Amid
#SocialUN, Ban
Ki-moon Silent
on
#FreeZone9Bloggers,
Panelists
Answer
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 30 --
When the UN
held a Social
Media Summit
on January 30,
it concluded
with a panel
about trends,
from mobile to
analytics to
video and
Facebook's
acquisition of
Snapchat.
But what about
the UN
defending or
at least
speaking up
for freedom of
expression on
the Internet?
Earlier on
January 30,
Inner City
Press for the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric why
Ban while in
Ethiopia for
the African
Union summit
had not raised
the terrorism
charges
brought
against the
Zone 9
Bloggers. Video here.
Dujarric said
Ban has spoken
elsewhere
about freedom
of expression
in Africa, and
that the
(other)
contents of
his AU speech
were
interesting.
So Inner City
Press went to
the #SocialUN
final panel
and asked,
does the UN do
enough to
speak up for
freedom in
social media?
One of the
panelists had
just finished
praising high
tech in Qatar.
What about
arrests for
insulting the
leader? What
about Nabeel
Rajab in
Bahrain?
Video
here.
Panelist Hayes
Brown of
BuzzFeed, who
advised and
practices Be a
Person on
Twitter,
including
baking and
(good) jokes,
said it is
hard for the
UN, since it
has member
states that
pay its bills.
He said he
agreed about
bloggers in
Ethiopia but
wasn't sure
what the UN
could do,
beyond
speaking up.
Well, as to
the Zone 9
Bloggers, the
UN has yet to
speak up. That
would be a
start.
Panelist Liz
Borod Wight,
who moderator
Sree
Sreenivasan
marveled is
paid to do
Instagram for
the BBC, cites
those who
tweeted
#JeSuisCharlie
and said those
who have
freedom of
expression
should use it.
Panelist Adam
Glenn from
CUNY
Journalism
School said,
hoping not to
offend the
hosts the UN,
that the UN
should ensure
that all of
its staff have
training and
can tweet.
Inner City
Press and
FUNCA note,
for example,
that a UN staffer
in South Sudan
abruptly
stopped
tweeting
after she
tweeted this:
"#breaking Lou
Nuer youth are
mobilising in
big numbers
leaving #Akobo
town empty
heading
towards
Dengjok
#Southsudan."
As Inner City
Press reported
at the time,
after Mathilde
Kaalund-Jørgensen
raised this
alarm, the
tweet and her
Twitter
account
profile both
disappeared.
So much for
Rights Up
Front.
At the end of
the panel a UN
staffer took
the floor to
acknowledge
that UN staff
cannot tweet
what they
think. But
can't Ban
Ki-moon say
what he
thinks? Or
doesn't he
think it?
We'll have
more on this.
, 
