UN
Won't Answer
Why Told Nobel
Ramos-Horta
"Internal
Report," SFRC
"No Records"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 5
--
For ten years
as Inner City
Press covered
the UN in ever
greater
detail,
showing
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Herve Ladsous'
inept
overseeing and
cover up of sexual abuse and
exploitation
by peacekeepers,
disparate
treatment in
Mali,
dalliance with
genocide
in Sri Lanka
and
prospectively
Burundi, impunity
for cholera
deaths in
Haiti
and
until now for UN
lead poisoning
in Kosovo
and
cravenly
pro-Saudi position
on Yemen amid
the airstrikes
(BBC
here
from Min 6:18),
it was never
thrown out of
the UN.
Now in
2016, Ban
Ki-moon's last
year at the
UN, it has
been. New
York Times of
May 14 here.
This
contraction
has been
inquired into
between the
UN's "Aide
Memoire" to
the U.S.
Senate Foreign
Relations
Committee
saying there
is no written
records of the
underlying
January 29
meeting being
closed, and
Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach
telling Nobel
Peace Prize
winner Jose
Ramos-Horta
that her
ouster
decisions was
based on
considering an
"internal
report."
Before
noon on July
5, with Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
present in the
building but
declining to
hold a noon
briefing in
the room from
which he
ordered Inner
City Press to
leave, used as
a pretext to
evict it,
Inner City
Press asked
him:
"In an email
to Nobel Peace
Prize winner
Jose Ramos
Horta, USG
Gallach said
her February
19 decision on
Inner City
Press was
based an
“internal
report.”
Please confirm
the existence
of this
internal
report and
provide a copy
- to Inner
City Press -
or explain why
UN refuses to
provide a
copy. Also,
please square
or explain the
contradiction
between UN
“Note Verbale”
to US Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee /
USUN state
that there are
no records
regarding
“closed”
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
on January 29
with USG
Gallach's
statement to
Ramos Horta
that she had
and based her
decision on an
“internal
report” - and
provide the
report, see
above.
Also, With
regard to an
event in UN 1B
today, list as
“Malko
Investment
Group” with
DPI/GPU,
please state
who or what
the Malko
Investment
Group is and
what due
diligence was
done."
Four
hours later,
with Dujarric
in a baseball
cap outside
the UN "focus
booth" it must
now use to
return phone
calls - some
about Ban
Ki-moon and
corruption -
there was
STILL no
answer or
explanation,
as Dujarric's
office called
"lid" and left
for the day.
This is
today's UN.
So, was
inaccurate
information
provided to
the U.S.
Senate Foreign
Relations
Committee? Or
to Nobel Peace
Prize winner /
UN official
Jose Ramos
Horta?
Gallach
told
Ramos-Horta
Inner City
Press had
"open"
violated a
rule and she
considered an
"internal
report" --
when the Aide
Memoire,
here,
shows the UN
says it has no
written record
the meeting
was closed and
the Handbook
allegedly
violated is
not public:
"Dear
mr
Ramos-Horta,
Many thanks
for your
message which
allows me to
inform you
about the
decision I
have taken on
the type of
accreditation
that Mr Lee
has and will have
in the future.
Recently mr
Lee openly
broke the
rules that
guide all the
resident correspondents.
After careful
consideration
of the
internal
report
elevated to
me, I decided
to continue
providing him
with a press
pass that
allows him to
work without
any impediment
at the UN, as
the vast
majority of
journalists.
What the UN
cannot do is
to let him use
an space
exclusively
for him,
after the
mentioned
events.
As you can
see, mr Lee
will have a
valid press
card as soon
as he presents
himself to the
accreditation
premises.
Rest assured
that I am the
first person
to be
interested in
ensuring
totally free
and safe
reporting from
the UN HQ and
about the UN.
This is what
mr. Lee will
be able to do.
I remain at
your disposal
for any
further
clarification
that you might
need and want.
My warmest
regard,
Cristina"
But the
UN says it has
no written
record the
meeting was
closed; the
Handbook
allegedly
violated is
not public.
And "without
impediment"
has turned out
to mean "with
minders," and
even not
permitted to
cover a
Western Sahara
briefing Inner
City Press was
invited to,
only on June
10.
The
UN is trying
to give Inner
City Press'
long time
shared office
to an Egyptian
state media,
Akhbar Elyom,
whose
correspondent
hasn't come
close to
meeting the
three day a
week
requirement
and never asks
any questions.
It rewards
others like
this, while
retaliating
against and
trying to
censor the
critical
Press.
This
will be raised
this week at
the UN Human
Rights
Council; the
UN in
continued
attempt to
censorship has
not responded
to Inner City
Press' formal
requests
submitted more
than two week
ago. Watch
this
site.
On June
8 Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
outright
refused to
provide a copy
of, or any
answer
questions
about, the
"Handbook" the
alleged
violation of
which the UN
told the
Senate Foreign
Relations
Committee was
the basis for
evicting Inner
City Press. Aide
Memoire to
SFRC here.
Before
Inner City Press
was even able
to ask the
question,
Dujarric cut
it off, and
later
disallowed an
unrelated
Press question
about other UN
corruption.
Video
here,
transcript here and
below, with
quotes from
Ban Ki-moon
later on June
8.