UN
Correspondents Association's
UNdisclosed Lunch With
Guterres, After Kazahk
Delicacies
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photo
UNITED NATIONS,
May 18 – It seemed obvious
that journalists should not be
serving up the "delicacies" of
those they purport to be
covering. But at the UN, as
with content neutral
accreditation and access
rules, that is thrown out the
window. This year the UN
Correspondents Association has
partnered with Kazakhstan,
whose media law is called
repressive and draconian, to
distribute "national
delicacies" twice a week.
Photo here.
Now on May 21, UNCA ate from
the hand of someone they are
supposed to be covering, even
watch-dogging: UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres.
While it was not even
disclosed on Guterres' public
schedule, mid afternoon Inner
City Press was informed that
Guterres had served pan seared
corvina, mousse and Chilean
wine to the scribes of UNCA,
now the UN Censorship
Alliance. Printed menu here
- who pays for this? Who
prints it? Also in attendance
were Alison Smale of the
Department of Public
Information / Global
Communications and Stephane
Dujarric, the spokesman who
only an hour before had told
Inner City Press it was banned
from live streaming Periscope
of Guterres' interchanges with
diplomats from Kenya,
Angola
and elsewhere. The UN
Censorship Alliance, we're
told, did not raise Guterres'
restrictions, or any UN
corruption question (despite
the ongoing Patrick
Ho case, and Ng
Lap Seng whom they took
money from being sentenced to
four years in prison for UN
bribery), or even sexual
harassment. For Guterres
UNdisclosed lunch: Sherwin
Bryce-Pease, SABC South Africa
Room: S-415
Valeria Robecco, ANSA News
Agency - UNCA First Vice
President 2018
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Valeria Robecco, ANSA News
Agency
Melissa Kent, CBC/Radio-Canada
- UNCA Second Vice President
2018
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Melissa Kent, CBC/Radio-Canada
Room: S-342
Jianguo Ma, Xinhua News Agency
- UNCA Third Vice President
2018
THIRD VICE PRESIDENT
Jianguo Ma, Xinhua News Agency
Carole Landry, Agence France
Presse - UNCA Treasurer
2016-2018
TREASURER
Carole Landry, Agence France
Presse (AFP)
Room: S-316
Seana Magee, Kyodo News - UNCA
Secretary 2014-2018
SECRETARY
Seana Magee, Kyodo News
Room: S-304
Members at Large:
Nabil Abi Saab, Al Hurra TV -
Member at Large, UN
Correspondents Association
Executive Team 2018
Nabil Abi Saab, Al Hurra TV
Room: S-416A
Erol Avdovic - Member at
Large, UN Correspondents
Association Executive Team
2017-2018
Erol Avdovic, Webpublicapress
Room: S-345
Oscar Bolanos, OMB News -
Member at Large, UN
Correspondents Association
Executive Team 2018
Oscar Bolanos, OMB News
Olga Denisova, RIA Novosti
Russian News Agency - Member
at Large, UN Correspondents
Association Executive Team
2017-2018
Olga Denisova, RIA Novosti
Russian News Agency
Ahmed Fathi, American
Television News - Member at
Large, UN Correspondents
Association Executive Team
2017-2018
Ahmed Fathi, American
Television News
Room: S-0332
Widad Franco, NHK Japan
Broadcasting - Member at
Large, UN Correspondents
Association Executive Team
2017-2018
Widad Franco, NHK Japan
Broadcasting
Room: S-414
Michelle Nichols, Reuters (NA)
- Member at Large, UN
Correspondents Association
Executive Team 2017-2018
Michelle Nichols, Reuters
Room: S-321
Giampaolo Pioli, Quotidiano
Nazionale - Member at Large,
UN Correspondents Association
Executive Team 2017-2018
Giampaolo Pioli, Quotidiano
Nazionale
Room: S-422
Mobile: (917) 287-3969
Luke Vargas, Talk Media News -
Member at Large, UN
Correspondents Association
Executive Team 2018
Luke Vargas, Talk Media News
Room: S-422A
This
is how the UN becomes ever
more blind and corrupt.
Contrary to UNCA, 26
international press freedom
organizations called on Kazakh
authorities to drop criminal
defamation cases against media
outlets Forbes Kazakhstan and
Ratel and revise the law on
dissemination of "false
information" often used to
silence critical media outlets
and journalists. Former
minister Zeinulla Kakimzhanov
and his son, Ilkhalid, filed a
defamation complaint claiming
the outlets spread false
information. Four separate
cases are being heard against
the outlets. In April 2017, an
Almaty court ordered the two
outlets and four journalists
to pay 50 million Kazakh tenge
(US$160,000) in damages,
according to local media
reports. The three other cases
are ongoing. It's worth
noting, as Inner City Press
and the Free UN Coalition for
Access (FUNCA) have, that UN
agencies FAO and WIPO have
both used criminal defamation
charges, and while Inner City
Press has asked, Secretary
General Antonio Guterres has
done nothing to reign it in,
his spokesmen insisting UN
agencies can do this. The
joint IFEX letter to
Kazakhstan's prosecutor
general, Supreme Court,
Parliament, and Minister of
Information and
Communications, called for the
law, which levies
disproportionate penalties
against journalists and media
outlets, to be revised and
highlighted the threat that
such legislation poses to
critical reporting and press
freedom.
But this doesn't
matter to UNCA, the UN's
Censorship Alliance, which has
since provided a closed door
platform for controversial IOM
candidate Ken Isaacs, and for
the UN Alliance of
Civilizations. It's that
Kazakhstan was president of
the Security Council this
month, and UNCA is selling the
correspondents it charges a
hundred dollars to access, or
the illusion of access,
however it might appear. In
November it was espresso served
up by Italy, the country of
UNCA's long time landlord
president Giampaolo Pioli.
Now, it's Kazakhstan. A new
and peculiarly UN tradition,
of sycophantry, is born. And
the Free
UN Coalition for Access
opposes it. We are certainly
open to hearing from the
Kazazh Mission its side of the
story. But any "press" group
which partners to hand out
delicacies, and limits
information to those who pay
it money, is no press
organization at all, except in
today's UN. Here is RSF's
review of Kazakhstan's new
law: "Under one of the most
controversial amendments,
journalists are required to
obtain the permission of
persons named in their
articles before publishing
information involving matters
of 'personal and family
confidentiality.'
Investigative journalists fear
it could obstruct their
reporting, especially coverage
of corruption. There is
similar concern about a ban on
“information violating lawful
interests,” which are also not
defined. One of the amendments
complicates the right of
access to state-held
information. The length of the
time within which officials
must answer journalists’
questions is more than
doubled, with the result that
by the time journalists get
their answer, there is every
chance it will no longer be
newsworthy. Furthermore,
officials are also given the
right to classify certain
answers. Under one of the
amendments, Internet users are
required to identify
themselves before posting a
comment on a news website, and
their information will be
stored for three months. This
suggests that there could be a
further increase in the number
of people being jailed because
of their online comments,
which has already grown
sharply in recent years." But
UNCA, now the UN's Censorship
Alliance, will be serving up
those Kazakh national
delicacies for the Mission. In
other related news, Iran will
be the subject of a UN
Security Council meeting of
some type on January 5 at 3
pm. There may be a procedural
vote - Inner City Press on
January 4 asked
Russian Ambassador Nebenzia
about any Iran meeting and he
replied, "Not unless they held
one without me." Kazakhstan is
the president of the Security
Council for January, and just
as they refused
on January 2 to take a single
Press question about Africa
(the first question was given
as a delicacy to UNCA, which
allowed for questions to be
bundled in packs of five to be
evaded), on January 4 they
sent notice only to their
favored correspondents.
(Notable, given press freedom
issues there.) As quickly
obtained by Inner City Press
from multiple sources, they
wrote: "Dear friends, To keep
you informed, tomorrow SC
meets on Iran at 3.00PM, open
format. And a short
announcement, our Delegation
is delighted to invite you to
a Tea and Coffee table with
Kazakh national delights, to
be served every Tuesday and
Thursday, starting from 9
January, 9.30 to 11.30AM, in
the UNCA Room, 3d Floor,
Secretariat Building. Alma
Konurbayeva, Spokesperson /
Counsellor, Permanent Mission
of the Republic of Kazakhstan
to the United Nations." Of
what might those "national
delights" consist? When
Kazazhstan held a press
conference about its
Presidency of the UN Security
Council for January,
Ambassador Kairat Umarov began
by noting that the majority of
the agenda involves countries
in Africa: at least seven
peacekeeping missions to be
reviewed in the month, with
Burundi and Cameroon not even
listed. But when the Kazakh
mission spokeswoman took
questions, not a single one
was on anything in Africa.
There was climate change, from
a self-described syndicated
columnist. There were
questions about two
(non-African) countries in the
Program of Work's footnotes.
But not a single one on
anywhere in Africa.
Inner City Press
said loudly, “On the DRC did
anyone even ask for a
statement on the crackdown?”
Video here
from 44:15. But the Ambassador
chose to answer another
question, about an issue he
called close to Kazakhstan's
heart, then ended it.
He had
said, during the press
conference, the Kazakhstan has
energy resources for the next
100 years. They won the Asia
seat over Thailand; apparently
that didn't require political
resources, at least in Africa.
We'll have more on this.
Back in September
2017 with the UN Security
Council presidency being taken
over by Ethiopia's Tekeda
Alemu, Inner City Press on
September 1 asked Ambassador
Alemu four questions, the
answers to which sketch out
the Ethopian government's
worldview. Video here.
In response to Inner City
Press asking why Burundi,
where even the UN says there
is a risk of genocide, is not
on his September Program of
Work nor on the agenda of the
Council's visit to Addis
Ababa, Alemu said that you
can't compare Burundi to
Central African Republic, that
Burundi has “strong state
institutions.” But it is that
very “strength,” which some
say the country shares with
Ethiopia, and with until
recently military-ruled
Myanmar about which Inner City
Press also asked, that has led
to the human rights
violations. In this context,
Inner City Press asked Alemu
about the Oromo protests - and
crackdown - in his country. He
diplomatically chided Inner
City Press for not having
asked in private, saying that
social media has played a
dangerous role. On the other
hand, when Inner City Press
asked Alemu at the end about
the murders of two UN experts
Michael Sharp and Zaida
Catalan, he replied that while
the DR Congo is due to
sovereignty the one to
investigate the murders, the
gruesome nature of the
killings put a “great
responsibility” on the DR
Congo. We'l have more on this.
Alamy photos here.
Earlier on September 1 in
Alemu's briefing to countries
not on the Security Council,
Bangladesh specifically asked
that the Council remain seized
of the situation in Myanmar.
When Inner City Press asked
Alemu about this, he said he
still had to inform himself
more about that situation. The
Security Council is traveling
to Addis from September 5
through 9, when alongside
African Union consultations
the Council's member will meet
for an hour with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,
Alemu said. The Council will
receive the “maiden briefings”
late in the month of the new
Under Secretaries General of
OCHA and on Counter-Terrorism.
There will be peacekeeping on
September 20, during the High
Level week of the UN General
Assembly, and Yemen on
September 26. But tellingly,
there will not be Burundi.
Watch this site.
***
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