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By Matthew Russell Lee, Periscope I, II, May 4

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 – To head the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration (IOM), the US on February 2 nominated Ken Isaacs of the group Samaritan's Purse, active in Sudan and elsewhere. Inner City Press at the UN had been pursuing the story it first exposed of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres having recently met Sudan's Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide in Darfur by the International Criminal Court, without even notifying the ICC in advance, as required. So after the US nomination, Inner City Press visited Isaac's Twitter account, to see if he'd opined on Guterres' unprecedented move. Isaacs' Twitter account, @KenIsaacs1, was accessible to the public; he had re-tweeted about the Nunes memo. But by February 3, the account was protected, not accessible. Photo here. And now, as part of a tour seeking to drum up votes to head IOM, Isaacs has again gone inaccessible, in the private club of the UN Censorship Alliance UNCA, formerly the UN Correspondents Association, on May 4 - there, instead of in the UN Press Briefing Room or stakeout, open to all, in the private club of a group which urges the eviction of investigative press (and accepted funds from one of the NGOs of convicted UN President of the General Assembly briber Ng Lap Seng, South South News, and then arranged for Ng to get a photo with the Secretary General). It was for pursuing that story that Inner City Press sought to cover an UNCA event in the UN Press Briefing Room, and was for that evicted from its work space, and two years and counting of restrictions. Isaacs' press release said, "Open to all UNCA members" - which Inner City Press is not. There are two other candidates, one of them known to Secretary General Antonio Guterres (Antonio Vitorino) and of them presumably not: Costa Rica's  Laura Thompson, currently IOM'sdeputy director general. Would they too go behind UNCA's closed doors? Maybe one of them: Vitorino was involved in tax evasion, see, e.g.,  "Portuguese Prime Minister Accepts Aide's Resignation". Washington Post. 23 November 1997.  We'll have more on this. On April 26, after publishing the above, Inner City Press asked the Spokesman for the current PGA, Miroslav Lajcak, summarized by his Office here: "The Spokesperson was asked whether the President could take any action to make the election process of the next Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) more transparent. The Spokesperson replied that the President had no role whatsoever with respect to that process. Asked if the President had any reaction to comments made by Ken Isaacs, a candidate in the upcoming election, the Spokesperson said that migration was a major issue for the General Assembly, and IOM’s expertise on this topic was undisputed. IOM was therefore a key partner to the General Assembly – and who its next head was would be a relevant issue for the General Assembly. The President hoped that whoever was selected would share the values of United Nations Member States and the international community when it came to migration. Asked whether the President planned to meet Mr. Isaacs, the Spokesperson said he was not aware of any such meeting having been scheduled." And now, from the Isaacs campaign, this: "NEW YORK, May 2, 2018—Ken Isaacs, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next director general of the International Organization for Migration, will be available to talk to media this Friday, May 4.
The media opportunity will be held at the United Nations Correspondents Association, where Isaacs will outline his vision for the U.N.’s migration agency, discuss his qualifications for the position and recap his extensive interaction with a wide range of IOM member-country diplomats in recent months, including a
series of meetings this week that was capped by a reception for IOM’s membership, hosted by
Ambassador Nikki Haley.
WHAT: Media availability with Ken Isaacs, U.S. nominee for director general of IOM
WHEN: Friday, May 4, at 4 p.m. ET
WHERE: United Nations Correspondents Association
The event is open to all UNCA members." Well, Inner City Press quit and is not a member of the UNCA, because it became the UN's Censorship Alliance. For now we ask, what *does* Isaacs think of Guterres meeting with Bashir, indicted for war crimes in Sudan, without even telling the ICC in advance, and not disclosing it until Inner City Press asked at the UN noon briefing on January 29? Question here. Watch this site. Today's UN of Antonio Guterres, who just met with ICC indictee Omar al Bashir, and his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed who has refused Press questions on her rosewood signatures and now the refoulement of 47 people to Cameroon from "her" Nigeria, has become a place of corruption and censorship. On January 30 as Inner City Press sought to complete its reporting for the day on Guterres' Bashir meeting and Mohammed's Cameroon no-answer, it had a problem. It was invited to the month's UN Security Council president's end of presidency reception, 6:30 to 8:30 - but with its accreditation reduced by censorship, it could not get back into the UN after 7 pm, to the already delayed UN video. It ran to at least enter the reception - but the elevator led to a jammed packed third floor, diplomats lined up to shake the outgoing UNSC president's hand. Inner City Press turn to turn tail back to the UN, passing on its way favored, pro-UN correspondents under no such restriction. Periscope here. Inner City Press has written about this to the head of the UN Department of Public Information Alison Smale, in Sepember 2017 - no answer but a new threat - and this month, when Smale's DPI it handing out full access passes to no-show state media. No answer at all: pure censorship, for corruption. Smale's DPI diverted funds allocated for Kiswahili, her staff say, now saying they are targeted for retaliation. This is today's UN. Amid UN bribery scandals, failures in countries from Cameroon to Yemen and declining transparency, today's UN does not even pretend to have content neutral rules about which media get full access and which are confined to minders or escorts to cover the General Assembly.

Inner City Press, which while it pursue the story of Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng's bribery of President of the General Assembly John Ashe was evicted by the UN Department of Public Information from its office, is STILL confined to minders as it pursues the new UN bribery scandal, of Patrick Ho and Cheikh Gadio allegedly bribing President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, and Chad's Idriss Deby, for CEFC China Energy.

Last week Inner City Press asked UN DPI where it is on the list to be restored to (its) office, and regain full office - and was told it is not even on the list, there is no public list, the UN can exclude, permanently, whomever it wants. This is censorship, and has been accepted and even encouraged by what has become the UN Censorship Alliance, which accepted funds from Ng Lap Seng's South South News and had Inner City Press ejected from the UN Press Briefing Room as it inquired into the story.

When this UNCA held its annual meeting on January 29, it could barely reach quorom (Periscope here); it covered over the glass doors of the clubhouse the UN gives it with a sign board.

After UNSG @AntonioGuterres didn't disclose met Bashir & DSG silent on #Cameroon & DPI no answer, UN Censorship All… https://t.co/IpqoXqfkG9

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 29, 2018

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