By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 19, more
here -- On
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
belated Ebola
trip through
West Africa,
on December 19
with Sierra
Leone
president
Ernest Bai
Koroma Ban
"highlighted
the importance
of the
Western-Area
surge to
achieving
swift and
positive
progress on
bringing the
crisis to a
close."
This Western
Area Surge
involves house
to house
searches.
Back on
December 18,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press: In
Sierra Leone,
President
(Ernest Bai)
Koroma
announced that
he is going to
do
house-to-house
searches as an
attempt to
eradicate
Ebola.
And I just
wonder, some
people say it
raises… it's
not voluntary;
it's
house-to-house
searches.
Is this
something that
UNMEER or Dr.
Nabarro or the
Offices of the
High
Commission of
Human Rights
(OHCHR) has
any view on?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I haven't seen
the details of
this report,
but what I
would say
is: I
think any
action taken
to combat
Ebola needs to
be taken based
on scientific
fact.
Inne City
Press: I also
wanted to ask
an update.
Spokesman: You
have to press
the
microphone.
Inner City
Press: I
did. I
think somebody
turned it off.
Spokesman:
No one can
control the
mics from
here.
That is a
thought.
Maybe I should
get a button
from
here.
[laughter]
Inner City
Press: You
can [have]
this question
before I ask
it.
Just
joking.
I wanted to
know on the
question of
the food
service
contractor,
Supreme, and I
asked you
about it and
you said:
“This is a
very good
question, I'll
look into
it.” And
it's a week
later.
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I did. I
was asked to
look and I did
ask to look
into it.
I have not
seen an
answer, but it
remains a
valid question
and I will try
to get you an
answer.
More than 24
hours later,
nothing. But
it's said Ban
Ki-moon will
take questions
from the media
on December
22. The
question is,
are the
questions
demanded and given
in advance?
After an Ebola
meeting of the
UN Chief
Executives
Board in
Washington,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
the World
Health
Organization's
Margaret Chan
on November 21
took two
questions from
the media:
both American,
NPR and AP.
Ban Ki-moon
said that he
has asked Tony
Banbury of the
UNMEER mission
to open up in
Mali, given
the spread of
ebola there.
Previously
Inner City
Press asked
the UN to
confirm that
its Mali
Mission
MINUSMA has
canceled its
contract with
the Pasteur
Institute in
Bamako; the UN
has yet to
confirm it.
Not mentioned
by Ban is that
his envoy to
Mali Bert
Koenders cut
and ran, in
the middle of
the crises,
to become
Dutch foreign
minister. So
WHO is running
the UN's show
in Mali?
As to WHO,
last week it
ham-handedly
cc-ed BuzzFeed
on its
internal email
stating that
BuzzFeed
reporter Jina
Moore, "who on
two occasions
reported
inaccurately,"
is banned.
(Mashable has
posted the
chain of WHO
e-mails, here.)
Inner City
Press at the
UN's noon
briefing on
November 14
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about WHO
banning
BuzzFeed. Video here and embedded below.
Haq
said he'd read
the reports
but wasn't
sure if they
are correct --
there doesn't
seem to be any
dispute of the
authenticity
of the WHO
emails. Haq
said to asked
WHO - but it
is a part of
the UN system.
Isn't there a
system wide
policy?
Inner
City Press
asked again on
November 21,
just before
Ban's and
Chan's joint
press
availability.
Ban's lead
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
replied that
much as he'd
like to ban
some media,
they don't and
he hopes his
colleagues
don't. Video
here.
During Ban's
tenure at the
head of the UN
system, his
Under
Secretaries
General have
been allowed
to pick and
choose which
media to
respond to, to
say
on camera, "I
don't respond
to you,"
even to block
-- or Ban -- a
media's camera
filming from
the authorized
UN General
Assembly
stakeout, Vine here.
Things have
reached this
state in part
because the
old United
Nations
Correspondents
Association,
which one
would expect
to push back,
has joined in
the censorship
trend.
For example,
UNCA's
then-president
Giampaolo
Pioli demanded
that an
article
describing his
financial
relationship
with Sri
Lanka's
ambassador be
removed from
the Internet
or he would
get the Press
thrown out of
the UN.
Lo and behold,
an UNCA
then-board
member from Voice of
America wrote
a letter
to the UN
requesting
just that; an
Inner City
Press FOIA
request showed
Voice of
America said
it had the
support of the
UN bureau
chiefs of AFP
and Reuters
-- which has
gotten Google
to block -- or
Ban -- from
Search
even its
complaint to
the UN,
claiming it is
private and
subject to the
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act.
This UN breeds
censorship.
Still, WHO's
written
explanation of
a ban for
"inaccurate
reporting" in
the middle of
a health
crisis is a
new low. We
and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have
more on
this.
For now,
consider the
UN did nothing
when the
President of
Sierra Leone
jailed a
journalist for
his reporting
on Ebola, as
well as for
daring to
question
President
Ernest Bai
Koroma's
performance.
The UN had a
peacekeeping
mission in the
country, has a
Country Team
and now the UN
Mission on
Ebola
Emergency
Response,
UNMEER. So at
the UN's
November 5
noon briefing
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: In
Sierra Leone a
journalist,
David
Tam-Baryoh,
has been put
in jail,
maximum
security
prison, for
his reporting
on Ebola under
a law that
says that it
is a crime to
undermine
Government
efforts to
fight the
epidemic. He's
also
questioned the
third term for
the Presiden
Koroma. So, I
wanted to know
what is the UN
system, given
its
involvement
through UNMEER
and otherwise,
what do they
say about this
case? Also, it
seems does
UNMEER have
any human
rights mandate
or component
to it? I
thought all
kind of UN
entities had
some
overarching or
inherent
Rights Up
Front…
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
There's a
country office
in all three
countries.
Human Rights
Up Front does
apply to all
UN staff and
missions. What
is… I don't
have the
particulars of
this case, but
it is clear
that
journalists
need to be
allowed to do
their work
free of
intimidation
and fear.
Inner
City
Press: What
about a law
that says,
obviously,
it's important
to fight
Ebola, but
should a
journalist be,
should a law
exist in which
you clearly
could be
arrested for…?
Spokesman:
I think,
clearly, the
media has a
very important
role to play
in fighting…
in part of our
response
against Ebola,
whether it's
fighting
stigmatization
or other
issues.
Those
are
generalities,
but what is
the UN doing?
What does Ban
Ki-moon's
"Rights Up
Front," born
of his failure
in Sri Lanka
in 2009,
really mean?
Inner City
Press and the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access have
been told that
UN inquiries
are being
made. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
