In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Photos

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 – When UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres presented his proposed “peace and security” reform to the General Assembly on November 9, it was initially going to be in a closed meeting. Inner City Press asked about it two days in a row and, an hour before the meeting, it was changed to open “but no UN webcast.” Inner City Press told the UN it would Periscope and was led to the photo booth; there due to Kafka-esque threats from the UN, it unilaterally decided only to broadcast what Guterres, paid by the global public, said. It was a mouthful: Guterres called Kenya's Ambassador Kamau “sincerely unfair; as the meeting was gaveled closed he turned on his microphone to tell Djibouti how support to AMISOM in Somalia would be effected. Russia raised many questions; others provided rote support. Reviews afterward were mixed. But Inner City Press remains under restrictions imposed by the UN Department of Public Information 20 months ago for covering UN corruption. It raised the issue again to the head of DPI on November 9; watch this site. When  Guterres held his pre-General Assembly week press conference on September 13, Inner City Press asked him about reform, in light of the Ng Lap Seng UN bribery guilty verdicts and new reports of peacekeepers' sexual abuse. Guterres responded on the latter, see below. Now a month later, Guterres is pitching a reform plan that many do not understand, and others don't agree with. Inner City Press went to cover Guterres' presentation to the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee on October 11, but was quickly told by UN Security, "No Press." So it went to the photo booth and streamed a Periscope video, here. Guterres sat next to Cameroon's Ambassador, here. There were speeches by Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago (fresh off its elimination of the US from the World Cup), the EU and Australia. Then Guterres left, before the US spoke. There was nothing else on his schedule for the day. We'll have more on this. Here's a sample Guterres "reform" proposal: "A Standing Principals’ Group of Under Secretaries General (USGs) and the EOSG, to provide leadership for all strategic, political and operational functions and ensure a coherent 'whole-of-pillar' approach... Interaction with the global operational support and management departments would be facilitated at the level of the Standing Principals’ Group as well as through dedicated capacity within the Departments at the strategic and operational levels, including within the integrated operational team [IOT] concept." Sources close to Guterres exclusively complain to Inner City Press this is little more than "Lacroix' DPKO trying to grab the IOTs." They point to the lame duck status of Jeffrey Feltman at the Department of Political Affairs as leading to DPA "losing the turf war with Peacekeeping." Meanwhile, the sources say, there is increasing frustration on the UN's 38th floor at the "message" not getting out, even talk of hiring outside communicators, rather than holding those already getting paid accountable. The new head of Global Communcations, Alison Smale, never responded to a detailed petition to her before the General Assembly week, nor to one after the week - nor since (it was raised to her again on November 9). Ah, Communications, f/k/a DPI which evicted and still restricts Inner City Press which every day asks questions and reports, in favor of no-show state media like Egypt's Akhbar al Yom which has not asked a single question during Guterres' tenure. The UN is UNreformed. From the UN's September 13 transcript: Inner City Press: Matthew Lee, Inner City Press, on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, hoping for readouts of your diplomatic merry-go-round upstairs during the GA week.  I want... you speak the lot about reforms. It's something I tried to ask at the stakeout but thanks for giving me the question. This case of John Ashe, who I know has deceased~-- may he rest in peace, but there was a court decision this summer in which basically it painted a picture of the UN as being quite susceptible to bribery. There was a Chin... a Macau-based businessman, Ng Lap Seng, was found guilty. So, I won't go through it all except to say, I wanted to know what your view of whether the UN... beyond just some reforms to the PGA's (President of the General Assembly) office, whether it has instituted enough reforms. Your... your... the former PGA yesterday sitting here said that there are crows picking around the side of the UN. There are a lot of business interests... basically, they try to buy their way into the UN by hooking up with a small state.  So, I wanted to know whether your reforms will address that. And there's also a Code Blue report out today about sexual abuse where they say that, of cases they've uncovered, many of them are not disclosed in the conduct and discipline website. What's your plan during this GA week to try to address the sexual abuse issue of peacekeeping? Secretary-General:  Well, in addition to the sexual abuse, as you know, we have taken already a number of measures. A global victims advocate was appointed, and four victims advocates were appointed in the four situations that are more dramatic in several African contexts.  We are preparing a compact to be signed with Member States in order to make sure that there is effective commitment in relation to this. I'm creating a circle of leadership with Heads of Government and State to assume engagement of states in making sure that everything is investigated properly. And so, we are really committed to make the best we can in this area, knowing the difficulties and the problems and sometimes even the... especially, my main concern is with the victims that sometimes have an enormous problem in coming with their cases because of the risks that they might face in different conditions with the community or even with the country or even if the UN Mission is not properly organised. So, we are deeply committed to that.  But the best protection in relation to abuses is the whistleblower policy protection. We have introduced a first group of measures to enhance the whistleblower protection when I assumed functions immediately in January. So, it's probably my first measure.  And after that, we have introduced a number of other reforms, which I believe are bringing our whistleblower protection policy to the state of the art. And if that's not the case, if there are other things to be suggested, we are ready to introduce them, because that is the best guarantee that people can detect and denounce things that happen and that they will be protected if they do so. This is, for me, an absolute must and the best possible guarantee an organisation can have in relation to the risks of abuse of power or abuses of any other kind or of corruption or whatever.  So this is a big concern for me, and I think we are acting as we can but with total determination to address the problem." We'll have more on this.

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

Past (and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2017 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for