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UNITED NATIONS,
October 17 – While
UN Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres has
yet, for
example, to
speak clearly
about the
human rights abuses
against
Anglophones by
Cameroon
(October 17
interview of
Anglophone
here), his
head of Global
Communications
Alison Smale
wants to
re-brand or at
least
re-introduce
him to the
public. In an
October 3
“Town Hall”
meeting in New
York City on
which Inner
City Press has
exclusively reported,
Smale said
there is a
“need to get
the Secretary
General out
there.” Not to
Cameroon,
where Guterres'
Central Africa
envoy Francois
Fall hasn't gone in
the more than
two weeks
since the
October 1
killings, but
to Central
African Republic,
see below. Now
we report that
Smale was
confronted, by
a UN staff
union member,
about the cult
of personality
her DPI
creates, while
she calls CNN
the gold
standard (or
"stars") in
the media.
Video here.
She said
Guterres, a
former prime
minister of
Portugal, “is
not so widely
known in this
country or
indeed in
other parts of
the world.”
Video here.
As Inner City
Press has
twice asked
Guterres'
holdover
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
without
answer, Smale
has said she
will hire
outside
consultants,
contrary to
the
recommendations
of the UN
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions. From
the UN's October
16 transcript,
also on "Dollar a
Year" officials:
Inner
City Press:
There’s an
ACABQ report
on the
Secretary-General’s
budget
proposal.
And one of the
things that
they say is
that there’s a
lack of
clarity in
these seven
'dollar-a-year'
Under-Secretary-Generals
or Assistant
Under-Secretary-Generals,
there’s a
generalised
lack of
clarity of the
actual cost to
the system in
terms of
supporting
them.
So, I wanted
to know,
what’s the
Secretary-General
or the
Secretariat’s
response? Will
the disclosure
that’s being
requested be
made public?
And the ACABQ
document is
also critical
of the hiring
of
consultants,
such as I
asked you
about in the
case of DPI
(Department of
Public
Information).
Whether
or not there’s
a procurement
process,
they’re saying
only in the
most extremely
circumstances
should these
consultants be
hired.
And what is
DPI’s
presentation
of the extreme
circumstance?
And does it
involve the
upcoming trip
to CAR
(Central
African
Republic),
which was also
discussed in
this town hall
meeting? Spokesman:
"I don’t think
it involves
the upcoming
trip to
CAR.
I’ll try to
get something
for you from
DPI.
Obviously,
whenever the
ACABQ raises
questions of
the
Secretariat,
those
questions are
answered.
On the issue
of the envoys,
I think the
Secretary-General,
since the
beginning, has
had in mind to
streamline the
number of
Special
Envoys,
including
dollar-a-year
envoys.
And I think
most of the
envoys were
given a year
extension of
contract to
give time for
the
Secretary-General
to look at the
system and the
cost-benefit
analysis of
having these
dollar-a-year
envoys." We'l
see. The
questions are
directed to
Dujarric after
Smale has
repeatedly
refused to
answer
detailed
questions from
Inner City
Press, for
example on
September 12 here
and September
26 here.
Isn't it a
conflict of
interest for a
Department and
person openly
focused on
there being
only positive
portrayals of
the UN and
Guterres have
the unfettered
right to
restrict the
critical
independent
Press and
reward
no-shows and
sycophants? And
as Inner City
Press asks the
UN about this
and such other
UN failures as
in Cameroon
and uploads
the answers
into YouTube
and Google
News, suddenly
it is
downgraded
without notice
in Google News
to a "blog,"
no longer in
Google News
Alerts,
re-Tweeted
photo here,
and
demonetized in
YouTube. This
is censorship,
a newer kind
that Paul
Biya's
ham-handed
moves on the
Southern
Cameroons
Broadcasting
Corporation
SCBC - our
question is to
prove who is
behind it.
There is a
history, for
example here,
with the UN.
Watch this
site.
Smale in the
Town Hall
meeting
claimed her
office and
e-mail doors
are open, and
twice focused
on Guterres'
trip to the
Central
African
Republic later
this month as
a “key
opportunity to
show what we
can do,
editorially,
with forward
planning with
people on the
ground
portraying,
telling the
story of the
peacekeepers
and the people
they are
helping.”
Some have a
different
experience, of
sexual and
other abuse.
Only this
week, Inner
City Press asked
the UN about a
young woman
allegedly
drugged and
raped by UN
Peacekeeper(s)
in Bambari in
CAR. At what
point does
hiring
consultants to
try to
emphasize only
the positive
become a cover
up, even a la
Harvey
Weinstein? And
what of the
UN's cover up
of the abuses
in Cameroon?
We'll have
more on this.
Meanwhile as Canada joins The
Netherlands at the UN in Geneva
in calling for an investigation
of possible war crimes in Yemen
including the Saudi-led
coalition's killing of
civilians, Canada has continued
a $15 billion arms deal with
Saudi Arabia. When Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
held a press conference at the
UN on September 21, Inner City
Press went early, intending to
ask him to explain this
incongruity or seeming
hypocrisy. Trudeau's spokesman
announced that the questioners
had been “pre-determined,” but
did not explain how. So in a
lull after what the spokesman
called the last question - would
Trudeau be a mediator on
Venezuela - Inner City Press
asked about Canadian arms sales
to Saudi while calling for a
probe. At first Trudeau said he
was happy to answer the
question. Then he said no, he
would not reward “bad behavior,”
and instead reached out for
question in French about day
care. Now Inner City Press has
seen that Google / You Tube have
ruled that the video of this
question and answer is "not
suitable for most advertisers,"
and those not monetizable. Photo
here.
Why not? (Inner City Press has
spoken more recently on October
12 on Canadian TV, about its
national's sell-out of Rohingya
in Myanmar, here.)
And why, suddenly amid its
questions about hypocrisy and
Yemen and Cameroon and UN
corruption, has Inner City Press
been downgraded in Google News?
We'll have more on this. (Inner
City Press notes that
pre-determining questioners is
bad behavior. Apparently the CBC
journalist who was given the
first question agreed to it; the
organization only the day before
sent an Egyptian state media
correspondent as the lone “pooler”
in Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' meeting with General
Sisi.) Earlier on September 21
when UK minister Alistair Burt
came in front of the UN Security
Council to speak about
accountability for Daesh in
Iraq, Inner City Press deferred
to a timely question about the
referendum in Kurdistan. Then
during lull - identical to
that in which it put its
question to Trudeau - Inner City
Press asked Burt about his
quote, about accountability for
the bombing of civilians in
Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition
with UK bombs, that "Our view is
that it is for the Coalition
itself, in the first instance,
to conduct such investigations.
They have the best insight into
their own military procedures
and will be able to conduct the
most thorough and conclusive
investigations.” Inner City
Press asked how he can say this,
given that the Saudis have
investigated less than five
percent of the killings. Video here.
Burt's answer focused on the
peace process - what peace
process? At least Burt answered,
and did not like Trudeau try to
call merely asking the question
in a lull "bad behavior" - we'll
have more on this.
***
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support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
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