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By Matthew Russell Lee, Photo

UNITED NATIONS, December 5 – When UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres presented his proposed "Management Reform" to the UN Fifth (Budget) Committee on December 4, along with the usual platitudes member states asked where the actual savings were and if Guterres has worked to get sufficient UN staff buy-in. The answer to the former is don't know; to the latter, no. Guterres' Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed, who has refused for a full month to answer Press questions about signing 4000 certificates for endangered rosewood already exported from Nigeria and Cameroon to China, wasn't there. But in the back row was long-time UN official Alicia Barcena. On December 5 Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric what was Barcena's role, and about the meeting. From the UN transcript: Inner City Press: On the idea of getting, quote, buy-in from staff or the management reform was not a rumour, it was raised by many Member States in the meeting yesterday of the Fifth Committee so it left me wondering two things.  One, there were many questions raised but at least in the open session were not answered, what is the format and timing for the Secretary-General to answer Member States' questions that were raised then?  And, number two, I saw Alicia Barcena in the seats behind the Secretary-General and I wanted to know I thought was she there as the head of ECLAC [Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean]? Spokesman:  She is there and I think she is partially working on some of the management reform for the Secretary-General. Inner City Press:  Is she still the head of ECLAC? Spokesman:  Definitely.  But she has capacity to also help as well.  Based on her previous experience, not only as Chef de Cabinet but as head of the Department of Management, I think she is a very good resource for the Secretary-General. Inner City Press:  I guess I'm just wondering because I didn't see… Spokesman:  "I don't know.  I don't have… no, it's an internal assistance, the Secretary-General has asked.  I don't have her travel schedule.  On, what else?  Oh, the Secretary-General I think spent about three hours in the Fifth Committee yesterday.  He answered quite a few questions afterwards and as it's always done in these legislative processes when the question is not… when the speaker is not able to answer a question right away, it's answered in writing and then reflected in the record.  I will leave you with Brendan." And then Dujarric ran off the podium again. On December 4 next to Guterres was Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe, now joining Guterres' Department of Public Information under Alison Smale in issuing Press threats due to coverage. Earlier on December 4 Guterres' spokesman had said he had done nothing for the past two days to look into, as he'd promised, threats in Cameroon by Monthe's boss 35-year ruler Paul Biya. There's no reform there, nor in the UN. At an event later on December 4, UN staff openly complained about Guterres' lack of energy, lack of transparency, lack of inspiration. Members states can't be as honest, at least not with Smale's UNTV broadcasting, except from a breakdown in Australia's microphone, in Conference Room 1. But off-camera amid corruption scandals and arrogance, and Press censorship, the reviews are getting increasingly negative. Now Guterres and its seems Mohammed are set up to be sold for $1200 on Wall Street on December 15, even amid these scandals including China Energy Fund Committee, just like Ban Ki-moon was, at the annual outrage in which access to Ban was sold to now-convicted briber Ng Lap Seng. We'll have more on this. It was for coverage of this connection that the UN evicted and now under Guterres, Mohammed and Smale still daily restricts Inner City Press. We'll have more on this. Back on November 10 when Guterres presented his proposed “peace and security” reform to the General Assembly in UN Conference Room 2 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.” (But see below). Then on November 10, when Guterres and his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed already then embroiled in the "Rosewood Racket" scandal touching on not only Nigeria but also Cameroon, presented their development reform proposals in ECOSOC, Inner City Press could only cover it with a minder. Other correspondents could go there freely - but did not. Even with the minder still required by the UN Department of Public Information's Alison Smale, the UN Security officer in front of ECOSOC indicated he'd make sure Inner City Press remained "minded," even as tourists wandered freely. This is censorship. Inside ECOSOC, questions included what the role of states would be in appointing Resident Coordinators? Ecuador for the Group of 77 said the process must be transparent - on a day the UN canceled its noon briefing, and did not answer Inner City Press' e-mailed questions. Mexico said it wants ECOSOC to be more of debate or deliberative body. The US spoke (briefly) against duplication and waste. In the middle of this, Mohammed tweeted about the Sahel: a robo-tweet? The duo, set to leave New York, left with UN Security and entourage, no answers. Earlier on November 10 Guterres has gotten even less transparent. When he left a media stakeout for which the day's noon press briefing was canceled after a mere three questions, none on Yemen much less Cameroon, it was not disclosed where he was going. Guterres' public schedule did not list anything after this. But it emerges Guterres is at the Lotte Palace Hotel, in the Villard Ballroom on the second floor. Previously, Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric has refused to tell Inner City Press with whom Guterres had a one on one lunch meeting on the 38th floor of the UN before flying off on the public dime to his home in Lisbon. But how could this one not be on his public schedule? Dujarric, before refusing to answer any follow up questions, told Inner City Press, "The UN70 is a group of member states and they are organizing the retreat. It’s an internal meeting." In the Lotte Palace, tweeted by at least six states? On November 9, 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.

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