By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 10 --
On Sri Lanka
at UN
headquarters
in New York on
November 3,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
about Sri
Lanka's allegations
about "blank
human rights
complaint
forms." There
was no
substantive
answer; four
days later, it
was Prince
Zeid from
Geneva who
spoke out.
Then the Sri
Lankan
government
predictably
shot back,
blaming Zeid's
statement for
what they were
already doing:
banning the
human rights
investigators.
Sri
Lanka’s
Permanent
Representative
to the UN in
Geneva
Ravinatha
Aryasinha
wrote to Zeid,
"This type of
action on your
part would
regrettably
constrain
constructive
engagement
which the
Government of
Sri Lanka has
consistently
sought to
pursue."
On
November 10,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about Sri
Lanka's
letter, asking
if Ban Ki-moon
will, for
example, call
president
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
about his
government's
rebuffing of
the inquiry
and Prince
Zeid. Video
here.
Haq replied
that Ban
"agrees with
High
Communication
Zeid that the
government of
Sri Lanka
should
cooperate" and
will continue
to urge it to
do so. We'll
see.
In UN
headquarters,
the pattern
now used by
Sri Lanka
mirrors that
used by the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association
under
Giampaolo
Pioli.
When Inner
City Press
reported as
context for
Pioli's
unilateral
decision grant
an "UNCA"
screening for
Sri Lanka's
war crimes
denial film
"Lies Agreed
To" that Pioli
had rented one
of his
Manhattan
apartments to
Aryashinha's
counterpart in
New York
Palitha Kohona,
Pioli said
take the story
off the
Internet or he
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
When Inner
City Press
complained
about this
attempt at
censorship, by
a group that
was ostensibly
supposed to
defend
journalists
and freedom of
the press,
these
complaints
including sent
in writing to
the private
owners of
Pioli's listed
employers
QUOTIDIANO
NAZIONALE/LA
NAZIONE/Il
Resto del
Carlino / IL
GIORNO,
Poligrafici
Editoriale
S.p.A. via
Stefania Dal
Rio, and to Voice of
America --
this
was used as
the excuse to,
yes, try to
get Inner City
Press thrown
out of the
UN. Here is Voice
of America's
letter,
for which it
said it had
the support of
AFP
and Reuters,
which then moved to
censor its own
anti-Press
complaint to
the UN, here.
Writing to QUOTIDIANO
NAZIONALE/LA
NAZIONE/Il
Resto del
Carlino / IL
GIORNO,
Poligrafici
Editoriale
S.p.A. was
said, by Voice
of America, to
have these
companies
"preparing a
libel lawsuit"
-- never
filed. It was
only meant to
silence and
censor. And
now Pioli
reappears,
annointed by
two year
figure head
Pamela Falk,
to take the
helm again at
UNCA, become
not the UN
Correspondents
Association
but rather the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
In 2009 it was
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon who
went on the
Rajapaksas'
victory tour
of the
bloodbath on
the beach.
Some of Inner
City Press'
coverage is here.
In
2011 Sri
Lanka's denial
of war crimes,
“Lies Agreed
To,” was screened
inside the UN,
hosted by the
then-president
of UNCA,
become the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
On
November 3,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
a new
development, transcript here:
Inner
City
Press: In Sri
Lanka,
a newspaper
has reported
that the
Government is
searching
people down
for having
“blank human
right
complaints
forms” to the
inquiry of the
Human Rights
Council in
Geneva. And
since,
obviously,
there are
people who are
now charged
with this and
on the run, I
wanted to
know: Can you
state from
this podium or
sometime
today, are
there even… do
such forms
even exist? Is
there a blank
form for this
inquiry? And
if so--
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I don't know.
You may want
to refer that
question to
the Office of
the High
Commissioner
of Human
Rights here.
Inner
City
Press: Okay.
Even if it
were to exist,
should people
be hunted down
for having
these forms?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Obviously, I
can't tell
you… I don't
know of the
existence of
these forms or
whether there
is a police
action against
it. Obviously,
it's important
that people
have the right
to cooperate,
should they
wish, with any
UN human
rights
investigation
The article
is easy to
find; it is in
The Island,
which got
leaked one of
Ban Ki-moon's
wan reports on
Sri Lanka. But
eight hours
later,
nothing.
In
the interim,
the previous
president of
UNCA Giampaolo
Pioli, who
when Inner
City Press
reported on
his screening
of Rajapaksa's
war crimes
denial film
and the fact
that Pioli
previously
rented one of
his apartments
to Palitha
Kohona, still
Sri Lanka's
Ambassador,
tried to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN,
made a new
move.
Pioli
is positioning
himself to
again head
UNCA, posting
his name as
the only
candidate,
endorsed by
Pamela Falk of
CBS who filled
in for his for
two years.
UNCA has not
been reformed
in any way
since its
kangaroo
proceeding
against Inner
City Press
resulted in
death threats.
Inner
City
Press
submitted
requests under
the US Freedom
of Information
Act to Voice
of America,
whose Margaret
Basheer
wrote at the
time that the
newspaper of
UNCA's
president --
Pioli -- was
preparing to
sue Inner
City Press for
libel for the
entirely true
report that
Pioli rented
real estate to
Kohona
--
pictured
below with
Pioli
and Shavendra
Silva.
It
was pure
intimidation
and big media
abuse, an
attempt to
censor. Inner
City Press
raised the
death threats
from Sri Lanka
to Pioli's
private held
newspaper in
Italy -- which
allows Pioli
to, for
example, make
campaign
contributions
to politicians
he is
supposedly
covering --
resulting in
yet more
threats of
litigation,
attempts to
intimidate and
censor. There
are more more
documents
obtained under
FOIA, and
audio clips,
most not yet
published.
Since
then, Inner
City Press
quit UNCA and
co-founded the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
But Ban
Ki-moon's UN
continues to
prop up its UN
Censorship
Alliance,
giving it a
big room for
free to hold
screenings in,
setting aside
all first
questions for
it, using it
to pretend to
be doing a
good job on
press freedom
and such
issues as Sri
Lanka war
crimes. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
