On
Day of UN Bribery Verdict SG
Guterres Feted By UN
Correspondents Association
Inner City Press Asking
By Matthew
Russell Lee, CJR PFT NY
Post
UNITED NATIONS,
December 5 – Today's UN and
its partners are well versed
in hypocrisy - but sometimes
things go so far they must be
noted in person, in the street
if necessary. On December 5
after an eight day trial Inner
City Press covered,
also here,
a jury in lower Manhattan
rendered seven guilty verdicts
in the UN bribery case of US v
Ho, in which a still UN
accredited NGO known as CEFC
used the UN to offer weapons
to Chad's Idriss Deby for oil
and a stake in the Chad - Cameroon
pipeline. This is a new low
even for the UN of Antonio
Guterres, who did not answer
through his spokesmen the
request for comment from Inner
City Press, banned
from the UN for 154 days and
counting by Guterres. But
later on December 5 in an
expensive catering hall near
the UN, Cipriani 42nd Street,
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres will appear in a
tuxedo as a guest of honor -
of the UN Correspondents
Association. The UN bribery
verdict questions must be
asked, and should be answered.
Watch this site. The tickets
are expensive and the guest
list is secret. Previously
this group, formally the
United Nations Correspondents
Association, took money from
now convicted UN briber Ng Lap
Seng and then provide Ng a
photo op with the Secretary
General. Who will be paying
this year?
What we
can report is that the UN
Correspondents Association's
prize for broadcast media is
sponsored - that is, paid for
- by the UN Alliance of
Civilizations, the same group
which in May 2018 canceled an
event in order to censor
testimony about Egypt, Turkey
and others. Photo here.
Inner City Press (video of the
type used as a pretext to oust
it here),
and even then how self
servingly UNCA, along with
CNN's Brian
Selter and others,
expressed
outrage.
Now UNCA
is taking their money, just
as they took Ng Lap Seng's
money then lobbied to get
Inner City Press which
reported on it ousted from
the UN.
So on the
morning of November 8, banned
from the UN noon briefing for
the 127th day by Antonio
Guterres - but according to
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
at the request of at least
some bigwigs in UNCA, the UN's
Censorship Alliance, Inner
City Press submitted written
questions to Guterres, his
Deputy Amina J. Mohammad, his
Global Communicator Alison
Smale and two spokesmen
including: "November 8-5: It
appears that the “UN Alliance
of Civilizations” is
sponsoring an award at an
event the SG is slated to
attend on December 5. Please
state whether any UN money is
being used to sponsor this
award, and what safeguards are
in place such that access to
or photos with the SG are not
exchanged for money as
presumptively took place with
regard to now incarcerated UN
briber Ng Lap Seng." More than
six hours later, not a single
answer to any of the
questions, despite Smale's
promise to UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression David Kaye that
questions would be answered.
There's more
sleaze, back in the news
again: after the Sri Lanka
government of Mahinda
Rajapaksa and Palitha Kohona,
and military figure turned UN
adviser Shavendra Silva
slaughtered tens of thousands
of Tamil civilians, UNCA gave
what was called a “UN
screening” to their war crimes
denial film Lies Agreed To.
The decision was made, without
consulting then UNCA board
members like the author, by
UNCA President Giampaolo
Pioli. Who is organizing this
year's tuxedo sleaze fest with
UNAOC? Giampaoli Pioli, and
his handpicked successor.
We'll have more on this.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office, past & future?: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now UNder
Guterres: UN Delegates
Entrance Gate
and mail: Dag H.
Center
Box 20047, NY NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2018 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|