UN
Refugee Talk
Goes Public in
Lebanon
Through Kaag,
Ban's Son In
Law in Gray
Lady on Kenya
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 20
-- When the UN
under Ban
Ki-moon says
it is "deeply
concerned"
about a
refugee issue,
how it
expresses the
concern seems
to depend on
who is doing
the
expressing,
and their
importance to
Ban.
To express
concern to
Kenya about
the threatened
closing of the
Dadaab and
Kakuma camps
Ban did not
tap the UN
Resident
Coordinator in
the country --
his son in law
Siddarth
Chatterjee --
but left it
for UNHCR.
When the Press
noted
Chatterjee's
silence,
suddenly in
Ban's
spokeperson's
office in the
"Grey Lady"
piece of
furniture
there appeared
a letter
from
Chatterjee to
the Kenyan
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs' Amina
Mohamed.
Perhaps the
existence of
the letter was
"squawked" to
those
correspondents
whose
offices Ban
has NOT taken
in
retaliation.
But when
policy
questions
about refugee
arose in
Lebanon, Ban's
envoy Sigrid
Kaag went and
met Foreign
Minister
Gebran Bassil
and put out a
press release,
which was put
on the front
counter of
Ban's
spokesperson's
office. Tweeted
photograph
here.
As to
Ban's son in
law's letter,
what other UN
Resident
Representative's
letter are put
in the
spokesperson's
office in New
York? When
Ban's Resident
Representative
in Sri Lanka
wrote a letter
falsely
dodging a
protest of Ban
and Gallach
ousting Inner
City Press,
not only was
the letter not
put in Ban's
spokesperson's
office -- the
spokespeople
refused to
answer about
the Resident
Representative's
letter. This
is called spin
and lies and
it's no
surprise that
under Ban the
UN has solved
very little,
while becoming
embroiled in
corruption and
now
censorship.
Watch this
site.
Many
people,
particularly
those who
stand to be
most directly
impacted, are
worried about
the Kenyan
government's
orders about
the Dadaab and
Kakuma camps.
While the
First World's
approach to
refugees and
migrants
impacts more,
in Kenya it is
said that the
two camps'
closure would
displace some
600,000
people.
So when on May
9 Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's report
“In Safety and
Dignity:
Addressing
Large
Movements of
Refugees and
Migrants” was
presented by
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson,
Inner City
Press asked
Eliasson not
only about the
International
Organization
for Migration
proposal in
the report,
but mostly
about what the
UN is doing
about the
situation on
the Dadaab and
Kakuma camps.
Eliasson
replied that
“I just
received
information
about that
this morning.
I don't think
there is
anything about
turning back
or sending
back
refugees...
rather an
organizational
change inside
the Kenyan
government.” (Vine here, as Inner City Press
is no longer
able to
practically
download full
UN video,
after being BANned from its long time UN office,
see below.)
Many
have since
contacted
Inner City
Press angry
and amazed at
what Eliasson
said, asking
who could it
be who told
Eliasson and
other UN
leadership in
New York not
to take
seriously or
to downplay
the threats to
Dadaab and
Kakuma? Some
have asked
about the UN's
Resident
Coordinator in
Kenya,
Siddharth
Chatterjee --
who just
happens to be
Ban Ki-moon's
son-in-law.
As in the Sri
Lanka case, if
there is
something to
add - for
example, if
Chatterjee has
in fact pushed
back against
the Dadaab and
Kakuma orders
-- Inner City
Press will be
happy
to publish it.
For now, from
UNFPA Kenya, here is recent speech by
Chatterjee.
Long after the
May 9 noon
briefing,
delay due to
Ban's eviction
of Inner City
Press from its
office and
high-speed
line, here's video:
That
must have been
some Monday
morning UN
briefing, at
which the
situation in
Dadaab and
Kukuma was so
dramatically
downplayed. Is
today's UN
living in a
dream world or
an echo
chamber?
When Inner
City Press on
February 19
was told to leave
the UN on two
hours notice,
after covering
the
organization
for ten years,
it came as a
surprise. But
now we know
some of what
happened
behind the
scenes.
The incident
used as a
pretext in the
ouster
letter signed
by Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, Inner
City Press'
attempt to
cover a
January 29
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
which was
nowhere listed
as closed, was
the type of
principled
disagreement
about
journalistic
rights that
led Inner City
Press to
refuse an
order to leave
a briefing by
French
President
Francois
Hollande
ostensibly
only for the
traveling
French press.
Inner City
Press wasn't
thrown out
then. But
something had
and has
changed.
While
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, when
asked about
the ouster,
said “That is
not my
decision,”
those close to
him say that
this crackdown
on the Press
was discussed
at a meeting
of Ban's
senior
leadership
team.
Ban's waning
tenure at the
UN is
embroiled in
scandal not
only of
peacekeeper
rapes under
Under
Secretary
General Herve
Ladsous but
more
dangerously
for Ban the
scandal of bribery
at the UN
by Macau-based
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, of
former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe and
members of
Ban's
Secretariat.
The Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services audit
occasioned
by the
indictment of
Ng, Ashe and
others who had
since pleaded
guilty,
including
Francis
Lorenzo of
South South
News which
still under
Gallach has
its UN office,
named Gallach
as negligent,
at best. See audit
at Paragraphs
37-40 and
20(b).
Gallach
did no due
diligence in
allowing Ng's
Global
Sustainability
Foundation to
hold a corrupt
event in the
UN Visitors
Lobby, with
Ban present.
Gallach did no
due diligence
of Ng's Global
Sustainability
Foundation
sponsoring the
UN's slavery
memorial.
Gallach, who
had found that
some under her
in the
Department of
Public
Information
whom she had
ordered to
sign the
ouster letter
refused to,
said that
Inner City
Press had
broken the
rules and
norms. As time
has gone on,
she had been
unable to
specify which
rules - in
fact, when
directly asked
she refused to
provide a copy
of the rule
she claims to
be relying on.
Ban
heard about
the impending
ouster of
Inner City
Press... and
did nothing.
His supporters
point out to
Inner City
Press that Ban
also did not
speak in favor
of it. We'll
have more on
this.
Spain on the
other hand,
which got
Gallach the
position, has
as part of the
leverage it
has as a
Security
Council member
during the
selection of
the next
Secretary
General
decided to
drop Gallach
and seek to
put a
different
Spanish
official in a
different,
more
substantive
post: the
Office of
Disarmament,
current run by
Ban's senior
adviser Kim
Won-soo (who,
when asked
about the
ouster of
Inner City
Press and how
it makes Ban
looks, said
only, “You
have to talk
with
Cristine”).
But even if
Spain which
unwisely put
the
under-qualified
Gallach in the
DPI position
now sees the
error of its
ways, the
reality is
that Ban
Ki-moon's UN,
in the midst
of a
corruption
scandal,
ousted and
evicted the
critical Press
which is
pursuing the
story.
As Inner City
Press learned
more about how
Gallach got
the position,
and how she
(mis) used it,
the
retaliation
grew - to the
point of
throwing Inner
City Press'
files in the
street on
April 16, video here. Next, Gallach's
staff tore
down the sign
of the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
on the door of
Room S-303,
which opposes
censorship,
and have until
now ignored
Inner City
Press' formal
request
regarding its
office in
S-303. Others
said it was on
hold, despite
French and
Moroccan
moves. But
Gallach is
getting more
and more
desperate and
retaliatory,
and Ban still
claims,
despite the
above, “That
is not my
decision.”
We'll have
more on all
this. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
