It turns out that for more than two decades a man who is currently the director of a big UN agency in Geneva has been using two different birth dates, with a nine-year spread between. He has signed some official documents, including UN travel papers and U.S. visa applications, saying he was born in 1945. But since last year, he’s been insisting he was born in 1954. Even at the UN, that’s odd behavior. But what’s priceless is that this happened at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where the main mission is — what else? — to keep accurate track of information. Here’s my story on the amazing changing birth dates of WIPO Director-General Kamil Idris, who is now either 52 or 61. The picture posted here was released by WIPO last year … How old is this man? Even the auditor wasn’t quite sure.
What gets scary is that this is the same UN — run with the same secrecy and immunities — that’s supposed to be keeping track of things like sanctions programs on rogue regimes (shades of Oil-for-Food), and who gets the nuclear bomb.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
6 Comments
1. bourne2y:I suppose it’s possible that Idris’ birth year was transposed from 54 to 45. Or maybe there’s some other logical explanation for the discrepancy. But how would that explain why he signed papers that reflected an incorrect year of birth?
UN mandatory retirement age is 62 even for a Director-General. Maybe Idris just wants to keep his job for a few more years? It’s good money and he’s out of the public line of fire directed at other parts of the UN. Oops, strike that last part.
Feb 28, 2007 - 9:11 am 2. Otter425:Yet another fine example of why a confederation of nation-states is simply impossible. And the UN is just a waste.
The U.S. learned this lesson a long time ago, and it appears the globe is in need of learning the same lesson – though this commentor hopes it sinks in without a civil war to make it stick!
Feb 28, 2007 - 10:11 am 3. David Nicholas:There’s a famous anecdote, involving something similar, from our own nation’s history, though it’s from the era when we didn’t have “official” names.
Ulysses Simpson Grant was actually born Hiram Ulysses Grant, and never legally changed his name. As a boy, he was known as “Lys” by his friends and family. When he and his father were discussing his West Point appointment, they decided to reverse Hiram and Ulysses–after all, Hiram wasn’t ever used, anyway. Grant’s father told their local Congressman about this, and when the Congressman was filling out the paperwork sending Grant to West Point, he remembered that Ulysses was supposed to be the boy’s first name, but he couldn’t recall the other one. Since he knew the family, he chose Grant’s mother’s maiden name, Simpson, for the middle one. When Grant arrived at West Point, he found that his name was entered as Ulysses Simpson Grant, so he entered the Academy with that name. As a side note, an upperclassman noted his initials, and nicknamed him “Uncle Sam” Grant. For the rest of his life, close friends called him Sam. Regardless, even when he was Commander-in-Chief of the army and then President of the United States, he never bothered to change his name back to what it had been.
I’m not precisely sure why the official’s age should be a subject of such controversy. I suppose if he’s actually 61 and needs to retire next year, it’s controversial that he would be allowed to retain his office for an additional nine years. It does speak to some sloppy record-keeping, but what if all that happened was that someone, years ago when he joined the U.N., got his birthdate wrong? Perhaps he just discovered the discrepancy recently. Can’t you imagine someone signing forms for years without reading the part where it states his birthday? I can: it’s the sort of thing you don’t look at carefully on a form.
Feb 28, 2007 - 4:00 pm 4. bourne2y:David, did you actually read the entire UN audit report? It’s an excruciating task, but also illuminating.
After reading the report, I don’t think Idris’ story explains the facts uncovered by the auditor.
I think the saddest fact is that if the UN were widely seen as an institution of integrity, managed by honest and capable people, this little irregularity would have attracted scant or no attention outside UN. UN’s internal discipline would be trusted to resolve such irregularities correctly, both from a legal and ethical point of view. The sad part is – that’s just not true, is it? And it’s not true because of the behavior of UN’s own people.
David, if you have not read UN’s audit report, I urge you to do so. If you have read it, I am surprised that you would continue to suggest excuses for Idris’ behavior. IMO, it’s Mr. Idris who has some more ’splainin to do.
Mar 1, 2007 - 2:39 pm 5. The Beacher:But how do you explain the fact that this guy continued to use 2 different signatures depending upon which birthdate was applicable (see the report)?
Fact is if he had been a lowly employee in the UN system and this was discovered, he’d be out on his ass without a prayer–if you need proof, read the case at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/tribunal/fulltext/2602.htm . But because he’s the boss, he can act with impunity and no one can say anything about it because he has immunity from all local and national laws, and the only person that can lift his immunity is–drum roll–please–he himself!!!
What a system!!
Mar 2, 2007 - 6:25 am 6. Chip:Sorry to put this here, but the Park thread is archived.
“In 2000, Park was spotted at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. At that time, he was reported to be living in the Dominican Republic, where he had petroleum and shipping interests. But he continued to travel to Washington, and was here as recently as last December, according to the FBI.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54646-2005Apr14.html
Mar 4, 2007 - 10:53 pm