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As UN
Hosts NGOs,
Talk of
Transparency
for IMF But
Not UN Itself
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 29,
updated Sept
2, below --
The UN hosted
non-governmental
organizations
from all over
the world from
August 27 to
29 for the
65th Annual
United Nations
DPI/NGO
Conference.
After
the Outcome
Document
was agreed to,
Inner City
Press asked
if there had
been
discussion of
the UN's
transparency,
given for
example that
unlike many
governments
the UN does
not have any
Freedom of
Information
law or
procedure.
Panelist
Maruxa Cardama
of Communitas
said no
written
recommendation
had been made
on that; there
were critiques
of the
International
Monetary Fund
and World
Bank.
As an
issue of
access, on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
Inner City
Press asked
about
complaints
FUNCA received
from NGOs who
waited up to
five hours to
register. It
was explained
that on August
26 the
computer
system had
problems, but
it was fixed
after
that.
The panel was
not able to
say what
percentage of
attendees came
from the
United States.
The outcome
document is
here.
FUNCA is still
seeking
answers to the
question it
asked two days
before the
conference
started: what
does the UN do
to defend and
ensure access
for NGOs?
On August 25,
Inner City
Press put
these and
other
questions to
Maher Nasser,
the Acting
Head of the UN
Department of
Public
Information. Video here. Earlier this summer,
for example,
the government
of Sri Lanka
ordered NGOs
to stop
holding press
conferences or
otherwise
interacting
with the
media. Click
here for that.
Inner
City Press
asked Nasser
what the UN,
whose UN
Information
Center in
Colombo has
been promoting
this week's
New York
conference,
actually does
for NGOs in
Sri Lanka amid
this
crackdown.
Nasser cited
UNESCO and the
UN's human
rights
entities.
Given
the UN's
troubling
silence in Sri
Lanka amid
mass killings
in 2009, which
has given rise
to Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
“Rights Up
Front”
initiative,
perhaps DPI
where
applicable
should speak
up on such
restrictions
put on NGOs.
Background:
After Sri
Lanka's
Minister of
"Defense and
Urban
Development"
issued an order
banning all
non-governmental
organizations
from press
conferences,
workshops,
training for
journalists,
and
dissemination
of press
releases which
is beyond
their
mandate," and
the UN
declined
comment or
passed the
buck, the US
and the human
rights group
FIDH has
expressed
concern.
On July
7, Inner
City
Press
asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about it. Video here, on Inner City Press'
YouTube
channel.
Inner City
Press asked,
since UN envoy
Oscar
Fernandez
Taranco was
recently in
Sri Lanka, had
he spoken to
the Rajapaksa
government
about this
crack-down, or
did he have
any comment
now?
Haq replied,
"We'll have to
study what
this
particular
injunction
was... we'll
have to
evaluate
that."
Apparently the
evaluation is
still ongoing.
Regarding
Sri Lanka the
UN has
essentially
stonewalled
Press
questions
about the White
Flag killings
report and the
light it sheds
on current UN
official Vijay
Nambiar and
former UN
official, now
Sri Lankan
Ambassador
Palitha
Kohona.
It was about a
past financial
relationship
between Kohona
and the
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
who then
agreed to an
UNCA screening
of a Rajapaksa
government
movie denying
war crimes
that UNCA
tried to
censor.
When
Inner City
Press reported
on the
background to
Kohona getting
the Rajapaksa
government's
denial of war
crimes, “Lies
Agreed To,”
screened in
the Dag
Hammarjkold
Library
auditorium,
the reaction
from the
then-president
and executive
committee of
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
are summarized
here.
Now starting
September 3,
this UNCA says
it will use
the large room
the UN gives
it to host
"diplomats"
and the
journalists
which pay it
money.
The first
guest, at the
same time as a
Press Briefing
Room session
about the
Security
Council's work
for September,
is not named
or disclosed.
Given the
past, might it
be Kohona,
whose
financial
relationship
with UNCA's
president the
UNCA Executive
Committee
tried to
censor?
Update
of September
2: After
publication of
the above, this
year's
president of
the UN
Censorship
Alliance told
those paying money
that in
deference to
the briefing on
the Security
Council's
program, the
time would be
pushed back to
1:30. So a
half-hour schmooze-fest.
But with whom?
Kohona?
The
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
opposes all of
this, and attacks
on media work both
inside the UN
both further
afield and
as close at
47th Street,
west of First
Avenue. Watch
this site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
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