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At
UN, Press Blocked From SG
&
Philippines FM, Criticism of
Callamard UNanswered
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Eritrea,
Iran
UNITED NATIONS,
October 3 – The UN of
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres hit a new low on
September 29, when it banned
Inner City Press from Guterres'
handshake meeting with
Philippines foreign minister
Cayetano, then did not issue any
read-out of the meeting. Now we
know why: it is reported that
Cayetano in the meeting criticized
the UN's Special Rapporteur
Agnes Callamard. Can Guterres or
his spokespeople not even
acknowledge such criticism? On
the morning of October 2, Inner
City Press asked Guterres' top
three spokespeople to "please
provide a read-out of the SG's
meeting with the Philippines
foreign minister on September
29, including but not limited to
any discussion of UN's Agnes
Callamard." Deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq, who delayed then
provided a troubling statement
on the government crackdowns in
Cameroon,
did not even acknowledge this
Philippines question much less
answer it, a day later. At noon
on September 29 Guterres'
spokesman, when Inner City Press
asked whether there would be any
action on UN staff in Myanmar
describing retaliation by UN
Resident Coordinator Renata
Lok-Dessalien, said only that
Guterres stands behind
Lok-Dessalien. So much for
whistleblower protection. On
Cameroon, Guterres' belated
concern is not about killed
civilians, but "territorial
integrity." Then for a 2:45 pm
photo op of Guterres and
Philippines foreign minister
Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Inner
City Press arrived hte
prescribed half hour early. It
was screened and then told to
wait, even after 2:45 pm. When
it was allowed into the
conference room, the handshake
had already taken place.
Dujarric, seen on 37, had
earlier refused to answer Inner
City Press' questions about UN
Security surveillance camera(s)
over the UN media bullpen, or
safeguards on the use of the
footage. This is Guterres' UN.
After Guterres grip and grin
sessions on the UN's 27th floor
during UN General Assembly high
level week, his meetings and
photo ops on September 27 with
the foreign ministers of Eritrea
and Iran were back on the 38th
floor, with USg Jeff Feltman at
both meetings. Both countries
are subject to sanctions; Iran's
Javad Zarif was on his way to
speak at the Asia Society. He
entered jauntily.
Guterres, his spokesman told
Inner City Press, is often about
"private" diplomacy. Here was
his Eritrea read-out: "The
Secretary-General met today with
H. E. Mr. Osman Mohammed Saleh,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of
the State of Eritrea. The
Secretary-General and the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
exchanged views on a number of
issues, including cooperation
between the United Nations and
Eritrea, and the peace and
security situation in the Horn
of Africa region." We'll
see. On September 26: with
Patricia Scotland of the
Commonwealth and then Maldives
foreign minister Mohamed Asim
were back on the 38th floor, at
5 and 5:30 pm respectively. But
the desire to keep the Press
from seeing anything was so
strong that instead of having it
stay waiting between the two
behind a wall on the 38th floor,
as was done for UNTV and is done
with other photographers, Inner
City Press was made to go back
down to the second floor. By the
time it was brought back up,
Guterres' handshake with Asim
was already over. Unlike for the
Commonwealth, Alamy photos
here, this Maldives photo
op was useless, or at least
unusable. Issues raised
to the UN Department of Public
Information have gone entirely
unaddressed and unanswered.
And Guterres' office of the
spokesman, earlier on September
26, declined
to allow Inner City Press a
question to Guterres' South
Sudan envoy David Shearer, on
whose watch a journalist was
killed, by the government there,
in August. This is today's UN.
Back on September 17 the day
before the UN reform speech by
US President Donald Trump, UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres held a meeting and
short photo-op with Greek
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias.
Alamy photos here.
Present was the UN's long time
envoy on the "name issue" (FYROM
/ Macedonia), Matthew Nimetz.
Kotzias signed the visitors book
first; Guterres told him no one
else could be in the room while
he signed. So that he could, if
needed, write that he was taken
hostage? On the agenda, one
imagines, is Cyprus and the
Crans Montana failure. Before
that was the president of the
Dominican Republic, Danilo
Medina Sanchez, who insisted
despite Guterres' resistance on
signing the visitors' book
before the grip and grin. Alamy
photo here.
When the read-out comes out, we
bet Dominican deputy ambassador
Francis Lorenzo, who pleaded
guilty to UN bribery in the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe case, is
not mentioned in it.
Before that was Jordan's King
Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein.
Photos on Alamy here.
Guterres' holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric showed up just
before the meeting, but even of
the Saudi meeting an hour before
there was still no read-out.
[Then this
update.] It was not at his
office on the 38th floor, but
rather in a suite on the 27th
floor with an Oriental rug, two
flags and a small stand on which
to sign the UN Visitors' book.
Under Guterres the UN has become
(even) less media friendly, with
the investigative Press
restricted to minders and, on
September 16, barred from
entering to cover a UN Media
Alert-listed even on Guterres'
signature issue, refugees. Guterres'
head of Global
Communications
Alison Smale,
petitioned on
these issues
since
September 1,
has done
nothing to
reverse them.
UN is both
UNprepared and
UNfair -
including on
such issues as
Myanmar,
Yemen,
Burundi
and Cameroon.
Next up,on
September 18,
US President
Trump,
Ambassador
Nikki Haley
and UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres in
the UN's
ECOSOC
Chamber. On September 12,
Guterres was scheduled to take
the credentials of four
countries' new Ambassador to the
UN. But a fifth one, Cote
d'Ivoire, was added without any
notice; then the International
Sea Bed Authority's
representative, for whom Inner
City Press was asked to leave.
As Norway's Tore Hattrem left,
he told Guterres he would be
working hard next week. Guterres
responded that it was a
"merry-go-round." Earlier in the
day Guterres gave
a job, the Oceans Envoy post, to
just-former President of the
General Assembly Peter Thomson.
It's not only a merry-go-round,
it's a revolving door. Here are
Inner City Press' Alamy photos
of the new Ambassadors of Ecuador
(Diego Fernando Morejon Pazmino), Norway,
Guinea
Bissau (Fernando Delfim Da
Silva) and Iraq
(Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom). The UN is getting
more and more murky; Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric has
refused to say how NGO(s)
purchasing an event in the UN
General Assembly Hall on August
23 were vetted, even after the
Ng bribery verdict. On August 18
Guterres said that the UN's
principles are those of
humanity; he made much of
Miroslv Jenca being from
Slovakia. Meanwhile his
spokesman wouldn't confirm that
Jenca's colleague Taye-Brook
Zerihoun is leaving, to be
replaced by Kenya's Monica Juma.
We'll have more on this. There
were: Gabon PR Michel Xavier
Biang, Lithuania PR Audra
Plepytë, Slovakia PR Michal
Mlynár, Slovenia PR Darja Bavdaž
Kuret, NZ PR Craig John Hawke,
Ireland PR Geraldine Byrne
Nason, PR, Ireland and
Francophonie PO Narjess Saidane.
On August 16 Guterres schmoozed
correspondents about Croatia and
his vacation; after a stakeout
in which he refused
to comment on the Ng Lap Seng
verdict, photos here,
he had a 4:30 pm photo op with
meeting with Serbian Foreign
Minister Ivica Dacic. Photos on
Alamy here;
Inner City Press Periscope here;
it was the only media there
other than a lone Serbian
cameraman. Guterres called Dacic
young and the latter replied
that he is 51. Then the press
was ushered out. Before Dacic
arrived, Guterres squired out a
duo who was not on his schedule.
As noted, a diplomat complained
Guterres is "just bringing in
people he knew in Geneva,
nothing new, no improvements."
On Press freedom, Inner City
Press must concur: it remains
restricted for covering now
convicted Ng Lap Seng's bribes;
the Egyptian state media the UN
is trying to give its office
wasn't even present for Egypt's
August 2 press conference, has
never asked a question. And on
transparency: the sources said
seven day, but when Inner City
Press asked Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on
July 31, Dujarric said for two
week, Guterres will be "in
Europe." Periscope video here.
He is on leave, on vacation. On
August 1, Dujarric repeatedly
said the Secretary General
thinks this, feels that - and
Inner City Press asked, how do
you know? At briefings in
Washington reporters routinely
ask, did you speak with your
principle about X, Y or Z. But
the UN feels it doesn't have to
answer. From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: in the answers
you were giving about the
Secretary-General believes this
on Venezuela, thinks this, can…
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