In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Order I
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT

UN GATE, Nov 16 – How corrupt is today's United Nations? Even when a proceeding about the growing trend of sexual harassment under Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres is supposed to be public, when the Press comes to cover it, it is denied access. Video here.

 And then his kangaroo court demands that the Press he excludes destroy evidence of UN sexual abuse, or be further banned. This is today's UN.

So early on the morning of November 16, Inner City Press submitted the reply below to the UNDP, as well as Team Guterres. With no response, here is a portion of it:

November 16, 2020  By E-mail to UNDT, SG, USG Fleming, OSSG Dujarric, DSG, MALU

United Nations Attn: UNDT Judge Joelle Adda, UNSG Guterres, USG Fleming 405 East 42 Street NY NY 10017  Re:  UNDT Case No. UNDT/NY/2019/047, Order No. 179 (NY/2020) - request for docketing and action(s)  Dear Judge Adda, UNSG Guterres, USG Fleming, others: 

   This responds to the UN Dispute Tribunal's Order of November 9, 2020 which purports to order me, as a journalist, to "destroy" evidence of a UN staff member's sexual harassment and assault, or else be further censored and banned from the UN. See, UNDT Case No. UNDT/NY/2019/047, Order No. 179 (NY/2020). 

  This order is contrary not only to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, under which I and Inner City Press operate, but also to the UN's Article 19 as well as to the claim that the UN and SG Guterres are committed to rooting out, and not just continuing to cover up, UN sexual abuse and exploitation. 

   To purport to order a publication to "destroy" information about wrongdoing which is leaked to it by whistleblowers flies in the face of such cases as the Pentagon Papers, up to the 45th U.S. President's tax returns. 

  To issue an order purporting to hold me in contempt, prior to any opportunity to be heard and while your court admits it had no idea how the information you order destroyed was provided to Inner City Press itself shows contempt for freedom of the press as well as to due process. 

   For your information, Inner City Press follows all rules applicable to it not only about not recording court proceedings, but also about for example embargoes. Every two week I attend and ask questions at the International Monetary Fund embargoed press briefing, and always respect the embargo.

   But there is no privity between your court and Inner City Press, or me. Your order(s) admit I was blocked from attending your purportedly public session. So it is absurd to claim I violated any agreement not to publish information.  

  Given your public order, you should docket this response and, since you assert that your have jurisdiction over me and Inner City Press, provide a prompt and public opportunity to be heard on why it is that I have been banned from the UN Press briefings for 859 days by SG Guterres, USG Fleming and UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, whom I have asked for an explanation of your order(s) since they were issued.    Since you have asserted that the UNDT has jurisdiction over Inner City Press and me, this is a formal request for UNDT hearing and action on this: [13 paragraph complaint against UN and affilates]

    I await docketing and your response, the opportunity to heard and the restoration of accreditation and the WebEx codes to attend and ask questions at the UN noon briefing.  On deadline,     /s/  Matthew Russell Lee

   The leaked evidence, precisely the type that media is elsewhere celebrated for publishing in cases like Ghislaine Maxwell (to whom the UN is connected through Guterres' Partnerships chief Amir Dossal), includes transcripts. Here now, after yet another day of UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric and "Verify" fraud Melissa Fleming refusing to confirm or deny or answer anything, is from one of the many transcript:

"I am not in a state where I could leave the group because I was too scared that he would follow me out of the group, so I was staying there and seeing where he exactly goes.... He was doing the same thing with another UN staff, her name was [VOLUNTARILY REDACTED BY INNER CITY PRESS], he tried to grab her face, he tried to kiss her and she actually pushed him away... also [VOLUNTARILY REDACTED] of Accenture."

  This after Q&A with a male UN "investigator" implying that is entirely normal in the UN for a known sexual harasser to walk around with twelve pack of beer and... other things. To be continued.  This is what Guterres is covering up by banning the Press that covers it, and now claiming the authority to order the destruction of evidence leaked by whistleblowers.

  Under Guterres, the UN has become functionally a sex trafficking conspiracy, moving "peacekeepers" and staff around to committed sexual abuse for which they are shielded and protected by Guterres, including with censorship.

    On the morning of November 12 Inner City Press in writing asked Dujarric, Fleming, Guterres and others including Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq who deleted or "left" the questions on WhatsApp, "Immediately on the Padula UNDT case I have asked each of you about since November 3 explain on what basis the UN is now demanding censorship of leaked evidence of UN sexual harassment, in a UNDT order no less: "until Mr. Lee has demonstrated to the Tribunal that all illegal recordings have been removed from the public domain and destroyed, it will hold Mr. Lee in contempt of court and prohibit him from attending any of its future public hearings. "  But Inner City Press was banned from the UN by Antonio Guterres before this, for reporting on UN abuses, and its question have not been answered. This one should be - on deadline."

  Now November 13, no answer at all. Today's UN is full of corruption and censorship.

 Now after asking Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming to explain - they have refused - we are publishing the order(s), including here that

"According to media reports, [the United Nations] regards Inner City Press and Mr Lee as personae non grata, and has withdrawn Mr Lee’s media accreditation, as a result of myriad previous instances in which Mr Lee has breached the Organisation’s media guidelines.[reference to footnote omitted] These breaches reportedly included live-streaming a UN function that was designated as private. [reference to footnote omitted] … Mr Lee asserts in the Twitter thread that he was denied entry into the virtual hearing in this case. The tweet includes a video which shows Mr Lee, using the moniker ‘Press-Guest’, in the hearing’s ‘lobby’, awaiting admission by Tribunal officials, and ultimately being denied entry. [reference to annex omitted] The Applicant and Applicant’s counsel recall seeing an entry request under the name of ‘Inner City Press’ during his cross-examination of [the witness]. However, neither Applicant nor his counsel recall seeing ‘Inner City Press’ or ‘PressGuest’ among the participants in the hearing. … The Applicant thus believes that Mr Lee’s assertion is correct: Tribunal officials did not admit Mr Lee or Inner City Press into the hearing. If so, Mr Lee or Inner City Press could only have obtained images from the hearing, including the confidential OIOS witness testimony, from someone who was admitted into the hearing: either a participant or an observer (whether a [United Nations] staff member or member of the public).[reference to footnote omitted] In other words, the information was apparently leaked."

 We've uploaded this Order to DocumentCloud here

and then, and order that Lee is "prohibited from attending any future public hearings of the undersigned Judge until he has demonstrated to the Tribunal that all illegal recordings from the hearing on 4 November 2020 have been removed from the public domain and destroyed."

  Inner City Press has asked Dujarric, Amina J. Mohammed and Fleming how the UN of Guterres can purport to order the destruction of whistleblower evidence of sexual abuse in the UN. No answer.

But Inner City Press was banned from the UN by Antonio Guterres before this, so that Guterres could conceal child rapes by UN peacekeepers and drugging and raping by such staff members as Karim Elkonany, who he never disciplined.

  In this case, Inner City Press every weekday since November 3 has put written questions about the case to UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Melissa Fleming and others - with no answer at all. We are now asking about these orders.

  We'll have more on this, including publishing the UNDT's absurd orders and more. Note that Inner City Press knows full well how to comply with rules in legal reporting - but any tribunal that bans the Press, then demands censorship of material leaked by whistleblowers, deserve more not less coverage.

 On November 3 Inner City Press arrived online to cover a sexual harassment proceeding in the UN Dispute Tribunal. But despite the promise of openness, it was blocked. Still, from exhibits, this live tweeted thread:

This UN staff member Mr. Andrea Padula allegedly  "a. “grabbed [Ms. VC’s] face, leaned forward and attempted to kiss her”; b. “when [Ms. VC] resisted [him] kissing her, [he] forced [Ms. VC’s] down and kissed her c. “grabbed [Ms. MV], held her closely, and attempted to kiss her”

 Those on this UN cover-up call, blocking the Press from an ostensibly public UN sexual harassment hearing, include Morten Michelsen, Omar Josef Shehabi, but ultimately the rape-cover-up-man in chief,  @AntonioGuterres . He has corrupted the entire Organization

 In the supposedly public UN "legal" proceeding that Inner City Press was just denied access to, here is an exhibit being presented - a UN cubicle, with a Patricia Dann sign on it and an apparently inflatable kangaroo. More exhibits from Big Tony Gutters' Animal House UN, presented in ostensibly public legal proceeding that Inner City Press was blocked from - note "Dance floor" - including the UN - and party boys / dirty old men. 

 This one of  @AntonioGuterres ' party boys is named Mr. Andrea Padula (in Iraq, Guterres' Karim Elkorany went further, into drugging and raping a UN contractors) - but here, note the involvement of "Mariuska of Accenture."

Update - the United Nations under  @AntonioGuterres  is spending the public's money to hold sexual harassment dances (and fly rapists like Elkorany in and out of Iraq) - but when the Media tries to cover a public proceeding, access denied. #ImpeachGuterres 202 views 0:00 / 0:27

Turns out this  @AntonioGuterres  party boy Padula "was doing the same thing with another UN staff, her name was Verouschka....  he tried to grab her" - note that the three UNTSO #sexploiters are *still* being paid by the public, despite Guterres' lies

***

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
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Past & future at UN: Room S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA

Mail: 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 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com