On
Press Due
Process
Rights, UN
Won't Answer,
Reuters'
Stealth
Complaint,
UNCA on Hair
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 19 --
While the UN
preaches the
rule of law
all over
the world, in
its
headquarters
it does not
have even the
most basic
forms of
due process.
On January 17,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access
asked three
officials of
the UN
Department of
Public
Information,
not for the
first time, what
journalists'
rights
are to be
informed of
complaints
filed against
them.
The
question first
arose when
Inner City
Press became belated
aware that
Reuters'
bureau chief
at the UN,
Louis
Charbonneau,
filed a
stealth
complaint with
the UN Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit about
a
mere verbal
exchange.
Charbonneau
was called
"disgusting;"
his
complaint is
online here.
While
Charbonneau
sent a copy of
his complaint
to, among
others, Tim
Witcher
of Agence
France Presse
who had in
September 2011
asked the
UN
Correspondents
Association to
take action
against Inner
City Press
for an article
it published
about the
French Mission
to the UN and
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row atop UN
Peacekeeping,
Charbonneau
never informed
Inner City
Press.
The
UN's MALU
never informed
Inner City
Press of the
complaint, nor
when
Voice
of America,
saying it had
the support of
Reuters'
Charbonneau
and AFP's
Witcher,
filed a June
20, 2012
demand to get
Inner City
Press'
accreditation
"reviewed" by
the UN.
The
UN official to
whom this
stealth
dis-accreditation
request was
directed wrote
back "thank
you" to VOA,
saying he
would
call them to
pursue the
complaint.
Click here for
that document,
obtained
under the US
Freedom of
Information
Act.
When
would he and
the UN have
informed Inner
City Press of
the complaint?
The question
was asked on
January 17,
and a written
on the record
answer was
promised.
But more than
24 hours
later, no
written answer
has been
provided.
In
fact, this UN
official
himself
complained --
not to Inner
City Press
-- about any
reporting
about the
meeting of
FUNCA and DPI.
Does that
stand for the
UN Department
of PRIVATE
Information,
then?
The
UN official
said he
provided a
response to
the New
York Civil
Liberties
Union's public
demand to know
the UN's rules
for
accreditation,
made
explicitly in
light of VOA's
stealth
dis-accreditation
request.
He claimed the
response was
made on June
29 -- but the
NYCLU's letter
wasn't sent
and put online
until July 5.
Something is
wrong here.
Meanwhile
UNCA's
response to
the posting of
a necessarily
vague summary
of
FUNCA's
January 17
meeting with
DPI has been
another
counterfeit
FUNCA flier,
and another
attempting
humor about
hair styles.
To this
has UNCA
descended. Its
Executive
Committee,
still
including
Witcher
and
Charbonneau as
First Vice
President,
have turned it
into a
pathetic and
even corrupt
organization.
That
the UN
official
described
above tried to
tell FUNCA it
should work
with, or even
merge back
into, this
debased
organization
is telling.
Emphasis was
made that
UNCA's old
four-year
president is
out, and
another has
been "elected"
(without any
competition).
But
this new
president,
endorsed by
the old, has
had the
counterfeit
fliers and the
hair critique
posted right
next to her
(private)
office, and
has said
nothing. What
was
said, to a
newsy
Permanent
Representative
this week, was
"I am the
president of
UNCA, not
FUNCA." That's
right.
The train has
left the
station, and
more
will have to
be told: we
continue to
await the
promised
written
response to
the issues
FUNCA has
raised. Watch
this site.
, 
