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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY Post

UNITED NATIONS, December 8 – The UN under Antonio Guterres has a non-public "BARRED" list which includes political activists, according to Guterres' own UN Security, audio link below. But when Inner City Press whom Guterres put on the list for askign him about corruption submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the NYC Police Department, NYPD first called UN Security insider Matthew Sullivan, then claimed they have no records or information. This is a scam. Inner City Press has today submitted this appeal: "To NYPD's FOIL Appeals Officer, and NYS Committee on Open Government, et al:

This is an appeal under FOIL of the NYPD's 4 December 2018 denial of my FOIL request acknowledged 15 October 2018 and quoted below, on behalf of Inner City Press and in my personal capacity.

In short, I believe the NYPD's denial is not only erroneous but is in bad faith in its claim the NYPD is “unable to locate records responsive to your request.”

The request involved not only the processing of a complaint I filed against abuse and harassment by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins and others with the 17th Precinct on 3 July 2018 (report number #2018-017-2848) but also NYPD record about the pistol permits of UN Security officers and knowledge of the UN's “barred” list which includes, according to the UN, “political activists” - and me, confirmed by UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights email to me also pasted below and made part of this appeal.

Most troubling, and the reason for the cc, UN Security official Matthew Sullivan told me on camera on October 24, nine days after my FOIL request to the NYPD, that “NYPD called us, we called them also. 'Cuz it's an internal document.” See, from Minute 8:34, this video.

That the UN, which has no Freedom of Information procedures, characterizes its no due process barred list as internal is no basis for the NYPD to withhold information under FOIL, much less deny it is aware of any records. The requested records must immediately be identified - and provided. And we will appreciate an advisory opinion from the COOG as expeditiously as possible.

The initial request was for: “all records in the possession of the NYPD regarding the exclusion of persons in the last three years from premises of the United Nations, in and around First Avenue and 42-48th Streets in Manhattan, including of NYC residents including journalists. This is also a request for all records in the same time period of the review, suspension or revocation of pistol permits for any UN personnel including but not limited to UN Department of Safety and Security personnel and the grounds therefore. To assist you in identifying and producing the responsive records on an expedited basis, I personally was physically ousted from the UN by UN DSS Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another unnamed on 3 July 2018 as I staked out and covered, as a journalist, the UN Budget Committee meetings. On 4 July 2018 I filed a report at the 17th Precinct, despite being told - erroneously I now believe, including based on how my First Amendment rights have been impacted - that all UN personnel have total immunity. The report number is #2018-017-2848. On 5 July 2018 when I went to the UN to continue my work as a journalist I was told I am “banned.” I have since been told that the UN has a “current and active barred notice” against me, that there is a banned list that includes “demonstrators” and “political activists.”

For the record, 11 October 2018 UN DSS audio here.

I find this deeply troubling and worth of urgent Press coverage. This request includes but is not limited to all records related to the above, related to any knowledge by NYPD of any UN “banned” list and how it is compiled, and what due process protections if any are in place, etc. Also any knowledge by NYPD of any disciplinary measures taken against UN Security officers or other personnel, at least for the past three years.”

First NYPD denied expedited processing - while calling the UN, according to UN DSS officer Sullivan. Then the NYPD ruled / claimed: “The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has closed your FOIL request FOIL-2018-056-10172 for the following reasons:

In regard to the document(s) which you requested, this unit is unable to locate records responsive to your request based on the information you provided.”

It is not credible that the NYPD has no records about UN DSS pistol permits, or the complaint I filed on 3 July 2018, or in context the UN's “BARRED” list, which the NYPD ultimately enforces. On December 7, for the record on this appeal and request for Advisory Opinion from the COOG, I received this email from the UN:
From: New York OHCHR <newyork@ohchr.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 6:39 PM
Subject: Human Rights Day event on Monday, 10 December, 3pm - your access
To: innercitypress
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”

So the UN DSS maintains a “BARRED” list, ultimately enforced by the NYPD. And when DSS officer Ronald E Dobbins and another who refused to give his named roughed me up on 3 July 2018 and I filed a complaint with the 17th Precinct on 4 July 2018, records were generated. I was called by NYPD after that, about the complaint. To claim that no records exist is not credible - and appears in bad faith. The requested records must immediately be identified - and provided. And we will appreciate an advisory opinion from the COOG as expeditiously as possible. Please acknowledged receipt of this appeal / request and respond.

Attentively,

Matthew Russell Lee,  Inner City Press" With 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, "Thank you for registering to attend the Human Rights Day event at the United Nations on Monday 10 December. On Monday, 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 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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