UN's
NGO
Committee
Dominated by
Sudan, Later
US Speaks,
Sycophants to
Power
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 29 --
The UN's
Committee on
Non-Governmental
Organizations
on Janary 29
was dominated
by Sudan and
Mauritania,
Cuba and
Nicaragua. Led
by Sudan,
questions were
directed at
NGOs
like Shi'a
Rights Watch
and the
International
Association of
Independent
Journalists.
Inner City
Press as
before covered
the
Committee's
back and
forth, here
and here.
The
United States
spoke up on
the former,
not the
latter. At 6
pm the
meeting
abruptly
ended, with
the scheduling
of a closed
door session
for 9:30 am on
January 30
about the
Committee's
“work
methods.”
After
that, US
Ambassador
Samantha
Power,
speaking by
Twitter, said
“very
concerning
initiative in
NGO Committee
to prevent UN
from publicly
reporting what
member states
say about
NGO's seeking
accreditation....
In an era of
global
crackdown on
civil society,
the
UN's NGO
Committee must
set the
example for
openness &
transparency.
RT if you
agree.”
Among
the
re-tweeters
was the UN
Correspondents
Association, a
group that
decided does
not support
the rights in
independent
journalists,
having tried
for example to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of
the UN, see here and here
and here
(UK
Guardian here).
The
feed of UNCA,
more properly
known as the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
is in fact run by
censors,
here. They
didn't even
cover the NGO
Committee,
only playing
sycophant to
Power after
the fact. And
so it goes at
the UN. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
the day before
in the UN's
NGO Committee
the proposal
was made to
proceed, in
meetings
making up for
those cancelled
by snow,
without
interpretation.
Cuba and Nicaragua
objected, as
others were
sure to. We'll
see.
, 
