.
Intoxicating through the media
Furthermore, UNWTO has a record of legal actions initiated against the chosen media outlet for illegal and unauthorized use of UNWTO signs (2017), unauthorized recordings and publication of the sessions of the UNWTO Governing Bodies (2017-2018); and defamation against the staff members of the Organization who do not hold public official functions (2019).
At this stage I am dutybound to reserve some of the information under legal privilege, to avoid jeopardizing ongoing proceedings initiated in 2018 against some of the signatories of the letter and to protect the reputation of the Organization. These proceedings were launched after the first ever audit carried out by an external entity, KPMG, at my request upon my taking office, in order to identify potential remedies to a severe financial deficit of the Organization, which undermined UNWTO’s service to its Members and fulfilling its mandate.
Communication with UNWTO
The decision of some Member States to communicate unilaterally through a certain media outlet is of particular concern. UNWTO is your organization, one that serves its Members, and is always open for any clarifications expressed in an appropriate form by its Member States, as provided in the constituent treaty of UNWTO. It is the integrity of all and the decision-making processes through our Governing Bodies that I encourage to be respected. As established in the Statutes of the Organization, to which all Member States have adhered, these are the appropriate fora to debate and discuss organizational matters by all Members of the Organization. This is an essential principle to ensure the correct functioning of the organs and their decision-making processes as well as the interests and the institutional image of the Organization.
With regards to the unfounded allegations, I wish to draw your attention to the clarifications provided by the Secretariat in the addendum to document A/24/5(c) submitted for consideration by the General Assembly. You will find all the necessary information concerning the unprecedented efforts made since 2018 to progressively strengthen the transparency and accountability of the Organization and to establish an internal oversight function which before 2018 did not find the required support by previous Management.
Dear Member States, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration.
Zurab Pololikashvili
Secretary-General
UNWTO