UNITED NATIONS
GATE, May 9
– Inner City Press on
July 5 was banned from
entering the UN, the day
after it filed a
criminal complaint
against UN Security for
physically removing it
from covering the
meeting about the UN
Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' $6.7
billion peacekeeping
budget, as witnessed and
essentially cheered on
by senior UN official
Christian Saunders,
tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and
intentionally twisting
his arm and slamming
shut and damaging his
laptop. On August 17,
Guterres' Global
Communicator Alison
Smale issued a letter
banning Inner City Press
from the UN - for life.
With no due process. She
and Guterres have put
the UN in the US Press
Freedom Tracker, here.
Smale said,
again, that the UN would
answer Press questions
to the Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric and
his Office; Dujarric said the
same on
camera.
On May
9
more than three
hours
before a
UN
noon briefing in
which Dujarric's
Deputy Farhan Haq,
confirming
what Inner
City Press
reported days
ago that
Alison
Smale will
belatedly be
leaving the UN
before
the next UN
General
Assembly High
Level
Week,
Inner
City Press submitted 810
questions, including why
it continues to be
lawlessly banned
from entering to ask
questions in person:
"There are more
than 500+
questions UNanswered.
And Monday Sept 17,
Tuesday Sept 18, Wed
Sept 19 and Thurs
and Fri Sept 21, that
whole week, no questions
answered. Nor Sept 25,
nor 28th - nor October 2
nor 3. While
appreciating and using
what was belatedly sent
on May 8 about sexual
exploitation
allegations and on March
28 in partial request to
Inner City Press'
questions about the UN
bribery sentence of
Patrick Ho of CEFC and
CEFC's 2018 attempt to
buy the oil company of
Gulbenkian Foundation
which paid the SG, no
answers on Dec 17 or 18
or 19 or 20 or 21 -
another FIVE days in a
row, even as SG's direct
conflicts of interest
and failure to disclose
emerge, and a newest
low. No answers on
January 30 nor 31 nor
February 1 nor 4 nor 5
nor 6 nor 7 nor 11 nor
12 nor 13 nor 14 nor 15
nor 18 nor 19 nor 20 nor
21 nor 22 nor 25 nor 26
nor 27 nor March 1 - 27
(!) And
now April
1, 3-30 (one
answer
in the
entire month -
corrupt), and
now May
1-9.
No answers at all during
those four days of the
US v Ho trial showing
corruption in the UN
says it all. This ban is
just censorship - and
Inner City Press must be
allowed back into the
noon briefing to ask its
questions in person and
follow up on
them.
May
9-1: On Cambodia, what
is the SG's comment and
action if any on that
Sam Rainsy, the “acting
president” of the
Supreme Court-dissolved
Cambodia National Rescue
Party, was sentenced to
a total of eight years
in prison on two
charges, with security
forces ordered to arrest
and throw him in
jail?
May
9-2: On Sudan and
Darfur, what are the
comment and action of
the SG, his joint AU
SRSG and Mission on that
on May 4, residents of
the Otash displaced
person’s camp joined
protests in Nyala, the
capital of South Darfur.
Government forces, which
according to witnesses
included the Rapid
Support Forces (RSF), a
paramilitary group
responsible for grave
crimes in Darfur,
Southern Kordofan, and
Blue Nile over the past
five years, tried to
disperse the protesters
by beating and shooting
live bullets and teargas
at them, reportedly
killing an 18-year old
and injuring others in
the process. Days
earlier, media reported
RSF soldiers used
violence to break up
protests in Zalingei,
Central Darfur?
May
9-3: On South Sudan,
what are the comments,
actions and involvement
if any of the SG, his
SRSG and Mission,
military troops occupied
the Freedom Square late
Tuesday evening in an
attempt to prevent
anti-government protests
called by the
youth. The
country's youth in
diaspora and at home are
mobilizing across the
country and through
social media demanding
the toppling of
President Salva Kiir's
regime. Many of
the social media
messages are emanating
from a group calling
itself South Sudanese
for Change. Among
the grievances is the
government's failure to
restore stability in the
war-torn country, abuse
of human rights,
corruption and
intolerance of
criticism. The
youth have called for a
mass rally on May 15 in
Juba to launch the
nationwide protests with
the ambition to oust
Kiir and form a
provisional government
of national unity?
May
9-4: On Cameroon, ONCE
AGAIN, what is SG
Guterres comment on the
recent government
torture and murders
there and please
immediately state
whether any member of
the Secretariat,
including SCAD, has been
informed an any upcoming
UNSC meeting or informal
consultations about
Cameroon, separately who
if anyone would brief,
and the SG's position,
particularly in light of
the Cameroon government
memo about their July
2018 meeting with SG
Guterres.
May
9-5: On the Public
Financial Disclosures
for 2017 belatedly
published over the
weekend of April 27-28,
please state why UN
Women's Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka, like UNOG
chief Michael Moller,
UNDP chief Achim
Steiner, USG Mark
Lowcock, Heidi
Mendoza, Adama Dieng, UN
Security chief Peter
Drennan, Rosemary
DiCarlo and Nicholas
Haysum, is not even on
the list. OIOS chief
Inga-Britt Ahlenius
reported - why not
Mendoza? Where IS
Mendoza? Isn't it a bad
practice for the UN's
head (anti) genocide
definition official to
conceal from the public
even cursory financial
disclosure? Did DiCarlo
decline to make any
public disclosure
despite being the UN's
top political officer?
What is the even
plausible applicability
of this line from SG
Guterres' web page:
"Please note that given
the multi-cultural
environment of the UN
and the often security
sensitive locations
where UN staff are
either working or come
from, full public
disclosure may not
always be a viable or
sensible option for
certain staff members"?
Why has Guterres changed
the previous system in a
which a "choosing not to
disclose" statement was
upload and listed, to
one which helps conceal
who reports and who does
not? Again, state
why considering the UN
bribery conviction of
Patrick Ho of CEFC, and
CEFC's attempt to
purchase the oil company
of Gulbenkian Foundation
which paid Mr. Guterres
in 2016 was omitted from
his online public
financial disclosure
covering 2016, and why
Guterres has not even
started an audit of CEFC
in the UN.
May
9-6: With the SG at the
CEB, what is his comment
and action on the
internal complaint at
the World Health
Organization’s ethics
office that has
questioned the
appointment of Dr.
Zsuzsanna Jakab as WHO’s
new deputy
director-general, from a
“group of concerned
staff members at WHO”
who “feel confused and
outraged” by Jakab’s
elevation. The complaint
alleges that Jakab,
while serving as
regional director of
WHO’s European office
from 2010 to early 2019,
was a recipient of “many
allegations of
harassment.” In
addition, the complaint
also alleges that by
appointing 67-year-old
Jakab to the position,
WHO has violated the
retirement age limit of
65. What is the SG's
response, particularly
on harassment, and
age?
May
9-7: Given the findings
about UNAIDS under
Michel Sidibe, what is
the SG's comment and
view on him being named
the minister of health
of Mali, where the UN
has a mission?
May
9-8: On press freedom
and Burundi, what is the
SG's comment and action
if any on that a senior
Burundi election
official has called for
independent media to be
barred from covering the
East African country's
presidential polls in
2020, local press and
witnesses reported
Wednesday. Jean
Anastase Hicuburund,
from the National
Independent Electoral
Commission, urged that
official steps be taken
to "block the way for
those media who do not
want to follow the path
taken by the
government". "They
have done everything to
bring the country to its
knees," he told an
audience of journalists
and civil society groups
in Bujumbura. The
comments were reported
by SOS Media Burundi?
What is each of yours -
particularly the SG's -
response to the letter
written and sent by
Burundi activist Manisha
Lievin? To the April 15
letter to the SG, DSG
and USG Smale for which
receipt has not even
been acknowledged, other
than a single lawless
line from MALU: "Your
media accreditation
request, with reference
no: M66561081, has been
declined"? This is a
formal request for the
UN's explanation of
grounds for this denied,
and since SGcentral, the
SG's chief of staff and
Deputy SG and USG Smale
haven't even confirmed
receipt of the April 15
letter much less
responded, for
reconsideration. AGAIN,
immediately explain how
it is legitimate to ban
from enter into the UN
the media that has been
asking about these and
other questions, with no
hearing or appeal.
May
7-1: On Tanzania,
what is the SG's comment
and action if any on
that an outspoken critic
of President John
Magufuli is missing
after being snatched off
the road by armed men in
the country's far
south?
May
6-3: On Fiji, in the run
up to SG Guterres' visit
there, what is his
comment and action if
any on that more than
thirty union members
were in police custody
overnight including the
national secretary of
the Fiji Trades Union
Congress, Felix
Anthony?
May
3-6: On press freedom
and the African
continent, beyond what
SG Guterres has remained
silent on in Cameroon,
what are his belated
comments and actions if
any on, for example,
that two journalists
from the Comores,
Abdallah Abdou Hassane
and Oubeidillah
Mchangama, working for
critical news outlet
FCFK, were arrested and
are facing multiple
charges including
defamation, disturbing
public order, incitement
to violence, offence
against the head of
state, insulting the
magistrate, and forgery?
Two popular bloggers in
Mauritania, Abderrahmane
Weddady and Sheikh Ould
Jiddou were detained for
republishing and
commenting on a story
that had made the
headlines in various
international media
outlets. In
Harare, Lovejoy
Mutongwiza, a reporter
with 263Chat, was taking
pictures of a joint
operation by the ZRP
working with the Harare
municipal police to
arrest vendors operating
in the vicinity of the
263Chat offices. Lovejoy
reports that he was
pursued into the media
outlet's offices, after
which officers of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP) intentionally shot
three teargas canisters
into the offices, one of
which hit Mutongwiza,
and then barricaded the
doors, preventing staff
from escaping. Misa
Zimbabwe has condemned
the police actions?
May
2-1: On Indonesia, what
is the SG's comment and
action if any on the
human rights lawyers
taking the Indonesian
police to court on
behalf of West Papuans,
in an unprecedented
civil case over what she
claims is the illegal
takeover of an activist
group’s headquarters?
May
1-1: Please immediately
state to WHOM in the
Chinese government
Antonio Guterres claims
to have raised that
government's abuse of
the Uighurs, given that
the claim Guterres
raised the issue to Xi
has had to be retracted
- although this false
information remains
online in many places
including TIME and the
South China Morning
Post, and state what if
anything the UN is doing
to having this false
information about
Guterres and Xi
corrected /
clarified.
April
30-2: On Cameroon, along
with the many unanswered
Inner City Press
questions, please state
whether as before DSG
Amina J Mohammed and
chef de cabinet Viotti
will be attending the La
Republique du Cameroun
National Day, if so what
they will say given
Biya's ongoing
killings.
April
4-2: On UN bribery and
censorship, what now is
the SG's comment and
response to the April 3
article in Serbia about
CEFC which Mr Guterres
has refused to audit -
and about his refusal to
answer, and censorship
of Press "Guteres had
and had his own
financial link with the
CEFC, through the
Gulbenkian Foundation.
On the orders of
Guteres, on June 22 and
July 3, 2018, the
security came to me, and
I was banned from
reporting from the UN.
In fact, Gutereš took
advantage of his
security from the UN to
distance me from his
speech at the Park East
Synagogue, and recently
physically stopped me
while he entered the
mosque in 96th
Street" and now this
- "Patrick
Ho, a businessman who
was sentenced to three
years in prison for his
role in the world's
corrupting affair,
claims investigative
journalist Matthew
Russell Li in the
documentary "Hong Kong
Connection, Patrick Ho's
List." Li, in a
documentary broadcast on
the Hong Kong
Radio-Television portal,
revealed Jeremic's role
in this affair, a tens
of millions of dollars,
as well as his private
dilutes, which he made
while serving as the
chairman of the United
Nations General
Assembly. -
Jeremic's testimony at
the Ho trial was
problematic because he
turned out to be working
for "CEFC Energy" (a
Chinese conglomerate led
by Ho, prim. Aut.) While
serving as the chairman
of the UN General
Assembly. He took their
money, exchanged e-mails
with them ... He did
many things. It is
surprising to me that
the focus of the
prosecution was at Ho.
The prosecutors used his
testimony to show how Ho
established a
relationship, and in
fact what Jeremic was
doing might be worse for
the public - Li
said.
Investigative reporters
also uncovered the flows
of money flowing to
Jeremic's accounts. Hoov
CEFC paid Jeremic as a
consultant a total of $
5.3 million. It turns
out that some companies
that paid this money are
completely phantom,
because they do not
exist at the registered
addresses at all."
As always, what is the
process of appealing or
getting a hearing on the
now 274 day ban amid
this questions, or
process to reapply which
was denied summarily on
2 January 2019? How is
this not
censorship?) and
the translated 22 minute
documentary about
Patrick Ho and CEFC's
bribes through the UN
including Mr. Guterres'
refusal to answer Inner
City Press' question on
it on 5 December 2018,
and that Inner City
Press for allegedly not
complying with interview
"rules" has been
disqualified from
reporting within the
UN? Again,
the sentencing
memorandum includes
quotes from his e-mails
regarding aiming to
violate sanctions and
deal in arms not only to
Chad but also South
Sudan, Libya &
Qatar. What is the SG's
comment and action?
Again, why has no audit
even been begun of CEFC,
at least like the one
Mr. Guterres'
predecessor did of Ng
Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip
Foundation? Why did Mr
Guterres omit payments
from Gulbenkian
Foundation, which sought
to sell its oil company
Partex to CEFC China
Energy, from his public
financial disclosure
covering 2016?
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