UNITED
NATIONS, July
22 -- The
International
Monetary Fund
today released
five documents
assessing its
own
transparency
-- under
embargo,
admittedly,
but released
nonetheless.
The United
Nations lags
even
further behind
the IMF, and
appears to
have no
self-assessment
much
less
self-correction
mechanism.
The
IMF has a
policy that
"publication
is presumed
for policy
documents and
'voluntary but
presumed' for
country
documents."
The World Bank
"seeks to
disclose any
information
that is not on
a list of nine
exceptions" --
more in line
with the US
Freedom
of Information
Act, though
outside court
review is
unclear.
The
UN has none of
this. Inner
City Press
began asking
for some form
of
UN Freedom of
Information
Act some years
ago; the head
of Management
Alicia Barcena
said steps
were being
taken, but
nothing came
of it.
More
recently the
new Free UN
Coalition for
Access has
been
advocating for
increased
transparency,
or at least
for the UN to
have rules.
The UN
Secretariat's
most recent
response? To
threaten to
suspend or
withdraw
Inner City
Press' accreditation
for hanging
a sign of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access on the
door of its
shared office,
S-303.
So much for
free speech or
freedom of
association.
The
pretext for
the threat is
a
collaboration
between the UN
Department
of Public
Information
and its ally,
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
UNCA is
allowed two
signs, and
given at least
three
rooms by UN
DPI -- and
seeks, through
DPI, to outlaw
any other
organization.
Requests
under
the US Freedom
of Information
Act have
yielded
documents
showing
attempts by
UNCA to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of
the UN. The requests
involved Voice
of America,
which said it
had the
support of
Reuters, AFP
and UNCA.
Reuters,
in turn,
provided
internal
UNCA documents
to the chief
accreditation
official of
the UN, click
here for
story, here
for document.
In
this context,
while Inner
City Press and
FUNCA reserve
the right to
and will
continue to
push for more
openness at
the IMF, the
UN need
much, more
more work.
Watch this
site.
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