UNITED NATIONS
GATE, June
18
– 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 June 18
more than
three
hours before the
UN noon
briefing Inner
City Press submitted 958
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 20
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
1-13, 15-17,
21-31,
June
3-17,
many
questions.
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.
June
18-1: On
Guinea, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that
between
February and
May 2019, more
than 20,000
people were
displaced
after
bulldozers and
other heavy
machinery
demolished
buildings and
forcibly
evicted
residents from
the
Kaporo-Rails,
Kipé 2,
Dimesse, and
Dar Es Salam
neighborhoods.
Guinea’s
government
said that the
land belongs
to the state
and will be
used for
government
ministries,
foreign
embassies,
businesses,
and other
public
works.
June
18-2: On the
SG and China,
what is his
response to
Dolkun Isa,
president of
the World
Uyghur
Congress, who
called the
Xinjiang visit
by Voronkov
“an
irrevocable
mistake on the
part of
General
Secretary
Guterres.”
“It is truly
shameful for
the UN that
its Under
Secretary for
Counterterrorism
Vladimir
Voronkov
visited East
Turkestan and
China at a
time anywhere
from one to
three million
Uyghurs have
been locked up
in Chinese
concentration
camps for more
than two
years,” he
told RFA on
Monday.
“This official
visit,
approved by
the UN General
Secretary
Antonio
Guterres,
allows China
to link its
crimes against
humanity in
East Turkestan
as a necessary
counterterrorism
measure,” said
Isa.
“Instead of
raising and
investigating
China’s
horrific
treatment of
the Uyghur
people, the
visit by
Voronkov
should be seen
as the UN not
only endorsing
China’s
repression of
the Uyghur
people but
rather
legitimizing
and
collaborating
with the
authoritarian
government in
Beijing to
further
suppress the
Uyghur
people.”
June
18-3: On human
rights
monitoring and
Big Tech, what
is the SG's
comment and
action on the
sudden,
unannounced
change in
Facebook’s
search
functionality:
Graph Search
is a Facebook
tool that
allowed
investigators
to find the
publicly
available
content that
otherwise
would be
buried – much
like a needle
in a
haystack.
Consider the
case of
Mahmoud
al-Werfalli, a
ruthless
former armed
group
commander from
Libya who is
wanted by the
International
Criminal Court
based on
videos found
mostly on
Facebook.
Civil society
researchers
alerted legal
investigators
after using
Graph Search
to find videos
documenting
al-Werfalli
carrying out
or ordering
extra-judicial
executions.
Without Graph
Search, we
wouldn’t have
found certain
damning pieces
of evidence
surrounding
the Myanmar
military’s
crimes against
humanity and
possible
genocide
against the
Rohingya in
Myanmar in
late 2017, on
which the SG
systemically
failed. Now
Facebook has
turned off
Graph Search,
with
potentially
disastrous
results.
June
18-4:
Relatedly, on
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
belated action
if any on for
example the
type of Biya
government
killings such
as these...
June
18-5: On UN
"hate speech"
doctrine and
Sri Lanka,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on that
reportedly
"Sri Lankan
police [are]
using a UN
convention on
hate speech to
crack down on
media freedom
and the
country's
Muslim
minority.
The police
Special Task
Force (STF)
attempted to
arrest a
respected
journalist for
his writing on
anti-Muslim
riots and
Buddhist
extremists
using the
UN-backed
law. The
STF told a
magistrate on
Friday they
were pursuing
freelance
writer Kusal
Perera. Police
have also
drawn
criticism over
the detention
of a Muslim
woman during
anti-Muslim
riots last
month. She was
wearing a
T-shirt with a
print of a
ship's
steering wheel
which police
mistook for
the Dharma
Chakra, a
Buddhist
symbol.
The woman was
held in remand
custody for
three weeks
before a
senior police
officer
intervened to
press for her
release.
Award-winning
author and
poet Shakthika
Sathkumara has
been held
since April
under the
ICCPR act for
his work
hinting at
homosexuality
among the
Buddhist
clergy.
June
18-6: On press
freedom and
Nigeria, what
are the
comments and
actions if any
of the SG and
separately of
DSG Amina J
Mohammed on
that the
Nigerian
Broadcasting
Commission
(NBC) switched
off
transmission
from Nigeria's
oldest private
television
channel and
from radio
stations owned
by Raymond
Dokpesi, a
member of the
opposition
People's
Democratic
Party, for
"inciting
broadcasts and
media
propaganda
against the
government."
Within 24
hours, they
were back on
air after a
federal high
court
overturned the
suspension.
Buhari has not
commented, but
one of his
aides praised
the blackout.
"Kudos to the
NBC," she
tweeted.
Buhari's
supporters
insist the
suspension had
nothing to do
with politics.
Critics note
that the head
of the NBC,
who was
appointed by
Buhari, is a
member of the
ruling
party.
The brouhaha
is an
uncomfortable
reminder of
Decree No. 4,
a
media-gagging
rule imposed
by Buhari when
he was a
military
ruler. It
criminalized
the
publication of
"any message,
rumor, report
or statement"
that brought
the government
or any public
officer "to
ridicule or
disrepute" —
any journalism
feistier than
a weather
report... In
the UN, what
has the
accountability
been for Lt
Ronald E.
Dobbins and
those those
refused on
camera to give
their names?
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.
June
14-5: Since
the SG claimed
publicly that
the mansion he
lives in
"cannot" be
sold, please
immediately
provide any
and all
documents with
such a
restriction,
and separately
explain why
the concept of
cy pres or
reformation of
donor intent
has not been
explored.
Separately,
Boutros
Boutros Galli
wrote in his
book that the
building was
given by
Arthur
Houghton
through the
United Nations
Association of
the USA. What
actual
inquires, with
UNA-USA or any
successor to
Houghton or
Corning Glass,
has Guterres
made?
June
11-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on this report
from Chinese
state media:
"YAOUNDE, June
10 (Xinhua) --
Cameroon's
House Speaker
of National
Assembly
Cavaye Yeguie
Djibril on
Monday
denounced
foreign
interference
in the
country's
internal
affairs which
he referred to
as
"conspiracy."
"Cameroon has
become an
object of
conspiracy
intended to
destabilize
the country.
To justify
their
interference
in internal
affairs, the
conspirators
pretend to
denounce it."
Again, how
many offices /
desk does the
Secretariat
give to
Chinese state
media inside
the UN?
June
4-3: On UN
sexual abuse
and
exploitation,
AGAIN as
requested on
the morning of
June 3
immediately
disclose what
IS the new
"allegation of
SEA" which the
UN on the
morning of
June 3
announced by
e-mail.
Clicking
through to the
UN website,
the previously
announced case
against South
Africa
peacekeeper is
no longer at
the top of the
page, and it
is unclear
what the new
allegation is.
This lack of
clarity is
unacceptable.
May
15-3: On the
Public
Financial
Disclosures
for 2017
belatedly
published over
the weekend of
April 27-28,
please state
why Mohammed
Ibn Chambas,
like the
Executive
Secretary of
the UN
Biodiversity
Convention,
Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer,
UNICEF's
Henriette
Fore, with
documented
links to
ExxonMobil and
others, USG
Mark Lowcock
(undisclosed
while the
Secretariat's
speaker at the
UNSC Arria on
Cameroon),
UNCTAD's
Mukhisa
Kituyi, UN
Women's
Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka,
UNOG chief
Michael
Moller, UNDP
chief Achim
Steiner,
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.
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