UN GATE, August 3 -- The
UN of Antonio
Guterres hit a
new low on
July 26. After
roughing up
and banning Inner
City Press,
now 395
days, and
refusing to
answer its written
questions
below, the UN
noon briefing
on July 26 had
not a single
in-person question.
Video here.
Now in August
Inner City
Press has
asked
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, just
back from a
three week
vacation
sailing the
Aegean Sea,
where IS
Guterres? His
public schedule
for both
August 2 and
August 5 are
entirely blank,
not even the
"no public appointments"
fig
leaf used
under
Dujarric's
former boss
Ban Ki-moon. Now
Inner City
Press has written
to Guterres'
incoming spin-meister, on
deadline. Watch this
site.
This is what
Guterres has
done to the
UN.
Inner City
Press on July
5 was banned
from entering
the UN, the
day after it
filed a
criminal
complaint
against UN
Security for
physically
removing it
from covering
the meeting
about the UN
Secretary
General
Antonio
Guterres' $6.7
billion
peacekeeping
budget, as
witnessed and
essentially
cheered on by
senior UN
official
Christian
Saunders,
tearing its
reporter's
shirt,
painfully and
intentionally
twisting his
arm and
slamming shut
and damaging
his laptop. On
August 17,
Guterres'
Global
Communicator
Alison Smale
issued a
letter banning
Inner City
Press from the
UN - for life.
With no due
process. She
and Guterres
have put the
UN in the US
Press Freedom
Tracker, here.
Smale said,
again, that
the UN would
answer Press
questions to
the Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric and
his Office;
Dujarric said the
same on
camera.
On July 26
more than
three hours
before the UN
noon briefing
by Deputy
Farhan Haq just
before which on the
third
day he
belatedly
answered written
questions
about UN child
rape in DRC, here --
Dujarric is
away on
vacation for
the whole
month of July
--
Inner
City Press submitted 1073
questions,
including why
it continues
to be
lawlessly banned
from entering
to ask
questions in
person:
"There
are more than
700+
questions
UNanswered.
And Monday
Sept 17,
Tuesday Sept
18, Wed Sept
19 and
Thurs and Fri
Sept 21, that
whole week, no
questions
answered. Nor
Sept 25, nor
28th - nor
October 2 nor
3. While
appreciating
and using what
was belatedly
sent on
May 20
about sexual
exploitation
allegations
and on March
28 in partial
request to
Inner City
Press'
questions
about the UN
bribery
sentence of
Patrick Ho of
CEFC and
CEFC's 2018
attempt to buy
the oil
company of
Gulbenkian
Foundation
which paid the
SG, no answers
on Dec 17 or
18 or 19 or 20
or 21 -
another FIVE
days in a row,
even as SG's
direct
conflicts of
interest and
failure to
disclose
emerge, and a
newest low. No
answers on
January 30 nor
31 nor
February 1 nor
4 nor 5 nor 6
nor 7 nor 11
nor 12 nor 13
nor 14 nor 15
nor 18 nor 19
nor 20 nor 21
nor 22 nor 25
nor 26 nor 27
nor March 1 -
27 (!) And now April 1, 3-30 (one
answer
in the
entire month -
corrupt), and
now May
1-13, 15-17,
21-31,
June
3-28,
and July 1-2,
8-25
many
questions.
No answers at
all during
those four
days of the US
v Ho trial
showing
corruption in
the UN says it
all. This ban
is just
censorship -
and Inner City
Press must be
allowed back
into the noon
briefing to
ask its
questions in
person and
follow up on
them.
July
26-1: On
Myanmar on
which the SG
has been
called a
failure by
Rohingya
groups, what
is Mr.
Guterres'
comment and
action if any
on that six
Myanmar
nationals
deported from
Singapore over
alleged links
to an ethnic
minority
insurgent
group were
remanded in
custody in
Yangon on July
26, a court
spokesman
said. They are
being held in
an undisclosed
location along
with two other
people
including a
driver...
July
25-4: On
Cameroon,
after the SG
took Biya's
golden statue
and UN Budget
Committee
favors, what
are the
comments and
actions if any
from him and
separately DSG
Amina J.
Mohammed on
the protests
on July 22 by
those
Ambazonians
illegally
detained in
Kondengui
Central
Prison? And
the protests
since then,
amid the SG's
typical
silence, in
the prisons in
Buea?
July
25-5: On press
freedom and
Sudan, what is
the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that a
Sudanese
editor who
heads the
country's main
journalist's
union has been
detained? The
Sudanese
Journalists'
Union called
on the ruling
Transitional
Military
Council to
"immediately
release" its
head Sadiq
al-Rizaigi,
who is also
editor of
Al-Sayha
newspaper, or
that he be put
on trial... Now
that the US
Court of
Appeals for
the Second
Circuit has
ruled against
public
officials
blocking
critics on
Twitter even
if the
official
claims their
account is
private, what
is the
justification
for UNSG
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric, with
the UN flag in
his profile
photo and
Guterres
promoting
content,
blocking Inner
City Press?
What is SG
Guterres'
response /
reaction to UN
DSS and
Guterres'
actions on
Inner City
Press being listed
in the U.S.
Press Freedom
Tracker.
In the UN,
what has the
accountability
been for Lt
Ronald E.
Dobbins and
those those
refused on
camera to give
their names?
What is each
of yours -
particularly
the SG's -
response to
the letter
written and
sent by
Burundi
activist
Manisha
Lievin? To the
April 15
letter to the
SG, DSG and
USG Smale for
which receipt
has not even
been
acknowledged,
other than a
single lawless
line from
MALU: "Your
media
accreditation
request, with
reference no:
M66561081, has
been
declined"?
This is a
formal request
for the UN's
explanation of
grounds for
this denied,
and since
SGcentral, the
SG's chief of
staff and
Deputy SG and
USG Smale
haven't even
confirmed
receipt of the
April 15
letter much
less
responded, for
reconsideration.
AGAIN,
immediately
explain how it
is legitimate
to ban from
enter into the
UN the media
that has been
asking about
these and
other
questions,
with no
hearing or
appeal.
June
14-5: Since
the SG claimed
publicly that
the mansion he
lives in
"cannot" be
sold, please
immediately
provide any
and all
documents with
such a
restriction,
and separately
explain why
the concept of
cy pres or
reformation of
donor intent
has not been
explored.
Separately,
Boutros
Boutros Galli
wrote in his
book that the
building was
given by
Arthur
Houghton
through the
United Nations
Association of
the USA. What
actual
inquires, with
UNA-USA or any
successor to
Houghton or
Corning Glass,
has Guterres
made?
June
11-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on this report
from Chinese
state media:
"YAOUNDE, June
10 (Xinhua) --
Cameroon's
House Speaker
of National
Assembly
Cavaye Yeguie
Djibril on
Monday
denounced
foreign
interference
in the
country's
internal
affairs which
he referred to
as
"conspiracy."
"Cameroon has
become an
object of
conspiracy
intended to
destabilize
the country.
To justify
their
interference
in internal
affairs, the
conspirators
pretend to
denounce it."
Again, how
many offices /
desk does the
Secretariat
give to
Chinese state
media inside
the UN?
May
15-3: On the
Public
Financial
Disclosures
for 2017
belatedly
published over
the weekend of
April 27-28,
please state
why Mohammed
Ibn Chambas,
like the
Executive
Secretary of
the UN
Biodiversity
Convention,
Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer,
UNICEF's
Henriette
Fore, with
documented
links to
ExxonMobil and
others, USG
Mark Lowcock
(undisclosed
while the
Secretariat's
speaker at the
UNSC Arria on
Cameroon),
UNCTAD's
Mukhisa
Kituyi, UN
Women's
Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka,
UNOG chief
Michael
Moller, UNDP
chief Achim
Steiner,
Heidi Mendoza,
Adama Dieng,
UN Security
chief Peter
Drennan,
Rosemary
DiCarlo and
Nicholas
Haysum, is not
even on the
list. OIOS
chief
Inga-Britt
Ahlenius
reported - why
not Mendoza?
Where IS
Mendoza? Isn't
it a bad
practice for
the UN's head
(anti)
genocide
definition
official to
conceal from
the public
even cursory
financial
disclosure?
Did DiCarlo
decline to
make any
public
disclosure
despite being
the UN's top
political
officer? What
is the even
plausible
applicability
of this line
from SG
Guterres' web
page: "Please
note that
given the
multi-cultural
environment of
the UN and the
often security
sensitive
locations
where UN staff
are either
working or
come from,
full public
disclosure may
not always be
a viable or
sensible
option for
certain staff
members"? Why
has Guterres
changed the
previous
system in a
which a
"choosing not
to disclose"
statement was
upload and
listed, to one
which helps
conceal who
reports and
who does
not?
Again, state
why
considering
the UN bribery
conviction of
Patrick Ho of
CEFC, and
CEFC's attempt
to purchase
the oil
company of
Gulbenkian
Foundation
which paid Mr.
Guterres in
2016 was
omitted from
his online
public
financial
disclosure
covering 2016,
and why
Guterres has
not even
started an
audit of CEFC
in the
UN.