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After
UN DPI Ousts
ICP, UN Staff
Union Says
Restore Office
& Full
Pass
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 26 --
After Inner
City Press was
summarily
ejected from
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
on February
19, the
ostensibly
deciding
official
Cristina
Gallach told
no less than
Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Jose Ramos
Horta that
Inner City
Press would
still be able
to cover the
UN.
What she
didn't say was
that Inner
City Press'
ability to
cover the
unfolding UN
corruption
scandal in
which she has
played a role
would be
curtailed
under the
proposed
arrangement -
by design.
Because
as a working
journalist it
needed access
to cover the
February 25 UN
Security
Council
meeting about
North Korea,
and only in
connection
with filing a
lawyer's
letter telling
Gallach and
the UN not to
touch Inner
City Press'
office or
files, Inner
City Press
late morning
entered the UN
with a
so-called
"Green P"
non-resident
correspondents
pass.
At the
stakeout,
after covering
five separate
Security
Council
consultations,
Inner City
Press asked
the President
of the
Security
Council for
February,
Rafael Ramirez
of Venezuela,
about one of
them, and what
he thought of
the UN's
commitment to
free press.
"I hope you
find your
office," the
President of
the Security
Council said.
Video
here. So
who is
Cristina
Gallach?
Another
Security
Council
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
what Gallach
did, ousting
the Press
without due
process, was
"outrageous."
On February
26, the UN
Staff Union's
45th Staff
Council
adopted and
issued a
Bulletin
calling for
the UN to
immediate
restore Inner
City Press to
possession of
its office and
to ensure
these abuses
not happened
again. Full
text here;
excerpts
below:
"The 45th
Staff Council
of the United
Nations Staff
Union
expresses its
solidarity
with Mr.
Matthew R.
long-time
journalist of
Inner City
Press who was
summarily
stripped of
his credential
and physically
thrown out of
United Nations
premises by
security
personnel,
reportedly on
the
instructions
of the
Under-Secretary-General
of the
Department of
Public
Information.
It is shocking
and dismaying
that at the
United
Nations, as a
beacon of all
freedoms
enshrined in
its Charter,
the
Administration
would
blatantly
eject a member
of the press
corps assigned
to report on
events at the
Organization,
in an attempt
to muzzle and
intimidate.
Such actions,
reminiscent of
tendencies
seen, sadly,
in too many
parts of the
world, have no
place at the
United
Nations. They
are
inconsistent
with the
purposes and
principles of
the United
Nations, which
include
safeguarding
the rights of
all peoples
and ensuring
due process,
transparency,
accountability
and the
freedom of the
press.
It is
inconceivable
that the
United Nations
Administration
would seek to
silence a
member of the
press and
limit his or
her access and
ability to
report on
events at the
world
Organization,
and all the
more so given
the lack of
due process
and the manner
in which Mr.
Lee was
treated,
simply because
Administration
officials feel
they can do so
without any
consequences.
The actions by
the
Administration
demean all of
us, and they
demean and
undermine the
purposes and
principles of
the Charter of
the United
Nations. Any
potential
disagreement,
misunderstanding
or other
matter surely
can be
resolved —here
of all places.
It should be
recalled that
this is not
the first time
that
Administration
officials have
exhibited less
than
democratic
tendencies.
Since the
December 2013
elections for
the staff
representatives
to the 45th
Staff Council,
the
Secretary-General
has to this
day refused to
grant
facilities and
time release
to the elected
staff
representatives
on the pretext
of an
undisclosed
“dispute” and,
perhaps more
disturbing,
because he
feels that he
can. For the
Administration
to arbitrarily
act as if
staff
elections had
not happened
is deeply
troubling and
reflects what
seems to be a
growing trend
at the
Organization.
The 45th Staff
Council stands
for the
freedom of the
press and the
right to due
process. Among
other crucial
principles,
these are
fundamental to
the
functioning of
a free society
and to the
achievement of
the free, fair
and equitable
world all of
us are working
for — Staff,
Administration
and Member
States.
The Staff
Council calls
for the
immediate
return of Mr.
Lee’s Resident
Correspondent
credential and
forthe
Department of
Public
Information to
restore him to
full
possession of
his office
space, which
he uses to
report,
immediately
and, in any
event, not
enter his
office or
touch any
files in the
interim, as
well as to
lift any
restrictions
imposed on the
performance of
his duties and
the conditions
of his
accreditation.
The Staff
Council stands
united with
Mr. Lee and
the entire
United Nations
press corps,
and
respectfully
calls on the
Secretary-General
to ensure that
such a
situation does
not recur at
the United
Nations."
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
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