UNITED
NATIONS, June
28 -- It was a
month late
when the UN
Budget
Committee
ended its work
on Friday
afternoon. As
UN
Peacekeeping
budgets were
voted on,
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous was
not there,
though
Department of
Field Support
head Ameerah
Haq was.
Haq
said that
since the
budget
estimates were
submitted last
December,
demands grew
for peacekeeping
in Mali (which
will include a
listed
child soldier
recruiter),
for an
Intervention
Brigade in the
Congo
(in
advance of
which the DRC
Sanctions
report was
against
predictably
leaked)
and for UNDOF
in Syria.
An
evaluation
unit that
Ladsous had
proposed was
re-named
“Strategic
Partnerships.”
Of all the
peacekeeping
missions, only
the one in
Lebanon drew a
recorded vote,
with only
Israel, Canada
and the US
voting no, on
a reference to
previous
Israeli damage
to the
mission.
From a photo
booth above
the interim
General
Assembly
floor, Inner
City Press tweeted
out the vote
results.
There
were farewells
to Fifth
Committee
members now
returning to
their
countries --
from a
Westerner, to
Belgium,
Ireland and
the UK -- and
to the
Committee's
chairperson
for the year,
Miguel Berger
of
Germany.
India's Majeev
Singh Puri
offered
fulsome
praise: this
is
what the UN
can accomplish
when it get
down to work.
But
journalistic
work is being
hindered. Back
on June 10,
the new Free
UN
Coalition for
Access complained
to the UN
Department of
Public
Information
that the media
was not
allowed
anywhere but
the photo
booths above
the floor,
where there
were no tables
to work on,
and no
translation.
DPI
replied,
falsely, that
this was as
much as access
as existed
before
-- ignoring
the fourth
floor balcony
from which the
press and
public
could watch
the GA -- and
said “we will
look into the
issue of
furniture” in
the photo
booth -- that
is, any
furniture to
work on.
But
18 days later,
when the
General
Assembly voted
on billions of
dollars
in
peacekeeping
budgets, there
was no one
from DPI there
to even let
the press up
to the photo
booths.
@FUNCA_info
reached
out twice
on Friday
to UN Media
Liaison. FUNCA
has embraced
virtual
communication,
particularly
given DPI's
repeated
attempt to
crack
down even
on a single
FUNCA sign,
while its
favored and
largely
invisible UNCA
has
two signs,
and a big
meeting room
that is locked
(more
on that soon).
But
there was no
response from
the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit. Inner
City Press was
assisted by
another up to
the photo
booth, and
attempted to
cover the GA
meeting. But
when Syria
spoke after
the
UNIFIL vote in
Arabic - there
was no
translation
headset in the
booth. UNCA is
dead or dying,
fine -- but
what is DPI
doing? Watch
this site.
, 
