In
UN Committee on Information,
Talk of Mali Mines, No
Oversight of Smale's
Censorship of Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope
I, II
(Egypt)
UNITED NATIONS,
May 2 – Which UN member state
spoke first in oversight or
support of the UN Department
of Public Information on May
1? It was Egypt, which
has raided websites and jails
journalists like Shawkan. And
speaking for DPI was Alison
Smale, who has refused for six
months to answer a petition
by over 5000 people about
having ghoulishly given the UN
work space of investigative
Inner City Press to an
Egyptian state media, Akhbar
al Yom, whose Sanaa Youssef
rarely comes in, and has not
asked the UN a question in
more than 10 years. On May 2,
when the Committee on
Information belatedly began in
a mostly empty Conference Room
1, the first speaker was
Japan, which has also
contributed the Rapporteur of
the Committee. In fact, Japan
used to head DPI, in the form
of Under Secretary General
Akasaka. Then, Inner City
Press was treated the same as
other correspondents. It took
Spain's Cristina Gallach,
whose dealings with UN briber
Ng Lap Seng figure in the UN's
own audit
and who had a conflict of
interest, to evict Inner City
Press, and UK Alison Smale to
keep it restricted. Menawhile
even on the second day of
speech, at least eight DPI
officials were sitting in the
room, mostly using their cell
phones -- this from a
Department that hasn't even
answered a detailed petition.
On May 2 Japan's
representative praised the
idea of dialogues in the Dag
Hammarskjold Library's reading
room, and some UN Peacekeeping
good news which was picked up
in Japanese press, about
demining in Mali. DPI gives
full access not only to many
Japanese correspondent, but
also to their reporting
assistants - this while
independent media actually
covering the UN remains
restricted. Japanese media
Sankei Shimbun, for example,
didn't even some to this
week's North Korea sanctions
committee meeting; it's
correspondent Mayu Uetsuka was
too busy writing an article
about Kanye West which, at
least as translated, is highly
problematic. Then again,
Smale's favorite Egyptian
state media's Sanaa Youssef
writes little to nothing at
all. Inner City Press was
evicted and is still
restricted for pursuing the Ng
Lap Seng UN bribery story into
the UN Press Briefing Room,
using Periscope. (New UN
bribery suspect Patrick
Ho has a bail hearing
later on May 2, which Inner
City Press unlike the media
the UN favors will cover).
Smale's May 1 speech ignored
or glossed over all of this,
did not mention the hiring of
consultants or re-direction of
funds meant for the Swahili
service. While Egypt was speaking,
suddenly loud music filled the
less than half full UN
Conference Room 1. (The
non-state seat were mostly DPI
middle level officials,
several of them like Hua Jiang
and Darrin Farrant on the
podium, long involved in the
censorship and restriction of
Inner City Press.) The chair
of the Committee joked, it
seemed, that he hoped it
wasn't because Egypt had just
cited, or hidden its
censorship behind, Palestine.
Every country advances or
tries to advance its
interests, and apparently its
state media. We blame the UN
of Antonio Guterres, which
still has no content neutral
media access rules - later on
May 1, Inner City Press would
require a UN DPI minder to
cover a meeting on the UN
second floor, while no show
Sanaa Youssef who asks the UN
nothing would not. And so it
goes at the UN, already
promoting the next
hypocritical event.
The UN's celebration of World
Press Freedom Day will
ghoulishly feature the UN
official who has refused to
respond for six months to
5,000 petitions
to review her Department's
eviction and restriction of
investigative Inner City
Press, here.
It will feature an official of
the UN Correspondents
Association, now known as the
UN Censorship Alliance -- a
state media scribe who recently
tried to cut off other
journalists so she could get
more quotes praising her
country. Here's the program:
Moderator Alison
Smale
Under-Secretary-General for
Global Communications, United
Nations Department of Public
Information (DPI)
Opening Remarks
Mr. António Guterres
United Nations
Secretary-General (Video
Message)
H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajcák
President of the 72nd session
of the United Nations General
Assembly
H.E. Mr. Jan Kickert
Permanent Representative of
Austria to the United Nations
Chair of the United Nations
General Assembly Committee on
Information
Ms. Melissa Kent
CBC Radio-Canada, Second Vice
President of the United
Nations Correspondents
Association (UNCA)
Ms. Nicole Stremlau
Lead Researcher, UNESCO Report
on World Trends in Freedom of
Expression and Media
Development; University of
Oxford and University of
Johannesburg
Opening Remarks
H.E. Mr. François Delattre
Permanent Representative of
France to the United Nations
Moderator
Mr. Ramu Damodaran
Deputy Director for
Partnerships and Public
Engagement
Chief, United Nations Academic
Impact, Outreach Division, DPI
Speakers
Ms. Marie Bourreau
Journalist, Correspondent for
Le Monde and Radio France
Internationale (RFI) at the
United Nations in New York
It
is similar ot the hypocrisy of
the UN preaching about
accountability while refusing
to pay a penny to the victims
of the cholera it brought to
Haiti, and refusing to hold
accountable its peacekeepers
who rape in South Sudan (or
use blue helmets while burning
homes in Cameroon. Amid the
worsening crackdown by the
army of 36-year Cameroon
president Paul Biya in the
country's Anglophone areas, a
video has circulated depicting
soldiers burning down homes.
Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by
many residents and activists:
blue helmet of the type used
by UN peacekeepers. On April
30 Inner City Press asked UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story
about it, in Google News.
Dujarric said he hadn't seen
the video but militaries
should to use UN equipment or
colors, presumably when
burning civilians homes down.
Video here;
from the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: a video
emerged over the weekend from
Cameroon showing or depicting
soldiers burning people's
homes in the Anglophone areas,
and what… what a lot of people
focused on is that one of
them, at least, is wearing a
blue helmet. I don't
think it means the UN is doing
it, but I do wonder, what are
the rules? I wanted to
ask you, what are the rules if
people have served in UN
peacekeeping missions… have
you seen the video?
Spokesman: "I haven't
seen that particular video, so
I can't comment on the
particular helmet, whether it
was just blue or a UN
helmet. We have seen, in
different parts of the world,
various security forces and
army… we've seen reports of
them using equipment that they
own, which had been painted
white or blue and reused
domestically. It is a
responsibility to ensure that
no equipment that has UN
markings is ever used in any
domestic operation. But,
again, I'm not… that's a
matter… that's an issue of
principle. I haven't… I
can't comment on that specific
report." Hours later, still
nothing.
The lack
of confidence in the UN in
these areas, and on this
issue, was inflamed as UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres in October 2017
stopped by Yaounde on his way
from the Central African
Republic (where the UN pays
Biya's government for
peacekeepers who have been
charged with sexual abuse).
Guterres did not meet with any
opposition figures, and
accepted a golden statue from
Biya.
Guterres'
envoy Francois Lounceny Fall
has publicly said that
secessionist are extremists,
the word used by Biya to
justify the scorched earth
strategy exemplified by the
video. Inner City Press asked
UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Prince Zaid why his
Office hasn't updated the
death figures and he claimed
it was because the UN has no
access.
Guterres'
humanitarian Assistant
Secretary General Ursula
Mueller visited Cameroon, but
not the Anglophone areas.
(Inner City Press asked her
why, here).
Human Rights Watch didn't even
include Cameroon in its 2018
“World Report,” and told
Inner City Press this is
because it does not view it as
among the 90 most serious
problems in the world.
Guterres' Deputy Secretary
General Amina J. Mohammed as
in Abuja in her native Nigeria
when 47 Cameroonians were
illegally sent back by the
Buhari government. Buhari will
be in Washington on April 30
and a protest of Ambazonians
is planned. Earlier in April,
Inner City Press asked
the US State Department about
the refoulement to Cameroon
and received a day later a
statement. But what will
happen on this video, and on
the underlying issues? Watch
this site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
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
|
,
