UN Swearings-In Of
Officials Are Closed To Press,
UNTV Tells FUNCA Guterres Wanted
No Video
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 4– How far into scandal
and lack of transparency has
today's UN of Secretary General
Antonio Guterres and his "Global
Commnicator" Alison Smale
fallen? Guterres'
swearing-in ceremonies, which
had been open to the press and
public under him and his
predecessor Ban Ki-moon are no
longer listed in the UN
Department of Public
Information's Media Alert, and
Press questions about whether
this was an oversight (to escape
oversight) or for an explanation
go unanswered. Now on April 4,
UN Television tells the Free UN
Coalition for Access (FUNCA)
that it has no video of the
pledging ceremony. After a four
day unannounced trip to his home
in Lisbon, Guterres on April 4
at 9:50 am was set to swear in
four officials, to have to
pledge fealty to the
public: Ms. Bience
Philomena Gawanas, Special
Adviser on Africa; Mr. Sudhir
Rajkumar, Assistant
Secretary-General,
Representative of the
Secretary-General for the
investment of the assets of the
United Nations Joint Staff
Pension Fund; Mr. Christian
Saunders, Assistant
Secretary-General, Office of
Central Support Services,
Department of Management; and
Mr. Elliott Carlton Harris,
Assistant Secretary-General for
Economic Development and Chief
Economist, Department of
Economic and Social Affairs,
formerly a Ban Ki-moon official.
But the ceremony of pledging to
the public - was private. Photos
here.
It is not in Smale's April 4
"Media Alert," just as her
swearing in wasn't. She has
declined to answer repeated
petitions for content
neutral rules of media
accreditation and access. Inner
City Press was evicted, and
still restricted, for pursuing
the story of UN briber Ng Lap
Seng into the UN Press Briefing
Room. There was no hearing, no
appeal, no provision to be
restored. Inner City Press'
office sits unused by the
no-show Egyptian state media
it's ostensibly been assigned
to, leaving Inner City Press
confined to minders. It is a
travesty. On April 4 Inner City
Press for FUNCA asked UNTV for
the video of the ceremony,
similar to the video it provided
of Inner City Press' questions
and answers at the UN Security
Council stakeout on Yemen (here)
and Burundi, here. But UNTV
replied, "SG office didn’t ask
for UNTV coverage, only UN
Photo." This is a new low. We'll
have more on this - and on the
officials, several of whom we
have asked
about. Smale has yet to respond
to four separate inquiries
despite in October saying she
recognized the need to show the
courtesy of a response. (Two
days later her DPI issued a new
threat to Inner City Press'
accreditation). Guterres has yet
to take questions on why his UN
used $1 million from China
Energy Fund Committee even after
CEFC chief Patrick Ho was
indicted for bribery in the UN.
Amina Mohammed has refused to
answer Press rosewood questions.
Meanwhile
Guterres is
trying to sell
purported
reforms, for
recently in a
December 4
session of the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee. On
December 5,
after Guterres
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
dodged Inner
City Press'
questions
about the
session, the
UN Department
of Public
Information's
Media Alert
for December 6
did not
provide notice
of or access
for Guterres'
belated
swearing in of
his censor in
chief at DPI,
Alison Smale.
Photos here.
Amina Mohammed
is also,
according to
her oft-empty
schedule,
supposed to be
at the
swearing in,
perhaps
further
explaining the
decision to
close it to
the press.
Inner City
Press
immediately
wrote to the
UNresponsive
Smale and
Guterres, and
MALU, with
this: "Hello.
The UN MALU
Media Alert
for December 6
has just been
e-mailed out
at 8:12 pm and
Inner City
Press has a
question that
it needs
answered: SG
Guterres'
schedule for
Dec 6 lists
the swearing
in of three
senior
officials
including
DPI's Alison
Smale for 9:45
am. But DPI's
Media Alert
lists its
first event at
10 am. Until
now,
swearings-in
of USG have
always been
public, open
to independent
Press and in
the Media
Alert. Was
this a mistake
by DPI, or is
there now even
less
transparency
in this, as in
other matters,
by the UN?
Inner City
Press and
FUNCA need to
know now, to
plan arrival
at MALU at
9:15 am for
the 9:45 am
swearing in.
This also
informs you,
as Maher
Nasser was
informed on
the record in
August, that
the no-show,
no-question
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
al Yom
assigned Inner
City Press'
long time
shared work
space S-303
has not come
in in weeks,
and has asked
a single
question in
two years.
Reversal is
required." The
absence
continued on
December 8,
during the
Jerusalem
meeting
co-requested
by Egypt. On
December
8, Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric to
explain, UN
transcript here: Inner
City Press: In
the past,
events in
which the
Secretary-General,
including the
previous one
and even this
one, has sworn
in officials,
to swear in
their
allegiance to
the global
public have
always been
open
press.
Now they are
not. So
I wanted to
know, I came
in earlier for
the one with
Alison [Smale]
and two others
and was told
it’s closed;
but I just
wanted to
know, given
particularly
the purpose of
the
ceremonies,
not just a
handshake it’s
actually a…
what is the
reasoning
behind it? Spokesman:
I think we are
making some
adjustments,
and obviously
there was the
UN
photographers
there, UN TV,
so that
material is
available to
everybody.
Thank you."
This
transcript cut out
Inner City
Press audibly
saying, Why go
toward
being less
transparent?
to which
Dujarric
claimed it's translucent.
Inner City
Press said and
says,
murky and
opaque.
Note for
example that
when Guterres
swore in
Mohammed, it
was open
press, Inner
City Press
covered and
live streamed
it and there
have been
follow up
questions
about the cost
and
composition of
the
delegation.
Now, they try
to close the
historically
open
swearing-in
ceremonies to
the press:
this is
today's UN.
Watch this
site. The
UN has dodged Press questions
for a month about UN Deputy
Secretary General Amina J.
Mohammed signing thousands of
certificates for rosewood
already exported from Nigeria
and it seems Cameroon to China,
just before she took up her UN
position. Most recently, after
UN correspondents who tried to
help her evade the questions
declared she is being "vilified,"
the CITES meeting in Geneva
declined China's
open and Nigeria's more stealth
lobbying to close the case, and
issued a decision that "With
regard to trade in specimens of
Pterocarpus erinaceus: b)
Parties should not accept any
CITES permit or certificate for
Pterocarpus erinaceus issued by
Nigeria unless its authenticity
has been confirmed by the
Secretariat, noting that China
and Nigeria
have existing CITES document
exchanging mechanism to verify
the authenticity of all CITES
permits and certificates for
Pterocarpus erinaceus issued by
Nigeria. c) Range States and
importing countries should pay
particular attention to trade in
Pterocarpus erinaceus to ensure
that trade in this species only
takes place when Parties are
satisfied that it is in line
with the requirements of the
Convention. d) The Standing
Committee welcomed the
invitation by the Government of
Nigeria to conduct a
technical mission to Nigeria and
invited the Secretariat to
provide any relevant information
on compliance with the
Convention related to trade in
Pterocarpus erinaceus to the
Standing
Committee." This scandal will no
go away, even if as some predict
Mohammed does. Watch this site.
The UN becomes less transparent
by the day. For more than two
weeks UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric had dodged and refused
questions from Inner City Press
about Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed signing 4,000
certificates for rosewood
illegal logged in Cameroon and
parts of Nigeria and already in
China. Now in the absence of
answers a cursory review of the
UN's so-called "public
disclosure" website finds that
Amina Mohammed nine months into
her tenure as Deputy SG has not
filed any disclosure: she is not
even listed. This stands in
contrast, for example, to the
UN's envoy to Afghanistan
Tadamichi Yamamoto, who signed
his Public Disclosure form on
October 23, 2017 (Residential
property, joint ownership,
Japan; Mortgage, Mitsui Sumitomo
Bank, Japan) and another of the
few Japanese UN high
officials, Izumi Nakamitsu
who signed
her Public Disclosure form on
January 18, 2017 (Two
residential properties, joint
ownership, Sweden; Mortgage,
Handelsbanken, jointly held,
Sweden). In other murky news,
after Secretary General Antonio
Guterres went to Lisbon for four
days (while spokesman Dujarric
refused Press requests to
disclosure the cost of that
trip, like Amina Mohammed's to Cape
Town), he will soon travel
to Japan, for a merely regional
health conference. We'll have
more on this. As to Mohammed,
the export to China of illegally
harvested rosewood, reported on
by Le Monde on November 3 with reference
to UN Deputy Secretary General
Amina J. Mohammed who signed the
certificates, also involves
"smuggling from Cameroon." See
EIA video, here.
This may put a new light on the
UN's inaction on the Cameroonian
government's killings and
Internet cut off in the
Anglophone zones. Cameroon's
Ambassador to the UN, while
saying he'd call upstairs to
ensure Inner City Press couldn't
go there any more (the UN's
Department of Public Information
did threaten Inner City Press'
accreditation for Periscope
broadcasting in connection with
photo ops on the 38th floor),
also bragged that the DSG's
opposition to separatism in
Biafra led to the same position
on Cameroon. And just as UN
envoy Chambas went and preached
One Nigeria, failing UN envoy
Francois Fall called Southern
Cameroons secessionists
"extremists," on DPI's UN Radio
no less. They say in journalism,
Follow the Money. But in this
case it may be, Follow the
Rosewood, or Kosso. In
terms of money: Joe Biden
appeared at the UN on November
3, and tables were sold
for up to $50,000. One might
think, after the proved
corruption of the UN in the Ng
Lap Seng / John Ashe trial for
events in this same Delegates
Dining Room, charging this kind
of money for sitting with
a “senior UN official” would be
a thing of the past. Or after
Antonio Guterres was questioned
after taking a golden statue
from Paul Biya, the 35-year
rules of Cameroon. But no. On
November 6, Deputy Secretary
General Amina J. Mohammed
appeared, took an award and gave
a speech at an event in
Washington for which $25,000
sponsorships were offered, here,
by a publication which covers
and is promoted by the UN (while
following up on November 9 on Le
Monde's November 3 story, no
mention of Cameroon.) On
November 9, Inner City Press
asked the UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press; as you know or
you or Farhan [Haq] had said,
she just recently received the
Diplomat of the Year Award from
Foreign Policy down in DC. Was
she aware of this story being in
preparation when she accepted
the award? Often, to receive the
award, you have to be
present. How long were the
discussions? Spokesman: I
think some of those questions
should be addressed to Foreign
Policy. She was fully
aware that the story was going
to come out when she received
the award." No Cameroon. Ban
Ki-moon allowed the corruption
of Ng Lap Seng, and Antonio
Guterres has done thing to
reverse it. In fact, Guterres
left through the same door Biden
came in, one hour before, using
public funds to fly to his home
in Lisbon, using a 15 minutes
speech there on Monday to
justify a three day UN paid
junket. And his spokesman
refused to answer questions,
even about his one on one
lunches on the 38th floor, where
Inner City Press' use of
Periscope during photo ops has
allowed Guterres' DPI under
Alison Smale to threaten its
accreditation. All of this takes
place while Guterres covers up
mass killing in Cameroon, and is
prepared to be sold himself, on
Wall Street no less. We'll have
more on this. On November 2,
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric announced that "on
Monday, the Secretary-General
will be in Lisbon to participate
in the Web Summit 2017, which
brings together the leaders of
key Internet companies with
officials from different
Governments. You are aware
of the attention the
Secretary-General has been
devoting to the uses of the
Internet." Really? Guterres was
silent for example when Cameroon
cut off the Internet for 94 days
this year; his Department of
Public Information has
threatened Inner City Press'
accreditation for unspecified
violation by live-streaming a
Guterres photo op using
Twitter's Periscope platform.
But why did Guterres take this
speaking gig, which it turns out
is for only 15 minutes at 7:25
pm on the evening of Monday,
November 6? Inner City Press
asked Dujarric, who refused to
state with whom Guterres had a
formal lunch meeting in the UN
dining room with UN funds on
November 3, where Guterres will
be on Saturday and Sunday.
Dujarric replied: "sg will be in
lisbon over the weekend." It
sure seems like that's why he
took the Lisbon speaking gig.
And in fact, even before 5 pm on
Friday, November 3, Guterres
left the UN with bodyguards, in
a three-car convoy. Who is
paying for all this? On October
27, after Guterres' spokespeople
stonewalled Inner City Press for
three days on his plans for a
grip and grin meeting in a
Cameroon airport with Paul Biya,
who has killed hundreds this
year as well as cutting the
Internet Guterres loves so much,
they also refused to say how
Guterres personal, or shall we
say Lisbon-focused, travel is
paid for, and how much it costs.
From the UN transcript: Inner
City Press: If he goes to
Lisbon, Portugal, does he take
UN security with him? In
which case, where do they stay,
and what are the costs?
How are they borne? Deputy
Spokesman: However he does
his stopovers, he does it at the
least cost to the UN. And
a lot of times, what that means
is traveling with a smaller
delegation, and it also means
traveling on commercial
flights. He does take
specific steps, and he's been
very conscientious over these
months of making sure that he
travels with as slim a
delegation as he has. Inner City
Press: My question is just who's
paying for his security if he
goes to Lisbon? And also
I'm aware that he sent some
people in advance to CAR.
They didn't travel with him, but
they were actually part of the
party. So is there an
attempt to bifurcate traveling
trips so that some people are
not considered to be traveling
with him. For example, the
UN photographer, I'm aware, went
days in advance. Why was
that?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
sometimes advance teams go out
when it's needed to do
that. For us, in terms of
the Department of Public
Information, there are many
times when it's useful for us to
send our media crews in advance
to get different coverage for
the sort of pieces and features
that they do. Inner City
Press: Can we just get the
cost? It's a straight
transparency question. Deputy
Spokesman: The costs of
travel are calculated over the
year and shared with the Member
States, and that's how we do
it. All right. Have
a good weekend, everyone."
Antonio sure will - on the
public dime. Back on July 29,
the day after guilty verdicts on
six counts of UN
bribery in the case of Ng
Lap Seng, UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres flew to Split
for a seven day vacation on the
Dalmatian islands, according to
sources there. Guterres'
spokespeople did not disclose
the travel or any week-long
absence to the press covering
the UN, at least not to the
Press evicted and still
restricted for covering Ng's
bribery. This lack of
transparency stands in contrast
to the executive branch in
Washington and even New York
routinely disclosing travel
including vacation travel. But
the UN has no press protections
either - Guterres has been asked.
Meanwhile his spokespeople says
the UN should get paid for the
UNreformed corruption shown in
the Ng trial and verdict. We'll
have more on this. When UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on July 27 had a brief
meeting with Qatar's Foreign
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar
state media and other UN based
photographers went up. Alamy
photos here.
There were complaints how short
the handshake was; Inner City
Press noted that on the UN side
of the table were only four
people, all men, including
Jeffrey Feltman. Periscope video
here.
Guterres was scheduled to be at
another meeting in 25 minutes
time. So will the UN help solve
the stand-off in the Gulf? It
seems unlikely. The UN never
answered Inner City Press'
questions of if Feltman had
visited Saudi Arabia and if not,
why not. Back on July 19
Guterres.had a meeting and photo
op with Spain's Foreign Minister
Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo.
Inner City Press went to cover
it, Alamy photos here,
Periscope video here
including of whether Dastis
should write "una poema"
in the UN visitors' book. Inner
City Press barely arriving on
time due to the crowd of
tourists at the UN's visitors
entrance. It has been this way
since Spain's now-gone Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press
evicted from and still
restricted at the UN after Inner
City Press asked
her about attending indicted
Macau-based businessman Ng Lap
Seng's South South Awards, and
allowing Ng fundees improper
events in the UN. Although
Guterres did not continue
Gallach's contract - she lobbied
to stay, but failed - her
negative impacts are still in
evidence. The Spanish Mission to
the UN, now off the Security
Council, likewise did nothing to
reign Gallach in. But surely
they are lobbying Guterres to
get another Under Secretary
General position, even as their
Fernando Arias Gonzalez runs
against six others to head the
Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons. We'll have
more on this. The day before on
July 18 Guterres had a meeting
and photo op with the Dominican
Republic's Foreign Minister
Miguel Vargas Maldonado (Alamy
photos here,
Periscope video here);
it came one day after in the UN
bribery case against Ng Lap Seng
a video of then then-President
Leonel
Fernandez
Reyna visiting
South South
News near the
UN was
discussed.
That video is
here.
South South
News was a
bribery
conduit, its
funds used for
gambling by
Dominican
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Francis
Lorenzo in Las
Vegas and
Atlantic City
while the UN's
Department of
Public
Information
let SSN's
content into
UNTV archives
and let Ng
fundees have
impermissible
events in the
UN. On July
18, Guterres'
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
yes or no
questions
about South
South News and
the UN. After
the July 18
photo op,
Inner City
Press had
nowhere to
edit - for
seeking to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in
pursuing the
UN / SSN
corruption
story, Inner
City Press was
evicted and still
restricted.
The 38th
floor apparently loves it.
On July 10 Guterres has a photo
op with Colombia's Foreign
Minister Maria Angela Holguin
Cuellar. It was supposed to be
in his office in UN Headquarters
at 4:30 pm. But on little notice
he moved it to his - make that,
the UN and the public's -
mansion on Sutton Place and 57th
Street, at 4 pm. Inner City
Press jumped on the city bus up
First Avenue, broadcasting a
Periscope video about the
change, when suddenly it was urged
to stop broadcasting by a
board member of the UN
Correspondents Association,
which Guterres' deputy spoke
before last week and whose
former president Giampaolo
Pioli's Hampton's gratiuty-fest
the UN acting head of Public
Information Maher
Nasser attended, the UN
Censorship Alliance. This is
today's UN. Still, up on Sutton
Place UN Security brought up a
sniffing dog in a UN 4x4, and
two quick photos were allowed
before Guterres escorted Holguin
onto "his" elevator. Back
at the UN, the door to the UN
Security Council stakeout was
locked, and the turnstile where
targeting Inner City Press' ID
pass no longer works was guarded
by new UN Security who didn't
even recognize the UN minder.
Still, we got this
Periscope, despite UN censorship
which continues.
***
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