As Ban
Speaks on Al
Jazeera Bail,
Silent on Zone
9 Bloggers,
Why?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 13 --
Amid news that
Egypt has
released two
Al Jazeera
journalists
Mohammed Fahmy
and Baher
Mohammed on
bail,
statements are
churned out
from all
corners.
Now UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
one:
"The
Secretary-General
welcomes the
decision by
the Egyptian
authorities to
release on
bail the
journalists
Mohamed Fahmy
and Baher
Mohamed. He
hopes that
their cases,
as well as
those of other
journalists in
detention,
will be
resolved
expeditiously
and in
accordance
with Egypt’s
international
obligations to
protect the
freedoms of
expression and
association."
Ban Ki-moon
should still
explain his
silence while
in Ethiopia
for the recent
African Union
summit about
the terrorism
trial of that
country's Zone
9 Bloggers.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has been
asking Ban's
UN, and those
who pass
through it,
about
#FreeZone9Bloggers,
as it asked
about Peter
Greste and his
colleagues,
for example
here.
But the UN in
New York, and
the UN in
Addis Ababa,
have been
silent.
On February 12
across First
Avenue from
the UN there
was a panel
discussion on
protection of
journalists at
the
International
Peace
Institute. Al
Jazeera's
Gabriel
Elizondo
spoke.
Inner
City Press ran
across First
Avenue and
posed a
question: does
the UN system
do for
independent
journalists
and bloggers
what it does
for corporate
or state
media?
The panelist
who answered
was David
Kaye, UN
Special
Rapporteur on
the Promotion
and Protection
of the Right
to Freedom of
Opinion and
Expression.
Kaye said, "As
an independent
journalist,
it's good to
see you here.
From different
perspectives,
I think that's
right.
Sometimes the
UN can do so
loudly and
publicly. Some
situation
might call for
a little bit
more of a
quieter
engagement."
Rapporteur
Kaye said that
"from the
OHCHR
perspective,
we have
different
tools. Our
first tool is
to communicate
with
governments on
the quiet
side, send
them
allegation
letters or
urgent
appeals, Zone
9 Bloggers
being a good
exampe of
that.
If we don't
get a
response, to
issue press
releases, to
call out bad
behavior. I
agree with the
tenor or your
comment -- we
should be out
there calling
out the bad
behavior at
the moment
that it
happens,
quietly or
more publicly.
Article 19 is
not written to
protect only
journalists,
it protects
everyone's
right to seek,
receive and
impart
information."
The
other
panelists were
Bård Glad
Pedersen,
Deputy
Minister of
Foreign
Affairs of
Norway, Agnes
Callamard,
Director of
the Global
Freedom of
Expression and
Information
Project at
Columbia
University and
former
Executive
Director of
Article 19,
Matthew
Rosenberg,
Foreign
Correspondent
of the New
York Times
(with
interesting
stories of
Afghanistan
but who
declined to
discuss the
NYT's coverage
of Iraq before
the US
invasion) and
Judith Matloff
of Columbia
University
Graduate
School of
Journalism.
There will be
video.
, 
