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UN Saunders Who Banned Press Games LinkedIn While Claiming Transparency

by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

UN GATE, Feb 25 –  The corruption and waste of the United Nations under Antonio Guterres continues to spread. While Guterres invokes legal immunity for peacekeepers who rape those they are supposed to protect, just as he invokes immunity for banning the Press from UNHQ in NYC, his envoy on sexual abuse Christian Saunders has just flown to the Central African Republic. How much did it cost? How much did the self promotional video he put on LinkedIn - well read in CAR, to be sure - cost?

The UN complain about having no money, but waste it on useless jaunts costing thousands sending Saunders from New York in business class travel and travel allowances, which instead could easily be done in a Teams/Zoom presentation.  For a one day presentation! Saunders does this constantly because there's nothing useful for him to do in New York.  So why is he there and his post not transferred to Nairobi instead  (like what was done to many UN posts) where it is a lot closer to travel to the majority of missions?

  Saunders responded online on his LinkedIn: "P.S. After posting the video below, someone saw fit to publicly cast negative aspersions and question the value of such a mission to CAR during this time of austerity for the United Nations... I have zero problem in justifying to anyone how we utilize the UN’s resources, which is after all public money."

 Zero problems? Saunders encouraged UN Security to physically throw out Inner City Press, and has done nothing as it has been banned ever since, January 2026 denial without any explanation.

 Move of his post to Nairobi because he doesn't do anything in New York.  Not addressed.  Also, he says "I participated as a resource person in a leadership workshop they were running in Nairobi". Who was "they" running the workshop?  What organization paid?  And if not a UN workshop, why was a UN ASG participating in a leadership workshop not for the UN?    The video was made by a "young UN staffer" taking "a few hours" - Who was this "Young UN staffer"?  What level and appointment type?  Whose phone?  A UN issued one?  What else could this "young UN staffer" have been doing besides following Saunders around for hours and then editing video for him to post on his own personal LinkedIn all for Saunders self promotion.

  If Saunders wants to be transparency, he as a now USG should ensure that Inner City Press is allowed back in to the UN to ask, on or before March 1.

But rather than ensuring access, or even an answer by the UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, Saunders took it upon himself to game the LinkedIn system. Saunders' original post just said "I arrived in CAR this morning" with the video posted?   This attracted the comments below such as "welcome to CAR" and saying how wonderful Saunders was.  When Saunders saw your article, instead of posting a new message, he edited the original message with a PS, but deleted the original part of the message.  So now the comments and the 200+ "likes" which were there in response to his original "I'm in CAR" message make it seem like they are supportive of his comments in his PS reply to you.  This is really disingenuous and actually quite dangerous.  Imagine if people liked one message and then it was edited to say "The SG is an asshole", those people could then be associated with the claim that the SG is an asshole without them even knowing and could be held accountable.  Particularly given what is going on Britain and other places - including the UN where "protected free speech" is not enshrined into a constitution.

    Inner City Press, still banned from the UN by Guterres, will have more on this.

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