At
UN, Coverage of Ghana's Day &
Minova Trials Speech
Hindered by Gallach Eviction
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
March 6 – One year and two
weeks ago, acting against
Press coverage of her and Ban
Ki-moon's links to UN
corruption cases, Under
Secretary General Cristina
Gallach had Inner City Press physically
ousted from the UN.
Audio
here.
Since then
a campaign of harassment by UN
Security and the requirement
that Inner City Press unlike
other media have minders to
stake-out public events in the
UN has continued.
On March 6,
Inner City Press had to
curtail coverage of an event
in the UN General Assembly
lobby about Sexual Violence in
Conflict, including the rapes
in Minova in Eastern Congo about
which alone asked UN Peaekeeping's
Herve Ladsous until he stopped
answering, because of
Gallach's ongoing curfew: 7
pm. After that hour, unlike
other correspondents in the
UN, Inner City Press' pass no
longer opens even the first
turnstile (it still does not open
the second floor turnstile at
any hour). So Inner City
Press had to suspend
broadcasting amid the speech
by new Deputy Secretary
General Amina
J. Mohammed.
Quickly
before having to leave
altogether, Inner City Press
went to the Ghana National Day
it was invited to and
Periscoped the Permanent
Representative's speech,
here, including on
Security Council reform which
Inner City Press asked
Deputy SG Mohammed about and
a dance
afterward, here. And
then it had to go, under
Gallach's censorship order.
Ghoulishly, Inner City Press
is informed that Gallach may even
be re-applying to keep the
post that has been advertised.
That would be a travesty:
Gallach's unilateral decisions
must be reversed. Watch this
site.
On March
1, 2017, Inner City Press was
unable to cover an event on
the UN Conference Building's
second floor to which it had
been invited. It informed the
sponsor that due to Gallach's
evicting order and reduction
in Inner City Press'
accreditation, it can still
not get through the turnstile
to the second floor. So the
sponsor moved to put Inner
City Press on the list of
public guests to enter through
the General Assembly lobby but
was told not, that is not
possible for the Press. So,
entirely Banned - while the
Egyptian state media to which
Gallach is trying to give
Inner City Press' long time
shared office, Akhbar al Yom,
rarely comes in, and asks no
questions at all.
Meanwhile, despite the top job
of DPI that Gallach has so
badly mishandled being opened
for applications, on March 1
some said Gallach is trying to
stay on in the job. That would
be a travesty, not only in
light of her no due process
eviction of and continuing
restrictions on the Press, but
also her failure to do any due
diligence on Ng Lap Seng,
under house arrest for UN
bribery. Gallach is
responsible for DPI's "Wonder
Woman as UN Ambassador"
fiasco, and paid public funds
for a trainer to tell
DPI-accredited NGOs that
Detroit, Michigan is a "third
rate city" in "flyover
country." Staying on at the UN
even now reflects what's wrong
and budget cut-worthy in
today's UN. Anything past
March 31, in any capacity,
would just make it worse.
Watch this site.
The
continuing hindrance of Inner
City Press' coverage ranges
from formal General Assembly
meetings to February 20 events
on "revitalizing the General
Assembly" to the SDGs and even
the death
of Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin.
Inner City
Press arrived early at the UN
to cover revitalization or
reform, but could only get to
the area in front of the
meeting when accompanied by an
escort, and a watchful minder
throughout. Several diplomats
commented on it; some saying
they'd like to talk with the
Press, but not like this. This
is censorship, targeted
censorship. Other
correspondents who do not
cover the UN as closely or
critically wandered by without
any minders required.
After news
broke of the death of
Ambassador Churkin, Inner City
Press returned for a 3 pm
meeting at which, because of
the death, a handful of other
correspondents also staked
out. But while the UN
correctly allow them to roam,
Inner City Press was limited
to a penned in area, even as
the SDGs were discussed. Given
what DPI under Gallach claims,
this is hypocrisy, too. And it
must end.
Egyptian
state media Akhbar al Yom's
rarely present correspondent
Sanaa Youssef to whom Gallach
is trying to give Inner City
Press' shared UN office was
once again not present, and
has yet to ask a single
questions. This is a scam.
On February
17 for the tenth anniversary
of the adoption of the
International Convention for
the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearance.
Wanting to
ask about disappearance from
Kenya to Western Sahara, Inner
City Press arrived early to
get the still-required minder
to accompany it to the area in
front of the Trusteeship
Council Chamber, where other
journalists and it before the
retaliatory eviction one year
ago could go without any
minder. But there was a
delay, and be the time Inner
City Press was escorted, the
sponsors and attendees had
already gone in. A pen that
several interlocutors called
absurd was established.
Inside, a
Moroccan "inter-ministerial
delegate" talked about armed
conflict in "the southern part
of our country" - that would
be Western Sahara. France
along with Argentina announced
a pledge. But the delay and
restrictions made it
impossible to pursue these or
other questions. This is a
pattern.
Back on
January 24, there was an event
ironically about "propaganda."
Here
was the definition given, in this
tweeted photo.
While the
event went on, Inner City
Press under Gallach's 11-month
old eviction order was
required to leave before 7 -
its UN pass stops working in
UN turnstiles at that time.
On January
17, for an event involving
Gallach herself as a speaker,
despite having been invited --
not by the UN -- and having
its RSVP confirmed, Inner City
Press was stopped by UN
Security and not allowed to
enter. Video
here.
In any event, with the
UN pass that Gallach has
reduced, Inner City Press
cannot get through any
turnstiles to work after 7 pm.
Gallach herself appears in the
UN Office of Internal
Oversight Services audit
of the Ng Lap Seng / John Ashe
(RIP) UN bribery case, at
Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b, as
having done no due diligence
of Ng Lap Seng's buying of UN
events and even its Slavery
Memorial. Audit
here.
She
and Ban Ki-moon, to punish and
make more difficult coverage
of their links to these cases,
evicted Inner City Press and
restrict it to this day, 11
months later. As to Ban, Inner
City Press on January 17
appeared in a 19-minute interview
about corruption and
censorship on Seoul's TBS
radio. On the lower
profile, entirely
unaccountable Gallach, we'll
have more.
This is a litmus
test of press (UN) freedom.
Gallach's
censorship order of February
2016 prevented Inner City Press
in December 2016, for the first
time in years, from covering the
UN budget process, including on
human rights and Burundi,
another of Ban Ki-moon's
failures.
For years Inner City Press has
been virtually alone in covering
the late night Fifth (Budget)
Committee session in which
billions of dollars are carved
up. But in 2016 for the first
time, following Gallach's
retaliatory eviction order and
ghoulish restriction regime of
minders and the putting off of
pass, Inner City Press could not
cover the budget.
By seizing Inner
City Press' long time office --
and awarding it to an Egypt
state media Akhbar al Yom whose
correspondents Sanaa Youssef
rare comes to the UN and never
asks questions -- Gallach and
Ban have made so that Inner City
Press cannot enter the UN after
7 pm. But that, of course, is
when the budget process happens.
In December 2016,
for example, Burundi cut the
funds for human rights observers
and the UN mission the Security
Council mandated but has yet to
deploy. Inner City Press covers
these, but was Banned from
covering the process by Gallach.
This is a cover up.
Meanwhile
Gallach is showing her true
colors with article such as that
“amateurs” killed journalism.
Really? Energetic online media
that actually covers UN
corruption is a threat to
deadbeat stenography or
non-existent journalism like
that of Akhbar al Yom's
correspondent?
Gallach is the wrong person to
have control of the UN
Department of Public
Information. She also did no due
diligence on Macau based
businessman Ng Lap Seng in the
John Ashe case, and is
responsible for the UN's Wonder
Woman fiasco. She must go.
***
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