UN GATE, Jan 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.
The
head of the UN
Department
of Global
Communications
said,
again, that the UN
would answer Press
questions to the
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric and his
Office;
Dujarric said
the same on
camera.
On January
15 five
hours before a
noon briefing by Stephane "French
Whine"
Dujarric in
which he again
refused to
answer on
Guterres'
statements in
his closed
meeting with
UN staff in
Geneva,
audio now here,
after the July 26
noon briefing
had no
questions at all,
video here,
Inner
City Press submitted 1486
questions,
including why
it continues
to be
lawlessly banned
from entering
to ask
questions in
person:
"There
are more than
1000+
questions
UNanswered. No
answers at all
during the
four days of
the US v Ho
trial showing
corruption in
the UN says it
all; no
answers during
the Honduras
narco-president trial
while UN bragged
about taking his
money, nor on
OneCoin.
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.
January
15-1: On
Cameroon, what
are the
belated
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
on the new
threats by
Paul Biya's
long time
government
that it will
deal "firmly"
with those
planning to
disrupt the 9
February
elections?
There is
already a
heavy security
in the
Anglophone
regions - with
800 more
military
police
officers being
sent to secure
two towns in
the North-West
and South-West
provinces.
Cameroonians
are due to
elect MPs and
municipal
councillors.
Territorial
Administration
Minister Paul
Atanga Nji
urged people
to vote and
warned that
the security
agencies would
deal firmly
with those who
sabotaged the
polls...
January
15-2: On
Mozambique and
corruption,
what are the
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
on that
Mozambique’s
government has
paid lawyers
around 100m
meticais
($1.6m; £1.2m)
to try and
keep the
former finance
minister from
facing trial
in the US
January
15-3: On Egypt
and human
rights, what
are the
belated
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
on that
Egyptian-American
citizen
Mustafa Kassem
has died in
Egypt after
going on
hunger strike
in
prison.
The
54-year-old
was a New York
taxi driver,
originally
from Egypt,
who was
arrested on a
home visit in
2013 on
accusations of
being a spy
and taking
part in
anti-government
protests.
January
15-4: On
Colombia and
press freedom
and
surveillance,
what are the
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
and separately
his USG
Melissa
Fleming on
that the the
military
illegally
spied on
journalists,
and ensure
those
responsible
are brought to
justice, the
Committee to
Protect
Journalists
said
today.
On January 11,
the Colombian
newsweekly
Semana
published a
report
entitled
“Wiretaps
without
quarter: The
prosecution of
Semana,” which
claimed that
the country’s
military had,
without
obtaining
legal
warrants,
surveilled the
publication’s
journalists
and their
sources
throughout
2019 in
retaliation
for the
magazine’s
investigations
into alleged
wrongdoing by
military
officers.
The piece,
based on
confidential
documents
obtained by
Semana and
interviews
with military
sources,
alleges that
army
intelligence
and
counterintelligence
agents
illegally
monitored the
Bogotá offices
of Semana
January
15-5: On
Ethiopia,
where the UN
maintain a
large and
silent
presence, what
are the
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
on that
Political
groups in
Ethiopia have
raised
concerns about
an election
timetable
announced by
the country’s
electoral
commission.
The National
Electoral
Board of
Ethiopia
(NEBE)
proposed 16
August as the
voting date
and a
month-long
voter
registration
exercise to
kickoff from 7
April.
Representatives
of political
groups, as
well as civil
society, have
argued that
since
mid-August is
the peak of
the rainy
season in much
of Ethiopia
voter turnout
could be
impacted.
January
15-6: On
"UN75," please
immediately
state how the
UN selected
Vox to partner
with: "To
inspire and
inform the
dialogues, the
UN is also
partnering
with Vox
Media’s brand
studio, Vox
Creative, to
create a video
informed by
interviews
with 38 people
from around
the world,
sharing their
experiences
and opinions
related to
important
global issues,
to be launched
on 6 January."
See this
stating
"Client:
United
Nations."
January
15-7: On UN
sexual
exploitation
and abuse -
alleged - as
Inner City
press asked in
writing on
December 30
without
response, this
is a request
that you
immediately
provide
the "if asked"
information
about the two
new cases of
sexual
exploitation
in CAR by
Cameroonian UN
"Police" that
were put
online after 5
pm on December
30 (a day when
you refused to
answer 7
questions
including on
previous UN
rapes), and
the (Dec 19)
rape case by a
UN Volunteer
in DRC in June
2019 - what
nationality?
What's been
done for the
victim(s)? and
the Dec 9 sex
abuse cases in
CAR by Gabon,
DRC and
Morocco UN
"peacekeepers,
and the Dec
g about
the Office of
the Special
Envoy for the
Sahel, and the
two more
November 26, 3
pm cases of
sexual
exploitation
in CAR by
Cameroon
troops in
September 2019
(!)
January
15-8: On SG
Guterres' Town
Hall in
Geneva, on
which you
refused Inner
City Press'
Dec 20
question, what
is your
summary of
what SG
Guterres said
given that
Inner City
Press has now
publishing
more of it?
Please explain
SG Guterres'
statement that
interns should
not (ever) be
paid, and how
this is not
create unfair
advantage for
the most
affluent?
January
15-9: As
previously and
repeated
asked, where
has UNSG
Antonio
Guterres been
for the past
week(s), and
how much
public money
has he
spent?
January
15-10: On
press freedom
and
Azerbaijan,
what are the
comments and
actions if any
of SG Guterres
and separately
his USG
Melissa
Fleming on
that travel
ban against
award-winning
investigative
journalist
Khadija
Ismayilova
(pictured
above),
UK-based
rights groups
have
urged.
Ismayilova was
detained in
December 2014
and sentenced
in September
2015 to
seven-and-a-half
years in
prison on
charges of
libel, tax
evasion and
illegal
business
activity,
which human
rights groups
have long
claimed were
fabricated.
December
31-5: On North
Korea / DPRK,
what are the
comments and
action if any
of SG Guterres
on (1) this
afternoon's
release on
bail of Virgil
Griffith for
attending a
crypto
currency
conference in
Pyongyang in
April 2019;
(2) SG
Guterres'
"exclusive"
statement to
Capitalist
Tool
publication
Forbes about
blockchain and
why it was not
put on the
UN's website
(provide it
now), on (3)
"Before
Guterres
pushes for
more
blockchain
adoption at
the UN, he
might want to
take stock of
what it’s
already got"
per Decrypt,
and (4) this,
by the UN:
"The United
Nations Green
Climate Fund
(GCF) this
week approved
its first
round of
funding for a
project aimed
at helping
North Korea
deal with
climate
change, the
agency’s
website
indicated on
Thursday.
The program,
titled
“Readiness and
Preparatory
Support for
Capacity
Building of
NDA (National
Designated
Authorities)
and
establishment
of a National
Strategy
Framework for
engagement
with GCF in
the DPRK,”
will be
implemented
through the UN
Food and
Agriculture
Organization
(FAO), to
which GCF will
be providing
the funding."
What steps
have these UN
bodies take
with regard to
sanctions on
DPRK?
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 [and AOC
unblocking Dov
Hikind],
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.