Ban
Urged To
Reverse “Crude
&
Heavy-Handed”
Order To
Evict ICP from
UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
6 -- Days
after the UN
threw Inner
City Press out
onto
First Avenue
on February
19, the free
speech and
whistleblower
protection
organization
Government
Accountability
Project (GAP)
from
Washington
D.C. wrote to
the US Mission
to the UN
urging the
Mission
to work to get
Inner City
Press
restored. It
is UNclear
what if
anything was
done.
On
April 5, the
day before the
eviction
deadline set
still without
providing any
specifics on
the alleged
violation nor
any
opportunity
to be heard or
to appeal, despite
a petition
with over
1,280
signatures,
GAP wrote a second letter,
PDF here,
directly to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. It
speaks for
itself:
5
April 2016
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
United Nations
Secretariat
New York, New
York 10017
Dear
Mr
Secretary
General:
On
behalf
of the
Government
Accountability
Project (GAP),
a free-speech
and
whistleblower
protection
advocacy
organization
in Washington
D.C., I want
to object to
the treatment
accorded to
Matthew Lee of
Inner
City
Press
by the United
Nations. The
decision to
expel Mr. Lee
from the UN
Secretariat
and to exclude
him from the
access needed
by a
journalist
to cover the
Organization
comprehensively
is capricious
and targeted.
No rule
breaking has
been cited,
nor has any
process or
established
procedure been
invoked to
explain the
action to be
taken.
If
such a process
exists, or if
Mr. Lee
violated a UN
protocol or
regulation,
whether
knowingly or
unknowingly,
for which he
is to be
expelled,
would you
please inform
us at GAP or
him?
As
you
know, Article
19 of the
Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights
reads:
“Everyone
has
the right to
freedom of
opinion and
expression;
this right
includes
freedom to
hold opinions
without
interference
and to seek,
receive and
impart
information
and ideas
through any
media and
regardless of
frontiers.”
The
Declaration
is a
fundamental
document for
much of the
work of the
United Nations
and forms a
baseline for
interpretation
of
international
law around the
world. The
Secretariat's
crude
high-handed
treatment of
Mr. Lee is
tantamount to
a repudiation
of
Article 19 on
the premises
of the very
Organization
entrusted by
the
international
community to
defend freedom
of expression.
I
respectfully
request that
you take
action to
reverse the
decision
that will soon
result in Mr.
Lee's
expulsion from
his office and
the
withdrawal of
his access to
the UN
premises.
Very
Truly
Yours,
Beatrice
Edwards
International
Program
Director
Government
Accountability
Project
Watch
this site.
, 
