UNITED NATIONS
GATE, July 2
– 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 July 2 three
hours before the
UN noon
briefing,
Inner
City Press submitted 1000
questions,
including why
it continues
to be
lawlessly banned
from entering
to ask
questions in
person:
"There
are more than
600+
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
3-28,
and July 1,
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.
July
2-1: On
Cameroon (and
Switzerland),
what is
Guterres'
comment and
action if any
on the use of
tear gas on
opponents of
Paul Biya,
right next to
the UN Palais?
Is this
approach
consistent
with the
mediation the
SG applauded?
What is his
response
to this
Geneva
question: Was
the use of
tear gas by
police against
Cameroonian
demonstrators
justified?
July
2-2: On DRC,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on that
police fired
tear gas to
disperse
demonstrators
who tried to
defy the ban
on
demonstrations
in Kinshasa?
Opponent
Martin Fayulu,
escorted by
the police to
his home,
denounces a
"lawless"
state. In
Goma, a
demonstrator
died of his
injuries,
according to
police.
July
2-3: On the
corporatization
of the UN
under
Guterres, what
is his comment
and response
to "new
corporate and
government
marriage
quietly took
place last
week when the
leadership of
the World
Economic Forum
(WEF) and the
United Nations
(UN) signed a
memorandum of
understanding
(MOU) to
partner with
each other.
While this MOU
is proudly
displayed on
the WEF
website, it is
nowhere to be
found on the
UN website.
The only
indication on
the UN website
of this
important new
development is
a picture of
the pen used
to sign the
agreement, and
two pictures
of the signing
ceremony.
One reason for
this
difference is
that the UN’s
corporate-centered
Global Compact
has received a
good deal of
bad press. Now
the new WEF-UN
agreement
creates a
second special
place for
multinational
corporations
inside the UN.
There is no
similar
institutional
homes in the
UN system for
civil society,
for academics,
for religious
leaders, or
for youth. It
is hard to
imagine a
national
government
signing a
similar formal
partnership
with one of
its business
organizations."
July
2-4: On Togo
and the
dubious June
30 elections,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on that
the main civil
society
associations
did not have
their
accreditation
to observe
these
elections and
the
participation
rate remained
very
low?
July
2-5: On UN
bribery,
again, please
immediately
state what if
anything the
UN has
bothered to
find about how
Cheikh Gadio,
who was
arrested for
arranging
bribes inside
the UN, got
into the
building,
including if
any resident
representative
or coordinator
was involved,
and why
Guterres has
not audited
CEFC China
Energy's
activities in
the UN (while
he failed to
disclose in
his online
public
financial
disclosure
covering 2016
the payments
he received
from
Gulbenkian
Foundation
which tried to
sell its oil
company
Partext to
CEFC China
Energy).
July
2-6: On China
and Taiwan and
Czech
Republic, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that
following a
Czech High
Court verdict
in favor of
deporting
eight
Taiwanese
telecom fraud
suspects to
China, the
Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs (MOFA)
on Tuesday
(July 2)
expressed
concern about
their human
rights. In the
latest case,
the Chinese
authorities
asked
Interpol...
July
2-7: On China
and Tibet,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on that
The Tibetan
community in
Switzerland
and
Liechtenstein
organized a
demonstration
paralleling
the ongoing
41st session
of the UN
Human Rights
Council in
front of
Palais des
Nations, on
Friday, 28
June... “The
human rights
situation
inside Tibet
continued to
be concerning,
however, UN
member states
under the
influence of
China’s
distorted
facts and its
economic ties,
they are
silent on
Tibet”
July
2-8: On press
freedom, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on the attack
in Seattle on
Andy Ngo by
masked men
that resulted
in an alleged
brain
bleed.“Through
the U.S. Press
Freedom
Tracker—a
joint
collaboration
with Freedom
of the Press
Foundation—we’ve
covered more
than 97 cases
of journalists
being
physically
assaulted" -
What is SG
Guterres'
response /
reaction to UN
DSS and
Guterres'
actions on
Inner City
Press being
listed in the
U.S. Press
Freedom
Tracker:
https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-matt-lee-forcibly-removed-un-stripped-press-credentials/
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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