UNITED NATIONS
GATE, September 28 – How
arrogant and counter-factual a
self-styled world leader is
has been revealed in the
Leader's contemptuous approach
to freedom of the press: amid
questions and coverage of his
use of public funds and
collusion with human rights
violators he not only strips a
journalist of accreditation
but also has the journalists
banned from entering his
institution in any capacity,
without any hearing or appeal.
On October 9 UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres'
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
said, "At this point Mr. Lee
is not allowed into the
building" of the UN. Video here.
Dujarric was asked if it was
true Inner City Press was
blocked even from the
Committee to
ProtectJournalists' event in
the UN on September 28, and
said yes. We'll have more on
this, as Guterres rebuffs
those hose who even gently
chide him on it, including a
Nobel Peace Prize winner and
one of his envoys to a major
country. This is not a
reference to Donald Trump, but
to UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres. After revoking
Inner City Press' media
accreditation amid its
questions on his use of public
funds, silence on Cameroon and
conflicts of interest,
Guterres' UN did not respond
to Inner City Press' request
to cover UNGA 73 and blocked
it from a "press freedom"
event on September 28. On the
same day Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric was asked by
Simon Ateba of Today News
Africa, transcript here,
video here:
"Recently, you banned Matthew
Lee from Inner City Press and
he was questioning you about
Cameroon, the UN
Secretary-General, the… the…
he might have had a different
method. Who decides what is
right and who decides…
Spokesman Dujarric: The
question about… sorry, I'll
let you finish first.
Question: Yeah. Who
decides, is it not… I mean,
who gives you the power to ban
people because they are
challenging you, because they
are questioning you? Did
you ban Matthew Lee because he
was questioning you about
Cameroon, where a dictator has
been in power for 36 years?
And you banned a journalist
who's asking you questions
about him? Is that right? Does
it make sense to you?
Spokesman: First of all,
we've answered the question
about Mr. Lee repeatedly, and
we've also answered Mr. Lee's
questions repeatedly.
But, can I just… I'll let you
finish if you can let me
finish. We've also
answered his questions
repeatedly for the last 12
years, and we continue to
answer the questions that he
e-mails in. His
accreditation was revoked
purely for having repeatedly
violated the rules… the
accreditation rules, which are
transparent, and which you all
agree to abide by, which are
frankly… most of them are
self-policing, and it had
nothing to do whatsoever with
the content of his writings or
the questions that he's
asking.
Ateba: I mean, what do you
mean banning him for life?
What does it mean?
Spokesman: That's not an
expression that anyone from
here has ever used, and I
think I've answered your
question on Mr. Lee." Well,
no. Dujarric has been
answering less than 10% of
Inner City Press' written
questions. And Alison Smale's
ghoulish revocation letter
provided no road map to
re-apply and she ignored Inner
City Press' application to
cover UNGA 73. Amina J.
Mohammed and chief of staff
Maria Luiza Viotti did not
answer detailed question about
the physical ban on Inner City
Press entering the UN even
when invited by countries'
missions or UN partners like
CPJ and Reuters. We'll have
more on this. On August 27
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric answered a question
on camera about Guterres
banning of Inner City Press by
saying that "the revocation of
Mr. Lee's credential has to do
with creating a hostile
environment for diplomats."
Vine video with over 1270
views here.
But on September 17 Dujarric
after trying to avoid or
intimidate a question on the
same topic said that the
decision was by Guterres'
Secretariat "without any input
from any member state." Video
here.
So how did Guterres and Smale
"know" that diplomats felt a
hostile environment? Or was it
Guterres who didn't like
questions and coverage about
his mis use of public funds
for junkets to Lisbon, his
silence on the slaughter in
Cameroon and his son's now
exposed business links in
Africa? Someone is lying.
We'll have more on this. The
Nobel Peace Prize winner who
has sought the reversal of
Guterres' outrageous 56 day
and counting ban on Inner City
Press even entering the UN is
Jose Ramos Horta of Timor
Leste, still serving Guterres'
UN, who told Inner City Press
on August 27, "Dear Matthew I
did reach the very inner
sanctum of the UN system
reporting on your case to no
avail. Apologies but I don't
know what else I can do."
Later on August 27 an
independent journalist asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric why things are not
fixed with Inner City Press'
access, since it "looks bad"
given other attacks on press
freedom. Video here.
Dujarric tried to cut the
journlist off, insisting to
say this is about freedom of
the press would be wrong.
(Then why is it in the Press
Freedom Tracker, here,
and the Columbia
Journalism Review, among
others
for example in the UK,
Japan,
Italy
and Cameroon?)
Dujarric changed the earlier
reference to Inner City Press
being in a "garage ramp" -
something Guterres' Grand
Inquisitor Alison Smale never
asked Inner City Press about -
to being in the "parking lot."
(Inner City Press' pass worked
to get there, many use it as a
way to exit, and several
senior UN official,
anti-Guterres sources of Inner
City Press ask to meet it and
give it documents there. Maybe
that's the reason.) Dujarric
then said that Inner City
Press creates a "hostile
environment" for the
diplomats, some times
correspondents and always UN
officials it covers. Seems
clear the ban is entirely
about freedom of the Press,
freedom to question, and a
Secretary General and
vindictive team of holdovers
who seek to retaliate against
questions and coverage,
including live streamed
covering, with a lifetime ban
with no appeal. Here
is an example of Inner City
Press' August 28 questioning
at the Delegates Entrance,
since Guterres and Alison
Smale have banned it from the
Security Council stakeout. Is
this
hostile? Would Guterres,
former NYT bureau chief Smale
and former former Dujarric
like to write Inner City
Press' questions? Its
articles? Perhaps to omit all
refernce to Cameroon
and what Guterres did and
didn't do? On August 28 during
an empty noon briefing Inner
City Press was again banned
from, it asked in writing
Dujarric, Alison Smale, Amina
J. Mohammed and others 13
questions including: "At
yesterday's noon briefing you
said I am banned because I was
“found in the parking lot.”
Since no one spoke to me about
this, please state when and
where, and explain how that is
a violation if non resident
correspondents' passes open
those doors, unlike the
bathrooms on the 4th floor,
and how this Trumped up into
so serious a violation as to
ban me, including from the
upcoming UNGA week. Also,
again, name the diplomats (and
UN staff and journalists) you
yesterday publicly said I
created a hostile
environmental for. Honestly,
that was not my intent. But I
have a right to know. And it
sounds troublingly similar to
questioning and critique: free
press. August 28-2: This is
again a request to be informed
-- including if the question
is view as hostile - of the
reason on the SG's Public
Financial Disclosure page USG
Smale is not listed, while
Natalia Gherman who was named
to her position later than USG
Smale is listed and has made
public disclosure - and for an
explanation why Smale did not
recuse herself as was clearly
called for from banning me."
While two other questions were
answered on August 28, these
were not touched. This is
censorship. For now,
though, Nobel Peace Prize
winner who has worked for the
UN has been rebuffed. What
they say Trump is, Guterres is
as well and more so - only
Guterres has actually roughed
up and banned a critical
journalist for 55 days, with
total impunity. Hence this
story. After
having covered
the UN since
2005 for Inner
City Press,
and pursued
stories of UN
under-performance
from Sri Lanka
to Darfur and
Haiti to Yemen
and most
recently
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres' failure and
conflict of
interest on Cameroon,
at 4 pm on
Friday August
17 I got a
four page letter
from Under
Secretary
General Alison
Smale,
formerly the
New York
Times' Berlin
bureau chief. We've put
the letter on
Scribd here,
Patreon
download here.
The
letter
informed me,
without a
single
opportunity to
be heard and
offer
rebuttal, that
“your
accreditation
is hereby
withdrawn
pursuant to
the
Guidelines.”
It cited what it
called three
previous
warnings. But
on further
inspection there is
no there,
there. See
below. In the
middle of the
now 55 day
ban, Jose
Ramos Horta who has
known and
answered Inner
City Press
for years
wrote to it,
somewhat
comedicly, "I
am puzzled by
such an
extreme DPI
decision of
banning you
for life from
UNHQ for
reporting
purposes. Here
in Timor Leste
our Govt never
ever barred a
journalist
from entering
a public space
and reporting
even though
our Media has
never been
friendly with
Govt
officials.I
cannot imagine
how serious an
offense you
may have
committed that
may have
justified such
an extreme
action by DPI.
Did you throw
a bomb, rotten
eggs,
tomatoes,
spaghetti at
some guy? I
shall try to
reach the SG." And
then, on
August 27, "Dear Matthew I
did reach the very inner
sanctum of the UN system
reporting on your case to no
avail. Apologies but I don't
know what else I can do." This
is how arrogant and out of
touch Guterres is, Lusophone
or not. People would report
this about Trump, whole
profiles of those they say
should have spoken out -
Mattis, Kelly, members of
Congress and the Senatre - and
isolation and rage. But what
about Guterres? Jose Ramos
Horta, who has never had a
problem being public, is a man
of integrity, on the right
side on this one when all is
said and done. What about
others? We'll have more, much
more, on this - there has been
other outreach, and more to
come. One individual, even
with a former NYT Global
Communicator like Alison
Smale, cannot be allowed to
censor like this, to impose a
ban on a journalist for the
first time in 40 years, an
active journalist Guterres and
Smale and UNnamed others want
to prevent or hinder Inner
City Press from covering this
UN General Assembly High Level
Week and the UN going forward.
We will not rest. Watch this
site.
In her
lifetime ban
letter, Smale
also
claimed that
Guterres'
spokesmen
would answer
Inner City
Press' e-mailed
questions. But
this it
false. Of the
fourteen
question Inner
City
Press e-mailed
to them,
and Smale,
and Deputy
SG Amina
J. Mohammed
and others on
August 23 and
24, not one
was answered.
Not one.
Including:
"August 24-3:
Given that
Deputy
Spokesman Haq
told
IPS “we
respect his
press rights,
but we also
want to
respect
other’s press
rights. And
some
journalists
feel their
press rights
have been
impeded by his
actions” -
state, since
this is the
basis of me
being banned,
who these are,
and how they
feel their
press rights
have been
impeded by my
actions. Also
all video and
other evidence
that Haq
alluded to to
IPS should be
produced,
today, since
it is the
basis of my
being banned."
Nothing has
been provided,
eight
hours later, by Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric who was
drawing pay all
day
after having
essentially
ordered or
passed on from his
boss the
order to rough up
Inner
City Press.
From the IPS
article: "Lee
has been known
for asking
thought-provoking
questions
during daily
briefings and
at press
stakeouts. He
has reported
on global
conflicts such
as those in
Sri Lanka,
Congo,
Somalia, and
others... However,
the incidents
with Lee
started back
in 2012, when
he was warned
by the DPI to
treat his
fellow
journalists
with respect."
That's not the
case. In 2012, the
President of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
Giampaolo
Pioli, who had
rented one
of him Manhattan
apartments
to one Palitha
Kahona then unilaterally
granted his
request or
demand for an
UNCA screening
of the war
crimes denial
film of the Sri Lanka
government he
represented at
the UN,
ordered Inner
City Press to
remove from the
Internet its
article about
the conflict
of interest.
Inner City Press
declined but offered
to publish any
response, at any
length. Pioli
and the UNCA
board demanded
removal of the
article, and
ultimately
Inner City Press quit UNCA
and
co-founded
FUNCA, the
Free UN Coalition for
Access. The UN claimed it
was uninvolved
- instead,
then head of
Accreditation
Stephane
Dujarric tried
to condition
Inner City Press'
re-accreditation as a
resident
correspondent
on more
positive
coverage of
the Secretariat,
specifically
his fellow Frenchman
Herve
Ladsous, the
head of Peacekeeping who
famously said peacekeepers
would rape less
if they had
more
"R&R." So
from 2012 it
was the UN
trying to
strong arm
positive
coverage of
its officials,
and using the aura of
"other correspondents"
in UNCA as the
leverage -
making UN the
UN Censorship
Alliance.
The article
continues:
"wo years ago,
things
changed: he
was in an
interpreter’s
booth
recording a
closed-door
meeting of UN
correspondents,
without their
consent. Then,
DPI’s Media
and Liaison
Unit (MALU)
made the
decision to
downgrade his
accreditation
from “resident
correspondent”
to
“non-resident
correspondent”,
which means he
was deprived
of his own
office space,
barred from
going to the
UN on weekends
and prevented
from staying
late hours and
restricted
from some
areas in the
building. Although
Lee believes
this was
“bogus reason”
for the
treatment he
received,
Farhan Haq,
Deputy
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary
General, told
IPS: 'Matthew
has come up
with his own
version on his
website. But
in that case I
know to be
true what I
saw with my
eyes.'"
What the IPS
article -
which we are appreciative of,
including
for getting these
quotes -
omits is that this
supposedly
closed meeting
was in the UN Press
Briefing Room,
open to all
journalists.
And Haq, when he
followed Dujarric
in, reflexively
took the side
of the UN
Censorship
Alliance, saying
of Inner City
Press,
"He lies a lot."
Video here.
Is that
appropriate,
under Smale's
rules of
procedure?
IPS continues,
" It seemed
that the
change in his
accreditation
pass had no
effect. “After
that, the
problems with
his behavior
did not
subside”, said
Haq.
[That is,
the goal is
taking Inner
City Press'
work space and
giving it to no-show,
no question
Egyptian state
media Akhbar al
Yom's Sanaa
Yousseff was
to make Inner
City Press behavior
or reporting
"subside." Note as
the article
didn't and perhaps
didn't have to
that
Farhan Haq previously
worked for IPS
- that and his
father are how
he got his UN
job - and presumably
was a member
of UNCA.
We'd asked but
wouldn't get
an answer, if
the past is
any guide.]
IPS: "On
June 22nd, Lee
had to be
removed from
the UN
premises as he
stayed long
after his
accreditation
permitted him,
and on July
3rd, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
As
Inner City
Press has told
IPS, "noted
for the record
I'm
appreciative
of the
detailed
article, but
for the
record: "On
June 22nd, Lee
had to be
removed from
the UN
premises as he
stayed long
after his
accreditation
permitted
him." It was
7:15 pm,
Antonio
Guterres had
just given a
speech, video here;
and
... "on July
3, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
There is
video, and an
NYPD criminal
report (UN
hasn't waived
immunity), "
video
here;
and finally
(for now)
... "on July
3, he was
similarly
found long
after 9 pm
within a
restricted
area of the
complex. UN
Security
removed him
from the
premises, but
he apparently
resisted."
There is video,
and an NYPD
criminal
report (UN
hasn't waived
immunity).
And
so it goes at
the UN -
there's more but
that's it for
now. On
August
20, when the
PressFreedomTracker.us
belatedly
listed
Guterres' and
Smale's
roughing up
and banning of
Inner City
Press, here,
Guterres'
spokesman
Dujarric made
it clear it is
all about
content.
While
insisting it
is not about
Inner City Press'
"writing," he
specifically cited
Periscope
broadcasts as
a basis for
the lifetime
ban. That is
censorship.
UN transcript
here and
below.
But on closely
inspection
Smale's letter
is even more
ghoulish.
After she for
Guterres banned
Inner City
Press from entry from
July 3 onward,
in order to report
on the UN
Inner City
Press had to
seek answers
other than at
the UN Noon
Briefing and UN
Security
Council
stakeout
position, from
which Guterres
and Smale also banned
it. Inner
City Press
asks question
in front of
the UN
Delegates
Entrance, and
has gotten
about put
online
responses
from, among
others,
outgoing UN
Human Rights
Commissioner
Zeid,
Burundi's
Ambassador,
and on August
20, for
example, a diplomat
on the North
Korea
sanctions committee (whose
chair Karel
van Oosterom refused to comment) and UK Mission
political
coordinator
Stephen Hickey
(whose Deputy
Ambassador
Jonathan Allen
also recently
refused
to comment.)
This
stakeout
is where Inner
City Press asks
questions only because
Guterres and
Smale have
banned it since
July 3. But in
her August 17
letter, Smale
justifies the
ban
imposed July 3
with this
post-July 3
interviews,
and says that
UNnamed
member states -
and somehow
correspondents -
have
complained.
Is that
Dutch
Ambassador
Karel van
Oosterom? UK
Deputy Jonathan Allen?
(We will FOIA.) Morocco, as
with the retaliatory
complaint
Smale's MALU
"passed on" to
Inner City Press while
admitting verbally it
was frivolous
but then using
it to ban
Inner City
Press for
life. This is
Kafkaesque,
and must be
reversed. Smale
in her August 17
banning letter
writes,
"We would also
note your
conduct at the
entrances of
the United
Nations
premises and
nearby,
including the
use of
profanities
and derogatory
assertions and
language
toward
individuals
accessing the
United
Nations, in
close
proximity to
them. Video /
live
broadcasts of
this are
frequently
published on
the Inner City
Press' website
and other
media
platforms.
This conduct
gives rise to
potential
safety
concerns for
Member State
diplomats,
United Nations
staff, and
other
individuals
accessing
United Nations
premises, and
are a matter
of serious
concern given
the United
Nations
responsibility
for the
well-being of
such
individuals.
The conduct
described
above has
generated
multiple
complaints to
the United
Nations from
Member States,
United Nations
correspondents,
as well as
United Nations
staff.”
We'll have
more on this
- requests
under FOIA and
otherwise
have begun.
Watch this
site.
From
the UN's August
20 transcript:
Question:
On the Matthew
Lee’s
expulsion, in
layman’s
terms, what
exactly… why
exactly was he
kicked out by
the UN?
Spokesman:
Mr. Lee’s
accreditation
was — as a
correspondent
here — was
revoked due to
repeated
incidents
having to do
with
behaviour,
with violation
— violating
the rules that
all of you
sign on to and
accept when
you receive
your
accreditation,
rules that
are, by far,
self-policing.
We trust
journalists to
respect the
rules.
The rules are
clear, and
they’re
transparent.
You all
respect
them.
There were
really just a
number of
incidents
including
incidents in
which people
in this
building,
whether they
be diplomats,
staff,
journalists,
felt harassed,
and his
behaviour was
not in line
with accepted
regulations.
The removal of
his
accreditation
had nothing to
do with the
content of his
writing.
This room is
full of people
who have
reported
critically,
toughly,
sometimes
fairly,
sometimes
unfairly, on
the United
Nations.
And we
continue to
work with all
of you who
report on the
UN in a
straight and
open manner
regardless of
what you
write.
...
Question
(CNN):
Is there any
compromise you
see going
forward on the
Matthew Lee
situation next
year? Is
he capable of
changing the
behaviour you
object to?
Spokesman: I
don’t think
that’s a
question to be
addressed to
me. Ben.
Question
(Fox):
Just back on
Matthew Lee,
was he given a
chance to
respond before
the actual
decision was
made?
And what were
those
allegations of
harassment?
Spokesman:
The
regulations,
the DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
regulations
concerning the
rules for
accreditation
are
clear.
You, Ben and
everybody else
in this room
by clicking
“accept”, you
accept them,
and the rules
are clear —
it’s that the
UN retains the
right to
remove the
accreditation.
The process of
how that’s
done is all
clear, and
it’s there.
The
allegations
include
recording
people without
their consent,
being found in
the garage
ramp late at
night, using
abusive and
derogatory
language
towards
people.
I think it’s
pretty
clear.
And, frankly,
I think anyone
who looks at
his own
Periscopes
should come to
the same
conclusion."
Well, here they are.
This is
censorship and
must be
reverse such
that Inner
City Press can
cover the UN
General
Assembly High
Level Week, the deadline for
which is
September 5. Watch this
site.
Grand
Inquisitor Alison
Smale didn't
even
consider, or
acknowledge,
that Inner
City Press had
responded to
the
spurious
complaints --
from the
Morocco
mission to the
UN on 17 March
2017 and
from DPI Deputy
Maher Nasser,
who blocks
Inner City Press on Twitter,
on 20 October
2017.
Smale's
misuse of the
Morocco
complaint, if
not reversed,
would set a
precedent in that in
Guterres' UN
member states
which don't
like a particular
journalist can
file frivolous
complaints and
get the
journalist
banned. On 17
March
2017, after
engaging in
entirely legal live streaming
from the UN
Security
Council
stakeout,
Inner City
Press received
this: "From:
Marija D.
Rokuiziene
Date: Wed, Mar
22, 2017 at
12:59 PM
Subject: Re:
Turkish Lounge
To: Matthew
Lee, Inner
City Press
Cc: Hua Jiang
<jiang1 [at] un.org>,
Hak-Fan Lau
<lau [at] un.org>,
Tal Mekel
<mekel [at]un.org>
Dear Matthew,
It was
recently
brought to our
attention by
one UN Mission
that recording
was taking
place in a
restricted
area of the
second floor,
at the Turkish
Lounge near
the Security
Council.
You were
mentioned by
name in this
regard, and we
take the
opportunity of
this sensitive
occurrence to
remind you
that the
Turkish Lounge
is not part of
the stake out
area and is
off limits to
media unless
invited by the
delegation,
and that
filming and/or
recording of
private
conversations
is not
permitted.
Regards,
Marija
D.Rokuiziene
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit
United Nations
- S-248"
The
complaint was
entirely
false, as Inner
City Press
immediately
pointed out,
in writing:
"From: Matthew
R. Lee
Date: Wed, Mar
22, 2017 at
1:29 PM
Subject: Re:
Turkish Lounge
- formal
response and
requests,
please confirm
receipt
To: "Marija D.
Rokuiziene"
Cc: "matthew.
lee", Hua
Jiang,
Hak-Fan Lau,
Tal Mekel
For your
information,
on Friday
March 17 I was
in the press
area of the
UNSC stakeout,
after the 3 pm
meeting. I
took a
photograph of
the Polisario
delegation,
with
Christopher
Ross, going up
to the 38th
floor.
There were
diplomats I
recognized to
be from the
Moroccan
Mission
sitting in the
so-called
Turkish
Lounge. I did
not record any
conversation
or take any
photo of them
(although in
the past,
Moroccan
Ambassador
Omar Hilale
has invited me
to photograph
him and his
associate
there).
After I took
and tweeted
photograph of
Polisario and
UN official
Ross going up,
a Moroccan
diplomat /
associate
walked the UN
Security
officer at the
turnstile my
pass no longer
works on; the
officer came
over and told
me, seemingly
apologetically,
that the
diplomat can
said I
shouldn't take
photographs.
I said I
was within my
rights to take
photographs
from the
stakeout, but
I nevertheless
- in light of
DPI's / MALU's
previous
punative acts
with no due
process, and
ongoing
restrictions
after more
than 1 year -
left the UNSC
stakout.
I consider
this complaint
by Morocco to
be an attempt
to limit
coverage of
the Western
Sahara issue.
Given DPI's /
MALU's
previous
actions, if
any of this is
put in my /
Inner City
Press' history
or file with
MALU this must
be included
to.
This is a
formal request
to see my /
Inner City
Press' file.
And this is,
again, a
request to be
returned to
Inner City
Press' long
time shared
office S-303A,
and a
statement for
the record
that Akhbhar
al Yom and its
correspondent,
assigned
without
tranparency
303-A after
DPI's no due
process
eviction of
Inner City
Press, do not
meet the
stated rules
of three days
a day, have
asked no
questions, and
should be in
the bullpen
and Inner City
Press' office
and resident
correspondent
status
restored.
Please confirm
receipt and
provided the
requested
information /
file as well
as the list of
those waiting
for office
space, the
prioritization
the UN has
assigned and
the reasons
therefor.
Thank you.
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Esq., Inner
City Press
Past (and
future) Office
at UN: Room
S-303, UN HQ,
NY NY
10017."
(The list was
never
provided;
Inner City Press'
office was
given to an
Egyptian state
media whose
essentially
retired
correspondent, a
president of
UNCA in 1984,
rarely
come in and
has not asked
a question of
the UN in
a decade.) This
came as
Morocco
Ambassador Omar
Hillale has
used the Security
Council UNTV
microphone
to
berate Inner
City Press and
me for asking
too many
questions
about this country,
its occupation
of Western Sahara
and
mistreatment
of the
people of the
Rif. To allow
a bad faith
complaint to
be used by
Guterres'
Smale - in bad
faith - to
then ban the
journalist for
life is a new
low. It calls
into question
which state(s)
Smale and Guterres
have taken or
encouraged
complaints
from.
Cameroon?
France? Smale's
bad faith
letter ruling
must be
reversed.
The
latter is equally
bad in its way,
since a DPI
official
mis-using his
position as Nasser
did was the
subject of
Inner City Press
timely
request to
Smale that she
recuse herself
(which she
refused to do - she has
functioned,
after all, as
Antonio
Guterres
Global Censor).
After
receiving via DPI's Tal Mekel at
6 pm on Friday
20 October
2017 a letter
clearly
drafted by Nasser,
Inner City
Press immediately
published a story
about it. The
Free UN Coalition for
Access, an
actual press
freedom advocacy group which
DPI's Hua
Jiang had
threatened my
accreditation for
posting a sign
for on my then
office door,
put out a
press release
and flier. And
on Monday 23
March 17
before 11 am I
sent the
following to
DPI including
Smale (who has
never
responded to
one of my more
than a dozen
e-mails, while
openly
laughing and
socializing
with corporate
correspondents
who are her friends)
and to
Guterres and
his deputy
Amina J. Mohammed:
"From: Matthew
R. Lee
Date: Mon, Oct
23, 2017 at
10:18 AM
Subject:
Response to UN
to threat to
accreditation
of Inner City
Press, which
is
retaliatory,
vague and
contrary to
freedom of the
press
To: Tal Mekel
, SGCentral ,
amina.mohammed [at]
un.org,
alison.smale [at]
un.org
Cc: nasser [at] un.org,
funca, The Free UN
Coalition for
Access
Dear Mr.
Mekel, and
those UN
officials
copied below
(SG Guterres,
DSG Mohammed,
USG Smale,
etc) --
The UN threat
letter sent to
me after 5 pm
on Friday,
attached,
coming as it
does as Inner
City Press
pursues
stories not
only of UN
corruption
but, most
pressingly,
inaction amid
mass killings
in Cameroon
and elsewhere
is troubling.
It has the
obvious effect
of
discouraging
reporting. For
example, while
it flatly
states that I
“breached” a
rule during a
photo op on
the 38th
floor, it does
not say how,
or even what
day or which
photo op.
The effect is
to discourage
me from
covering any
of these photo
ops / meetings
on the 38th
floor, since I
have no way of
knowing when I
will be
charged with a
violation
under which
you “may”
review my
accreditation.
This vagueness
is contrary
to, for
example, the
US First
Amendment, but
also numerous
UN-claimed
principles of
freedom of the
press and due
process.
As to Mr
Nasser's
misuse of the
DPI / MALU
threat process
to try to win
an argument he
escalated on
Twitter on
October 19,
saying I
should be less
negative about
the UN when I
noted how many
clicks it
takes to find
sexual abuse
and
exploitation
information on
the new DPKO
site he
promoted -
before he
blocked me on
October 20 --
great outreach
there, now
communications
are broken off
-- the audio
linked to in
the article is
from the
stakeout area
by the
Secretariat
lobby
elevators. It
did not
violate even
this rule that
the DPI and
DSS
mis-negotiated,
not with the
press corps
but a subset
of the UN
Correspondents
Association,
whose members
by the way do
not obtain or
even seek
prior consent
for recording,
and membership
in which is
not and cannot
be required to
be a resident
correspondent.
But to Inner
City Press,
the UN writes
in fine
Kafka-esque
style: “we
would like to
remind you
that filming
and recording
on the 38th
floor are
limited to
official photo
opportunities,
and recording
conversations
of others in
the room is
not permitted.
It has been
brought to our
attention that
you breached
that rule
recently.
Please kindly
take note that
any further
violation of
the guidelines
and
established
journalistic
standards
could lead to
a review of
your
accreditation
status.” When
was the
breach? If a
UN official
says or does
something
embarrassing
during a photo
op, can the UN
review Inner
City Press'
accreditation?
Your letter
unless and
until
retracted
means that
publications
which even
link to audio
that one
participant in
which is
embarrassed of
can have their
accreditations
reviewed: for
example, if a
UN official
participating
in a meeting
on the 38th
floor recorded
it and, being
disgusted by
the UN's
actions or
inaction
leaked it to
the press, the
press could be
reviewed for
publishing
their audio
recorded
“without
consent.”
This is,
again,
obviously
contrary to,
for example,
the US First
Amendment, but
also numerous
UN-claimed
principles of
freedom of the
press and due
process.
The
outstanding
request, to
MALU, USG
Smale, SG
Guterres and
DSG Mohammed,
that Inner
City Press
resident
corresponent
access and
work space
S-303 which
was wrongful
taken without
hearing or
appeal 20
months ago as
I pursued the
Ng Lap Seng UN
bribery
scandal which
resulted this
summer in six
guilty
verdicts, is
below and
incorporated
herein by
reference and
I insist on a
response to my
two letters to
then-new USG
Smale in
September. I
was told there
is an
awareness of
the need to
show Inner
City Press the
“courtesy” of
a response,
but there has
still been
none, until
the October 20
accreditation
threat was the
response.
The UN should
care about,
and not seek
to hinder,
reporting on
for example
the killings
in Cameroon
and even UN
corruption.
Threats of
censorship are
not the way to
accomplish
this. Inner
City Press
should be
restored to
its resident
correspondent
accreditation
and shared
workspace
S-303, both of
which were
taken 20
months ago in
retaliation
for covering
UN corruption
in connection
with Ng Lap
Seng and, if
there is some
problem in
your view with
reporting and
broadcasting
what UN
officials say,
rules should
be proposed
that do not so
blatantly
violate the
very
principles of
freedom of the
press that the
UN preaches to
others. Inner
City Press is
more than
willing to
work in this
regard."
So where is
that, in Smale's hit
job lifetime
ban letter? To
simply recite
complaints,
by your own
deputy, while
ignored the
detailed
responses that
were filed at the
time shows bad
faith. Smale's
letter
must be
reversed - and
more. Watch
this site.
Inner
City Press had
informed
Smale, and
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres who
is ultimately
responsible
for this, that
Smale must
recuse
herself.
As
part of its
coverage of
the UN in the
past year I
have heard
from
whistleblowers
in Smale's
Department of
Public
Information
that she
diverted funds
intended for Swahili
programming to
her avowed
focused,
getting better
coverage for
Guterres
particularly
on social
media.
But
Smale did not
recuse
herself, and
Guterres who
refused my
polite question
to him on July
20 why this
censorship was
taking place
and why he had
been so silent
as Cameroon
killed
Anglophones in
the North-West
and South-West
regions of the
country, did
not make her
recuse. Nor
did he recuse
himself,
despite my
timely request
that the
President of
the General
Assembly, and
not the
obviously
conflicted
Guterres and
Smale, take
charge of any
review deemed
necessary.
What
is most
troubling
about the UN's
August 17
dis-accreditation
letter is how
vague it is,
and inaccurate
the few times
it gets
specific.
The UN
claims that on
3 July 2018 I
“attempted to
gain
unauthorized
access to a
locked area of
the UN.” But
as I reported
at the the
time, and my
Periscope video subsequently used by Fox
News and
The UK
Independent
shows, I was
in the UN's
much traveled
Vienna Cafe.
(Guterres'
Assistant
Secretary General
Christian Saunders,
whose involvement in a
UN procurement
scandal I
previously reported,
was also
there: he
oversaw the
assault and
the next day
told me he
doesn't like
my articles.)
On July 3
I was staking
out -- that
is, standing
outside of -
the UN Budget
Committee
meetings. In
fact, I had
been informed
of the
meetings by UN
personnel and
diplomats had
invited me
down in order
to tell me, as
a reported,
what was going
on.
Ironically
it
was with
Cameroon's
Ambassador
Tommo Monthe
that I had
just spoken
when UN
Lieutenant
Ronald E.
Dobbins and
another
officer who
had still been
identified by
the UN
approached me
from behind,
grabbed and
twisted my
arm, grabbed
and damaged my
laptop
computer and
tore my shirt.
I recoiled and
said, loudly,
“I am a
journalist,
covering a
meeting!” To
Smale, this is
incivility,
enough to be
permanently
banned from
the UN for.
Next,
at the top of
page 3 of the
letter, Smale
runs through a
litany of
supposed
violations
without
providing any
details, nor
acknowledging
that other
correspondents
more friendly
to Guterres
and her are
allowed to do
these things
routinely.
Smale
pillories my
“presence on
UN premises
outside
authorized
time periods
as stipulated
in the
Guidelines.”
But
those
Guidelines,
even as
selectively
quoted by
Smale at the
top of page 2
of her letter,
make clear
that I was
permitted past
7 pm to cover
an advised
meeting - such
as the July 3
UN Budget
Committee
meeting
considering a
$6.7 billion
expenditure of
public funds
or the June 22
event in the
UN General
Assembly lobby
featuring a
speech in
which Guterres
bragged about
fasting in
Mali.
On
June 22, not
mentioned in
Smale's August
17 letter but
alleged as a
“repeat
violation” by
Guterres'
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq in
a July 5
article, the
same
Lieutenant
Dobbins and
four Emergency
Response Unit
officers he
summoned and
then told not
to give their
names, pushed
me out of the
UN even as
other non
resident
correspondents
were allowed
to remain in.
There is video, here.
Days
before that
first roughing
up of Inner
City Press by
UN Security
but clearly
green-lighted
from higher
up, Guterres'
lead spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric told
a person who
tried to speak
with him on my
behalf to get
the UN to stop
requiring me
to have a
minder or
escort as they
have since
February 2016
that things
would be
getting worse
for me. It seems
clear
Dujarric knew
about or had
already
ordered the
physical
targeting of
Inner City
Press any time
after 7 pm,
even if an
advised
meeting or
Guterres
speech was
taking place.
But a
telling
omission in
Smale's letter
is that as
recently as
June 26 dozens
of non
resident
correspondents
were allowed
to stay in the
UN past 7 pm
drinking with
Guterres on
the North
Lawn,
ghoulishly in
the name of
press freedom
with Smale.
The event was
not advised in
the UN Media
Alert, and I
know that UN
Security could
not have been
given a list
of approved
non resident
correspondents
since my
timely RSVP to
cover the
event which
had yet
another canned
Guterres
speech was
never
answered. I
was told by
the organizer
of that
pro-Guterres
event that the
RSVP was
ignored
because it was
open to all
correspondents.
Again, there
is video in my
contemporaneous coverage. Maybe this
is why Smale
and Guterres
- and Dujarric -
say livestreaming
is a problem
to be solved
with Security
violence and
banning.
Since
as
Smale says
there are
thousands of
those, many of
whom write few
articles and
ask fewer
questions,
there is no
way UN
Security had a
list of non
resident
correspondent
to NOT beat up
after 7 pm.
They just
decided / were
told to start
roughing up
critical Inner
City Press,
sometime
between June
22 until the
July 3 assault
which I
reported on
July 4 to the
NYPD and was
told, while a
report was
taken, that
the UN asserts
immunity.
(That's the
problem.)
Next
Smale asserts
I have been in
locations not
authorized by
the Guidelines
- without
giving a
single
example. This
does not
comply with
due process,
to put it
mildly. One
wonder how it took
the UN 45
days to write this
(except for
the desire
to slow-walk
things to
try to prevent
Inner City
Press from
covering
the UN General
Assembly in September).
Even at
censorship,
today's UN is
incompetent,
particularly
given the
public money
it requests
and spends
(that $6.7
billion
again).
It is
the “live
broadcasts” --
reporting and
commentary
subject to
protection
under the
First
Amendment of
the US
Constitution
and UN
Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights
Article 19 -
that Smale
next takes
issue with.
She cites,
again without
any example,
profanities
and derogatory
assertions.
But
Guterres'
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
repeatedly
used
profanity,
specifically
the F-word, in
the briefing
room including
telling me,
“Matthew
that's a
stupid f*cking
question.”
Even more
dispositively
a former
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
Giampaoli
Pioli who had
ordered me to
remove from
the Internet
an article
about him
arranging a UN
screening for
the Sri Lanka
Ambassador of
a film denying
his country's
war crimes
after having
had the
Ambassador as
his paying
tenant in one
of his many
Manhattan
apartment -
the reason I
quit UNCA -
once called me
an “assh*le”
at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout,
during an
advised
meeting.
It
happened at
the Security
Council
stakeout so it
was recorded, audio here.
But DPI did
nothing about
this profanity
and
“derogatory
assertion” by
the president
of UNCA,
become their
UN Censorship
Alliance. So
there is no
rule, less
enough of one
to ban me for
life.
There
is another
vague
reference to
refusing to
obey UN
Security
officers,
impossible to
respond to and
troubling in
light of the
video of Lt
Dobbins and
his colleague
pulling me,
and tearing my
shirt. Is one
not allowed to
say, “I am a
journalist?”
What would
Smale do?
What Smale
does NOT do is
public
financial
disclosure. As
Inner City
Press first reported,
and asked
Dujarric to
explain
without
getting any
answer, Smale
is not listed
in Guterres'
online roster
of public
financial
disclosures,
unlike for
example
official
Natalia
Gherman, who
was awarded
her UN post
after Smale.
Not
that Guterres
has a good
record on
transparency.
As Inner City
Press has
asked him
without
response,
Guterres has
yet to even
order a UN
audit of the
China Energy
Fund Committee
/ Patrick Ho -
President of
the General
Assembly Sam
Kutesa UN
bribery case
that Inner
City Press, alone
from
(then?) among
the UN press
corps, has
been covering
at the Federal
courthouse in
lower
Manhattan,
including with
the Smale, Dujarric
and Guterres
reviled Periscope
livestream.
Guterres
did not act on
Inner City
Press' 25 June
2018
letter to
alleging nepotism
in the handing
of the
management of
the Security
Council's
website to the
photographer
husband of the
chief of staff
of the
Department of
Political
Affairs, nor
on Inner City
Press now
ironic request
that he
provide
protect to the
Press being
target. It was
Guterres, it
turns out, who
was and is
behind the
targeting.
Most
Orwellian,
halfway
through page 3
Smale attempts
to use
questions I
have had to
ask at the UN
Delegates
Entrance since
she and
Guterres
banned me from
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout from
July 3 on. At
that new
stakeout, I
have
interviewed
among others
outgoing Human
Rights
Commissioner
Prince Zeid
(whose abuse
of
whistleblowers
I have also
reported) and
Permanent
Representatives
such as those
from
Kazakhstan and
even Burundi.
So which
unnamed member
states is
Smale claiming
have
complained to
her and
Guterres:
Cameroon? The
United
Kingdom?
France?
Morocco?
In
fact, one of
the three
specific (now
in retrospect
devious)
warning letter
Smale cites
involved the
Moroccan
delegation
falsely
claiming I
could not take
photographs or
record and
live-stream at
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout. But
the Guidelines
permit that.
The
DPI staff who
passed along
the Morocco
complaint were
orally
apologetic but
that's now for
naught. The
Kafkaesque
file was being
built. The
last of the
complaints is
the most
self-serving:
Smale's own
deputy Maher
Nasser, in an
abuse
of position
that I
complained to
Smale in
writing about
prior to her
“ruling,”
directed to a
letter to me
claiming I
could not
record him in
an approved
stakeout area.
It's that he
was
embarrassed by
what he said,
and he since
then has
blocked me on
Twitter,
another
strange
practice for a
UN official
but once that
Dujarric
himself has
engaged in.
Smale
claimed in a
July 19
response to
the DC-based
whistleblower
protection
group
Government
Accountability
Project that
Dujarric and
the four other
spokespeople
his office
would be
answering my
e-mailed
question in
respect to
what she
called my
“journalistic
endeavour.”
This was repeated
today to BuzzFeed's
Hayes Brown,
here.
But they
answer less
than 20% of
the questions
- one a day,
the easiest of
the five I ask
- and I am
being banned
from covering
the UN
Security
Council, whose
mishandling of
Yemen
and Myanmar,
and
non-handling
or worse of Cameroon
I have a right
to cover and
Inner City
Press'
audience have
a right to
follow online
including in
live-streams.
Most
pressingly,
Guterres and
Smale want to
block me from
covering
member states
in the UN
General
Assembly high
level week in
late
September, the
deadline for
accreditation
for which is
September. A
conflicted
Secretariat
has no right
to ban a
well-read
media from
covering this
diplomatic
dance of
nations. This
corruption and
censorship
must be
reversed, and
acted on,
before
September 5.
The
final sin
cited by Smale
is that when
Inner City
Press was
unjustly
evicted from
its long time
shared office,
for having
asserted a
right to cover
events in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
unless some
official paper
said it was
closed - and
nevertheless
leaving as
soon as
requested by a
UN Security
officer - it
did not move
its years of
files out fast
enough. In
fact, I was
advised at
that time that
UN DPI's and
the Office of
the Secretary
General's
lawless
crusade
against Inner
City Press
might still be
turned around;
from February
19 until April
16, 2016 I did
not enter or
“occupy” the
office, even
when I could
have. It was
the UN which
ultimately dumped my files out onto First
Avenue then,
as Guterres
and Smale have
now dumped me,
with conflicts
of interest
and without
due process.
Can
this
pseudo-legal
permanent
censorship
order stand? I
will do
everything in
my power that
the answer is
no, and that I
can return to
covering the
UN the same as
pro-Guterres
state media
from countries
like Morocco
and the Gulf,
and corporate
media which
only want easy
quotes and no
critique. If
freedom of the
press means
anything, this
will not
stand.
Forty
five days after Inner City
Press' reporter
was roughed
up by UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' Security officers
as he covered the UN Budget
Committee meeting on Guterres' $6.7
billion budget, a formal request for
full reinstatement has been filed
with President of the UN General
Assembly Miroslav Lajcak,
below.
The
filing says, " Before setting
forth the legal basis, I remind
you that the day you were elected
President of the General Assembly,
I asked you at your press
encounter about the UN bribery
case of John Ashe and Ng Lap Seng
(to which the case of Sam Kutesa
and Patrick Ho of CEFC has since
been added). You replied, There
will be no secrets. To give any
meaning to this, you cannot stand
by as an investigative journalist
is roughed up and banned, and is
threatened with not being able to
cover the 2018 General Assembly
High Level Week for the first time
in 12 years, simply because the
Secretary General doesn’t like my
coverage and questions about
corruption, use of public funds,
under-performance in Cameroon,
etc. The deadline for covering the
upcoming UNGA week is September 5.
I asked that you ensure all my
rights – and S303 – are restored
(well) before that time."
The
filing continues:
"Dear
President of
the UN General
Assembly,
I write to
request that
you restore of
all my rights
as an
accredited
journalist at
the UN,
specifically
my
reinstatement
as a
‘resident’ UN
journalist
with full
access rights
to UN
premises,
consistent
with the UN
Media
Guidelines1,
as well as the
return of my
office. The
decisions
taken by the
UN Secretariat
in 2016 to
downgrade my
status as a
non-resident
journalist,
and then in
2018 to
withdraw my
access rights
and to
forcibly eject
and ban me
from the UN
premises since
3 July 2018
are ultra
vires.
Before
setting forth
the legal
basis, I
remind you
that the day
you were
elected
President of
the General
Assembly, I
asked you at
your press
encounter
about the UN
bribery case
of John Ashe
and Ng Lap
Seng (to which
the case of
Sam Kutesa and
Patrick Ho of
CEFC has since
been added).
You replied,
There will be
no secrets. To
give any
meaning to
this, you
cannot stand
by as an
investigative
journalist is
roughed up and
banned, and is
threatened
with not being
able to cover
the 2018
General
Assembly High
Level Week for
the first time
in 12 years,
simply because
the Secretary
General
doesn’t like
my coverage
and questions
about
corruption,
use of public
funds,
under-performance
in Cameroon,
etc. The
deadline for
covering the
upcoming UNGA
week is
September 5. I
asked that you
ensure all my
rights – and
S303 – are
restored
(well) before
that time.
The UN
Secretary
General does
not have the
delegated
authority
under the UN
Charter to
take decisions
in relation to
the conduct of
the media or
to institute
sanctions on
the media,
just as he has
no authority
to take such
decisions in
relation to
government
representatives
or
non-governmental
organisations
(NGOs). Under
Article 97 of
the UN
Charter, the
Secretary
General’s role
is limited to
that of the
“Chief
Administrative
Officer” of
the
organisation
(he has
responsibility
for the
administration
of the human,
financial and
other
resources of
the
organisation)
and he cannot
assume further
duties unless
“entrusted to
do so” by the
UN General
Assembly,
Security
Council,
ECOSOC or
Trustee
Council
(Article 98 of
the UN
Charter)2.
To-date, no UN
General
Assembly,
Security
Council or
ECOSOC
resolution has
been passed
conferring on
the Secretary
General the
role as
decision-maker
on media
accreditation,
adjudicating
disputes with
the media, or
instituting
and monitoring
sanctions
against the
media. As such
any decisions
on my
accreditation,
access and
resident
status cannot
be taken by
the Secretary
General, and
must rest with
the General
Assembly, the
main
decision-making
organ of the
UN.
By way of
background, I
am a
journalist who
has been
reporting on
the UN and its
specialized
agencies since
2004,
accredited by
the UN in 2005
and made a
resident
correspondent
in 2006 until
that was
stripped from
me as I
pursued the
John Ashe / Ng
Lap Seng case
into the UN
Press Briefing
Room,
inappropriately
“lent
out” by the
SG’s spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric. My
articles,
published at
innercitypress.com3
are widely
read around
the world and,
as is relevant
here, at UN
Headquarters
in New York
and other UN
duties
stations, by
Member States,
UN staff and
by those with
an interest in
the workings
of the
organization.
My articles
are frequently
critical of
the UN
establishment
and its senior
officials. The
fact that I
bear witness
to
inconvenient
truths,
effectively as
a
whistleblower
undertaking
protected
activity, is
no
justification
for my illegal
censure and
ill-treatment.
The decisions
taken by the
Secretariat in
2016 to
downgrade my
status to
non-resident
journalist,
and then in
2018 to
withdraw my
access rights
and to
forcibly eject
me and ban me
from the UN
premises are
fundamentally
flawed,
retaliatory,
unethical,
tainted by
conflict of
interest and
evidence of
corruption.
My physical
ejection was
also criminal,
and I have
filed a
criminal
complaint with
the New York
City Police
(reference
#2018-017-2848_see
attached) on
4_ July 2018,
which
complaint is
still pending.
Further, the
Secretary
General has a
clear conflict
of interest in
my case
stemming from
my reporting,
on an ongoing
basis,
allegations of
corruption,
fraud, serious
misconduct and
unethical
behaviour at
the top
echelons of
the UN, as
well as on the
continuing
retaliation
against UN
whistleblowers.
I have broken
the news on
many stories
at
innercitypress.com
which sadly
reflect
negatively on
the
performance of
senior UN
officials,
including the
Secretary
General.
Many of the
allegations of
misconduct I
have reported
publicly at
innercitypress.com
have been
substantiated
through ‘duly
authorised’ UN
investigations,
including the
UN’s gross
institutional
failure in
responding to
the child
sexual abuse
and pedophilia
by
peacekeepers
in the Central
African
Republic (CAR)
and the abuse
of authority
by senior UN
officials
against Anders
Kompass (see
CAR Review
Panel Report
A/71/994). The
material I
have published
on
innercitypress.com
has been used
by UN
investigators
as evidence in
their ‘duly
authorised’
investigations5.
My articles
continue to
break the news
on sexual
abuse,
perpetrated by
UN
peacekeepers
and staff,
against
vulnerable
people whom
the UN is
supposed to
protect.
I drew the
international
community’s
attention to
the human
rights
violations in
the
English-speaking
parts of
Cameroon and
your apparent
silence in
responding to
these abuses,
which was
noted by many
anglophone
Cameroonians. High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Zeid
Ra’ad Al
Hussein
belatedly
issued a
statement on
25 July 2018
condemning the
abuses6.
I also
reported the
Secretary
General’s
apparent
failure to
initiate an
audit of the
China Energy
Fund Committee
/ Patrick Ho /
Sam Kutesa UN
bribery case,
which has
resulted in a
US criminal
prosecution
for bribery
and
international
money
laundering7.
I
closely cover
UN public
financial
disclosures as
you know, as
discovered
only yesterday
that USG DPI
Alison Smale,
who purported
to be doing a
“review” of me
without once
speaking to me
or given me an
opportunity to
be heard, is
not listed on
the Public
Financial
Disclosure
website,
despite being
given her
position prior
to Natalia
Gherman at
UNRCCA, who is
listed. You
said, There
will be no
secret. USG
Smale, on whom
I have
reported such
as above (as
well as what
whistleblowers
told me was
diversion of
funds meant
for Swahili
programming to
“social media
propaganda for
SG Guterres”)
has a conflict
of interest in
reviewing me.
For the
reasons in
this letter,
for the good
of the UN and
as required by
law, you must
take action
(see below).
For years I
have reported
publicly the
UN’s failure
to protect its
whistleblowers,
including high
profile cases
such as Anders
Kompass,
Caroline
Hunt-Matthes,
Miranda Brown
and Emma
Reilly.
My public
reporting of
these failures
by the UN to
protect its
whistleblowers
have now been
substantiated
by the UN
Joint
Inspection
Unit, in their
recent report8
and recognised
by the UK
Parliamentary
Committee on
International
Development’s
Inquiry into
Sexual abuse
and
exploitation
in the aid
sector9. I
have also
reported
publicly that
the ongoing
retaliation
against UN
whistleblowers
appears to
violate the US
law for the
protection of
UN
whistleblowers
(Section 7048
of the US
Consolidated
Appropriations
Act), which
stipulates
that the State
Department
must withhold
15% of the US’
annual
financial
contributions
to the UN
unless the UN
“implements”
best practice
for the
protection of
whistleblowers.
Given that I
have publicly
reported
allegations of
serious
misconduct,
wrongdoing and
unethical
conduct at the
top of the UN
and that these
allegations
clearly
reflect
negatively on
the
performance as
Secretary
General and
that of UN
senior
officials (his
subordinates),
neither he nor
his senior
officials can
bring an
impartial and
objective view
to my case.
The
International
Code of
Conduct of
Civil
Servants, to
which the
Secretary
General is
bound, states:
“Conflicts of
interest may
occur when an
international
civil
servant’s
personal
interests
interfere with
the
performance of
his/her
official
duties or call
into question
the qualities
of integrity,
independence
and
impartiality
required the
status of an
international
civil
servant.”
The failure to
report and
address a
conflict of
interest
constitutes
serious
misconduct
under the UN’s
Staff
Regulations
and Rules. UN
Staff
Regulation 1.2
m states:
“A conflict of
interest
occurs when,
by act or
omission, a
staff member’s
personal
interests
interfere with
the
performance of
his or her
official
duties and
responsibilities
or with the
integrity,
independence
and
impartiality
required by
the staff
member’s
status as an
international
civil servant.
When an actual
or possible
conflict of
interest does
arise, the
conflict shall
be disclosed
by staff
members to
their head of
office,
mitigated by
the
Organization
and resolved
in favour of
the interests
of the
Organization.”
In the case of
a conflict of
interest by
the Secretary
General, the
matter shall
be referred to
the President
of the General
Assembly. The
UN’s Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services’
(OIOS)
classifies
‘conflict of
interest’ as
‘Category I’
‘Serious’, the
highest level
of misconduct,
“according to
the relative
seriousness of
the
contravention
and risk to
the
Organization”10.
Further,
Article 19 of
the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights
states:
Everyone has
the right to
freedom of
opinion and
expression;
this right
includes
freedom to
hold opinions
without
interference
and to seek,
receive and
impart
information
and ideas
through any
media and
regardless of
frontiers.
Article 10 of
the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights
states that:
“Everyone is
entitled in
full equality
to a fair and
public hearing
by an
independent
and impartial
tribunal in
the
determination
of his rights
and
obligations...”
I have not
been provided
with access to
any such
independent
and impartial
tribunal.
Instead the
Secretariat
has wrongfully
and
unilaterally
taken on the
role of judge
and
executioner,
with a clear
lack of
independence
and
impartiality.
The
Secretariat
claimed in
2016 that it
cancelled my
‘resident’
journalist
status because
of my
allegedly not
upholding the
UN Media
Guidelines;
however,
notwithstanding
my categorial
rejection of
this claim,
its decision
is in any
event tainted
by conflict of
interest and
hence
fundamentally
flawed. While
Mr. Antonio
Guterres was
not in office
as Secretary
General at the
time the
Secretariat
took its
tainted and
fundamentally
flawed
decision in
2016 to
rescind my
resident
status, he has
perpetuated
the wrongful
decision,
injustice and
violation of
my human
rights: this
must now be
urgently
corrected. The
Secretariat
has unlawfully
appointed
itself as the
decision-maker
in terms of
determining
the residency,
access and
accreditation
rights of
journalists,
without having
the delegated
legal
authority or
mandate to do
so. There are
no legal
instruments
conferring
such
decision-making
authority on
the
Secretariat,
and as such
the decisions
taken to
rescind my
access rights
and ban me
from the
premises are
unlawful. With
NGOs, the
authority to
grant
accreditation
and access is
retained by
Member States,
through the
Committee on
NGOs. The
Secretariat
clearly has a
conflict of
interest in
deciding on
the rights of
journalists,
especially in
cases where
the journalist
has been
critical of
the
Secretariat’s
performance.
I request that
you, as the
President of
the General
Assembly, the
decision-making
organ of the
United
Nations:
1) Immediately
rescind the
Secretariat’s
ultra vires,
fundamentally
flawed,
retaliatory,
corrupt,
unethical
decisions to
withdraw my
status as a
‘resident’ UN
journalist and
ban from the
UN premises –
these
unilateral
decisions are
tainted by
clear conflict
of interest;
2) Immediately
reinstate me
as a
‘resident’ UN
accredited
journalist and
restore all of
my access
rights
(consistent
with the UN
Media
Guidelines),
including to a
suitable
office in the
UN premises,
specifically
S-303A which
is barely
used, by one
who has asked
no questions
in a decade
and barely
came in, and
to remove the
taint;
3) Ensure that
UN senior
officials,
including in
the Department
of Safety and
Security,
Department of
Public
Information,
and the
Spokesperson
and Deputy
Spokesperson
desist from
taking any
further
retaliatory
actions
against
me.
4) Failing
that I request
that you
immediately
lift the
immunity of
the Secretary
General, as he
holds
responsibility
as the ‘Chief
Administrative
Officer’ of
the
Secretariat
for my
physical
ejection from
the UN
premises on 4
July 2018,
detailed in
the attached
complaint to
the NYC
police, so
that the NYC
police may
investigate my
complaint.
Further, I
urge you to
put measures
in place to
ensure that
the
Secretariat
acts with
integrity,
independence
and
impartiality,
and that it
upholds the
Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights,
including on
freedom of
expression, to
ensure that
the injustice
I have
suffered is
not repeated.
I believe that
my
reinstatement
as a
‘resident’
journalist
with full
restoration of
my access
rights and
office would
be in the best
interests of
the
organization
and consistent
with the
wishes of
Member States,
many of whom
continue to
express strong
concerns about
my situation
and more
generally
about the
retaliation
against
journalists
and
whistleblowers.
I note your
statement on
World Press
Freedom Day (3
May 2018)11:
“When
journalists
are silenced,
people suffer.
And when
journalists
are free to do
their work,
people are
given tools
that can help
guide them to
decent lives
on a
sustainable
planet.
And,
journalists
are also
crucial to
what we do
here – at the
United
Nations. They
bring our work
outside these
halls. They
communicate
with people we
sometimes
cannot. They
hold us to
account, and
call us to
action.
So, on this
day and all
days, let us
reassure
journalists
that they can
count on us.
Let us
recommit: to
protect them,
to include
them, and to
respect the
role that they
play both
inside and
outside these
walls.”
The
credibility of
the UN will be
further eroded
if it
continues to
retaliate
against and
crackdown on a
journalist for
exposing
wrongdoing and
unethical
behavior.
The foregoing
is sent
without
prejudice and
under
reservation of
all rights.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Russell Lee
***
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