| Amid UN
Censorship, No Burkina Answers But Canned
Statement No Reply to Law Firm Letter
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Video
Q&A
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
UN GATE, August
16 – Each day, the current
United Nations gets worse. For
some time we have focused on
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres moving from
concealing his links to UN
briber CEFC China Energy to
banning the Press that asks,
to failures on Sri Lanka,
Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras
(JOH) & Nigeria (Nnamdi
& Igboho).
Now the
sleaze and censorship extends
to Burkina Faso. Inner City
Press has submitted question
after question to Guterres'
spokespeople Stephane Dujarric
and Melissa Fleming, including
about Burkina Faso. No answers
at all. Now on August 19,
after the UN canceled its noon
briefing for a staged stakeout
by Guterres from which Inner
City Press was banned: "The
Secretary-General strongly
condemns the attack
perpetrated by unidentified
gunmen on 18 August on a
convoy near the town of
Arbinda in Burkina Faso, where
dozens of people were killed
and several wounded. He
conveys his condolences to the
bereaved families and wishes a
speedy recovery to the
injured." What's speedy is the
UN's pull out of Afghanistan
to Almaty, on which the UN
refused Inner City Press'
questions since August 16 when
it exclusively published the
UN memo leaked to it by
whistleblowers.
The UN has
neither
responded to
or offered any
explanation
when a
lawyer's
letter - to UN
official
Fleming, and
Tal Mekel, and
to each UNCA
Executive
Committee
member - urged
them to have a
dialogue about
ending the
UN's banning
and censorship
of Inner City
Press.
On
August 9,
journalist
Benny Avni
asked Dujarric
about the
letter, video
here,
transcript:
Question:
My second
question is
the law firm
‑‑ what is it
called? ‑‑
Quinn Emanuel
wrote a letter
to the UN
asking about
reinstatement
of our
colleague
Matthew Lee
into the UN
press corps.
Do you have
any comment on
that?
Spokesman:
No. All I can
tell you is
that we've
received the
letter, and
I'm not aware
of any change
to his
status.
Question:
You're not
aware? I mean,
aren't you
part of the
group that
decides the
fate of... or
even the
negotiations...
The letter
calls for
renegotiation
[Cross
talk]
Spokesman:
I decide the
fate of no
one.
[Laughter]
Trust me,
trust me, my
authority is
extremely
limited,
whether at
home or at
work.
What I can
tell you and,
joking aside,
is that the
letter has
indeed been
received, and
I'm not aware
of any... and
there has been
no change in
Mr. Lee's
status.
Question:
Has the letter
been answered?
Do you plan to
answer
it?
Spokesman:
It's been
received.
Whether or not
it's been
answered, I
don't know
yet.
The
letter was
received by
the UN's
Melissa
Fleming, Maria
Luiza Vioti
and Tal Mekel
and to each
UNCA Executive
Board member,
to them citing
UNCA's stated
goals that it
has a charter
to supposedly
uphold.
What's
next? Since
the letter,
Inner City
Press has
published
exclusive
stories not
only from the
U.S. court
systems but
about the
United
Nations,
including its
agencies UNOPS,
UNFPA,
UNITAR
and UNESCO.
(Also credited
in AP,
Daily
Mail, and
Nigeria's
Sahara
Reporters,
amid answers
from the IMF.)
But
none of its
written
questions have
been answered
by the UN
Spokespeople,
and it remains
banned from
entry to the
UN's
briefings.
This must
end.
Having
asked for a
colleagial
discussion,
and while
still offering
it, things
must turn to
the law. UNCA
is a New York
State
non-profit
which has not
only not
abided by its
stated goals -
it has
tortiously
interfered
with a
journalist's
right to cover
the United
Nations.
The United
Nations itself
propounds
Article 19 of
the Universal
Declaration of
Human Rights,
and has other
legal duties
that must be
addressed by
national
courts,
particularly
in the UN's
host
country...
Those
in receipt of
the first,
friendly
letter:
melissa.fleming@un.org,
marialuiza.viotti@un.org,
mekel@un.org,
malu@un.org,
and
UNCA
Valeria
Robecco, ANSA
News Agency,
Nabil Abi
Saab,
Al-Araby,
Jianguo Ma,
Xinhua News
Agency, Edith
Lederer,
Associated,
Giampaolo
Pioli,
Quotidiano,
Linda Fasulo,
Ibtisam Azem,
Al-Araby
Al-Jadeed
Newspaper, Ali
Barada, France
24, Asharq
Al-Awsat;
Oscar Bolanos,
OMB News,
Sherwin
Bryce-Pease,
SABC South
Africa -
Alexander
Hassanein, The
Tokyo Shimbun,
Maria
Khrenova,
TASS, Philippe
Rater, Agence
France-Presse,
Kaori Yoshida,
Nikkei, Betul
Yuruk, Anadolu
Agency at
president@unca.com,
valeria.robecco@gmail.com,
nabisaab@gmail.com,
mjg222888@gmail.com,
elederer@ap.org,
giampioli@aol.com,
lindafasulo@gmail.com,
ibtisam.azem@alaraby.co.uk,
abarada@hotmail.com,
ombyvozque@gmail.com,
s.brycepease@gmail.com,
alexander@tokyoshimbun.us,
khrenova_m@tass.ru,
philippe.rater@afp.com,
kaori.yoshida@nex.nikkei.com,
byuruk@aa.com.tr
We'll have
more on this.
Watch this
site.
***
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