Open
Letter to Amb
Samanatha
Power As ICP
Faces
Retaliation
& Eviction
from UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
28 -- Amid increasing
retaliation
from the UN
for Inner City
Press'
reporting and
attempts to
cover not only
crises like
Burundi and
Yemen and
Western Sahara
but also UN corruption,
Inner City
Press on the
evening of
March 28,
after
receiving a
legal threat
from the UN's
top lawyer,
issued this
open letter to
US Ambassador
to the UN
Samantha Power,
cc-ed:
March
28, 2016
Dear
Ambassador
Power:
I write to you
as a
journalist who
has covered
the United
Nations for
ten years, who
has for
example asked
you questions
about Burundi
and UN
peacekeeper
rapes, but
who now faced
eviction from
the UN and
hindering of
my reporting
in retaliation
for my efforts
to cover
corruption in
the
Organization.
As set forth
below, on
February 19 on
the order
of UN Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach, who
never once
spoke to me, I
was thrown out
onto First
Avenue, my
laptop thrown
on the
sidewalk. Audio
here.
On February
26, the
DC-based
Government
Accountability
Project wrote
to your
colleague
Ambassador
Isobel Coleman
urging
your Mission
to response to
this
retaliation
and to ensure
Inner City
Press is
restored to
its shared
office space
and Resident
Correspondent
accreditation.
But today,
March 28, I
have received
a letter from
Under
Secretary
General for
Legal Affairs
Miguel de
Serpa Soares
ignoring all
arguments
about
retaliation
and freedom of
the press and
of expression,
and reiterating
USG Gallach's
threat to
evacuate eight
years of files
or have them
removed by the
UN.
In this
context, still
not having
heard back
from your
Deputy or
Spokesperson,
I am writing
this open
letter. I have
heard that
some in the US
Mission have
delayed acting
on GAP's
requests,
saying that
some other
journalists
don't like me.
Others do;
more
fundamentally,
I do not
believe that
journalism,
particularly
investigative
journalism, is
a popularity
contest.
(But
be aware, USG
Gallach and SG
Ban Ki-moon
have received
protests to
their retaliation
from, for example,
Sri
Lanka's
Northern Provincial
Council -
and responded
with mispresentations
- as well as
groups in Burundi,
Yemen and
elsewhere.
There is an online
petition, here,
with more than
1000
signatures and
comments.)
I also believe
that even if
one is a
supporter of
the UN, the
Organization
is not helped
by covering up
corruption, or
rapes by its
peacekeepers,
or hindering
media which
digs into and
reports on
these.
The supposed
basis for my
ouster has not
held up. I
endeavored to
cover an event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room, where
you have held
press
conferences,
on January 29.
I had
published an
article about
the event two
days before; I
openly
live-streamed
it on
Periscope over
my phone,
entirely
visible in the
glassed in
interpreters
booth I used
in order to
not interact
with the
event.
The event was
nowhere listed
as closed; I
believed and
believe that
events in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
are
presumptively
open to all
and not just
some
journalists,
until the UN
Journal or UN
Security say
otherwise. Two
UN
spokespeople
asked me to
leave as a
favor; shortly
thereafter
when a single
UN Security
officer told
me the
Spokesman
wanted me to
leave, I did.
I published a
story, and the
video.
Three weeks
later, without
a single
conversation
or opportunity
to be heard -
with no due
process -- my
Resident
Correspondents
pass was
deactivated
and I was
handed a
letter to
leave in two
hours. That
evening, as I
was typing up
the Syria
meeting of the
Security
Council, I was
pushed down
the escalator
by eight UN
Security
guards and
thrown out
onto First
Avenue. Audio
here.
(The 17th
Precinct,
notably, told
me they have
no
jurisdiction
over the UN.)
On Monday
February 22, I
was told I was
banned from
all UN
premises.
After covering
the UN and
Security
Council for
three days
from the Ralph
Bunche Park
across the
street, and
stories in BuzzFeed
and Business
Insider, I
re-entered
with a
restricted
“non-resident
correspondent”
pass. This has
resulted, as
your colleague
Ambassador
Coleman has
been informed
by another
branch of the
US government,
in the
hindering of
my reporting.
But this
hindering,
these double
standards and
threats have
continued. As
I explained in
an email to
your Deputy
and
Spokesperson
on March 26,
before
receiving USG
de Serpa
Soares
eviction
threat, last
week the
unjustly
reduced
accreditation
status
resulted in me
being unable
to stakeout
and cover the
Western Sahara
meeting of the
Security
Council on
Monday, March
21 (video here).
Even
more
Orwellian,
right after
the Council's
president read
out Press
Elements on
March 24, I
was told by
MALU staff I
had to leave
the stakeout
immediately,
without
speaking with
any diplomats.
After
I said that I
have a right
to report --
USG Gallach
has said I
will have the
same access,
which has not
been true -- I
was told the
only way I
could stay was
with an a MALU
/ Secretariat
“escort.”
This
discourages
diplomats and
whistleblowers
from speaking,
with a
Secretariat
minder
present, and
in context is
tantamount to
UN censorship.
It is
unacceptable
and USG
Gallach's
order must be
reversed.
As I
have explained
and is now
even more
clear, there
was no basis
for the
penalty in USG
Gallach's
February 19
letter ousting me from
the UN on two
hours notice.
The meeting I
covered was
nowhere listed
as closed; I
filmed it
openly,
live-streaming
on Periscope.
I
have been
informed that
USG Gallach
tells
interlocutors,
including up
from
Washington,
that my
violation was
being in the
interpreters
booth. She has
refused to
produce any
rule in that
regard, and
this past week
on March 23 I
witnessed and
filmed two
non-interpreters
in the “Other”
interpretation
booth of the
UN Press
Briefing Room
as the noon
briefing took
place. Video
here.
UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq did
nothing about
these
non-interpreters
in the
interpretation
booth, quite
different from
my treatment
on Jan 29 and
since. On
March 24 I
asked Haq
about it and
he admitted he
had not known
who the
individuals in
the
interpretation
booth were the
previous
day. Video here.
So
there is no
rule, or no
rule that is
even arguably
evenly
enforced, in
the regard.
USG Gallach's
order must be
reverse: it is
not only
unjust and
untenable: it
is resulting
in UN
censorship.
On
March 25 USG
Gallach
replied to a
Western Sahara
advocacy group
in New Zealand
which asked
“why did you
remove the
accreditation
of Inner City
Press?”
Gallach
replied, photo
here, that
“I did not!
ICP is fully
accredited!
Can report
from UN.?His
privilege to
use office was
taken out, due
to
misbehavior.”
Not
only is it
false that I
“fully
accredited” -
I have had a
reduction in
accreditation
and access and
have been
banned from
the Security
Council
stakeout on
March 21 and
required to
have a
Secretariat
“minder” on
March 24 -- it
also echoes
exactly the
argument made
by two new
anonymous
social media
accounts which
USG Gallach
follows.
One
of these
accounts has
devoted all of
its 600 plus
tweets since
it began just
after my
ouster on
February 19 to
denigrating
Inner City
Press and
misleadingly
saying that I
have full
access. This
account is
clearly
affiliated
with UNCA - it
tweets about
what happened
in the UNCA
meeting after
Inner City
Press was
ejected,
including a
refusal then
to provide a
hard copy of
the budget -
and is, on
information
and belief,
associated
with Reuters,
which
conducted
a similar “troll”
campaign in
2013.
The
second account
is also
devoted to
denigrating
Inner City
Press and
sounds
suspiciously
like the Voice
of America
correspondent
who sought to
get Inner City
Press out in
2012,
until exposed
under the US
Freedom of
Information
Act.
(Since
for example
John Kerry is
on the Broadcasting
Board of
Governors
which runs
VOA, I believe
you and the
Mission should
particularly
look into and
take action on
this.)
The
UN should have
a Freedom of
Information.
Inner City
Press and I -
and the
alternative
Free UN
Coalition for
Access - are
entirely for
free speech.
But for major
media to open
anonymous
accounts to
attack a
smaller media,
to have it
followed and
echoed and
even obeyed by
the UN's USG
for Public
Information,
is too much.
This
too: on March
24 as I worked
on Western
Sahara, UNCA
President
Giampaolo
Pioli
approached me
and said, “You
are an
assh*le,”
loudly. He
repeated this
several more
times, even as
I advocated
with UN
Security not
to lock the
glass door to
the Security
Council until
the Western
Sahara meeting
was
over. Audio here.
If I
have had my
accreditation
cut and access
to my office
denied for
five week for
trying to
cover a
meeting I
believed and
believe
related to the
John Ashe / Ng
Lap Seng /
Frank Lorenzo
/ South South
News / Vivian
Wang case, or
for
being uncivil,
how can UNCA's
president be
allowed to
repeatedly
call me an
assh*le as I
work at the
Security
Council
stakeout? USG
Gallach has
done nothing.
At
this point,
USG Gallach
has turned
over the
powers of her
office to a
witchhunt,
which began in
2011 with
an attempt to censor my
coverageof Sri
Lanka.
Notably while
the response to
Sri Lanka's
Northern
Provincial
Council's
March 1 letter
to the 38
floor was
signed by
UNICEF's Una
McCauley, when
asked about
its inaccuracy
UNICEF has
said, "Ask
DPI."
USG
Gallach's
February 19
order must be
reversed and
this witchhunt
and censorship
must end.
Inner City
Press must be
restored to
its long time
shared office
space and
Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
status
immediately,
to allow it to
report without
intimidation
or censorship.
I make this
request to you
personally, as
a former
journalist,
who clearly
has the power
to have this
reversed. I
await your
response.
Thank you for your
time.
Matthew Russell
Lee
Inner City
Press
S-303, UN, NYC
NY 10017 (?)
InnerCityPress.com
@InnerCityPress
Watch this
site.
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