New
UN Sex Abuse
in DRC, ICP
Reports Then
Asks, Now
Code Blue Open
Letter, Here
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Audio
UNITED NATIONS,
November 22 – Yet more UN sexual
abuse charges were quietly
disclosed by the UN on November
20, allegations against
"peacekeepers" from Tanzania and
international civilian UN staff
in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, photo here.
Inner City Press reported it
then asked about it; now it
reports an open letter to the UN
about it. Back on November 20 at
the UN noon briefing, rather
than announcing these sex abuse
charges, the UN spokesman dodged
Inner City Press' questions
about two other UN corruption
cases, the Deputy Secretary
General improperly signing
thousands of certificates for
endangered rosewood
from Nigeria and Cameroon
already in China and giving a UN
job to Germany's Ambassador's
wife, here.
What will the new "UN Victims'
Advocate" Jane Connor do about
these new abuses? On November 21
Inner City Press asked UN deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: I wanted
to ask you about some new sexual
abuse and exploitation, I guess,
allegations. Many of them
seem to be against the Tanzanian
battalion in MONUSCO [United
Nations Organization
Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo], but there's one that's
listed against a civilian
international, and it's listed
as child rape, and it says UN
pending. And I wanted to,
I guess, get some more
information. Number one,
in the spirit of disclosure, is
that all the information that
the UN can give on a case of
alleged child rape by a civilian
staff member? Two, can you
say, if you won't say the
nationality of the staff member,
whether it's a fund, program or
agency or just some further
identifiers? And, if not,
when will this information be
made available? Spokesman:
Hold on. I think I have
something on this. But it
may not be here. One
second. Yeah. What I
can say on this is the
following: We're extremely
concerned by this allegation of
the rape of a child in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
by an international civilian
staff member working with the UN
Mission there, MONUSCO, which
was publicly reported on the
Conduct and Discipline Unit
website on Friday. The
allegation was reported by the
mother of the victim to the
mission's Conduct and Discipline
Team earlier this month.
The event itself is reported to
have occurred in 2016. We
understand that this matter was
reported to the local courts in
July 2017 and they are aware of
the allegation. The
allegation was assessed by the
Head of Mission and determined
that sufficient evidence exists
to warrant an
investigation.
Consequently, the matter was
referred to the Office of
Internal Oversight Services for
appropriate action and to UN
Headquarters with recommendation
that the staff member be placed
on administrative leave without
pay pending investigations and
the disciplinary process, if
any. The alleged minor
victim has been referred to
UNICEF [United Nations
Children’s Fund] for medical and
psychosocial support. The
Mission will continue to monitor
her well-being and maintain
appropriate contact to ensure
that her needs are met by the
service provider as necessary.
Inner City Press: Thanks.
Has the official Jane Connors,
the victims' advocate, taken any
action in this case?
Spokesman: "The actions
that we have to report on are
the ones that I've just
mentioned." So, no. The next day
Code Blue sent this: "Mr.
Secretary-General, We are
writing to you about a matter of
grave and urgent concern. The UN
has announced that an
international civilian staff
member in the UN’s peacekeeping
mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO)
has been accused of committing
rape against a female child. The
UN Organization's handling to
date of this allegation
illustrates our concerns about
the fundamental defects in the
UN’s “New Approach” to its
ongoing sex abuse crisis:
conflict of interest between the
Organization’s role as employer
of the accused, and its role as
intermediary for the victim;
double standards in the
Organization’s responses to
allegations made against
military versus civilian UN
personnel, as well as in the
Organization’s responses to
allegations made against
national versus international
civilian UN personnel;
potential additional harm to
victims posed by Victims’ Rights
Advocates;
abuse of authority through acts
that shield those accused of
crimes from the law;
lack of transparency, which
permits the Organization to
control and manipulate facts and
evidence that could damage its
reputation, and to do so with no
external scrutiny and no clear
mechanism by which the
Organization can be held
accountable.
Upon questioning by the Code
Blue Campaign and media, the UN
provided these scant facts:
Victim:
female child
Complaint:
rape
Accused:
UN international staff
Date of
incident:
2016
Reported
by:
mother of the victim
First reported
to:
“local courts” in DRC
Date of first
report:
July 2017
Reported to
UN:
early Nov 2017
Reported to
UNby:
mother of the victim
UN actions announced to date:
“The allegation was assessed by
the Head of Mission and
determined that sufficient
evidence exists to warrant an
investigation.”
“Consequently, the matter was
referred to the Office of
Internal Oversight Services
[OIOS] for appropriate action …
.”
“[The matter was referred] to UN
Headquarters with recommendation
that the staff member be placed
on administrative leave without
pay pending investigations and
disciplinary process, if any.”
“The alleged minor victim has
been referred to UNICEF for
medical and psychosocial
support."
UN planned actions announced to
date:
“The Mission [MONUSCO] will
continue to monitor her
well-being … .”
“[MONUSCO will] maintain
appropriate contact to ensure
that her needs are met by the
service provider as necessary.”
Our questions are uncomplicated,
requiring simple answers:
What is the nationality of the
staff member?
The UN “determined that
sufficient evidence exists to
warrant an investigation.” Did
the Head of Mission determine
that sufficient evidence exists
to warrant a criminal
investigation?
If so, under what published,
objective standard was that
determination reached?
In the course of making that
determination, was evidence
collected by MONUSCO staff? If
so:
Was the child interviewed by
MONUSCO staff? If so, by which
staff member/s?
How many interviews were
conducted? Were the child’s
statements recorded? If so, in
writing or by audio or by video?
Were witnesses interviewed by
MONUSCO staff? If so, which
MONUSCO staff member/s? Were the
witnesses’ statements recorded?
Did MONUSCO staff collect
physical evidence? If so, how,
where, and by whom was that
physical evidence collected and
stored?
What specific measures, if any,
were taken by MONUSCO staff when
collecting and storing physical
and testimonial evidence to (a)
establish the chain of custody,
and (b) protect against
tampering with or degradation of
evidence?
Was any other evidence sought,
collected, or stored? If so,
what evidence?
If sufficient evidence exists to
warrant a criminal
investigation, why was the
matter referred to OIOS?
Immunity does not apply in this
case. The Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC) has jurisdiction
over the investigation and
prosecution of this crime. Are
DRC authorities conducting a
criminal investigation?
If not, why not?
If a criminal investigation is
not currently underway in the
DRC, to which jurisdiction will
this case be referred for
criminal investigation and
prosecution? When will that
referral be made?
Where is the accused now? Is he
being detained in the DRC until
a criminal investigation is
completed? What steps has the UN
taken to ensure that the accused
does not flee?
Has the MONUSCO Victims’ Rights
Advocate had contact with the
victim or the victim’s mother?
If so, what steps are being
taken to ensure that these
interactions do not prejudice a
criminal investigation and
prosecution?
Have other UN personnel had
direct interactions with the
girl or her mother? If so, what
steps are being taken to ensure
that these interactions do not
prejudice a criminal
investigation and prosecution?
According to the UN, victims
have rights. Have those rights
been codified? Has the victim’s
mother been informed of those
rights and of any specific
assistance and services to which
her daughter is entitled?
Does the UN believe that the
Organization is obligated to
provide those specific services
and assistance? If so, when, and
for how long?
If the victim’s mother/legal
guardian believes that some or
all of the rights and
entitlements due to her child
are not being provided by the
UN, to whom can she appeal?
Mr. Secretary-General, we are
now forced to raise these
concerns in an Open Letter
because our previous efforts
have been denied a fair hearing.
We respectfully seek a reply at
the earliest possible moment.
Yours sincerely,
Paula Donovan, Stephen Lewis
Co-Directors, AIDS-Free World
cc. Mr. Atul Khare, Under
Secretary-General; Ms. Heidi
Mendoza,
Under-Secretary-General; Mr.
Miguel de Serpa Soares,
Under-Secretary-General; Ms.
Jane Holl Lute,
Under-Secretary-General" UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres on October 18 told
Inner City Press he takes sexual
abuse by UN peacekeepers very
seriously. But when his
Department of Public Information
on October 19 promoted his new
Peacekeeping website, Inner City
Press found that the data about
abuse and exploitation cases is
buried, requiring at least four
clicks even if one knows the
route. Inner City Press raised
this - and DPI's Number Two
official Maher Nasser's response
was “Seriously Mathew? The link
to the Conducts & Discipline
Unit is on home page, how is
that hiding a choice? Can you
ever be positive?” Actually,
you'd have to know that the term
“Standards of conduct” in a
drop-down menu under “What Is
Peacekeeping” is UN code for
peacekeeper sexual abuse. Then
after reading some propaganda, a
link promises to take you to “up
to date statistics.” But this
leads to more propaganda,
“Serving with Pride,” to the
side of which is a box labeled
“Statistics.” But clicking that
still doesn't take you to the
data. While DPI's Nasser wants -
demands - that the press be
“positive” or face eviction and
restriction, it is hard to be
positive about this. It is also
inconsistent with the claims of
commitment and transparency by
Antonio Guterres, ostensibly
Nasser's boss. Nasser proceeded,
the day after Guterres didn't
answer - his spokesman said
Guterres didn't hear - Inner
City Press' question about mass
killing in Cameroon, to say “Not
healthy to be so angry and so
negative. But it seems that's
your choice!!” Yes, as it
doesn't hear about (some) mass
killings, the UN wants a press
corps that is positive, and
evicts and restricts the “too
negative” media. Under Nasser
and now apparently his
successor, it is a conflict of
interest to allow officials who
view their jobs as procuring
positive coverage of the UN to
be the ones to control the
access and work space (or not)
of independent, critical media.
We'll have more on this -
including because Nasser, the
day after Inner City Press
raised those questions on
October 19, had delivered to
Inner City Press a threat
to its accreditation, then
denied it the ability to even
ask a question at the next event
he moderated. The UN is a
lawless and wasteful
organization which often covers
up for genocides like in Rwanda,
Srebrenica, Sri Lanka, Myanmar
and now Cameroon. On the small
but related scale its Department
of Public Information has
engaged in censorship of the
Press raising these abuses,
under Cristina Gallach then
three time loser Maher Nasser
and at least until now Alison
Smale. Gallach, who did no
due diligence of convicted UN
briber Ng Lap Seng's illegal
events in the UN, evicted Inner
City Press after it asked her
about her links to Ng. Her
interim replacement Maher
Nasser, who applied to replace
her but lost out again, never
even replied to Inner City
Press' written request
to reverse the restrictions in
April 2017. He claims it was
responded to orally. So here
is audio of his Kafka-esque
"response" in August 2017,
saying that because Inner City
Press once offered to mop the
floors of the UN in order to
continue having access to puruse
the Cameroon or other stories.
He said the offer was an
admission justifying 18 now 20
months of restrictions. He false
claimed he would look into the
no-show status of the Egyptian
state media his DPI is trying to
give Inner City Press' office
to. He did nothing in two
months. Why? He has taken, with
typical UN impunity, to publicly
deriding Inner City Press for
not being “positive”
enough, not only amid the
genocide the UN allows and
covers up for, but also his
DPI's restrictions which hinder
Inner City Press from covering
it. He lost out to Alison Smale,
but apparently has passed along
his dubious “wisdom” and
prejudice, along with others to
be named, to Smale. Smale has
not responded in six weeks to
Inner City Press' two
petitions.
On October 18, when Inner City
Press politely asked her if she
had received the petitions, said
yes and she acknowledged the
need to show the “courtesy” of a
response from her Department.
Meaning Nasser, noted troller?
More than twenty four hours
later, still no response of any
kind, even as the Egyptian state
media to which Gallach and
Nasser purported to give Inner
City Press' office, Akhbar
al Yom's Sanaa Youssef,
didn't even come into the
building, where Akhbar al Yom
has asked not a single question
for the entire time, more than a
year. This is what Nasser means
by positive: silent or bought.
The irony is, if the UN weren't
so lawlessly vindictive Inner
City Press wouldn't even know
the names of most of these
people. So are they serving
Antonio Guterres? We'll have
more on this. Senior
UN officials
claim they
care about and
want coverage
of crisis like
those in
Cameroon, then
block Press
coverage while
taking public
money while
indulging
their
prejudices. More
than a month ago Inner City
Press wrote to UN Department of
Public Information chief Alison
Smale explaining
how the eviction and
restrictions imposed by her
predecessor Cristina Gallach
would result in censorship and a
reduction in coverage during the
General Assembly Week. There was
no response - and has been none
since, such that Inner City
Press was hindered on October 17
as it covered (Southern)
Cameroonians raising questions
bout Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' praise of Paul Biya,
UN cover up of his abuses
prospectively during the Central
Africa trip Smale wants to spin.
And Guterres and his team know,
his office has confirmed receipt
of this, the Inner City Press
has asked the UN "Spokesman, as
is relevant here, about the UN
Department of Public
Information, about human rights
violations in Cameroon unacted
on by the UN, and about the UN's
lack of transparency as
identified not only by the Press
but also the UN's own Advisory
Committee on Administrative and
Budgetary Questions. The answers
were UNsatisfactory, and UN DPI
has been entirely
unresponsive... Other
correspondents could walk around
freely; I had to get an escort
and minder. Meanwhile my
long-time work space sat, for
yet another day, unused by the
Egyptian state media DPI has
tried to assign it to, which
rarely comes in and never asks
questions. I have repeatedly
written to the new head of DPI,
without any response at all. I
was told that since the former
USG evicted Inner City Press,
reversal would have to await the
new USG. I waited, I wrote, I
waited - nothing. Nothing at
all. Nor now have there been
answers about DPI's planned
hiring of outside consultants,
and if these would be used in
the planned “good-news” coverage
of the upcoming trip to the
Central African Republic. These
are all questions that should be
answered, and the Press asking
about this, and about Cameroon,
Yemen, Myanmar, Western Sahara,
Kenya and the UN
“irregularities” exposed in the
Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe case
should not be targeted and
treated differently than other
correspondents here. It is a
conflict of interest for DPI,
admittedly under Smale promoting
your image, to control and limit
the access of the critical
independent press. There should
have been rules - the meeting I
covered 20 months ago was
nowhere listed as closed, I got
no hearing or appeal - and it
should all now be belatedly
reversed, Inner City Press
restored to its work space in
S-303 and resident correspondent
returned." 24 hours, the clock
continues to tick. From the very
first day of the GA week, an
event about migration no less,
Inner City Press was arbitrarily
banned. And on the Friday of the
Week, Smale's DPI minders
told Inner City Press it could
not, as other less active
correspondents could, speak to
participants in the UN's
(politicized) meeting about the
humanitarian situation, just as
it was also restricted in its
coverage of Cameroon and other
issues. This was raised to Smale
the next day, when UN officials
and diplomats were working
(although many of Smale's
"resident correspondents" like Egypt's
Akhbar al Yom, Pakistan's Daily
Dawn and others didn't even come
in). But again from Smale, no
reforms, no response. Perhaps
this was due to the elections in
her former beat, Germany. But
these issues are her
responsibility; she is being
paid for this. Here's our
September 23 Smale-mail: "Dear
Under Secretary General Smale:
This follows up on the request /
petition I sent you earlier this
month, before the now-concluding
UN General Assembly High Level
Week. My unjustifiable lack of
resident correspondent status,
which I had asked be restored
before the High Level Week, has
resulted for example in me being
barred from speaking with
attendees outside yesterday's
Yemen humanitarian meeting.
Resident Correspondents,
including those who rarely come
in and never ask questions, like
Akhbar al Yom, were given access
to passes to the 1B level,
without escorts. For me, whose
resident correspondent
accreditation was taken without
a hearing or appeal for pursuing
the UN bribery story by covering
a meeting in the UN Press
Briefing Room, two separate
escorts or minders were required
to access the Yemen meeting.
While inside the meeting I was
told I could stakeout / wait
outside the meeting and speak to
participants as they left, my
DPI minders told me I could not
speak with anyone, even
diplomats who wanted to speak. I
reiterate my formal request to
be restored to my longtime
shared office S303 (I am willing
to help rarely present Akhbar al
Yom to relocate to the bullpen
or wherever else), and to have
my resident correspondent
accreditation restored, early
this coming week. I can provide
any further information, by
email, phone or in person. (By
contrast, the only event Egypt
state media Akhbar al Yom
“covered” was the SG - Sisi
bilateral, as UNCA “pool;” when
I asked DPI's MALU for basic
information such as who attended
or was observed at the bilat,
none was provided.) For your
information during this High
Level Week I put questions to
the foreign minister of Libya,
the UN's Libya envoy, the UK
minister for the Middle East
Alistair Burt (on Yemen), the
head of UNRWA, the head of UNHCR
(on Burundi), SRSG Louise Arbour
(on Libya) and, as you saw, the
EC minister and Deputy Secretary
General. More could be said, but
this should be enough. To
continue to restrict my
movements in the UN more than
other journalist, to keep me out
of my long time office such that
I can barely and sometimes not
download and edit video of these
Q&A, in favor of a no-show,
no-question state media is
UNjustifiable. It should be
reversed today, or early next
week. Today Saturday I am
writing this while covering the
Secretary General's bilateral
meetings on the 27th floor, if
you are in the UN and need any
further information. If you
don't mind, please confirm
receipt of this email." Not even
that. Now the UN Security
Council won't even hold a single
Yemen meeting in September,
despite its members' professions
of concern. When a Yemen meeting
during the UN General Assembly
week was held at 8 am on
September 22, new UN Relief
Chief Mark Lowcock introduced as
speakers the foreign ministers
of Sweden and the Netherlands,
representatives of Japan and the
UAE, and the UN's dubious envoy
Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed. While
billed as a humanitarian
meeting, the UAE spoke without
irony about outside
interference. (Yemen's
representative spoke in Arabic;
Inner City Press streamed
Periscope video).
To get to the meeting, held in
UN Conference Room 5, Inner City
Press unlike other no-show
reporters like Egypt's Akhbar al
Yom was required to get a UN
escort or minder, who told Inner
City Press it could not ask
questions or speak with anyone.
This despite UN OCHA telling
Inner City Press it could wait
outside and speak to people as
they left. So the UN's
retaliatory eviction of Inner
City Press for covering UN
corruption now results in it,
unlike the Saudi and pro-Saudi
media in the meeting, being
unable to speak to the
participants. This is today's UN
- it has been directly raised to
the new head of DPI, Alison
Smale, without response as she
focuses on the election on her
previous beat, Germany. Now
this, from the UNSC: "The
briefing and consultation on
Yemen is postponed for next
month and we'll have no meeting
scheduled tomorrow afternoon."
Pathetic. As it this: while
Canada joins The Netherlands at
the UN in Geneva in calling for
an investigation of possible war
crimes in Yemen including the
Saudi-led coalition's killing of
civilians, Canada has continued
a $15 billion arms deal with
Saudi Arabia. When Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
held a press conference at the
UN on September 21, Inner City
Press went early, intending to
ask him to explain this
incongruity or seeming
hypocrisy. Trudeau's spokesman
announced that the questioners
had been “pre-determined,” but
did not explain how. So in a
lull after what the spokesman
called the last question - would
Trudeau be a mediator on
Venezuela - Inner City Press
asked about Canadian arms sales
to Saudi while calling for a
probe. At first Trudeau said he
was happy to answer the
question. Then he said no, he
would not reward “bad behavior,”
and instead reached out for
question in French about day
care. (Inner City Press notes
that pre-determining questioners
is bad behavior. Apparently the
CBC journalist who was given the
first question agreed to it; the
organization only the day before
sent an Egyptian state media
correspondent as the lone “pooler”
in Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' meeting with General
Sisi.) Eearlier on September 21
when UK minister Alistair Burt
came in front of the UN Security
Council to speak about
accountability for Daesh in
Iraq, Inner City Press deferred
to a timely question about the
referendum in Kurdistan. Then
during lull - identical to
that in which it put its
question to Trudeau - Inner City
Press asked Burt about his
quote, about accountability for
the bombing of civilians in
Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition
with UK bombs, that "Our view is
that it is for the Coalition
itself, in the first instance,
to conduct such investigations.
They have the best insight into
their own military procedures
and will be able to conduct the
most thorough and conclusive
investigations.” Inner City
Press asked how he can say this,
given that the Saudis have
investigated less than five
percent of the killings. Video here.
Burt's answer focused on the
peace process - what peace
process? At least Burt answered,
and did not like Trudeau try to
call merely asking the question
in a lull "bad behavior" - we'll
have more on this.
***
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