UNITED
NATIONS, May
23 -- The day
after UN told
Inner City
Press that "there
will be no
tables or work
stations set
up at the
Security
Council
stakeout when
we return,"
the return of
the Council
from the
basement under
the General
Assembly to
the
Secretariat
building's
second floor
was put back
from May 24 to
at least May
31.
Press
access to
cover the
Security
Council is the
issue. In the
past on the
second floor
of the
Secretariat,
there was a
press table in
front of
the Security
Council.
Journalists
could sit and
work there,
and then
ask questions
of diplomats
going in and
out of the
Council.
Now
a rule has
been proposed
-- and
presented as
final -- that
"f.
The Security
Council
stakeout area,
including the
Turkish
Lounge, is
not to be used
as a permanent
workspace for
the media.
When the
Council is not
in session,
correspondents
should
minimize the
amount
of time in the
area, unless
interviewing
or conversing
with a U.N.
delegate or
official."
This
was provided
to the new Free UN Coalition for Access on Monday,
May
20. FUNCA only
opened the
Word file and
looked at it
on May 21 and
saw the above,
as well as
restriction of
the Delegates'
Lounge to
Resident
Correspondents
and an anti
free speech
restriction on
substantive
flyers even on
journalists'
office doors.
As
provided, here;
with
FUNCA track
changes, here.
FUNCA
filed a
protest and track changes on
May 21
with the top
officials of
the Department
of Public
Information.
It
has
since spoken
about the
issue with the
incoming
President of
the Security
Council for
June,
the UK's Mark
Lyall Grant
(who has
listened
attentively),
to French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
(who said DPI
should check
with the
Council
president,
that is, Lyall
Grant) nand
spokespeople
of other
Security
Council
delegations.
Notably,
Security
Council
members and
staff have
said they had
nothing to do
with the
draft, and
told Inner
City Press to
look at the
list of
parties at the
top of the
Guidelines.
Less credibly,
the president
of the UN
Correspondents
Association,
one of the
listed
parties,
claimed on May
22 that she
had not seen
the
Guidelines.
This
is not
credible; as
simply one
example, of
the the long
paragraph
purportedly to
prohibit
flyers she
said that
FUNCA's flyers
have been
insulting
because they
have
mentioned her
name. Her
letter to DPI
saying that
access to the
Delegates'
Lounge should
be for
Resident
Correspondents
is also noted.
At
the May 22
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey who is
behind the
proposal, and
of the role of
Ban and his
Secretariat.
Later on May
22, Dujarric
wrote to FUNCA
stating, among
other things
that
Subject:
Request
for suspension
of Media
Access
Guidelines and
information
about them
From: Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org
Date: Wed, May
22, 2013 at
8:16 PM
To: funca [at]
funca.info
Cc: Matthew
Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Matthew,
On the
guidelines, we
gave you a
chance to
comment and I
thank you for
those
comments. In
the end,
these are the
UN's
guidelines.
While we give
you a chance
to input,
we reserve the
final say.
What I can
tell you know
is that there
will be no
tables or work
stations set
up at the
Security
Council
stakeout when
we return.
That area is
reserved for
stakeouts. If
you
need to work
you can do
that in the
office which
has been
provided
to you by the
United
Nations.
First,
that is not
the same, in
terms of
covering the
Council
including as
has been
possible in
the past.
Second,
the office
Dujarric
referred
to had a UN
Security
camera
installed
directly above
it, making it
a
whistleblower
free zone.
We'll have
more on this.
Footnote:
a
Permanent
Representative
(that is,
Number One
Ambassador)
stopped
Thursday to
joke with
Inner City
Press in front
of the interim
Security
Council, you
are a
permanent
member of the
Council. That
is
the word in
the proposal:
no permanant
workspace. He
joked: how
about
no more
Permanent
members of the
Security
Council? Watch
this site.
, 
