UNITED
NATIONS,
August 12 --
After the Sri
Lankan Army
shot and
killed
protesters of
water poisoned
by the Hayleys
conglomerate
in Weliweriya,
Inner City
Press has
twice asked
the UN in New
York if
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
any comment.
After
not being
allowed to ask
this Sri Lanka
question on
August 1, on
August 2 Ban's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said he'd
check if there
was a comment.
When Inner
City Press
asked again,
Ban's
Associate
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq on
August 9 told
Inner City
Press, still
no comment.
See August
9 video here,
from Minute
5:02.
On
August 10, a
Buddhist mob
attacked a
mosque in the
Grandpass
section of
Colombo, and
after that a
curfew was
declared.
The UN
in Sri Lanka
convened on a
meeting on
August 12.
What was it
about? It was
"Meet the RC"
(Resident
Coordinator
Mr. Nandy.)
And what did
the UN's Mr.
Nandy speak
about? He read
from UN
scripts about
Youth Day; he
gave "stress
relief"
suggestions:
go for a run,
do tai chi. Is
mosque burning
a stress
relief
technique?
Killing
civilians?
These
answers
debased the UN
system. Not
only UNDP in
Sri Lanka, but
other agencies
like UNFPA's
Lene
Christiansen
and UNICEF's
Reza Hossaini,
got in on the
act. Certainly
there are
constraints in
being the UN
in today's Sri
Lanka. But the
UN in New
York's no
comment on the
live fire, and
silence on the
mosque attack,
put these
agencies in
this absurd
position.
Thirty
seven days
ago, Ban's
deputy Jan
Eliasson told
Inner City
Press he was
near to
completing his
report on what
the UN should
learn from its
actions (and
inaction)
during the
slaughter in
Sri Lanka in
2008 and 2009.
On
August 2, as
it had tried
to on August
1, Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky for
the status of
the report,
and if and
when it will
be made
public.
Video
here, from
Minute 13:43.
Nesirky
said
the report has
recently been
given to the
Secretary
General, and
he is
"studying it."
He expects the
Secretary
General to
have more to
say about it
-- "next
month."
Can it
take so long
to study this
report?
September? We
intend to be
here, despite
a threat
by the UN
Department of
Public
Information to
suspend or
withdraw
Inner City
Press'
accreditation
for merely hanging the sign of
the new media
freedom
organization
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
on
the door to
its shared
office.
After rather
than defending
media under
fire UNCA
chose to
further target
it, the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access was
formed to
defend
journalists.
Now this UN
targets FUNCA.
Nesirky on
August 2, when
Inner City
Press asked
about threats
to journalists
seeking to
cover the
Commonwealth
Heads of
Government
Meeting in
Colombo. said
that Ban
thinks
journalists
should be able
to do their
work without
obstacle or
intimidation.
The
UN's Mr.
Nandy's blithe
blather about
Youth Day
echoed the
non-responsiveness
of the UN's
DPI in New
York, where
when asked
about
declining
media access
and working
conditions to
cover the
General
Assembly when
Ban was
reading
answers about
Youth Day, DPI has
entirely
ignored the
issues and
questions
from
@FUNCA_info,
and kept on
tweeting
photos of Ban,
and comments
about the
Clintons,
welcomes to
Ambassador
Samantha
Power.
Meanwhile
social
media trolling
started again
on August 10
from DPI's ongoing UN
Censorship
Alliance,
which
previously
pushed,
including by spying
for the UN by
first vice
president
Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters, to
get Inner City
Press banned
from the UN.
Without
obstacle or
intimidation.
Really? Watch
this site.
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