Free
Press Rights
at UN Advanced
by FUNCA, Amid
Resistance to
the New
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 5 --
Is the UN
trying to
modernize?
Parts of it
may
be. On Tuesday
morning ten
stories above
the East River
issue was
joined between
three
representatives
of the Free UN
Coalition for
Access and the
top brass of
the UN
Department of
Public
Information.
Certain
FUNCA-won
reforms were
confirmed,
though not yet
in writing.
Small as
they sound,
these include
that, going
forward, all
correspondents
will have
equal and
unfettered
access to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's 38th
floor
meetings.
"There
will be no
more UNCA [UN
Correspondents
Association]
pool," it
was confirmed
(with the
exception of
if Barack
Obama comes to
the UN
-- no policy
yet for the
2016 US
President.)
Passes to
cover the
General
Assembly will
no longer be
distributed
through UNCA,
but the
UN Documents
Center.
As
FUNCA
requested, at
least
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's New
York
City events
outside of the
UN will be
disclosed in
the UN Media
Alert.
While
never put in
writing, DPI
confirms that
it told the
spokesman for
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous that
it was
inappropriate
when he on
December 18
seized the
UNTV
microphone,
rather clearly
to try to
avoid a Press
question about
126 rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese
Army, which
which UN
peacekeeping
works. Video
here.
We
will have more
on this,
including a
further
explanation
(and
elaboration)
of the #LADSOUS2013
hashtag and video, which at least one DPI
official
stated went
too far.
FUNCA
countered, on
the topic of
going too far,
that the
repeated
tearing
down of its
substantive
flyers, and
the anonymous
use of a fake
social media
account, only
confirmed the
decay of UNCA
and the
absolute need
for and rights
of the Free UN
Coalition for
Access.
There
appears to
belatedly be a
recognition
that the UN
must publicly
promulgate due
process rules
for
journalists
when a
complaint is
filed
against them.
No notice was
given of such
complaints in
April and
June 2012, and
the identifies
of the UN
officials who
met with UNCA
"very quietly"
then about
dis-accrediting
the Press have
yet to be
disclosed. We
will have more
on this as
well.
At
Tuesday's noon
briefing, the
UNCA president
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
about the very
issues she'd
written to DPI
on February 1
about; the
spokesman was
solicitous.
And so, while
in the past
FUNCA
issues about
due process
have been
dismissed,
this time a
question
was taken: how can
the UN be
banning
journalists
based solely
on
where they
come from?
These
are the issues
on which FUNCA
is working;
like due
process, it is
terrain on
which UNCA
cannot
legitimately
work, since it
was UNCA
which sought
to expel other
journalists
with stealth
complaints,
and
partners in
the offending
UN rules.
On
the
fundamental
point of free
speech and
equal access,
the issues
were squarely
raised, as
they have been
for weeks.
Watch this
site.
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