At UN,
Staff Union
Article
Censored, Ban
in His Circle
of Scribes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 31 --
While the UN
continues
to
preach
transparency,
democracy and
even lack of
censorship
around the
world, in two
elections held
in December
inside the UN,
disputes and
decay were the
rule, and have
continued to
grow worse
ever since.
On
March 28,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq why
the UN would
censor a staff
member's
balanced
article about
the Staff
Union standoff
from the
"Staff Voices"
of the UN's
in-house web
site, i-Seek,
video
here:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
you about
something that
some in the UN
called
censorship. I
know you said
you have no
comment even
if a
letter has
been received
by Yukio
Takasu about
the Staff
Union
dispute, but I
wanted to ask
you this – an
editor in the
Office of
Legal Affairs
Treaty
Division
submitted an
article for
the Staff
Voices section
of the iSeek
and was told
in response
that although
they welcome
it as a venue
for staff
information,
on the issues
you’re writing
about, we have
to take the
advice of
management
into
consideration
and it would
not be
published.
What I wanted
to know
is — what are
the standards
for this Staff
Voices section
of iSeek? Is
it really what
the staff
think and if
an article,
which I’ve
seen the
article, it
actually
quotes both
sides… what is
management’s
role in
deciding or
censoring what
goes into the
Staff
Voices
section?
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq:
I’m not aware
of that
dispute, so
I’d have
to check with
the people
responsible
for Staff
Voices. It is
meant
to be a place
where all
staff can
contribute
their views...
I’m not
aware of this
at all, so I
would need to
check up what
the details
are.
Later
on March 28,
when Ban
Ki-moon briefly
back at UN Headquarters
before setting
out again took
four media
questions, all
were from
Western,
US-based media,
including one
given
as usual to
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association,
now become the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
But on the
question on
the UN's
censorship, by
March 31,
there was
still no
explanation or
even answer.
Back on March
20, even as
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
refuses to
recognize any
UN Staff
Union, the
ticket which
received the
most votes in
December held
a protest
outside the
Budget
Committee.
Inner City
Press tweeted
photos here
& here.
The topic was
Ban's
"mobility"
proposal,
which is in
front of the
Committee
"without any
counter-proposals
from staff,"
as the flier
handed out at
the protest
put it.
While this
proposal would
send staff to
far flung duty
posts, the
protesters
said without
regard to
family
situations,
Ban has
advisers who
dodge his
"five year"
mobility rule
by simply
changing job
titles but
remaining in
New York.
Protesters
mentioned Bob
Orr, who has
his own
proposal in
front of the
Budget
Committee, and
senior adviser
Kim Won-soo.
In any event,
even as the
Secretariat
tries in
essence to
break the
Union, the
actions
continue. Inside
the budget
committee,
Management
chief Yukio
Takasu
presented an
update on the
Capital Master
Plan
renovation,
which the
protesters
said would
spend yet more
money on
security while
some of them
are being laid
off, pending
an arbitration
decision.
Back on March
11, new UN
spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric tried
to put his own
headline on
the protests.
He said it was
only about the
Publishing
Section --
which Inner
City Press has
covered since
the UN used
Hurricane
Sandy as an
excuse to
eliminate jobs
-- but the
problems under
Ban run much
deeper.
Dujarric
on March 10
called the
continued pay
at the Under
Secretary
General level
for Augustine
Mahiga a short
stint, closely
aligned with a
board of
correspondents
who clapped
for him, and
for Ban
Ki-moon. It's
a new
development,
and one in
which the Free UN Coalition for Access will not
participate. Last video here.
On March 11,
Dujarric
dodged on a
new Haiti
cholera case
filed in
Federal Court
in Brooklyn;
he talked
about
"protection of
minorities"
being upfront.
But on
March 10 he
said he hadn't
watched the
brutal footage
of Tamils
being killed
by the Sri
Lankan Army;
there has
still been no
comment by the
Secretariat.
Back on
February 11,
despite a
Staff Union
election have
been conducted
including in
the UN Lobby
in December,
since Ban's Secretariat
has not
recognized the
winners a
call for new
Polling
Officers went
out. This
despite a
meeting
earlier that
day at which
the caller did
not disclose
this course of
action. The
next day, UN
Security had
to be called
to try to put
down the
dispute.
Also on
February 11,
having moved
to break the
UN staff union
by citing
alleged
irregularities
in voting, the
UN Secretariat
held
a closed door
meeting with
Permanent
Representative
on Ban
Ki-moon's
"mobility"
proposal,
which the
union opposed.
The meeting
was not in the
day's UN
Journal, and
was not on
UNTV.
Then as noted
Ban Ki-moon
held a lunch
and "secret"
question and
answer
session, with
no question
about Ukraine
and the UN's
derivative
role, with
what's become
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
despite its
leadership
openly
violating the
group's own
constitution,
which they
recently put
back online,
by not
having the
required
financial
meeting in the
first half of
January, as
promised in an
email
disclosing a
donated
Samsung
television
subsequently
denied by UNCA
2013-14
president Pam
Falk of CBS.
Nor has the
Ukraine-less
Q&A at this
lunch been
disclosed to
the wider
press corps or
public,
despite a
formal request
from the Free
UN Coalition
for Access:
a tape
or transcript
of what the
Secretary
General said
today this
lunch: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgOCAllCUAAwTxU.jpg
Since the
photo shows
tape
recorders,
this is a
request to be
informed if
any embargo
was placed on
what the
Secretary
General said.
If not, this
is a request
including on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access for an
explanation,
why this was
not provided
to all
correspondents,
and for the
tape (or
transcript)
forthwith.
What Nesirky's
office did
after that was
to email out
Ban's prepared
remarks, with
no question
and answer,
much less what
is understood
as his
comments on
crimes against
humanity.
(Since Ban was
silent at the
time on those
in Sri Lanka,
some ask, is
it any wonder?
Click
here for
UNCA's
"leadership"
on Sri Lanka.)
How can the UN
cite rules
against one
group, the
union, while
ignoring them
on another?
The answer is
that the union
fights or
pushes to hold
Ban
accountable,
while the UNCA
leadership
does not. So
one is broken,
the other
lunched with.
Most telling
are direct
censorship
efforts by
Louis
Charbonneau
the UN bureau
chief of
Reuters, with
its Permanent
seat on UNCA's
board. He got
Google to ban
from its
Search a
complaint he
filed with the
UN trying to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
(mis)
using the US
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act
as diagnosed
by the
Electronic
Frontier
Foundation.
That's
straight up
censorship,
and it's
enough, well,
to lose your
lunch. But not
today,
apparently.
More
contrast: in
the UN Staff
Union
election, in
which an
incumbent
sought to stay
on despite
term limits,
there were charges
of illegal
polling, and
an attempt to
stop paying
the Elections
Services
Company.
Now, the
ticket that
came out on
top in the
election has
written to UN
Department of
Management
chief Yukio
Takasu for a
statement if
he and the UN
recognize this
union
leadership.
Takasu presided
over a
Department of
Management
town hall
meeting at
which impacts
on staff
members were
discussed --
but without a
recognized
union?
Inner City
Press is
informed that
in the UN
facility in
Valencia, for
example,
contract
workers will
re obtained
through the UN
Office for
Project
Services.
Union-busting
and
outsourcing,
at the UN.
On December 17
Inner City
Press
published the
results, putting
the document
online here:
Winner
with 430
votes:
Ticket 1 [They
have thanked
voters]
President
Stephen
Kisambira
(DESA/PD)
First
Vice-President
Emad Hassanin
(DGACM/MPD/PS)
Second
Vice-President
Leonid
Dolgopolov
(DSS/DSSS/SSS)
2d
place with 231
votes:
Ticket 2
President
Nadir
A. Dirar
Bashir
(DGACM/MPD/PS/DTPU)...
We will
continue to
cover that
showdown,
which is at
least
competitive.
Even more
decayed is the
United Nations
Correspondents
Association or
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
To compare:
while the UN
uses a dispute
about the
legality of
the December
election to
refuse to
recognize
those who came
out on top in
the union
election, the
fact the UNCA
has again
violated its
own
Constitution,
only today put
back online,
by not holding
a meeting
about its
finance in the
first half of
January is
ignored by the
UN. Because
UNCA serves
this UN.
It's simple:
the UNCA
Constitution
Article 7, 1,
states "The
Association
shall convene
an annual
Membership
Meeting during
the first half
of the month
of January."
This didn't
happen;
instead,
2013-14
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS
distributed
November 25
minutes, which
also directly
referred to a
donated
Samsung
television
which UNCA
later denied,
stating as to
the
Constitution
that
"It
was noted that
the meeting
was a General
Meeting, not
the Annual
General
Meeting. The
UNCA
constitution
requires an
Annual General
meeting that
should be held
in the first
half of
January; the
date was set
for January
14th. There
was discussion
and a vote for
a meeting on
December 5,
but because
the budget
will not be
completed
until year's
end, the
meeting will
be held, as
the
Constitution
requires in
January."
Despite this
acknowledgment
of the
requirements
of the UNCA
Constitution,
the meeting
was not held
in the first
half of
January, or
even in
January at
all.
A
Constitutionally-invalid
meeting was
finally held
-- largely
about, what
else, another
party, like
the one held
March 7 even
as the
Security
Council
meeting on
children and
armed conflict
continued.
Reporting
on the
Security
Council is
undermine by
UNCA's laxity:
there are
fewer and
fewer UNTV
stakeouts, as
potential
speakers are
diverted to
private chats
in the
so-called
Turkish
Lounge. This
happened on February 10,
while the
"new" UNCA fed
quotes from
French
president
Hollande's
state dinner
in Washington.
Ban's UN hands
the first
question and
more to UNCA,
which does not
challenge Ban. In
2012 its
leaders tried
to get the investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
pointing at a
factual
article Inner
City Press published
about Sri
Lanka, the UN
and conflicts
of interest.
Ban's
Secretariat
now admits on
Sri Lanka a
"systemic
failure" - his
Deputy Jan
Eliasson
repeatedly
says that --
but UNCA,
which still
has no rules
against trying
to throw
journalists
out of the UN,
nor apparently
any conflict
of interest
rules, makes
no admission,
no reforms.
It demands
the first
question at
press
conferences
even if it has
nothing to
ask, or the
answers will
never be
published.
Not
surprisingly
it is in
decay. ng
a 2009 trip to
Sri Lanka with
Ban Ki-moon
and UK
humanitarian
chief Sir John
Holmes not
only didn't
report Holmes
on the record
comment that
he deleted all
complaining
emails from
Tamils -- she
said the Press
reporting this
"ruined"
relations with
Holmes for her
and, for
example,
Reuters.
Though
over 2000
journalists
are accredited
at the UN, in
December 2013
only 111 even
tried to vote
in the three
days of
polling -- and
door to door
demands to
vote for --
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association.
Seven of these
ballots
failed. The
incumbent
Pamela Falk of
CBS, running
unopposed,
still managed
to not
get 26 of the
104 votes
cast.
But as a
result of
UNCA's "Ball"
with Ban, she
got her fashion
photo in the
NYT Styles
section and
made sure to
hype it up,
online and
in the
briefing room
before being
handed, only
to waste, the
first of four
questions on
the South
Sudan crisis
on December
23.
Falk's
vote total of
78 was lower
than the 85
obtained in
December 2011
by her predecessor,
who was the
one who first
demanded that
Inner City
Press remove
an article
about Sri
Lanka from the
Internet,
click here for
that.
The
article UNCA
"leaders"
tries to
censor
reported on
the previous
financial
relationship
of Sri Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
with UNCA's
then
president, in
the context of
this president
screening in
the UN the Sri
Lankan
government's
war crimes
denial film,
without asking
or the consent
of Inner City
Press then on
the Executive
Committee of
UNCA.
No reforms in
UNCA were ever
instituted
after this.
Inner
City Press
after
withstanding a
kangaroo court
UNCA
proceeding
quit the
organization
and co-founded
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info,
to actually
defend the
right of free
press and free
inquiry in and
about the UN
system.
In 2012 UNCA
"leaders"
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
as documented
by documents
obtained under
the Freedom of
Information
Act. Voice
of America
asked the UN
to "review"
Inner City
Press'
accreditation;
VOA
said it had
the support of
Agence France
Presse and
Reuters,
click here for
that.
The
Reuters first
vice president
of UNCA spied
for the UN,
giving them an
internal anti
Press UNCA
document three
minutes after
promising not
to (story
here, document
here, audio here).
While
he has stepped
off, the
Reuters
reporter he
supervised
(and who also
tried to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN)
campaigned to
get on UNCA's
board,
demanded on
camera in a UN
noon briefing
to all
present, "Have
you voted?"
It's as if
Reuters has a
Permanent seat
on UNCA's
15-member
Executive
Committee,
like the P5 in
the Security
Council.
Here
are the
December 2013
results,
compared to
votes in
December 2011
for the
"candidate" or
their
predecessor
Dec
'13 Dec '11
Prez:
* 78 [85]
Pamela Falk,
CBS News TV
and Radio
1st VP
* 74 [79]
Kahraman
Haliscelik,
TRT Turkish
Radio & TV
2d VP
* 48 71 Masood
Haider, Dawn,
Pakistan
* 48
[71] Sylviane
Zehil,
L’Orient Le
Jour
3d VP
* 55 [62] Erol
Avdovic,
Webpublicapress
38 Ali
Barada,
An-Nahar/France
24
Trez *
81 [71]
Bouchra
Benyoussef,
Maghreb Arab
Press
Sect *
79 [81] Seana
Magee, Kyodo
News
Members
at
Large:
* 57
1. Nabil Abi
Saab , Alhurra
TV
* 57
2. Talal
Al-Haj
,Al-Arabiya
News channel
22 3.
George
Baumgarten ,
Jewish
Newspapers,
Nation Media
* 50
4. Sherwin
Bryce-Pease,
South African
Broadcasting
(SABC)
* 51
5. Zhenqiu Gu,
Xinhua News
Agency
* 69
6. Melissa
Kent,
CBC/Radio
Canada
* 56
7. Evelyn
Leopold,
Huffington
Post
Contributor
49 8.
J. Tuyet
Nguyen, German
Press Agency
DPA
* 67
9. Michelle
Nichols,
Reuters
41 10.
Edwin
Nwanchukwu,
News Agency of
Nigeria
27 11.
Cia Pak,
Scannews
*54
12. Valeria
Robecco, ANSA
* 54
13. Sangwon
Yoon ,
Bloomberg
Some
of the elected
are new and
their
positions on
UNCA Executive
Committee
members trying
to get other
(investigative)
media thrown
out of the UN,
and the need
to preclude
this and UNCA
leaders'
anonymous
social media
trolling, are
not yet known.
(Some not
elected were
among the
better / more
diverse
candidates.)
When
the UN
Correspondents
Association
leaders tried
stealthy to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN,
and have
failed to
institute any
reform since,
it became the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Party on.
Watch this
site.
* * *
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reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
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