OCHA RESPONDS TO USUN DEMARCHE ON IRIN SHAME OF

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000928

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: OCHA RESPONDS TO USUN DEMARCHE ON IRIN SHAME OF
WAR REPORT

REF: A. USUN 000714


B. STATE 128337

C. USUN 000798


1. (SBU) As reported in reftel C, on September 24th Amb.
Wallace
delivered the demarche as instructed in reftel B objecting to
the anti-US distortions in the IRIN (Integrated Regional
Information Networks) report "The Shame of War: Sexual
Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict." During the
meeting at which the demarche was delivered, OCHA
Under-Secretary-General John Holmes accepted responsibility
for the IRIN report, agreed that the material in question
should not have been included in the report, and said that
corrective action would be taken.


2. (SBU) USUN has received the following letter dated
October 9th from U-SYG Holmes
confirming that our concerns were well-founded and that the
report has been
withdrawn from all distribution outlets and taken off the
website.

Begin text:

I would like to respond formally to you, following our recent
meeting in which
you raised a number of concerns relating to the IRIN
publication, the Shame of War.

We have reviewed your concerns with the IRIN Director, who
has in turn looked
at the details with her senior managers.

These investigations lead them and me to conclude that your
concerns are in
essence well-founded. I very much regret this and any
problems our
mistakes of judgment have caused. Some of these errors
occurred in the final
consideration of the text, when information was added shortly
before the book
was printed at the request of one of the reviewers and, owing
to time constraints,
this was not subject to the normal, tight editing processes
and verification
used by IRIN. However this is at best a partial explanation,
not an excuse.

Following the investigation into what went wrong, I have
insisted that oversight
of reports and publications be strengthened.

As you know, the book has already been withdrawn from all
distribution outlets
and taken off the website, with appropriate explanations to
all concerned.
We are looking into the possibility of a re-edit and reprint
of the book, with
the offending sections removed or re-edited to remove the
problems to which you
have drawn attention.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest
consideration, and
renewed apologies.


John Holmes
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief
Coordinator

End Text.
Khalilzad