UN
Bachelet Mused
Here On Audio
of Slapping Or
Naming As
Fascist A
Swiss Diplomat
Then Barred
Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive CJR PFT
UNITED NATIONS,
December 18 – When UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights
Michelle
Bachelet
and her Deputy Andrew Gilmour
set to speak in the UN on
human rights day on December
10, Inner City Press responded
to an invitation and was told,
"Please come to the UN
Visitors’ Gate on First Avenue
opposite 45th street starting
at 2pm, at which time entry
passes will be distributed."
Then, past six
p.m. on Friday, December 7
this from Bachelet's and
Gilmour's Office of the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights: "Dear
Matthew, We
have received
notification
from UN
Security that
your name was
flagged as
"BARRED" on
the list we
submitted for
passes for
Monday's event
(3pm, ECOSOC
Chamber). We
will therefore
not have a
pass for you
and are unable
to facilitate
entry.
Thank you for
your interest
and best
regards,
OHCHR New York
Office."
Inner
City Press,
surprised that
the UN's
supposed
office of
Human Rights
would simply
accept the
barring of a
journalist, asked Bachelet
and her
assistant to explain. Amid silence, there
came to Inner
City Press
an invitation
to another UN
Human Rights
office
event on
December
18 featuring
Ms. Rebeca
Gyumi –
activist for
the rights of
women and
girls
(Tanzania)
Ms. Asma
Jahangir
(posthumously,
represented by
Ms. Munizae
Jahangir) –
human rights
lawyer
(Pakistan)
Ms. Joênia
Wapichana
(Joênia
Batista de
Carvalho) –
activist for
the rights of
indigenous
peoples
(Brazil)
Front Line
Defenders
(represented
by Mr. Andrew
Anderson) – an
organization
advocating and
working for
the protection
of human
rights
defenders
(Ireland). Inner
City Press
RSVPed, was emailed
to come, went
again - and
was told by a
staffer that,
while no
"don't come"
email was
sent this
time, the Office had
not even asked UN
Security why the
Press could not
attend its Now
more than a
week later,
with no
explanation
from Bachelet
or her staff about
the barring of
the Press or
their
acquiescence,
multiple
sources in OHCHR
tell and show
Inner City
Press, with
audio, that on
December 13
Bachelet said
of a
Swiss diplomat
opposed to the
UN Global Compact on
Migration, "I
was thinking
do I slap her?
Do I tell her
you are a
fascist?" Before
noon on December 17
Inner City
Press in
writing asked
Guterres
and his
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
"December
18-2: On the
(Office of
the) High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, what
is the SG's
comment and
action on
complaints
that the
Commissioner
mused to staff
about slapping
or calling a
fascist a
Swiss diplomat
in Geneva?"
There was no
answer to this
or any other
Inner City
Press
question,
including on
Cameroon and
Sri Lanka, in
the four hours
that followed. Now
having
received the
audio from
multiple OHCHR
staffers in
New York, we
are publishing
it here
on SoundCloud,
here on
Patreon.
Even diplomats
in Geneva, who
have so far
put up with
censorship of
the Press by Guterres
and now
Bachelet, are
expressing
concern. It is
said the
diplomat
Bachelet was musing
of slapping or
calling a
fascist is
Sabrina
Dallafior,
Swiss Deputy Permanent
Representative
to the UN in
Geneva. But
does it matter
which diplomat
Bachelet was
referring to?
In
UN
Headquarters
in New York,
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric before
having Inner
City Press
roughed up and
banned now 167
days, summoned
it in
demanding an
explanation of a
tweet that
referred to a
German
assistant in
French
controlled UN
Peacekeeping
with the hashtag
#WW2. But Guterres'
High
Commissioner for
Human Rights can
link a current
host country
diplomat to
fascism? We'll
have more on
this - and
on this:
On
December
7 Inner
City Press
immediately wrote back,
to the sender
and
Bachelet and
her assistant, to
Andrew Gilmour
and to the
moderator of
the event, "Particularly
since you are the UN
Office of the High
Commissioner for
*Human Rights,* did
you not ask why a
journalist who asks
the Secretary
General and his
spokesmen about the
killings in Cameroon,
Burundi, UN
corruption, UN
peacekeepers' sexual
abuse of civilians,
and Sri
Lanka, is
“BARRED” from
attending your human
rights event -
without any hearing
or appeal? I will
appreciate your
Office's answer to
this."
We'll have more on
this.
Bachelet
gave
a speech on
October 15 in
the UN's Third
Committee, she
emphasized a
prioritization
of social and
economic rights
and said one of
the officials of
her office is
"on mission in
Silicon Valley"
in the US. There
are questions
about this - but
Inner City Press
which has
covered human
rights and the
UN for more than
a decade was for
the first time
banned from
access a High
Commissioner's
speech. This has
been raised
repeated to
Bachelet since
she took office
but she has so
far done
nothing, not
even responded.
Meanwhile on
October 12
Cameroon, from
whose Paul Biya
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres took a
golden statue
and favors in
the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee and
remains silent
on the slaughter
of Anglophones,
was elected to a
seat on the UN
Human Rights
Council. This
system is
failing - but if
Bachelet cannot
even answer on
Guterres
maintaining a
secret banned
list including
not only Inner
City Press but
also "political
activists," then
the UN has hit a
new low.
Inner City Press
was never given
a hearing by
Smale before her
August 17 letter
with withdrew
Inner City Press
media
accreditation.
Nothing in it
said anything
about a ban from
entering the UN
as a person, a
tourist, or in
another other
way. But this is
what happened,
without any
recourse. Pure
Kafka-esque
censorship, by a
former New York
Times Berlin
bureau chief to
hinder coverage
of the
corruption of
the former
Portuguese prime
minster Antonio
Guterres, see
September 23 New
York Post
here. What
next? Watch this
site.
***
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