As
UN Censors Press 2 Years For
UNcovering Corruption, Its
Censorship Alliance Is Fig Leaf
for UNtransparency
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photo
UNITED NATIONS,
January 29 – Amid UN bribery
scandals, failures in countries
from Cameroon to Yemen and
declining transparency,
today's UN does not even
pretend to have content
neutral rules about which
media get full access and
which are confined to minders
or escorts to cover the
General Assembly. Inner City
Press, which while it pursue
the story of Macau-based businessman
Ng Lap Seng's bribery of
President of the General
Assembly John Ashe was evicted
by the UN Department of Public
Information from its office,
is STILL confined to minders
as it pursues the new UN bribery
scandal, of Patrick Ho and
Cheikh Gadio allegedly bribing
President of the General
Assembly Sam Kutesa, and
Chad's Idriss Deby, for CEFC
China Energy. Last week Inner
City Press asked UN DPI where
it is on the list to be
restored to (its) office, and
regain full office - and was
told it is not even on the
list, there is no public list,
the UN can exclude,
permanently, whomever it
wants. This is censorship, and
has been accepted and even
encouraged by what has become
the UN Censorship Alliance,
which accepted funds from Ng
Lap Seng's South South News
and had Inner City Press ejected
from the UN Press Briefing
Room as it inquired into the
story. This month this UN
Correspondents Association has
partnered with Kazakhstan,
whose new media law is called
repressive and draconian, to
distribute "national
delicacies" every Tuesday and
Thursday. Photo here.
On January 6, after reporting
on this, Inner City Press in
writing asked three UN
spokespeople for the UN's view
of this law of Kazakhstan, now
partnering with the UN's
partner UNCA (for which
Guterres raised funds last
month). No answer. So on
January 8, Inner City Press
asked lead UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: I'd also
asked you in writing about a
particular media law, that of
Kazakhstan, which as recently
enacted and as criticized by
the Reporters Without Borders,
requires the permission of
people that are being reported
on and also requires the
identification of all online
commenters and the retention
of that information for three
months. I'm wondering,
you just said the UN is so
much for press freedom, does
it see such a law as
problematic? Spokesman:
"I'm not familiar with details
of the law, and I think that
the… our oft-stated principle
remains." What principle?
It's that
Kazakhstan is president of the
Security Council this month,
and UNCA is selling the
correspondents it charges a
hundred dollars to access, or
the illusion of access,
however it might appear. In
November it was espresso served
up by Italy, the country of
UNCA's long time landlord
president Giampaolo Pioli.
Now, it's Kazakhstan. A new
and peculiarly UN tradition,
of sycophantry, is born. And
the Free
UN Coalition for Access
opposes it. We are certainly
open to hearing from the
Kazazh Mission its side of the
story. But any "press" group
which partners to hand out
delicacies, and limits
information to those who pay
it money, is no press
organization at all, except in
today's UN. Here is RSF's
review of Kazakhstan's new
law: "Under one of the most
controversial amendments,
journalists are required to
obtain the permission of
persons named in their
articles before publishing
information involving matters
of 'personal and family
confidentiality.'
Investigative journalists fear
it could obstruct their
reporting, especially coverage
of corruption. There is
similar concern about a ban on
“information violating lawful
interests,” which are also not
defined. One of the amendments
complicates the right of
access to state-held
information. The length of the
time within which officials
must answer journalists’
questions is more than
doubled, with the result that
by the time journalists get
their answer, there is every
chance it will no longer be
newsworthy. Furthermore,
officials are also given the
right to classify certain
answers. Under one of the
amendments, Internet users are
required to identify
themselves before posting a
comment on a news website, and
their information will be
stored for three months. This
suggests that there could be a
further increase in the number
of people being jailed because
of their online comments,
which has already grown
sharply in recent years." But
UNCA, now the UN's Censorship
Alliance, will be serving up
those Kazakh national
delicacies for the Mission. In
other related news, Iran will
be the subject of a UN
Security Council meeting of
some type on January 5 at 3
pm. There may be a procedural
vote - Inner City Press on
January 4 asked
Russian Ambassador Nebenzia
about any Iran meeting and he
replied, "Not unless they held
one without me." Kazakhstan is
the president of the Security
Council for January, and just
as they refused
on January 2 to take a single
Press question about Africa
(the first question was given
as a delicacy to UNCA, which
allowed for questions to be
bundled in packs of five to be
evaded), on January 4 they
sent notice only to their
favored correspondents.
(Notable, given press freedom
issues there.) As quickly
obtained by Inner City Press
from multiple sources, they
wrote: "Dear friends, To keep
you informed, tomorrow SC
meets on Iran at 3.00PM, open
format. And a short
announcement, our Delegation
is delighted to invite you to
a Tea and Coffee table with
Kazakh national delights, to
be served every Tuesday and
Thursday, starting from 9
January, 9.30 to 11.30AM, in
the UNCA Room, 3d Floor,
Secretariat Building. Alma
Konurbayeva, Spokesperson /
Counsellor, Permanent Mission
of the Republic of Kazakhstan
to the United Nations." Of
what might those "national
delights" consist? When
Kazazhstan held a press
conference about its
Presidency of the UN Security
Council for January,
Ambassador Kairat Umarov began
by noting that the majority of
the agenda involves countries
in Africa: at least seven
peacekeeping missions to be
reviewed in the month, with
Burundi and Cameroon not even
listed. But when the Kazakh
mission spokeswoman took
questions, not a single one
was on anything in Africa.
There was climate change, from
a self-described syndicated
columnist. There were
questions about two
(non-African) countries in the
Program of Work's footnotes.
But not a single one on
anywhere in Africa.
Inner City Press
said loudly, “On the DRC did
anyone even ask for a
statement on the crackdown?”
Video here
from 44:15. But the Ambassador
chose to answer another
question, about an issue he
called close to Kazakhstan's
heart, then ended it.
He had
said, during the press
conference, the Kazakhstan has
energy resources for the next
100 years. They won the Asia
seat over Thailand; apparently
that didn't require political
resources, at least in Africa.
We'll have more on this.
Back in September
2017 with the UN Security
Council presidency being taken
over by Ethiopia's Tekeda
Alemu, Inner City Press on
September 1 asked Ambassador
Alemu four questions, the
answers to which sketch out
the Ethopian government's
worldview. Video here.
In response to Inner City
Press asking why Burundi,
where even the UN says there
is a risk of genocide, is not
on his September Program of
Work nor on the agenda of the
Council's visit to Addis
Ababa, Alemu said that you
can't compare Burundi to
Central African Republic, that
Burundi has “strong state
institutions.” But it is that
very “strength,” which some
say the country shares with
Ethiopia, and with until
recently military-ruled
Myanmar about which Inner City
Press also asked, that has led
to the human rights
violations. In this context,
Inner City Press asked Alemu
about the Oromo protests - and
crackdown - in his country. He
diplomatically chided Inner
City Press for not having
asked in private, saying that
social media has played a
dangerous role. On the other
hand, when Inner City Press
asked Alemu at the end about
the murders of two UN experts
Michael Sharp and Zaida
Catalan, he replied that while
the DR Congo is due to
sovereignty the one to
investigate the murders, the
gruesome nature of the
killings put a “great
responsibility” on the DR
Congo. We'l have more on this.
Alamy photos here.
Earlier on September 1 in
Alemu's briefing to countries
not on the Security Council,
Bangladesh specifically asked
that the Council remain seized
of the situation in Myanmar.
When Inner City Press asked
Alemu about this, he said he
still had to inform himself
more about that situation. The
Security Council is traveling
to Addis from September 5
through 9, when alongside
African Union consultations
the Council's member will meet
for an hour with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,
Alemu said. The Council will
receive the “maiden briefings”
late in the month of the new
Under Secretaries General of
OCHA and on Counter-Terrorism.
There will be peacekeeping on
September 20, during the High
Level week of the UN General
Assembly, and Yemen on
September 26. But tellingly,
there will not be Burundi.
Watch this site.
***
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