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UN "Fires" From
Kiswahili, Spokesman
Admits Staffer Ousted Feb
1, Smale No Answers
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
January 29 – How lawless, some
even say racist, is today's UN
and its Department of Public
Information? Kiswahili jobs
and funds that the General
Assembly specified to DPI must
be returned and retained are
nevertheless being eliminated
or "stolen," DPI
whistleblowers have complained
to Inner City Press. DPI chief
Alison Smale has refused to
answer Press questions; after
Inner City Press published the
story it was discussed in the
UN African Group meeting, and
is the subject of a note
verbale complaint this week.
This goes to the top: Smale in
November 2017 to the UN
Communication Group insisted
that everything must go
digital. (Inner City Press is
publishing the leaked 12-page
minutes here.)
On January 26, Secretary
General Antonio Guterrs' Youth
Envoy said that Guterres
personally told her the UN is
too analog and must go
digital. Video here.
Now, despite the General
Assembly specifically ordering
the the funds allocated for
Kiswahili Radio be restored to
that use, Smale's (and
ultimately Guterres' DPI has
refused, the staff now
ostensibly free to speak to
the press say. Inner City
Press asked again, having
received no response at all
from Smale, on January 29.
From the UN transcript:
Inner City Press: the budget
resolution that was passed says
that resources for Kiswahili
radio in particular should be
reallocated back to where they
were supposed to be. My
understanding is that this was
raised now in the Africa
group, and there's a note
verbale coming to him.
Is it DPI's [Department of
Public Information] position
that they complied with that
resolution that…? Deputy
Spokesman: Yes.
We've checked with our DPI
colleagues. Yes, they
have complied with the
resolution. There's a
certain amount of detail about
how they provide Kiswahili and
Portuguese services, but the
bottom line is, yes, they have
been working with Member
States and working within the
framework of the resolution.
Inner City Press: Are there
Kiswahili-speaking staffers
that are being let go 1
February and losing their visa
and returning to Tanzania?
Deputy Spokesman: I
believe that there was one
case of someone who had…
actually whose contract had
ended at the end of last year
and then got a one-month
extension, in other words for
the month of January, and that
has now ended. So, that
is a case where the previous
contract simply had gone to
its limit. Inner City Press:
But, is that post actually
being filled? My
understanding is that it's
not, that you're basically
going to have one of the few
Kiswahili things empty. Deputy
Spokesman: DPI is trying
to fulfil all of the language
functions within the range of
the number of posts it has and
the budget it has. And
with that, Brenden, come on
up." The word used by whistleblowers
is "fired." Then, from the PGA
Spokesman's summary: "The
Spokesperson was asked what
would happen if there was
disagreement over whether the
Secretariat was fulfilling
mandates outlined in the
United Nations’ recently
adopted budget – and whether
there was a role for the
President in that regard. The
Spokesperson replied that it
was up to the
Secretary-General to provide
periodic performance reports,
which would focus on financial
aspects, to the General
Assembly. When the reporter
referred to a specific budget
line that referred to posts in
the Department of Public
Information, the Spokesperson
responded that it would be
premature to comment on
whether this line was being
complied with; he added that
it would not be up to the
President to weigh in on such
a specific staffing matter
within the Secretariat. Asked
when exactly the Secretariat
would report on its compliance
with the budget that had been
adopted by the General
Assembly in December 2017, the
Spokesperson later added that
the first performance report
would be expected at the end
of 2018, and the second by the
end of 2019." Inner City Press
replied: "the issue of whether
Para 167 of the UNGA budget
resolution is being violated,
as whistleblowing staff have
said, will not be resolved by
this schedule of reporting."
The results is not only the
loss of employment and US
visas for Africans, but they
say a steep decline in the
provision of information in
Kiswahili. One account which
was "merged into" DPI's
non-Africa specific account
had a drop off in followers
from 255,000 to 90,000. But,
the sources say, Under
Secretary General Alison
Smale's DPI has misled
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres, who Smale so often
cites for her anti-staff
moves, telling him the overall
account is up to 3 million.
"It's a fraud," one source
said. "And it's a real
'sh*ithole' disrespect to
Kenya and Tanzania and
countries like it, by the UN."
Others have noted the irony,
as Guterres flew off to the
African Union summit in Addis
Ababa, avoiding Donald Trump
in Davos. Inner City Press has
sought a response, including
to the below, directly from
Alison Smale, the former NYT
Berlin editor who previously
ignored detailed written
questions in September
2017 when she arrived to take
over DPI as Guterres' "Global
Communicator." In November,
according to the UNCG minutes,
she said among other things
"We need to make sure we are
set up with our platforms and
our resources to take
advantage of the rapidly
evolving ways in which the
global public, and
particularly the young, are
consuming information. This
means more social media." Then
the Kiswahili radio resources
were shifted, despite the GA
resolution, to social media.
Inner City Press asked Smale,
"beyond the questions asked to
date in the UN noon briefings,
I would like you to explain
DPI's compliance with the most
recent budget resolution's
Paragraph 167, to explain what
has happened to the Kiswahili
(and Portuguese) posts, and
more generally to state what
you are doing about the
complaints raised to Inner
City Press by DPI staff,"
below. The cited Paragraph
167, adopted by the UN Fifth
(Budget) Committee at 2 am on
Christmas Eve with Inner City
Press the only media bothering
to cover it, but still
restricted, reads: "167.
Requests the Secretary-General
to ensure that the two posts
from the Kiswahili Radio Unit
and the two posts from the
Portuguese Radio Unit are
deployed for the purposes
originally approved." The UN
Secretariat reportedly tried
to get the paragraph out,
first by negotiation and then
by stealth; now DPI officials
are said to refer to it as
"bullsh*t," another "sh*thole"
echo. January 25, with no
response as before from Smale,
Inner City Press asked UN
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: in the 2
a.m. Christmas Eve
budget resolution, there was a
paragraph that remained
in. There was some
contention about it, and I
think the Secretariat tried to
have it removed, but Member
States wanted it in. And
it said, request the
Secretary-General to ensure
the two posts from Kiswahili
radio unit and two posts from
the Portuguese radio unit are
deployed for the purposes
originally approved. And
having reported at the time,
the Member States were
concerned that these resources
had been shifted to non
Kiswahili or Portuguese social
media. And I learned
from whistleblowers, those
affected, who believe they can
now speak to the press freely,
as you've said from this
podium, that, in fact, the
posts have not been returned
and that the approach of the
Department of Public
Information (DPI), who I've
also written to before you say
that, they've been very
dismissive of… of this General
Assembly resolution.
And, in fact, I've heard that
the Facebook page of… of the
Kiswahili — they get very
specific about it — has
declined in followers from
255,000 to 90,000. So,
the feeling is that this is a
disrespect for the language of
a region that the
Secretary-General is about to
visit. And I wonder if
you can get an answer of
whether this has been complied
with and why people from that
unit are being let go 1
February. Spokesman:
Okay. I can't speak to a
specific case of people being
let go. I don't know if
that's true or not true.
I'm not going to start talking
about people's employment
without knowing more.
What I do know is that we have
full respect for the General
Assembly resolution, for the
budget that was passed.
And, of course, it is the
responsibility of the
Secretariat to implement those
resolutions. So, that's
not a… that's just a statement
of fact. The work that
the Kiswahili unit does, that
other language units does,
whether it's Portuguese or any
of the six languages, is
extremely important in our
efforts to do… to communicate
in as many languages as
possible. Whether it's
communicating through radio,
through web, through social
media, that is a very
important… it goes at the
heart of how we try to work
and how we try to
communicate. And we have
to be able to communicate in
not only different languages
but through many different
media, whether so-called
traditional or so-called new
media. And the
Department of Public
Information will continue to
do that with, of course, the
respect of the… that they have
to follow in terms of the
General Assembly resolutions.
Inner City Press: That's a
direct quote from the
resolution. It says,
ensure that they are done as
originally approved. So,
clearly there was a feeling
that it wasn't taking
place. Since then…
What's the status?
Spokesman: I feel I've
answered the question. I
feel I've answered that
question. Okay.
Thank you." No thanks.
Questions have also been
raised separately to Guterres
and his Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed. We'll have more on
this, and on Guterres' UN's
inaction on Cameroon and
mis-steps in Kenya, the
undisclosed sending of
Obasanjo and Fore's UNICEF's
strange youth empowerment
move, Inner City Press'
coverage of which was picked
up by the Star
and Standard.
In
UN Communications Group Minutes,
Talk of Spin and Digital Over
Analog, Before Kiswahili Funds
Diverted by Matthew
Russell Lee on Scribd
Back on
January 17 when UN Guterres held a
"Global Town Hall Meeting," the meeting
was closed but Inner City Press came in
early to stake it out: to stand in front
and ask the attendees what they think of
Guterres' performance. Unlike other
correspondents at the UN, Inner City
Press is required to have a minder to do
such stakeouts on the UN's second floor
- and on January 17 at the appointed
hour, 8:45 am, there was no minder
available. Periscope video here.
Finally it was possible, after Guterres
passed by and started his pitch. At his
press conference the day before he twice
said, "there were no budget cuts in
relation to the regular budget of the
United Nations." This is contrary to
what Inner City Press found when it, as
the only media present, covered the UN
budget endgame through 2 am on Christmas
Eve. It is also contradicted by this
statement exclusively to Inner City
Press from staff, edited to preserve
anonymity: "What I
feel the public or even the missions themselves
don't understand, are the repercussions of the
proposed cuts. The Fifth Committee members
slashed the budget left and right, without
thinking for one second what it actually meant.
The first thing to go as a result, is one of
your favorite topics: transparency. Based on
what has been said internally, they are looking
to cut down on multilingualism and language
accessibility within DPI production, leaving
English as a lingua franca (!).
This means that missions interested in staying
up to date on UN news and events will not be
able to access information in their language, if
that language is indeed French, Spanish,
Arabic, Chinese or Russian [Ed's note: or
Kiswahli - or Portuguese, which
some think Guterres would take note of.]
Nor will the public. As you may imagine, this
raises a serious issue in regards to
transparency and multilingualism. The founding
values of the UN were set in place in order to
make the body a fair playing field for all. By
making information available only in English,
what message will that send? How will it affect
the missions? How will the UN be able to forge a
closer relationship with the public around the
world? The bias will shift heavily in favor of
developed countries, who will have the initial
access to all information due to linguistic
advantages. These talks on cuts are
happening behind closed doors and only
potentially affected employees are being
informed. The missions and the public won't know
until it's too late to do anything about it,
unless somebody holds them accountable now. But
now, you know.
And I hope that disseminating this information
and holding those in power at the higher
echelons of DPI accountable, will help preserve
access to information -- which is after all, a
human right. We hope to see you there too."
But the meeting was closed, and minder only
belatedly available. We'll have more on this.
The day before on January 16
when Guterres came to give his
speech for 2018 to the UN
General Assembly, the Press was
blocked from staking it out by
the censorship restricts he has
in place. Periscope here,
UNresponded to letter here.
Once inside the Trusteeship
Council Chamber, Guterres said
he had 12 points. One was
Myanmar, although he did not
even mention the mandate on his
to name an envoy
to the country, which he has not
done. Another was North Korea;
he confirmed he will go to the
opening ceremony of the PyeongChang
Olympics. He lumped all of
Africa into just one of his 12
points, despite the Continent
being 60% of the UN Security
Council's agenda. He did not
mention Cameroon
or other long time family ruled
countries like Togo and Gabon
that his envoys are propping up.
His Deputy Amina J. Mohammed,
who is in “her” Nigeria silent
on the abductions there, was not
present; her chief staff was,
but as before, no response to
emails or questions about the
4000 rosewood
signature. Guterres hasn't even
started an audit of the UN
bribery indictments
of Patrick Ho and Cheikh Gadio
and regarding China Energy Fund
Committee brought November 20 in
the Southern District of New
York. Guterres said he has zero
tolerance for sexual harassment
but has done none, and his
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
hasn't even answered Inner City
Press on, the case
of Frank La Rule at UNESCO. The
UN like UNESCO claims it is for
free speech and press freedom,
but no answer on The Rappler;
nor has DPI chief Alison Smale
even answered Inner City Press'
and the Free
UN Coalition for Access'
three petitions
about even handed media access
and content neutral rules, or this
petition. Guterres is slated to
take, selected by Dujarric,
questions at 12:45. Watch this
site. The spring thaw in Antonio
Guterres' first year as UN
Secretary General, in March and
April, began to reveal
hypocrisy. A small but telling
example was when, after Guterres
called on people all over the
world to turn off their lights
for Earth Hour, Inner City Press
found
the lights on at the
UN-owned mansion on Sutton Place
where Guterres lives.
At first the UN
refused to answer Inner City
Press where Guterres was - Lisbon
- then accused it of “monitoring
the residence.” It's called
journalism: with the UN
refusing to disclose even what
country Guterres is in,
checking the residence is the
only way. The UN also refuses
to disclose how much these
Lisbon trips cost the global
taxpayers, for example how
many UN Security officials are
taken, where they stay and for
how much.
Likewise
Guterres' 2016 financial disclosure
differed significantly from
what he filed as head of UNHCR
in 2013. This has yet to be
explained. In April Guterres
was petitioned to replace the
UN's pro-Saudi Yemen
envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh
Ahmed. But when Inner City
Press asked, Guterres'
spokespeople refused to even
confirm receipt of the letter.
This happened on
a petition by staff
too, about retaliation by
Francis Gurry the head of the
UN World Intellectual Property
Organization, whose assistance
to North Korea's cyanide
patents Guterres did not act
on.
In late April,
Guterres did nothing as
Tanzania expelled
his resident coordinator, a
far cry from his knee-jerk
defense later in the year -
continuing on December
27 - of the 4000
rosewood signatures by his
Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed.
Sustainable development? Try
hypocrisy, and censorship and
restriction of the Press which
covers it - and Cameroon, here. We'll have more
on this.
In Antonio
Guterres' first two months as
UN Secretary General, the
longstanding Cyprus talks
began to fall apart,
and Guterres stood silent
as Burundi, for example, banned
access by UN officials.
Guterres ignored a protest by
whistleblowers against Francis
Gurry of the UN World
Intellectual Property
Organization, and that UN
agency's work on North Korea's
cyanide patents.
He did
nothing about a UN waste dump
exposed
by Inner City Press in the
Central African Republic,
despite his predecessor Ban
Ki-moon's record with waste in
Haiti and elsewhere. While he
announced that Kenyan troops
would head back to South Sudan
to join UN Peacekeeping, he
appointed the fifth
Frenchman in a row to head
this DPKO, Jean-Pierre
Lacroix.
Meanwhile he was
rebuffed in his attempt to
appoint Fayyad to head the
UN's Libya mission, perhaps
explaining his refusal later
in the year to take a single
press question after reading
out his canned statement on
Jerusalem. In a harbinger of
his approach to UN corruption
and (non) reform, his UN was
named as not providing
requested documents in the first
UN bribery case, of Ng Lap
Seng. (In the second case, of
Patrick Ho and Cheikh Gadio,
Guterres has yet to even
launch an audit).
February 2017
ended with a seeming second
wind, the belated arrival of
Guterres deputy Amina J.
Mohammed. Inner City Press was
throughout constructive;
it would later emerge that
during the delay Mohammed
signed 4000 certificates for
endangered Nigerian and
Cameroonian rosewood already
exported to China, something
Guterres has refused to
investigate despite a petition
with 92,000 requests.
Guterres' first
interaction with UN staff was
a Town Hall meeting on January
9. Even though it was on the
UN's public website, when
Inner City Press live-streamed
it on Periscope
for the impacted public to see
it received a threat that this
violated unspecified
UN's guidelines. This has been
a pattern in Guterres' first
year: threats to Press for
unspecified violations, such
as that of Maher
Nasser on October 20,
and a total failure to respond
or reform by Nasser's boss, Alison
Smale. Ultimately,
Guterres is responsible.
***
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