As
Thailand Bans Press Event
& Lawyer Faces 150 Year
for Insulting King, ICP Asks UN,
Nothing
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
May 4 – The UN is increasingly
silent in the face of the
"crackdowns" that Secretary
General Antonio Guterres urged
an end to in his World Press
Freedom Day video. A recent
example is Thailand, on which
Inner City Press put questions
to Guterres' holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric on
May 3 and May 4. From the May
3
transcript: Inner City
Press: in Thailand, an event
scheduled to be today was
disallowed by the military
junta. Meanwhile, in
Cameroon, there’s a
journalist, Ahmed Abba,
sentenced to 10 years for
reporting on the Boko Haram
conflict, and there’s an
Amnesty International report
on Nigeria. And I’m just
wondering, I did see António
Guterres’ statement. How
is the UN actually following
up on that to… on these three
cases or anything else you
say, to actually convey to
Governments that, at least on
one day a year, they shouldn’t
disallow journalist events?
Spokesman: I think on…
at no time should Governments
be putting any hindrance on
the work of journalists.
I will look into the specific
cases you mention, but I think
our… the Secretary-General’s
principled stand is elaborated
in his statement, and some of
these issues are being
addressed with… addressed
through more discreet channels
and others are being taken up
directly with Governments.
Inner City Press: I
guess in the… in the… in the
question, for example, the
Thailand one, it’s pretty
widely… it’s been widely
reported. Is the
Resident Coordinator
there? The, whoever… is
the UN presence there in the
country? Do they have a
response to it?
Spokesman: In most of
these countries, there’s also
a human rights presence, and I
would encourage you to check
with them.
Then on May
4, from the transcript:
Inner City Press: In Thailand,
there’s a well-known human
rights lawyer, Mr. Prawet
Prapanukul, who is now… who…
first, he was missing. I
was going to ask you yesterday
when he was missing.
He’s emerged, but he’s facing
150 years in jail for
insulting the king. And
so I wondered both… there’s a
specific case, but there’s a
more general principle.
What does the UN and the
Secretary-General think of
people being… facing jail time
of that length for insulting a
Head of State?
Spokesman: I will check
with our human rights
colleagues, see if they have
anything on that case.
Six hours
later, nothing. Back on March
30 after the UN's noon
briefing with only three
questioners (and without still-restricted
Inner City Press) on March 30,
the question again arises:
what is the bare minimum a
spokesperson should be
expected to do, for an
organization like the UN?
Should it include at least
providing some response to
Press questions submitted?
Despite only have to response
to the three questioner, two
hours after submission not one
of these, or outstanding
questions on Cameroon and
Western Sahara, was answered:
"These are four questions in
advance of the noon briefing,
to be answered at that time,
thanks in advance:
1) In Cambodia, opposition
leader Sam Rainsy has just
been sentenced to one year and
eight months in prison along
paying a fine to Hun Sen on
charges of “defamation.” This
coincides with the 20th
anniversary of the grenade
attack on a rally led by
Rainsy. What is the UN's
comment, and separately what
is it doing about this in
Cambodia? 2) On the DRC Congo:
1. Who found the bodies of
Sharp & Catalan? The UN or
the DRC authorities? 2. How
many bodies were found? Just
2, or 3? 3. Is the UN aware of
the status of Betu Tshintela?
Can the UN confirm that Betu's
body was found along with
Michael & Zaida? 4. How to
explain this discrepancy? 5.
Has the UN been to the site
where the bodies were found,
yes or no? 3) In light of
recent criticism that the UN
supports corrupt governments,
please explain / amplify the
UN's RC in Zimbabwe's
statement that “'Our role is
to support development in
Zimbabwe in partnership with
the government. We are behind
government' ... He said all
its efforts were done in
agreement with President
Robert Mugabe and his
government.” 4) Also, please
describe the vetting done in
connection with Sri Lanka
military deployments with UN
Peacekeeping missions in Mali
and elsewhere, given the UN's
own reports on military abuses
in Sri Lanka." We'll have more
on this.
On March 29, the UN was
providing two responses to
five Inner City Press
question, simply ignoring
questions on Cameroon,
corruption and Western Sahara?
Inner City Press on the
morning of March 29 asked the
UN's top three spokespeople
"questions in advance of the
noon briefing, to be answered
at that time: 1) What is the
Secretary General's comment on
Jordan rolling out the red
carpet for Sudan's Omar al
Bashir, subject to an ICC
arrest warrant for genocide?
2) Given that the UN Economic
Commission for Africa has had
to delay its meeting with
African finance ministers at
the Dakar meeting the 38th
floor is tracking due to
Morocco seeking to exclude the
Polisario, does the SG / DPA
think these developments move
the situation in Western
Sahara closer to a peaceful
solution and referendum? 3) In
one of two UN-related bribery
prosecutions in the US
District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
Ng Lap Seng's co-defendant
Jeff C. Yin is now engaged in
plea negotiations, as Ng Lap
Seng's trial draws near. Will
the UN be monitoring the trial
as to what it shows of UN
involvement, and what was done
regarding the DGACM official
who provided a falsified /
amended for “technical”
reasons document regarding the
proposed Macau convention
center? 4) Because UNanswered,
asking again: In Cameroon,
former UN legal adviser (in
UNAMA and elsewhere) Felix
Agbor Balla now, according to
a UK-based barristers'
organization, faces a military
trial with the death penalty
on the table for speaking out
about conditions in the
country's Anglophone areas,
where the Internet has been
cut for 71 days and counting.
Particularly given
Agbor-Balla's former position
as a UN legal expert, what is
not only the UN's comment, but
what is the UN doing to
attempt to ensure he receives
due process? Also, what about
the arrest of human rights
lawyer Robert Fon and his
transfer to Yaounde? Also,
yesterday your Office replied,
regarding the USG of DPI, “We
will announce arrivals and
departures as they occur.” Now
that your partner has arranged
a farewell for this USG for
March 30, what is the
rationale for your Office
refusing to confirm her
departure and the status of
recruiting a replacement? And
the unanswered questions
below."
To those
Inner City Press questions,
the UN Spokesman provided,
past 2:30 pm, only this --
"Regarding your question about
Omar al-Bashir, our position
on him remains
unchanged. We urge all
States, including the States
Parties to the Rome Statute of
the ICC, to abide by their
obligations. Regarding the
naming of senior officials, we
have announced two
appointments today (for the
Executive Director of WFP and
the High Commissioner for
Disarmament Affairs).
Other announcements will be
made in due course.
Regarding
Under-Secretary-General
Cristina Gallach, her position
will be filled by an
Officer-in-Charge upon her
departure while the process to
find a new
Under-Secretary-General for
Public Information continues."
So, nothing on Cameroon or
Morocco / Western Sahara /
ECA, nor other questions on UN
costs and corruption. We'll
have more on this.
Again, what
is the bare
minimum a
spokesperson
should be
expected to
do, for an
organization
like the UN? Should
it include, if a spokesperson
has no answer to a
journalist's questions at an
in-person briefing, e-mailing
an answer when it becomes
available? Not in today's UN
Spokesperson's office, at
least not for Inner City Press
which that Office evicted
from the UN Press Briefing
Room and then
the UN, and still
restricts. On March 7,
holdover Deputy Spokesperson
Haq wouldn't even explain why
he had not provided available
UN information,
video here. On March 6,
Inner City Press asked Deputy
Spokesman Farhan Haq about
Nepal. From the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: I know that the
UN used to have a mission in
Nepal, but there's been kind
of increasing problems in the
Madhesi and Tharu communities
there, including now today
people killed by security
forces. And it seems to
be politically there are
groups trying to
mobilize. So, I just
wondered, since the
Secretary-General talks about
preventative diplomacy, is the
UN actually looking at this
growing problem in
Nepal? And does it have
any idea of trying to somehow
get involved as well as
commenting on the killing of
unarmed individuals by the
security forces?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
of course, we want to make
sure that any excessive use of
force will be
investigated. Beyond
that, we're monitoring the
situation. If there's
anything further down the
line, we'll let you know at
that point.
"We'll let you know." Well,
the UN Office in Nepal put out
a statement that it is
"seriously concerned by the
escalation of tensions in the
lead-up to the local elections
announced for May," which
others (not in the UN) then
sent to Inner City Press. From
the UN's two holdover
spokesmen, nothing. On March
7, Inner City Press asked Haq
why he hadn't followed through
on his "if there's anything
further down the line, we'll
let you know" line. From the March 7
transcript:
Inner City
Press: yesterday I’d
asked you about Nepal, and you
said, you know, “I’ll get back
to you if something comes
out”. Something actually
did come out from the office
of Nepal. So I… maybe
you’ll read it from here, but,
like… wasn’t that… when you
say “I’m gonna get back to
you”, does it mean I’m going
to send you something if the
UN system provides the
information? Like, what
happened?
Deputy Spokesman: It
means exactly what it
means. We’ve been
dealing with each other for
years. You’ll get
answers down the line once we
get them.
Inner City Press: So do
you have… you’re unaware that
the office of Nepal has
actually put out a statement
about the incident I asked you
about yesterday, or do you
have that?
Deputy Spokesman: I’m
aware that they’ve put out a
statement. That was
after I was at the
briefing. If it was
before the briefing, we could
have mentioned it then.
Inner City Press: Right,
but since… between the two
briefings, like, once they put
it out.
Beckett.
Or Pinter. This is similar to
lead spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, when Inner City
Press asked last week about
the abuse of Anglophones in
Cameroon, not even asking or
providing a response from the
Department of Political
Affairs, whose Jeffrey Feltman
in a rare Q&A session on
March 6 said that ONUCA's
Francois Lonseny Fall had
visited the region. Lazy spox,
indeed. UNacceptable. We'll
have more on this.
Earlier (2016) here.
***
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