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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT Q&A, NY Post

UNITED NATIONS GATE, Oct 15 – Inner City Press on 5 July 2018 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' Department of Global Communication issued a letter banning Inner City Press from the UN - for life. With no due process. Guterres has 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 October 15 more than three and a half hours before the noon briefing by Spokesman Stephane "French Whine" Dujarric who has refused for 22 hours to response on new child rape charges against Cameroon "peacekeeping" force in CAR, after the July 26 noon briefing had no questions at all, video here, Inner City Press submitted 1282 questions, including why it continues to be lawlessly banned from entering to ask questions in person: "There are more than 800+ 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 Sept 6 (while you still withhold if-asked information about Cameroon child rape(s) in DRC),  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 1-2, 8-31 and August 1-5, 8-30, Sept 3-5, 9-30 and now October 1-3, 7-14 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.

October 15-1: As Inner City Press asked in writing yesterday, before today's SG meeting with Peru's FM, on UN sexual exploitation and abuse - alleged - this is a request that you immediately provide the "if asked" information about the case of sexual abuse / Rape by Cameroon military in CAR / MINUSCA with no response from Cameroon government - why does the UN keep using Biya's abuse troops? and of sexual exploitation by Peru military observer in DRC / MONUSCO just cursorily e-announced, and that you immediately provide the "granular" information that was promised today at noon to correspondents who barely ask or publish about this topic. What is being done for the victims? Also, again, what is Guterres' answer, which you refused to provide after banned Inner City Press asked you and others in writing on the morning of August 19 that you "immediately provide all if-asked and additional information about the new allegation of SEA announced of child rape by a Cameroonian "peacekeeper" in DR Congo, and why this has been left so long UNanswered - and also why previously published charges are no longer in the data to which UN Peacekeeping Conduct and Discipline points, including what if being done for these victims and any steps taken to avoid this constant repetition of abuse despite the SG's ostensible commitments. Again, are new allegations being buried elsewhere on the data page? Inner City Press is asking in writing because banned from the noon briefings and any follow up questions, now for more than a year. On August 24 Inner City Press re-applied for admission to cover the UNGA high level week; on August 30 it was summarily rejected, with no or only Kafka-esque reasoning. Today, as before none of Inner City Press' written questions, including on Cameroon, have been answered. This is a request that you immediately confirm receipt of these questions and requests. 

October 15-2: Also on UN system hypocrisy, and abuse of workers, what are the comments and actions of SG Guterres on that Lululemon, an athleisure brand whose £88 leggings are worn by celebrities and Instagram influencers, are sourcing clothing from a factory where Bangladeshi female factory workers claim they are beaten and physically assaulted.  The Canadian brand recently launched a partnership with the United Nations to reduce stress levels and promote the mental health of aid workers.  Yet young female workers at a factory in Bangladesh making clothing for the label gave detailed accounts of how they struggled to survive on meagre wages and faced physical violence and regular humiliation at the hands of their managers, who called them “whores” and “sluts”. The factory is owned and run by the Youngone Corporation, which supplies Lululemon.

October 15-3: On Sri Lanka, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa today (Oct 15) saying he will not accept Sri Lanka's 2015 agreement with the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged war crimes, as it was signed under a different government.  “In my personal view, it is not a legal document." Also, please immediately provide an update on implementation of the (intentionally?) misleading statement about USG LaCroix taking action after Shavendra Silva's promotion, on which you have refused to answer the questions of Inner City Press which actually covers the Sri Lanka war crimes and UN failure issues. 

October 15-4: On the UK and DRC, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres and separately of USG Melissa Fleming on that Furaha Asani, a young academic at Leicester University, was shocked when her visa application was rejected in August. But real fear set in when she realised Britain plans to deport her in three weeks’ time to the Democratic Republic of Congo – a war-torn country she has never visited and where the Home Office agrees sexual violence is pervasive. 

October 15-5: On Mozambique what are the belated comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that Allegations that extra ballot boxes and voting material have been smuggled into Mozambique to undermine Tuesday's general election have been dismissed as "completely untrue" by the body in charge of voter registration and the voting process.  The Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) was responding to claims made by the the two main opposition parties, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), plus four smaller groups.  Some 5,400 people are unable to vote because of safety concerns in the area they live in. It says the 10 voting stations in Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia, and Muidumbe districts are in areas that have suffered Islamist militant attacks. 

October 15-6: On press freedom and Albania, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres and separately of USG Melissa Fleming on that two high-profile political talk shows were cancelled this year after they strongly criticised the government, though the station’s owner denies this was why they were dropped; the host of one of the programmes, veteran journalist Ylli Rakipi, is among several journalists to be sued for defamation by Rama.

October 14-1: On the supposed UN budget tightening measures spun Friday in a briefing Inner City Press was banned from and on which its written questions have not been answered, please specifying which events would / will no longer be webcast, how the caterers operations are impacted given that it is supposedly a private business, how much is saved turning off the fountain and, again, how much it costs to have recently hired Peter Reid and Zoe Paxton and how this is not rank hypcrisy. Relatedly, where has SG Guterres been since Friday and how much has it cost? 

October 14-2: On Cameroon, Ayuk Tabe whose refoulement from Nigeria was unremarked on and unopposed by DSG Amina J. Mohammad, the SG and USG Fleming, states that in SW and NW more than 20.000 persons have been killed since 2016, 280 towns and villages have been burnt,120.000 people are seeking refuge in the Federal Republic of Nigeria with 1 million more people internally displaced in Cameroon, and that more than 4.5 million people stand the risk of famine today in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. What are the UN's numbers, after Guterres took Biya's golden statue (where is it?) and Budget Committee favors and had Inner City Press roughed up and banned as it questioned Biya's PR Tommo Monthe outside the UN Budget Committee meeting? 

October 11-3: On Honduras on which you have refused to answer or respond to Inner City Press' as it covers in SDNY the US v Tony Hernandez trial and has asked you why SG Guterres did not even bring up corruption and drug trafficking when he met president JOH, what now are Guterres' belated comments and actions if any on that  Honduran police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas on Wednesday in Tegucigalpa who demanded the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, suspected by the American courts of collaborating with the drug traffickers?

September 4-8: Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." This is a formal request for the UN's explanation of grounds for this denial. And a demand for answer to these questions, which MALU has declined to answer:  Who made the decision?  Where is the list of those accredited by [MALU]?  What and to whom is the process of appeal? 

September 3-19: On press freedom and Cameroon, on which you refused to answer on August 13 despite saying the office was staffed and answering, now more specific: what is the SG's comment and action if any, post golden statue, to that Paul Atanga Nji, territorial administration minister, says Cameroon's journalists are becoming highly unpatriotic.  "They have one main objective, just to sabotage government action, to promote secessionist tendencies," said Nji. "I urge them to be responsible. Those who do not want to respect the laws will be booked as being recalcitrant and will be treated as such"... Now that the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled against public officials blocking critics on Twitter even if the official claims their account is private, what is the justification for UNSG Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, with the UN flag in his profile photo and Guterres promoting content, blocking Inner City Press? 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, here.  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? Immediately explain the single lawless line from MALU on 30 August 2019: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press, Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018." 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 Fleming have not even responded... 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 - and respond that Inner City Press on August 24 applied like 100s or 1000s of others to cover the upcoming UNGA high level week, including now formally offering to answer any quesions the UN / DSS might have, having been vetted and accredited elsewhere since, as both USG DSS Michaud and MALU have formally been timely informed -- and how it is possible that a media that closely covers and uncovers the UN could be denied entry, other than (SG) censorship.

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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