For
UNGA, Ban
Ki-moon Prints
Book on
Legacy, But
Who Wrote
& Paid For
It?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, September 18 -- As Ban
Ki-moon's time at the UN winds down
and he prepares
coyly to run for President in
South Korea, his packaging of his
legacy has become a vanity amateur
operation.
Take for
example the hard
cover book on his conference table
when he met
on September 18 with Donald Tusk,
President, European Council and
Frans Timmermans, First
Vice-President, European Commission.
It was called “Highlights of the
tenure of Ban Ki-moon, 2007-2016.”
Inner City Press asks: who wrote it?
Who paid for it? Why was this done?
For the next meeting, with Denmark's
Prime Minister Lars Lokke
Rasmussen, another copy of the Ban
vanity book was out, along with a
pen to sign it.
By the
last meeting of the day, after Inner
City Press tweeted then first
published this story, the copy of
the book for UNASUR's
Ernesto Samper Pizano was covered
up with a file by Ban's staff.
Is this on the level?
In
the hall was the office of Nardos
Bekele-Thomas, moved out of the top
job in Kenya so Ban's son in law
could occupy it before Ban leaves.
Legacy, indeed....
The
Friday before UN General Assembly
week starts in earnest, reporters at
the UN were told of some of the
upcoming meetings and how, despite
restrictions, to cover them.
Inner
City Press asked the head of the
UN's Department of Public
Information Cristina Gallach why DPI
says the non-resident
correspondents, the vast majority of
journalists covering the UN, will be
placed in basement Conference Room 1
where no only food and beverages but
even water is not allowed.
(In Ban's
conference room there is water and,
we've noted at his all-Korean
meeting, tea.)
Gallach's reply cited to
“professionalism” and rules, both of
which she invoked when she ousted
and then evicted Inner City
Press from the UN earlier this year.
Ironically,
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric less
that an hour later explained
having violated the rules (about
those without cameras not attending
photo ops) so that South Korean
print journalists could witness
Ban's speech to politicians visiting
from Seoul.
The UN's
rules are selectively implied, in
this case to censor.
On
September 16, Inner City Press asked
Gallach about the since-released Office
of Internal Oversight Services
audit, which found that her
DPI did not due diligence on events
by Ng Lap Seng fundees.
Gallach said that the outside event
- the case in Federal court - is
being followed. So Inner City Press
asked for her response to testimony
in the case that South South News,
which unlike Inner City Press the
rule-invoking Gallach left
in its UN office despite or
because of it not asking any
questions at the UN, was named as a
“conduit of bribery.” This, she did
not answer.
After the briefing, which included
film maker Richard Curtis whom Inner
City Press asked about the Next SG
race, Gallach's staffer asked for
further information about the
water(less) issue.
Inner City Press added the exclusion
of non-resident correspondents from
access to the UN's EZTV which shows
more events than the UN webcast. See flier
here of the Free UN Coalition for
Access, also ejected and sign
torn down under Gallach. What will
change? We'll see. Watch this site.September
12, 2016
Ban
Ki-moon &
Son In Law Use
Jaffna
Massacre
Commander As
Nepotism
Defense
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on
Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, September 10 -- UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in
late August awarded
the top UN job in Kenya to his
own son in law, Siddharth
Chatterjee, and did
not recuse himself.
After
Inner City Press asked about this
textbook case of nepotism, video
here, Ban's spokesman
Stephane Dujarric replied
that an inter-agency advisory panel
had been involved, before Ban signed
the letter appointing his own son in
law to the post.
Meanwhile,
an ally of Ban's son in law
Chatterjee, Dalvir Singh, has called
this series of articles, despite
Ban's spokesman's stonewalling and
refusal to answer, unfair --
"scurrilous, unfounded and
mendacious accusations" by a
"blogger."
Dalvir
Singh writes that Inner City Press,
“a blogger of questionable
credentials.... has hurled
scurrilous, unfounded and mendacious
accusations of human rights
violations against Chatterjee. Major
Chatterjee was a star member of my
battalion, the 10th Para Special
Forces, and at no time was my
battalion or any member of my unit
ever involved in any form of human
rights violation.”
Thou dost protest too much. Beyond
the Jaffna University heli-drop on
October 11, 1987, there was the
Jaffna hospital massacre ten days
later on October 21, 1987.
Here is the Wiki-time line (some say
this may explain Ban's willingness
to let the Saudi led Coalition off
the UN's Children and Armed Conflict
annex for attacks on health and
other civilian facilities in Yemen)
"October
21, 1987 - 11h – The hospital
environment came under cannon fire
from the vicinity of Jaffna Dutch
Fort and from overhead helicopters.
September
5, 2016
Ban
Ki-moon's
Promoted Son
In Law Sid
Chatterjee
Reportedly
Posed With
Dead
Combatants, No
UN Comment
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on
Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, September 2 -- UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon in late August awarded
the top UN job in Kenya to his
own son in law, Siddharth
Chatterjee, and did
not recuse himself.
After
Inner City Press asked about this
textbook case of nepotism, video
here, Ban's spokesman
Stephane Dujarric replied
that an inter-agency advisory panel
had been involved, between Ban
signed the letter appointing his own
son in law to the post.
So
Inner City Press has asked Dujarric
who was on this panel, to assess if
they were independent from Ban, and
who the other candidates, at least
on the short list, were.
Dujarric
has refused to provide this
information, and has refused all
other Inner City Press questions
about Ban's son in law, including
about his activities in Sri Lanka as
part of the Indian Peace Keeping
Force.
As Ban's spokesman knows, Ban is in
Sri Lanka; the story can't wait. So
today Inner City Press reports that
it has been told of Siddarth
Chatterjee posing with dead and
disfigured Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam; this has been described
as a war crime.
Inner City Press twice this week
asked Dujarric to describe and
comment on Ban Ki-moon's son in
law's activities in Sri Lanka; it is
all the more pressing given the most
recent UN promotion without recusal.
Inner City Press also asked what
forms and rules apply, a question
also ignored by Dujarric with
respect to a fundraiser
held in the UN with Ban's past
envoy to Sri Lanka, Vijay Nambiar.
Inner City Press asked Dujarric to
comment in this context on this,
authored by Ban's son in law Sid
Chatterjee: no answers.
And so in common journalistic
practice, to assist reader in
deciding whether to believe or not
believe these reports of Chatterjee
posing with dead and disfigured
combatants in violation of the
Geneva Conventions, we disclose that
one of the sources clearly has an
interest: Chatterjee's ex-wife
Shirpa Sen.
She is a
medical doctor; she has said
Chatterjee threatened her to stop
providing any information to Inner
City Press and an Indian journalist
whose publication Chatterjee got to
remove
a report about one of his promotions
under Ban from the Internet.
(Censorship seems to run in the
family.)
The
allegation is that Chatterjee
dropped her and then saw his career
path advance under his new father in
law, Ban Ki-moon; he made threats to
make the issues of the past go away.
We disclose this because readers
have a right to know of the interest
or animus of the source of
information. Here is another
online report; here on a court
website is the decision
on the divorce appeal. And
here is an earlier report
of Inner City Press asking Ban's
spokespeople about
Chatterjee's military record, in Sri
Lanka Ban's 2009 visit to which
Inner City Press covered in-person
(Inner City Press has since been
BANned, restricted.)
A
direct comment of any kind from Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman, requested all
week, would have been preferable.
But
Ban and his Under Secretary General
for Public Information Cristina
Gallach should not be able to censor
by throwing the Press into the
street, New
York Times here,audio
here.
Likewise
Ban's spokesman cannot be allowed to
prevent a timely article by simply
refusing to even acknowledge
questions submitted in writing,
especially after he began the week
telling Inner City Press (and the Free
UN Coalition for Access which
asked for in-person briefings) that
he would be answering questions all
week.
Ban
Ki-moon's Spokesman did not answer
these questions, nor on September 2
even acknowledge receipt of them. August
29, 2016
Ban
Ki-moon Signed
Letter Giving
Son-In-Law Top
UN Job in
Kenya,
Confirmed to
ICP
By
Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on
Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, August 26 -- Under
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the
UN has become so lawless that Ban's
son-in-law Siddharth Chatterjee was
just named
UN Resident Representative in Kenya
without Ban recusing himself.
Inner City Press reported and asked
about this on August 25. On August
26, Ban's spokesman Stephane
Dujarric confirmed that Ban had not
recused himself, had in fact signed
the letter giving his own son in law
the job, see below.
How
is this acceptable in an
international organization? Or this:
Ban's mentor Han Seung-soo is a UN
official allowed to be on the boards
of directors of Standard Chartered,
which has UN banking contracts, and
Doosan which makes sales to
countries Han gives “UN” speeches
to.
On August 25, Inner City Press asked
Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if
Ban had recused himself from any
role in his son-in-law's promotion,
video
here.
Inner
City Press: Mr. Chatterjee was named
the UN representative in
Kenya. So I wanted to know,
what’s the process for the naming of
a resident representative? And
given this he’s the son-in-law of
the Secretary-General, was there any
recusal made? I’m not saying
he’s not qualified. I’m not
saying he’s not a long-time
official. I’m just wondering
what is the process…[inaudible]… for
someone being named…
Spokesman:
The regular process was used.
The fact that he is, indeed, the
son-in-law of the Secretary-General,
I think, does not take away anything
from his very strong service over
the years…
Inner
City Press: I’m asking about the
process.
Spokesman:
Thank you.
Dujarric's
only response is that Chatterjee is
qualified. That was not the
question. After Inner City Press
highlighted this, Ban's spokesman
Dujarric returned on August 26 with
a "supplemental" statement, which
still confirmed that Ban had not
recused himself, had in fact signed
the approval of his own son in law
for the promotion. Video
here.From
the UN Transcript:
Spokesman
Dujarric: I also just wanted to give
you a little bit more details on the
issue you had raised yesterday with
Mr. Chatterjee and expand on what
I'd said. Mr. Chatterjee was
chosen through the regular process
which is basically that the
candidates are chosen by an
interagency advisory panel which…
which does not… and especially in
this case… did not involve the
Secretary-General. I think he
has been fully aware of the
situation and has kept well away
from the selection process.
For RCs, the candidates are chosen
and recommended by the interagency
panel. The name of the
recommended candidate is then given
to the Secretary-General to sign off
on. He does not involve
himself… and as I said, especially
in this case… involve himself in the
selection… in the selection
process. And I would just,
again, reiterate Mr. Chatterjee's, I
think, very strong qualifications in
his career with ICRC and the UN over
the years.
Inner City Press: I looked into it,
too. It seemed like they sent
it to the UNDG Chair and the
Secretary-General. That's why
I was asking yesterday.
Spokesman: No, I
understand. The
Secretary-General… the
Secretary-General is very aware of
the sensitivities of this case and
has stayed well away from it.
The final signature… because the way
this works is the Resident
Coordinator represents the UN, and
it needs the agreement of the host
country. So, the letter of
appointment, in a sense, has to be
signed by the
Secretary-General. But, his
name is given to him by the
interagency panel.
Nor have
the questions about Han Seung-soo,
who refuses Ban's supposed call for
public financial disclosure, been
answered.
Instead, Inner City Press which has
asked about each of Chatterjee's
promotions though the UN system
under Ban (for example to
and from
UNOPSincluding
censorship by the son in law,
like Ban) and in the past ten months
about Ban's and his head of
communications Cristina
Gallach's links with the John
Ashe / Ng Lap Seng UN bribery
scandal, was ousted from the UN in
February 2016 (audio
here) and had its
investigative files evicted onto
First Avenue in April
(video here). NYT
here.
Since then Inner City Press has been BANned
from covering UN events on the
second floor unless it has a minder
which stays with it all the time;
sometime Inner City Press is told
there are not enough minders, and
coverage is entirely prohibited. This
is censorship under Ban Ki-moon.August
22, 2016
Why
Ban Ki-moon
Dropped from
Public List
Officials Who
Refuse to
Disclose
UNexplained
While the UN
claims Ban
Ki-moon urges
his officials
to make public
financial
disclosure,
now Ban has
allowed the
names of the
officials who
refuse to make
any disclosure
to no longer
even be
mentioned on
the list of
officials.
On August 18,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about the
continued
decline of
transparency
under Ban, Vine here,UN
transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: you've
referred a
couple times
in recent days
to the idea
of… of public
financial
disclosure by…
by
officials.
And I've seen
on the website
that Ban
Ki-moon says
that he urges
his officials
to do it, but,
of course,
it's not
required.
That I
understand.
But, what I've
noticed is
that until
recently, in
previous
years, there's
been a list of
all
officials.
And if you
click some
names, it
says, "I
choose not to
disclose."
For 2015, the
most recent
year, the
officials who
don't disclose
aren't even
listed.
So, it seems
like it's a
step
back.
And I wanted
to know, for
example, Mr.
Hervé Ladsous
was listed in
2013 as
declining to
disclose.
He's the head
of
peacekeeping,
as you
know. I
don't know how
the urging of
Ban Ki-moon
resulted in
that.
But, in 2015
he's not even
on the
list.
So, maybe you
know or you
can ask them,
how is it
decided to
drop the names
from the list
of officials
who choose not
to
disclose?
Because it
makes it even
more opaque,
obviously,
because you
can't even
tell that they
didn't
disclose.
They're not
listed, unless
you do
cross-reference
back…
Deputy
Spokesman:
No, well, you
know who the
officials of
the UN
are.
They either
choose to make
their
disclosure on
a voluntary
basis or
not.
That is their
decision.
However,
regardless of
whether they
make it public
or not, they
do make
disclosures to
the UN, and
those are
reviewed.
ICP
Question:
Right.
Was it
specific… was
it a change in
policy, from
all the years,
2000… for
example, Mr.
[Mathew]
Nimetz appears
in 2007, but
he doesn't
appear in
2015.
Mr. Han
[Seung-soo]
doesn't
appear.
So, who
decided… I
guess it's the
ethics… on
whose
authority was
it decided to
make it less
opaque which
officials are
not following
Ban Ki-moon's
ostensible
urging to
disclose?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, like I
said, there's
still
financial… the
public
financial
disclosures
are still
available, and
that's the
basic
point.
If they choose
to make them
public,
they're
available on
the website.
The conflicts
of interest
allowed by Ban
Ki-moon in his
UN are
extensive.
Today's
example
is
Matthew
Nimetz, Ban's
Personal Envoy
for the talks
between Greece
and the Former
Yugoslav
Republic of
Macedonia
(FYROM).
When Inner
City Press
asked about
this and how
many OTHER
board Han is
on that do
business with
the UN, Ban's
spokesman
Farhan Haq cut
off the
questions and
claimed Inner
City Press was
“bullying”
him. Video
here; UN Transcript
hereAugust
8, 2016
Ban's
Adviser Han
Seung-Soo Is
Director of UN
Contractor
Doosan,
UNethical?
After
publishing
these links,
Inner City
Press on
August 4 asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about it, and
about Jane
Holl Lute for
the second
time -- this
time, answered
unlike the
five days of
questions
about UN
Security
Inspector
Matthew
Sullivan being
on an outside
board of a
corporation
which has held
events for,
among other
things,
sneakers in
the UN.
So does the UN
only answer
when it can
say that Yes,
Ban Ki-moon
approved? On
August 5,
Inner City
Press asked
again, video
here,UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press:
Yesterday I'd
asked about
Han Seung-soo
and whether
he's the
Special
Adviser.
Deputy
Spokesman:
Yes, yes, he
remains
Special
Adviser.
I've put in a
request to the
Ethics Office
to see whether
he's made any
notifications
of different
business
dealings.
I believe he
may have done
some, but I'm
trying to get
it from the
Ethics
Office.
Alas, at this
time of
summer, there
are some
offices that
are… will be
harder to get
replies back
from so I'll
let you know
once I have
it.
Question:
Sure. I
guess I want
to
understand.
There's a rule
that says a
person needs
approval from
the
Secretary-General
for
outside.
Does that
apply here, or
is it just a
matter of
saying that
you're doing
it?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Well, first I
need to check,
again, whether
the Ethics
Office has had
any
notifications
of any other
activities.
On
DSS Scandal,
UN Refuses To
Name Sponsor,
If Ban
Approved Or
Just Negligent
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, July
29 -- As the
UN bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation
(GSF), David
Ng Lap Seng's
Sun Kian Ip
Group and its
affiliates
including the
"World Harmony
Foundation"
and
pleaded-guilty
Francis
Lorenzo's
South South
News, among
others.
While as of
July 27 Ban
and his Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach still
have this last
"bribery
conduit" in a
UN office
after evicting
Inner City
Press for
investigating
it, and them,
more dubious
events are
scheduled for
Ban's UN. (Gallach, who appeared with Lorenzo,
spoke in the
GA Hall on
July 29 -
given her
retaliatory
evition of
Inner City
Press, it
would only
half cover the
event with one
of Ban's
minders.)
On July 29
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq,
for the second
day in a row,
if UN
Security
Inspector
Matthew
Sullivan's
position on
the board of
the directors
of the sponsor
of an August 2
event, which
has links with
pleaded-guilty
Francis
Lorenzo, was
approved by
Ban Ki-moon as
required by UN
rules.
Rather
than answer
this simple
question, Haq
said he is not
aware of any
problem with
the
individual.
Does that mean
that Ban
Ki-moon has
given up even
pretending to
enforce UN
ethics rules?
Or that Ban
Ki-moon has
approved this
UN Inspector's
moonlighting
with entities
linked with
the UN's
Lorenzo / John
Ashe (RIP) /
Ng Lap Seng
bribery
scandal?
Even the
simple
question of
who sponsored
the use of the
UN on August
2, a mission
or a UN
department,
was
stonewalled by
Ban's Haq. He
said, ask the
group holding
the event.
Well, no. The
UN premises
are being
used, and this
requires a
sponsor.
So l'affaire
Matthew
Sullivan,
which Ban's
spokesman is
trying to stop
investigation
of by calling
even Googling
unethical, is
connected to
the Francis
Lorenzo UN
bribery
scandal.
Perhaps this
explains Ban's
spokesmen
stonewalling.
Lead spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
stonewalled
Inner City
Press'
previous questions
about
Montessori
Model UN.
On July 28
when Inner
City Press for
the second
time asked Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about the
specifics of
for-profit
events in the
UN and
Sullivan's
presence on
the board of
directors of
the events'
sponsor,
rather than
answer Haq
tried to call
Inner City
Press'
research and
reporting
“unethical,”
going so far
as to ask if
it had started
research AFTER
it was Banned
from covering
UN meeting on
Haiti and
South Sudan.
In fact, Inner
City Press
reported on
the
“concussions”
event long
before Ban and
Cristina
Gallach ousted
it on February
19, and
Sullivan on
February 22
told Inner
City Press it
was Banned
from UN
premises
worldwide.
Haq's boss
Stephane
Dujarric
claimed that
day that
Sullivan had
gone beyond
the ouster
ordered by
Gallach. If
so, why did
Sullivan do
it?
Ban's
UN has become
a place where
officials at
all levels
think they can
sell access to
the UN, since
Ng Lap Seng so
easily bought
it. The
scandal, as
Inner City
Press will
shortly
report, are
connected.
Ban's UN's
response to
reporting is
to evict the
Press, then to
question
whether
Googling is
somehow
unethical. Vines here and here
and here
and
here. Then
video
here.
From
the UN
Transcript:
Inner City
Press:
yesterday I
asked you
about this
event that is
scheduled for
2 August and
you told me to
speak to the
group and Mr.
Sullivan
didn't know he
was on the
list, and
wouldn't speak
at it.
Since then
I've seen
there are at
least three
other events
at which he
did speak by
the same
group,
involving the
same group and
that he is on
board of
directors of
the sponsor of
the 2 August
thing, that
Jackie Brewer
Foundation.
So I guess
what I wanted
to know is,
one, to me it
seems strange
that he didn't
know that he
was listed by
them if he is
on the board
of
directors.
But I also
wanted to ask,
I've seen the
Secretary-General
orders called
outside
activities
that say staff
members should
not engage in
outside these
activities
without the
approval of
the
Secretary-General.
So I wanted to
know, since
this is a
private,
for-profit
company that
has had its
stock pitched
based on the
involvement of
UN DSS
(Department of
Safety and
Security),
whether the
Secretary-General
has, in fact,
approved this
or not?
And, if not,
what happens
next?
Deputy
Spokesman:
As I told you,
he is not
appearing at
their
function.
He was not
aware of this.
ICP
Question:
Did you look
into it?
He is on the
board of
directors of
the group, so
I'm asking.
Deputy
Spokesman:
This person
who, by the
way, has
informed me
that you
apparently
have taken
some sort of
gripe with him
because he
tried to talk
to you at a
stakeout.
I'm aware…
ICP
Question:
It's not a
gripe.
I'm asking you
about an
official DSS
official on
the
board.
You are
cutting me
off. I
thought that
was
unprofessional.
I'm asking a
question, how
does this
regulation
apply?
Deputy
Spokesman:
I was actually
in the process
of answering
you, and then
you can
talk.
This is how
conversations
go: I talk and
you talk and
so forth.
ICP
Question:
Just that you
walk away, so
that is why
I'm making
sure I want to
ask, there are
number of
other
questions on
this.
Deputy
Spokesman:
Matthew, that
is not
fair. I
take a huge
amount of
questions from
you, as every
transcript and
every video
will
show.
Now, I have no
problem with
you asking
questions.
I do not think
that you
should try to
use the
briefing in
terms of
personal
vendettas
against
people.
If that is
what you are
doing, it's
unethical and
I would have a
problem with
that.
ICP
Question:
You can say
whatever you
want.
Okay, what I'm
asking, a
senior UN DSS
official is,
this is all
online, these
are all… you
could have
found them
yourselves
with ten
minutes of
Googling.
He is on the
board of
directors of a
group that you
said didn't
know put him
on the list
and there have
been three
separate
events, one
about
sneakers, one
about
concussions in
the NFL
(National
Football
League), and
these have all
taken place in
the ECOSOC
(Economic and
Social
Council)
Trusteeship
Chamber.
So my question
is for the
service of
this
individual on
the board of
directors of a
for-profit
company for a
for-profit
event, has the
Secretary-General
given
permission?
And, if not,
is this
reflective of
a lack of due
diligence as
in the Ng Lap
Seng case,
"Yes" or "No"?
Deputy
Spokesman:
First of all,
to the extent
that DSS ever
gives
briefings at
these, there
are briefings
about security
conditions.
Those are
standard;
outside of
those, I'm not
aware…
ICP
Question:
I urge you to
look at the
press
releases.
Deputy
Spokesman:
I'm not aware
of anything
that is not a
standard
briefing.
Second of all,
did you do any
of this
Googling
before you had
your
conversation
in the
corridors with
him?
ICP
Question:
Yes, I
have.
I've been
actually
following… I
wrote about
the concussion
event because
it's a joke
these events
take place in
the UN that
are raising
money, so I'm
now I'm asking
you about
these events
because you
said he didn't
know and it's
not
credible.
He has done
three
events.
Look at them
and see
whether there
were safety
concerns.
Deputy
Spokesman:
Like I said, I
have talked to
this person
and this is
what he said.
When after
publishing a
story exposing
the notice and
Sullivan's
listed
involvement
Inner City
Press asked
Bna's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about it, Haq
said he had
spoken with
Sullvian who
said he had
not been aware
he was listed,
and is not
involved. Haq
refused ot
answer more
about the
event, and cut
off Inner City
Press'
questions. Video here.
This is not
credible. In
fact, Matthew
Sullivan is on
the board of
directors
of the group
holding the
event, which
is either a
violation of
UN rules or
was approved
by Ban "Fast
and Loose"
Ki-moon. The
applicable
rule:
"ST/AI/2000/13
Outside
activities
Section
2 Staff
members
engaging in
outside
activities
authorized
under the
present
instruction
shall make
clear to the
organizers and
participants
in such
activities,
including any
employers,
that they act
in their
personal
capacity and
not as
representatives
of the United
Nations.
Section 3
3.1
Under staff
regulation 1.2
(o), a staff
member shall
not engage in
any outside
occupation or
employment,
whether
remunerated or
not, without
the approval
of the
Secretary-General.
For the
purposes of
the present
instruction,
the expression
'occupation'
shall include
the exercise
of a
profession,
whether as an
employee or an
independent
contractor."
Here
is a photo
of Sullivan
with the
people he says
he doesn't
know listed
him for the
August 2
event.
There are been
other events
with Sullivan,
for example here:
"MagneGas
Announces
Panelists for
World Water
Day Summit at
the UN... The
Summit will
begin with a
welcome from
the CEO of
MagneGas
Corporation
Ermanno
Santilli and
Inspector
Matthew
Sullivan of
the United
Nations
Department of
Safety and
Security."
And another
("Reelcause,"
here in PDF)
and yet another:
"Discussing
the GTX
SmartSoles
with various
officials
including
Inspector
Matthew
Sullivan of
the
United
Nations’
Department of
Safety and
Security."
In fact, the
for profit
company has
had it stock
touted citing
UN Sullivan's
involvement, here:
DirectView
Holdings,
"facilitated a
number of
introductions
and
collaborative
meetings for
DirectView
executives
throughout the
course of the
week including
with the
United
Nations'
Inspector of
Operations
from the
Department of
Safety and
Security."
While Ban
Ki-moon cited
immunity /
impunity for
10,000 killed
by cholera in
Haiti, a
meting on
which Sullivan
Banned Inner
City Press
from on July
26, doesn't
this implicate
at least US
securities
laws?
Since the
above is
easily
available
online, Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson's
denial and
stonewalling
is worse then
negligent.
Under
Ban Ki-moon,
as shown in
the Ng Lap
Seng / John
Ashe case
investigation
of which
resulted in
Ban evicting
Inner City
Press from the
UN in
retaliation,
using
Sullivan,
everything has
become for
sale.
How high does
this
particular
scam go in the
Department of
Safety and
Security,
whose Captain
McNulty and
seven officer
physically
ousted Inner
City Press on
February 19? Audio
here;
McNulty initially
refused to
identify
himself.
DSS later cited
a non-public
Handbook to
justify Inner
City Press'
ouster, here.
Is USG Peter
Drennan in on
this? Michael
"Mick" Brown,
who oversees
McNulty? There
are some fine
people in DSS,
but it must be
cleaned up,
and all
retaliation
reversed and
addressed.
How
about the
Department of
Management
which is
titularly in
charge of
these events
in the UN,
including
Andrew Nye,
Craig Boyd and
British
Assistant SG
Stephen Cutts?
Ban Ki-moon's
UN is corrupt
throughout,
and retaliates
against the
Press which
pursues and
reports on
it. The
UN's ouster
and eviction
of Inner City
Press, and
harassment and
censorship
since, has
been pure
retaliation.
Now what?
Here's the
notice for the
August 2
event,
followed by
the UN's
transcript of
Ban's Haq's
denials:
"COPsync
Co-sponsors
#Stand2Protect
Peace Summit
at the United
Nations
DALLAS, July
26, 2016
/PRNewswire/
-- COPsync,
Inc. (NASDAQ:
COYN),
announced
today that
they are
co-sponsoring
the
#Stand2Protect
Peace Summit
in conjunction
with UN
Ambassador
Jack Brewer,
the Blue Alert
Foundation,
the United
Federation for
Peacekeeping
and
Sustainable
Development,
and Trust 2
Protect. The
Summit will be
held at the
United Nations
Headquarters
on August 2,
2016, from
3:00 pm - 6:00
pm EDT.
The goal of
the United
Nations
#Stand2Protect
Peace Summit
is to bring
together
community and
global
leaders, law
enforcement,
politicians
and
influencers to
discuss real
solutions to
end the
growing
distrust
between
communities
and law
enforcement.
Prominent
speakers at
the Summit
will include
... Inspector
at the United
Nations
Headquarters
Mathew
Sullivan"
This is
a for-profit
company,
selling
services to
Police
Departments.
Why is UN DSS
Matty Sullivan
involved?
Inner City
Press after
publishing the
above asked
Ban Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq,
UN transcript
here and
below; video
hereJuly
25, 2016
On
Next SG Straw
Poll, Results
&
Questions of
Dual
Nationalities,
Exclusive
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, July
21 -- As the
UN Security
Council held
its first
closed-door
straw poll on
the 12 current
candidates to
replace Ban
Ki-moon as UN
Secretary
General on
July 21, Inner
City Press
asked UK
Ambassador
Matthew
Rycroft if it
was too late
for
Australia's
Kevin Rudd or
others to get
into the race.
Video
here.
Rycroft
replied that
it is not too
late,
candidates can
enter after
the first
straw poll
pursuant to
the Council's
earlier
letter.
Here from
multiple
sources are
the results of
the first
straw poll;
Inner City
Press can also
exclusively
report that
questions have
arisen about
dual
nationality of
some
candidates,
including
Christiana
Figueres, Vuk
Jeremic and
Susana
Malcorra
(Italy /
Spain),
beyond their
listed
countries
which
nominated
them. It
should be
noted that the
UN's “PHP”
forms require
such
disclosures.
From multiple
sources,
results of the
first straw
poll, in the
format of
Encourage -
Discourage -
No Opinion:
Antonio
Guterres:
12-0-3
Danilo Turk:
11-2-2
Irina Bokova:
9-4-2
Srgjan Kerim
9-5-1
Vuk Jeremic:
9-5-1;
Helen Clark:
8-5-2
Miroslav
Lajcak: 7-3-5
Susanna
Malcorra:
7-4-4
Christiana
Figueres:
5-5-5
Natalia
Gherman: 4-4-7
Igor Luksic:
3-7-5
Vesna Pusic:
2-11-2
After the
straw polling,
Ambassadors
said no
comment and it
went well;
Council
President Koro
Bessho said
much the same
on UNTV. Inner
City Press
asked him if
the actual
results had
been given to
the President
of the General
Assembly.
Bessho began
to say yes,
then
clarified, no.
The
"frontrunner"
Antonio
Gutteres is
the one
without a
Twitter
account; the
runner-up
Danilo Turk to
his credit
wants
whistleblower
Kompass back
in the UN.
It's worth
remembering
that Gutteres
was dissed by
Ban Ki-moon
when he asked
for one more
year atop
UNHCR. Sources
say Malcorra
and Andrew
Gilmour,
recently
promoted
without proper
process, were
involved in
the decision
on
Gutteres.
Revenge? Or
just more of
Ban's bad
judgment, like
he and his
head of
"Public
Information" Cristina
Gallachevicting
Inner City
Press as it
covers the UN?
July
18, 2016
ICP
Asks Ban's
Spox Why 6 UN
Guards
Hindered It,
Spox Replies
He Was Stalked
While NHK
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
14 -- When
Inner City
Press went to
cover UN
Security
General Ban
Ki-moon's
speech on
human rights
on July 12, it
was required
to be escorted
by one of
Ban's minders,
due to its
eviction
earlier this
year by Ban
and his Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information,
Cristina
Gallach.
But
even after
escort by a
minder, just
before Ban
Ki-moon's
speech Inner
City Press was
surrounded by
six UN
Security
officers who
demanded that
it leave.
When Inner
City Press
pointed out
that the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit does not
have enough
staff, the
officer in
charge said
Inner City
Press would be
confined to
“covering” the
meeting from
the third
floor - that
is, unable to
speak with any
diplomats
(several of
whom, even on
July 12,
approached to
speak with
Inner City
Press, at
least until
Ban's guards
targeted Inner
City Press for
censorship.)
The UN
officers
claimed Inner
City Press
misspoke, so
since Inner
City Press
was, as it
told MALU and
as other
correspondent
can do but
didn't on July
12, stakeout
out the
meeting, here
is the audio.
When the same
thing happened
on July 14
while Inner
City Press,
escorted by
MALU, staked
out and
covered the
General
Assembly's
Next SG
session with
Christiana
Figueres,
Inner City
Press went --
delayed by the
harassment --
to the day's
noon briefing
and after
questions on
Yemen, Kosovo,
Burundi, South
Sudan and
Thailand asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric what
the rules are
on not being
hindering from
covering such
meetings once
escorted by
MALU.
Rather than
provide any UN
rule, Dujarric
said as his
response that
Inner City
Press had
“stalked” him
on the
sidewalk, a
reference to
Inner City
Press, being
informed that
Dujarric had
arranged to be
filmed by NHK
for a profile
of himself,
and streaming
a Periscope of
Dujarric's
already-agreed
to session
with a media
he likes. July
14 audio here,
video
here.
In essence,
Dujarric
called
critical
coverage
“stalking,”
despite being
a
spokesperson.
And he uses
the UN podium
response to
the Press'
question about
media access
rules to try
to discourage
critical
coverage and
questions, and
to send a
message to UN
Security that
it is fine to
target Inner
City Press.
Previously,
Dujarric while
withholding
Inner City
Press'
accreditation,
said he didn't
like its
coverage of
Ban Ki-moon or
Herve Ladsous.
This is
censorship, by
a supposed
spokesperson
for the UN.
We'll have
more on this.
July
11, 2016
In S
Sudan Leaked
UN Memo Says
150 Soldiers
Dead As Some
Joined Kiir's
Tiger Force
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, July
9 -- In the
UN's continued
withholding of
news and
answers about
South Sudan,
the reports of
the UN's own
knowledge of
abuses are now
being withheld
from its own
impacted
national
staff.
So Inner City
Press has
published
below multiple
leaked
documents from
inside UNMISS
and from
non-governmental
organizations
- and compares
them to
contradictory
official
statements by
the UN.
The UN has
responded by
evicting Inner
City Press
from its
long-time
shared office
in the UN on
April 16, video here and here
(Periscope).
Still, here
exclusively
from inside
UNMISS is a UN
memo on the
most recent
violence, even
as the UN
Security
Council held
no meeting on
July 7, see
below:
“JUBA Nearly
150 soldiers
are reported
dead from
Friday's clash
between South
Sudan's rival
forces loyal
to President
Salva Kiir and
those loyal
to the
First Vice
President Riek
Machar.
The heavy
fighting
occurred on
Friday near
J1, the
Presidential
Palace,
between troops
of the South
Sudanese army
(SPLA) and
protection
unit of the
First Vice
President,
Machar, of the
SPLA in
Opposition.
35 of the
SPLA-IO
soldiers lying
dead and over
80 died from
the SPLA’s
side.
All the
bodyguards of
the First Vice
President who
were deployed
on the street
outside J1
were killed,
said a senior
SPLA officer.
A huge force
came from
nowhere and
joined up with
President
Kiir’s tiger
force and
opened fire on
Machar’s
bodyguards
deployed
outside the
Palace for
protection."
On
July 8 amid
the surge in
violence in
South Sudan,
the UN
Ambassador of
Lithuania,
until recently
on the UN
Security
Council,
tweeted on
Friday that
the Council
would meet
that afternoon
about the
crisis.
But when ICP
asked the
month's
President of
the Council,
Koro Bessho of
Japan, he said
there would be
no Security
Council
meeting that
afternoon. The
Lithuania
ambassador
deleted the
tweet; the
UNTV crew took
down their
camera. This
as, for
example, World
Vision went on
lock-down in
Juba. Ban
Ki-moon, in
China, issued
a canned
statement -
this as his spokesman
refuses Press
questions
about South
Sudan, calling
them "too
granular."July
4, 2016
As UN
Bribery Ng
Case Expands,
Ban Ki-moon in
Para 12, His
Spox Covers Up
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
1 -- As the UN
bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation
(GSF), David
Ng Lap Seng's
Sun Kian Ip
Group and its
affiliates
including the
"World Harmony
Foundation"
and South
South News,
among others.
The UN
Development
Program began
its own audit,
which Inner
City Press
published here,
and asked
Ban's
spokesman for
a press
conference
about.
On July 1,
Inner City
Press asked
this Ban
Ki-moon
spokesman,
Stephane
Dujarric,
about the
superseding
indictment of
Ng Lap Seng to
include UNDP
and all acts
through
September
2015.
Paragraph 12
names the
Secretary
General.
Video
here; UN
Transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: the UN
bribery case
of Ng Lap Seng
has now had a
superseding
indictment
that accuses
Mr. Ng of
buying
benefits from
UNDP (United
Nations
Development
Programme) and
expands the
time limit of
the case up to
September
2015.
So, one, I'm
wondering if
you have any
comment on
this, as it
seems to be an
expanding
case.
And, two, I
want to
reiterate the
request now
for several
months that
UNDP hold a
press
conference, at
least on the
audit that it
released, and…
and state
where… why the
money that was
given…
Spokesman:
I think on
your… on your
second part,
you can
address that
request to
UNDP.
Inner City
Press: I
have.
Spokesman:
I have not
seen the new
indictment, so
I cannot
comment on it.
Inner
CityPress:
You had said
from here that
they would do
it. I've
spoken to the
head of the
office, and he
hasn't done
it. I'm
wondering, has
the Secretary,
Ban Ki-moon,
head of the
system…
Spokesman:
I know where
we are.
Inner City
Press:
Cover up.
Spokesman:
You're always
free and have
always been
free to
express your
opinions.
Dujarric said
Inner City
Press is free
to say what it
wants . Yes:
from the
street, to
which Ban and
his Head of
Communications,
with an assist
from Dujarric,
first threw
Inner City
Press on
February 19 (audio
here) then
evicted its
files (Video
here.) On
July 1,
Dujarric at
noon said he
hadn't read
the
superseding
indictment.
Then he left
the UN just
after 3 pm,
with no
briefing for
six days. This
IS a cover up,
on which we're
have more.June 27,
2016
Brexit's
UN Fall-Out,
UK Less
Likely to Veto
Malcorra,
Scottish P5
Q?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June 24 --
With the world awash in Brexit
punditry, how will the UK vote
to leave the EU impact the UN?
Ban Ki-moon came out with a
wishy-washy statement from his
meeting with six ad agencies in
Cannes, linking the EU with
humanitarian and the UK with
development.
The UK's Stephen O'Brien, said
by other senior UN humanitarian
officials to be trying to stay
on atop OCHA under a Next SG,
may find it more difficult.
And speaking of Next SG, how
might this impact the chance of
Susana Malcorra, campaigning for
Malvinas only this week as
Argentina's foreign minister? A
trusted Inner City Press British
observer opines Brexit helps
Malcorra, moaking the UK more
reluctant to veto or openly
oppose her, amid questions of
its Permanent Security Council
seat if Scotland breaks away.
Malcorra this week chaired
a meeting about sexual violence in
conflict, which some found ironic.
We'll have more on this. For
now, Inner City Press entrance
Periscope here.
In the UN system, UNHCR and IOM
rushed this
video out, and UNTV broke
out the reading of Ban's
statement, here.June
20, 2016
UN Rapporteurs
Mistold by
Ban's Gallach
Of
"Altercation,"
Press Eviction
Pretext
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June 16 --
How does the UN under Ban Ki-moon
and his "Public
Information" chief Cristina Gallach
pretextually evict the
critical Press from its
long time office and
confine it to minders,
hindering further
reporting on their
corruption?
This UN
"Aide Memoire," which
Ban's spokesman Stephane
Dujarric called "leaked"
and refused to answer
questions on, shows how -
as does this
Gallach's letter of May
25, 2016. On June 16,
Inner City Press was
belatedly provided with a
copy of the questions UN
Special Rapporteurs Kaye
and Forst sent to Gallach
on February 25,
put it online here:
Inner City
Press: I've become aware today of a letter
that was sent by Special Rapporteur David
Kaye and Special Rapporteur Michel Forst
to Ms. [Cristina] Gallach of DPI
[Department of Public Information] on 25
February, asking about ouster and eviction
of Inner City Press. And her
response was two months later, and she
referred to an altercation in this room
that required… so I'm asking you.
You were here. Other than you
turning off my phone, was it an
altercation? Is that an accurate
statement?
Spokesman Dujarric: Matthew,
Matthew… I have not… I will not comment on
your personal issues.
Inner City Press: You're saying it's
a personal issue. This was a letter
sent to the Special Rapporteur.
Spokesman: And the letter, if you
want to ask for the letter, you could ask
the Special Rapporteur.
Inner City Press: No, I've seen the
letter.
And below is
Gallach's letter, here,
which itself calls for action.
It was
provided to Inner City Press only on June
16, by a UN / Kaye staffer, under this
cover letter:
And
herebelow is
Gallach's letter,
which itself calls
for action. It was
provided to Inner
City Press only on
June 16, by a UN /
Kaye staffer, under
this cover letter:
"Two
UN Special Rapporteurs communicated
to ask for clarification on your
case last February. The letter was
made public just recently in the
report of all communications sent by
rapporteurs in the period accessible
here (communications of this type
remain confidential initially and
are made pubic every HRC session):
UNDPI responded to your letter only
in May (and this is why the response
is not made public online - it will
come only in September). In any
case, the SR encloses here the
response received. Again, sorry for
the slow communication. With thanks
and regards,
Marcelo Daher, Human
Rights Officer, Special
Procedures Division, Office
of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
And
here is from Gallach's highly
problematic letter:
“The
privilege of the use of such office
space was withdrawn after an
incident in which Mr Lee trespassed
in a closed meeting of the United
Nations Correspondence [sic]
Association. The disturbance and
altercation that his behavior caused
required the presence of United
Nations Safety and Security Officers
to defuse. Thus, as was made clear
in my letter of 19 February 2016 to
Mr. Lee his behavior did not comport
with the express requirements of the
United Nations Media Accreditation
Guidelines, which are applicable to
all journalists to the United
Nations. These circumstances,
consequently, occasioned the
withdrawal of Mr. Lee's resident
correspondent accreditation.”
This paragraph is full of lies.
There was no altercation - the only
physical contact was Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric stabbing
at Inner City Press' cell phone to
try to turn off the Periscope live
stream.
It was Inner City Press which asked
for a UN Security guard to come, to
rule if it was a closed meeting or
not. The UN has separately told the
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee that it has no written
record that it was a closed meeting
-- so how did Inner City Press
“trespass,” as Gallach alleges and
misstates to the Special
Rapporteurs?
June 13, 2016
UN Told
Nobel Winner
Ramos-Horta
ICP "Openly"
Broke
UNpublished
Rule, Geneva
Next
The issue is
to be raised at the UN
Human Rights Council this
coming week. Here is what
UN Under Secretary General
Cristina Gallach told
Nobel Peace Prize winner
Jose Ramos-Horta, that
Inner City Press has
"open" violated a rule -
when the Aide Memoire,
here, shows the UN
says it has no written
record the meeting was
closed and the Handbook
allegedly violated is not
public:
"Dear mr
Ramos-Horta,
Many thanks for your
message which allows me to
inform you about the
decision I have taken on
the type of accreditation
that Mr Lee has and will have in
the future.
Recently mr Lee openly
broke the rules that guide
all the resident correspondents.
After careful
consideration of the
internal report elevated
to me, I decided to
continue providing him
with a press pass that
allows him to work without
any impediment at the UN,
as the vast majority of
journalists. What the UN
cannot do is to let him
use an space exclusively
for him, after the
mentioned events.
As you can see, mr Lee
will have a valid press
card as soon as he
presents himself to the
accreditation premises.
Rest assured that I am the
first person to be
interested in ensuring
totally free and safe
reporting from the UN HQ
and about the UN. This is
what mr. Lee will be able
to do.
I remain at your disposal
for any further
clarification that you
might need and want. My
warmest regard, Cristina"
But the UN
says it has no written
record the meeting was
closed; the Handbook
allegedly violated is not
public. And "without
impediment" has turned out
to mean "with minders,"
and even not permitted to
cover a Western Sahara
briefing Inner City Press
was invited to, only on
June 10.
The
UN is trying to give Inner
City Press' long time
shared office to an
Egyptian state media,
Akhbar Elyom, whose
correspondent hasn't come
close to meeting the three
day a week requirement and
never asks any questions.
It rewards others like
this, while retaliating
against and trying to
censor the critical Press.
This will be
raised this week at the UN
Human Rights Council; the
UN in continued attempt to
censorship has not
responded to Inner City
Press' formal requests
submitted more than two
week ago. Watch this
site.
On June 8 Ban's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
outright refused to provide
a copy of, or any answer
questions about, the
"Handbook" the alleged
violation of which the UN
told the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee was the
basis for evicting Inner
City Press. Aide
Memoire to SFRC here.
Before Inner
City Press was even
able to ask the question,
Dujarric cut it off, and
later disallowed an
unrelated Press question
about other UN corruption. Video
here, transcript here and
below, with quotes from
Ban Ki-moon later on June
8.
Ban later on
June 8 said: "I will
continue to defend the
rights of journalists and
to do everything possible,
publicly and privately, to
ensure that journalists
have the freedom to
work...I will also
continue to stand up for
the rights of journalists
and their defenders to be
represented here at the
United Nations.
"I am extremely disturbed
by recent remarks by the
President-elect of the
Philippines, Rodrigo
Duterte. [Inner
City Press had asked,
here.] I
unequivocally condemn his
apparent endorsement of
extrajudicial killing,
which is illegal and a
breach of fundamental
rights and freedoms.
Such comments are of
particular concern in
light of on-going impunity
for serious cases of
violence against
journalists in the
Philippines. I have
expressed my
disappointment that the
Non-Governmental
Organization Committee
voted to deny the
Committee to Protect
Journalists consultative
status with the Economic
and Social Council...I
have presents for each of
you [segue to
presentation]. "
e This is
what it has come to:
censorship while Ban
exchanges gifts and drinks
champagne with his friends
and sells out the UN human
rights lists to the
highest bidder (for now,
Saudi Arabia.) From the June 8
transcript:
Inner City
Press: I've asked
you about this
aide-mémoire that was sent
by the UN to the Senate
Foreign Relations
Committee. So I want
to ask you about it
again. What I want
to ask you about…
Spokesman: My
answer's not going to
change.
Inner City Press:
No, here's what I want to
ask you about
specifically. You
call it a leaked
document. It's hard
to understand if it's sent
from the UN to a
committee. It's
leaked. But this is
my question. And
it's sort of a FOIA
(Freedom of Information
Act) like question.
The document says that
what was violated is
something called the UN
Handbook for Safety and
Security Personnel.
Spokesman: Matthew,
Matthew, your personal
issues will not be
discussed here.
Inner City Press:
You're calling it
personal…
Spokesman: Thank
you. Masood?
Inner City Press:
But if you can punish
journalists, where is the
document? I'm
requesting the handbook.
Spokesman: Talk to
DPI (Department of Public
Information).
Inner City Press: I
did, and they don't have
it.
Spokesman: Talk to
them again.
Even as groups
like the Government
Accountability Project tell
Ban to reverse the eviction
and give Inner City Press
back its long time office
and Resident Correspondent
pass, Ban's UN tellingly
moved to award Inner City
Press' office to Egypt
state media Al-Akhbar /
Akhbar Elyoum.
While Ban
told Inner City Press
"That is not my decision,"
and his Under Secretary
General Cristina Gallach
has yet to explain
anything to Inner City
Press, on June 5 we
published the UN's
"Aide Memoire" which
claims that the "rule"
against being in an
interpreters booth is in a
UN Security handbook that
is not available to the
public - it is not on the
Internet, not on the UN's
in-house iSeek and on June
6, UN MALU did not have it
-- and states there is no
paper work for the
underlying meeting being
closed.
ICP
Asks Ban's
Spox of Ng
&
Corruption,
Request for
Q&A, "All
the Time You
Need"
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
31 -- When Ban
Ki-moon
wrapped up his
five day
campaign trip
in South Korea
with a
three-question
"press
conference" at
the UN's
DPI-NGO
conference,
without irony
he cited media
freedom.
Then Ban
criticized
"coverage of
what was
supposed to be
off-the-record
meeting with
the Kwanhoon
Club" of
political
correspondents.
Even during
Ban's long
visit to South
Korea, Inner
City Press in
New York where
it has been
evicted from
its long time
shared UN
office and
confined to
minders, told
not to
question
diplomats
asked the UN
why no
transcript was
provided of
Ban's session
with the
Kwanhoon Club.
On June 2
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
indicted UN
briber Ng Lap
Seng, if the
Department of
Public
Information
has followed
up on the
failures
identified in
the UN' s
audit, and for
Q&A with
Ban. Video
here, from the UN
transcript:
Inner City
Press: Two
related
questions.
One is
actually about
New
York.
There's a
front-page
story in the
Times today
about the
pattern of
extremely
affluent
defendants
being allowed
to build
themselves,
quote, gilded
cages.
One of the
three examples
is Ng Lap
Seng, who's
charged with
bribery at the
UN, $50
million bond
living in his
apartment
quite near
here,
GPS. So
I wanted to
know, as a
matter of sort
of rule of
law, does the
UN system or
the
Secretary-General
have any view
of the justice
of the most
affluent
defendants
being able to
essentially
hire their own
guards and
live in their
own apartment?
Spokesman: I
have no
specific
comment at
this point on
this very
interesting
story on the
front page of
the New York
Times.
Inner City
Press: Maybe
you'll have
this or can
get
this.
The OIOS
[Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services]
audit of the
Ng Lap Seng
or,
alternately,
John Ashe
scandal set a
deadline of
May 31st for…
for the
Secretary-General
to ensure that
DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
improved its
procedures for
uses of the
lobby and of
due
diligence.
So I wanted to
know, can you
state that
it's been
done, and can
the letter
that went out
to the
departments be
released in
the spirit of
transparency?
Spokesman:
I'm sure all
our colleagues
in the
departments
and DPI are in
contact with
OIOS to full
implementation
of the
audit.
If I can share
more with you,
I will. Then a
welcome follow
up, video
here: "as
Matthew just
mentioned, the
ongoing
corruption
story.
There are
questions at
this time, so
it would be
really nice to
hear the
Secretary-General
respond on
topics that we
have… don't
have him on
the record at
all on camera
or audio."
Finally, after
Dujarric cut
off the
question,
this:
Inner City
Press:
follow-up in
the form of
request of a
question.
How long… even
though some of
it was off the
record, how
long was the
Secretary-General's
press
conference or
press
encounter with
the Kwanhun
Club in Jeju
island?
And can we get
that amount of
time sometime
between now
and the end of
the term…?
Spokesman:
You will get…
you will get
all the time
that you need."
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq -
his lead
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
accompanied
him for the
whole Korea
trip --
replied that
sometimes Ban
gives
“exclusives”
even to small
groups of
journalists.
But the photo
with the
Kwanhun Club
shows more
than a dozen
journalists.
Inner City
Press: the
Secretary-General,
I saw that
when he left
South Korea,
he said that
he’d been
misunderstood;
there had been
too much
coverage of
his… what was
widely, widely
reported as
his seeming
intention to
run for
President.
And so he
said, “I would
add that the
coverage of
what was
supposed to be
an
off-the-record
meeting with
the Kwanhun
Club has led
to
over-reaction,
over-interpretation.”
I
forget…
Apparently,
you were
there.
Was it off the
record?
Because I’d
asked about it
here whether a
transcript
would be
released.
It was said
that it would
be exclusive
sometimes with
groups of
journalists.
I saw a
photo.
It’s like a
lot of
journalists,
like more than
a dozen.
If, in fact,
it was
misunderstood…
many people
reported
it. They
were
there.
Was it off the
record?
Was it an
exclusive?
What did he
say?
Spokesman:
There was a
meeting that
he organized
with a group
of senior
Korean
journalists.
Part of it was
on the
record.
Part of it was
off the
record.
Whether it’s a
one-on-one
interview or a
group
interview, we
would not
release a
transcript.
I mean, we
release
transcripts of
his press
conferences.
The basic
message from
the
Secretary-General
is that, up
until the very
last day of
the mandate
that’s been
given to him
by Member
States, he
will focus on
being
Secretary-General
and fulfilling
that
mandate.
Once that
mandate is
over, he will
then decide
how best to be
a productive
global
citizen, but
his… that
decision will
come after he
leaves office.
Inner City
Press:
But since he’s
the
Secretary-General
now, I wanted
to ask you
about that
1946 General
Assembly
resolution.
There seems to
be a
resolution
that’s still
on the books
that says
that, even…
particularly
right after
retirement, a
Secretary-General
should not
have a
position in a
Government,
given
confidences
he’s received
from
Governments.
So that’s on
the books
now.
Does it apply?
Spokesman:
Obviously,
he’s aware of
the
resolution,
and the rest
is just
speculation,
because he
will make up
his mind as to
what he will
do after his
term as
Secretary-General
ends. Photo
here.
To read a
canned
statement
purporting to
defend press
freedom while
not only
evicting the
Press but
trying to
manipulate the
media with
different
private and
public
messages is
noteworthy. To
talk about
“authoritarian
impulses”
while having
the
investigative
Press ousted
and its files
dumped onto
First Avenue
is doubly so.
Background
here.
This while at
the UN in New
York, the
investigative
Press has been
oust and then
evicted, with
its long time
office being
given to
Egyptian state
media Akhbar
Elyom, which
never comes
in, much less
asks any
questions. Click
here for
background.
Ban spoke
about freedom
of movement,
while Inner
City Press is
now required
to have
minders in
order to cover
meetings on
the second
floor of the
UN Conference
building, in
the ECOSOC and
Trusteeship
Council
Chambers, and
has been told
not to ask
questions of
diplomats.
Ban
went out of
his way to
praise the
current
African trip
of South
Korean
President Park
- he did not
mention her
Iran trip -
and directly
addressed
South Korean
youth, some of
whom may be
old enough to
vote in 2017.
Opening
speeches,
particularly
by the
national
organizer(s),
were largely
about Ban
Ki-moon.
Those
present
marveled at
how actual
NGOs were
pushed to the
back of the
room, with the
front rows
devoted to
South Korean
official
(including
some from the
UN). Tweeted
photo here,reply
here. Will
Ban Ki-moon
endeavor to
live up in New
York, in his
remaining time
at the UN, to
what he said
at the DPI-NGO
conference?
Watch this
site.May
30, 2016
As Ban
Politics in S.
Korea,
Hankyoreh
Notes ICP's Qs
About Kim
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 28
-- Soon to be
ex-UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon is in his
native South Korea, where
there is a Presidential
election in 2017. On May 19,
only to South Korean
correspondents, Ban
Ki-moon's senior
adviser Kim Won-soo said
and was quoted that Ban's
is NOT a political trip.
Clearly it is. Ban's
"exclusive" comments to
more than a dozen
journalists in South Korea,
photo here, were not
transcribed despite the
request of
the Free UN Coalition
for Access.
And as
Inner City Press has asked
basic questions about
Ban's use of UN resources
and had them dodged, now
the media in South Korea
is taking notice. The
Hankyoreh of May 28,
here, reports on
Inner City Press asking
"whether Ban was aware of
UN Resolution II (I),
which was adopted at the
first General Assembly in
1946 and restricts
secretaries-general from
taking government
positions soon after their
term ends... But Haq’s
response appeared to be to
a completely different
question - neither
communicating Ban’s
response nor mentioning
the resolution." Slippery
or greasy eel.
(Hankyoreh
also says "The unusual
spectacle of the
Secretary-General’s
actions becoming the major
issue in a UN briefing -
which is typically
reserved for major
worldwide issues - hints
that the controversy over
Ban’s political plans
could be shaping into an
international diplomatic
issue." A simple review of
recent UN noon briefing
transcripts or videos
would call this into
question - but it has
become the party line, as
in the New York Times of
May 14.)
Meanwhile on
May 28 Ban continued his
politics, meeting with
retired politicians, such
as former Prime Minister
Kim Jong-pil. On May 29
he'll speak at " Rotary
International Convention
in Goyang, just outside of
Seoul, and visit the
ruling party stronghold of
Gyeongsang to tour a
UNESCO-listed folk village
on Sunday." Since these
are NOT on his public UN
schedule, does it mean
they are personal /
political? And then the UN
DPI NGO conference, on
which we'll have more.
Watch this site.
Ban can and has
evicted Inner City Press
from its long time office at
the UN -- but he can't
change the track record,
from his victory lap in Sri
Lanka in 2009, which Inner
City Press reported on, to
further damaging the UN's
reputation in Haiti by
insisting on impunity for
cholera, to his negligent
overseeing of rapes in the
Central African Republic.
For the record, what Inner
City Press told the
Kyunghyang Shinmun, when
asked about the eviction and
ouster, was not entirely
negative. But more on that
to follow. May 23,
2016
UN
Censors Q
About Ban
& Freedom
of the Press
from
Transcript,
New Low
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 20
-- For ten years as Inner
City Press covered the UN in
ever greater detail, showing
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
Herve Ladsous' inept overseeing
and cover up of sexual
abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers, disparate
treatment in Mali, dalliance
with genocide
in Sri Lanka and
prospectively Burundi,
impunity for
cholera
deaths in Haiti
and until now for UN
lead poisoning in Kosovo
and cravenly pro-Saudi
position on Yemen amid
the airstrikes,
it was never thrown out of the
UN.
Now
it has been. New
York Times of May 14 here.
And even as groups
like the Government
Accountability Project tell
Ban to reverse the eviction
and give Inner City Press
back its long time office
and Resident Correspondent
pass, Ban's UN tellingly
moved to award Inner City
Press' office to Egypt
state media Al-Akhbar /
Akhbar Elyoum. Tweeted
photograph here.
On May 19, a
sign for "Al Akhbar Yom"
went up on Inner City
Press' office - Inner City
Press has STILL never seen
the correspondent being
given the stolen office.
So on May 20
Inner City Press went to
get an on the record
explanation from Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman
Stephane Duajrric, before
Ban sets out on a campaign
trip to South Korea
(denied by his senior
adviser Kim Won-soo). But
not only did Dujarric
refuse to answer the
question - Gallach's DPI
intentionally omitted from
the transcript Inner City
Press' entirely audible
question about Ban
Ki-moon's commitment to
freedom of the press. The
question then, answer
itself.
Since the
spin to the NYT is that
Inner City Press'
questions on corruption
and censorship somehow
block questions other
correspondents want to
ask, Inner City Press
twice told Dujarric it
would hold one question to
the end. But Dujarric,
showing that the spin is a
scam, insisted: go ahead.
Video
here.From
the UN Transcript:
Inner City
Press: I have another
question, but I don't want
to…
Spokesman: Well,
just ask it.
Inner City Press:
No, no, I'll wait.
Spokesman: I'd like
you to ask it now.
Question:
Okay. Stay where you
are and I’ll do it as fast
as I can. I wanted
to ask you, you sometimes
say you don’t have a long
memory, but you’ve been a
Spokesman for a
while. When is the
last time, to your
knowledge, that the
publication Akhbar al Youm
has been in this room and
asked a question?
And the reason I asked…
you said I could
ask. I’ll do it
quickly. The office
that was formerly "Inner
City Press", has been
given to this
organization. I've
never seen them
here. I'm aware
there's a rule of being
three days a week
here. So, I’m
wondering… and you used to
implement that rule.
And the reason I’m asking
you, and you’re going to
say, ask MALU [Media
Accreditation and Liaison
Unit], I want an on the
record quote. This
is a media organization
that CPJ [Committee to
Protect Journalists] says
targets other medias for
arrest for not agreeing
with the Government.
Spokesman: I will
tell you that I do not
have in my head the
attendance records of
journalists here.
Some of you are here every
day. But, for the
rest of you, I don't keep
tabs in my head. And
again, that’s a question
for you to ask MALU.
Inner City
Pres: But, I'm
asking for an
on-the-record
comment. What does
it say about freedom of
the press…
Spokesman: I’ve
given you… Nabil?
Inner City
Press' last line, "What
does it say about freedom
of the press," was
intentionally
mistranscribed and
censored: it said, What
does it say about Ban
Ki-moon's commitment to
freedom of the press."
This is today's UN:
ham-handed
censorship.
The UN says
Resident Correspondents
must be at the UN three
days a week, but Inner
City Press has never seen
this person, former UN
Correspondents Association
president Sanaa Youssef,
much less asking a
question in the UN noon
briefing.
The point,
of course, which Dujarric
did everything he could to
cut off, including walking
out of the brieifng room
and not returning, is what
does it say about Ban
Ki-moon's supposed
commitment to free press
to evict the investigative
Press here every day for a
state media never here,
never with questions,
which targets other
journalists for arrest?
The question
is answering itself, but
we will continue.
Dujarric's deputy Farhan
Haq after the briefing was
heard telling DPI staff
under Gallach that he had
predicted Inner City Press
would "go after" Akhbar
Elyom.
This is
today's UN:
here's Haq on Jan 29,
video here, and
before. Haq claimed
incorrectly that "non
resident correspondent"
passes get one through to
the second floor: either
years out of date or
intentional inaccurate.
This too is today's UN.
Scribes
speaking off the record
according to the New York
Times of May 14 "accused
[ICP] of printing gossip,
rumors." That UNCA's
president rented an
apartment to Palitha
Kohona then granted his
request to screenin the UN
his government's war
crimes denial film is no
rumor or gossip.
But Akhbar
Elyom, to which Gallach's
and Ban's MALU and UNCA
have given Inner City
Press' office, not only
gets journalists in Egypt
attested - it targets,
with a "Muslim
Brotherhood" smear, a
journalist who works right
in the UN. Arabic
article here.
This is the
journalism that Ban
Ki-moon and his Cristina
Gallach want and reward.
By taking away Inner City
Press' office, it is now
required to have a minder
and is told to not ask
diplomats questions. This
is censorship.
Akhbar Elyom has been
used to finger for
imprisonment non-state
journalists in Egypt. For
example, in July 2015
Aboubakr Khallaf, the
founder and head of the
independent Electronic Media
Syndicate (EMS), “was
arrested after a news
article was published by the
government-owned daily
Akhbar Elyoum.”
May 16, 2016
Press
on UN Rape &
Genocide
Accepted, But
Ban's
Corruption
Triggered
Eviction
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 14
-- For ten years as Inner
City Press covered the UN in
ever greater detail, showing
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
dalliance with genocide
in Sri Lanka, impunity for
cholera
deaths in Haiti
and inept overseeing of peacekeeper
rapes, it was never thrown
out of the UN.
Only
when it questioned Ban's and its
PR official Cristina Gallach's
role in the John Ashe, Ng
Lap Seng and Francis Lorenzo UN
bribery scandal did Gallach
order Inner City Press ousted
then evicted,
and now try to give its office
to an Egyptian media which
rarely or never asked questions.
Ban Ki-moon claimed
“That is not my decision,”
but that is not true.
The New York Times has now covered
the story, and Inner City Press
is not one to nit-pick
such coverage. At least Ban's
Spokesman Stephane Dujarric went
on the record, admitting Inner
City Press' access has been cut.
UN Correspondents Association
boss Giampaolo Pioli lied, but
at least on the record. (He rented
one of his Manhattan
apartments to Palitha Kohona
then granted Kohona's request,
as Sri Lanka's Ambassador, to
screen his government's war
crimes denial film in the UN.
Then Pioli told Inner City Press
to take its story about it off
the Internet or be thrown out of
the UN, which Gallach and Ban
did: UN Censorship Alliance.)
But what's next? Is it
acceptable for the UN to throw
out a critical journalist
writing four to eight stories a
day, while leaving in people who
write little, and ask nothing?
Is Ban Ki-moon killing the UN?
Watch this site.
The
UN is now both corrupt -- a half
a dozen indictments and
counting, Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon cavorting with the
indicted and his team covering
it up -- retaliatory and badly
run.
Now the
UN is moving
to give away Inner City
Press' long time office as
retaliation for its seeking
to cover the bribery and
corruption scandal,
including trying to
cover a meeting in the UN
Press Briefing Room of the
UN Correspondents
Association (UNCA), a
group which took money
from the indicteds'
company, Ban Ki-moon's
“Communications” chief
Cristina Gallach threw
Inner City Press out of
the UN on February 19.
So to whom
does the UN seek to give
Inner City Press' office
away? A former UNCA
President, who it seems
has not asked any
question, much less a
critical question, in the
UN Press Briefing Room or
stakeout in quite some
time.
Inner City
Press has in the past
defended correspondents
when the UN sought late in
their careers to move them
along, and is treading
lightly for now: perhaps
this former UNCA President
didn't know the history
here.
(The current
UNCA website doesn't even
list its past Presidents,
perhaps wisely: it seems
to be a Year Zero
operation.)
But what is
the UN's rationale of
giving away the office of
a working, critical
journalist to a former
UNCA president who asks
even fewer questions than
the current UNCA
president?
It's called
retaliation, or some say,
human shields. Who is
responsible?
Audio
hereBan, when asked,
said “that is not my
decision.” But he heard
about the ouster and
eviction in advance and
ok-ed it.
On April 16,
the acting chief of
Gallach's “Media
Accreditation and Liaison
Unit Tal Mekel oversaw the
eviction of Inner City
Press' office, leaving
five boxes of its files
out on First Avenue. Video
here.
Some in
Ban's team indicated to
Inner City Press its
office would be left empty
until its four month
“purgatory” or
punishment-for-reporting
period was over.
That was a
lie: on May 13, after
Inner City Press asked
more questions about Ban's
engagements with John Ashe
and Francis Lorenzo -
president of South South
News which paid UNCA and
still has a UN office -
Inner City Press was
informed that its long
time office is being given
out
May 9,
2016
ICP
Asks UN About Lack
of Whistleblower
Protections, Miranda Brown,
Retaliation
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 5
-- While many try to
insulate today's UN from the
open corruption of the recent
past of President of the General
Assembly John Ashe, there is
continuity to this UN scandal
- and to the UN's failure to protect whistleblowers.
As UN officials
including Cristina Gallach, whose
involvement
in the scandal is detailed
in the UN's own Office
of Internal Oversight
Services audit at
Paragraphs 37 to 40 and
20(b) have
moved to evict
Inner City Press from the
UN premises (video
here) and
restrict its access, Inner City
Press on May 4 asked UN Under
Secretary-General for
Management Yukio Takasu
about two portions of the OIOS
audit. Video
here, see below.
The UN Controller, with
Takasu, said she is working on
whistleblower protections, in
light of a US Law making 15% contingent on
improvements in
whistleblower protection.
Inner City
Press: Yesterday, the
comptroller in the… said
that the UN is continuing
to work on whistle-blower
protections, and she cited
the US law that would
require a cut of funding
if whistle-blowers aren't
protected. So, I
wanted to ask you, today
the Government
Accountability Project
has… has highlighted the
case of Miranda Brown, who
was fired from the Office
of High Commissioner of
Human Rights (OHCHR) as
part of the Anders Kompass
case. She's asked to
be reinstated. And
they have a very long
analysis, but they say one
line I want to ask you to
respond directly to.
They say: "In a
setting such as the UN
where public access to
information does not exist
and where virtually all
operations are governed
only by the opaque
internal legal process of
the institution itself,
whistle-blowers have an
absolutely crucial
function." Can you
say, number one, do you…
are you aware of the
Miranda Brown case?
And what do you think of
her firing at the
time? Two, what's
the work on whistle-blower
protections that the
comptroller was referring
to? And do you
disagree that there is, in
fact, not a FOIA [Freedom
of Information Act] at the
UN to receive information
and that the internal
process…
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric: I think
the… on Miranda Brown, I
have nothing to add to
what we've already said on
that case.
Obviously, the… you know,
whistle-blower protect…
the work of
whistle-blowers is very
important. I know
there are efforts to
improve the current
policies. When we
have something to
announce, I'm sure we
will. And I think
the UN is… there's a lot
of information that is
freely available.
Now, I know there is no
equivalent of the FOIA,
and again, I think to… I
answered that the other
day, which is that it's in
the hands of the Member
States.
rrovements in
whistleblower protection
How was indicted Ng Lap Seng's
Global Sustainability
Foundation's “sponsorship” of
the UN slavery memorial opening
event, featuring Ban Ki-moon,
accounted for in the UN budget?
Takasu gamely said that
“in-kind” contributions are not
quantified or listed. If so, how
many other events did Ng Lap
Seng entities sponsor? Inner
City Press asked how Takasu's
Assistant Secretary General of
the Office of Central Support
Services allowed Ng Lap Seng's
June 30, 2015 event in the UN
Vistitors Lobby, also with no
due diligence by Gallach's DPI,
to go forward. Things slip
between the cracks, Takasu said,
indicating that he would like to
tighten things up.
So
how much more slipped through
the cracks? And how was Gallach
allowed -- or encouraged -- to
retaliate against the Press
which is pursuing and asking
about this story? Given that
Gallach clearly should have
recused itself, when will Inner
City Press be restored to its
shared office and Resident
Correspondent accreditation
status?
Inner City Press
On May 2 asked Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman
Stephane Dujarric if any of
the OIOS recommendations due
April 30 had been implemented. No information has
been provided.
May 2,
2016
ICP
Asks UN of US
Bill on
Peacekeeper
Rapes, UN
Doesn't Keep
Records
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April 20-- How low has the
UN fallen, in terms of corruption,
not stopping rapes, and retaliating
against the Press that asks the
questions? April
16 eviction here and here.
Now that a bill on UN peacekeepers'
sexual abuse and exploitation has
passed the US Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Inner City
Press on April 29 asked the
spokesman for UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon what he thought of the
bill, video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner
City Press: I want to ask you
about a bill that was passed out of
committee, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, regarding, among other
things, sexual abuse in UN
peacekeeping. Senators [Bob]
Corker and [Ben] Cardin had said
that the bill reminds that
prohibitions on funding for gross
human rights abuses also applies to
UN peacekeeping operations. I
wanted to know, given that this may
have an impact on UN funding and
given the hearings that were held
and the statement that the
Secretary-General was inept on this
issue, what is your response to the
bill passing committee?
Spokesman Dujarric: Well, I
think, you know, many bills go
through many legal procedures in 193
Member States. We're not going
to start commenting on each bill as
it passes various hurdles in each
country's legislative process.
I think the Secretary-General very
much shares the concerns of all
Member States on issues of sexual
abuse by UN peacekeepers and other
international forces. I think
the Secretary-General has been very
much focused on ensuring that Member
States do their part and ensuring
that the UN system does their part
and ensuring that we put the victims
at the centre of everything that we
do in order to combat this issue.
Inner City Press: But I guess
what I wanted to know is, since the
bill does sort of link or say that
it's possible that UN peacekeeping
is involved in, quote, gross human
rights abuses, I wanted to know: do
you have a response to that?
And do you have an answer to
yesterday I'd asked you about a
61-year-old truck driver in Bangui?
Spokesman Dujarric: No.
I was expecting something. I
don't have anything on that.
Inner City Press: Do you have
any records of who was killed?
[Inner City Press actually said,
does the UN even keep records on who
it kills?]
Spokesman: Matthew, as I said,
I'm trying to get some information
on it. I will get it to you as
soon as I can. No one more
than the Secretary-General is
concerned anytime anyone, whether
it's an international peacekeeper or
UN peacekeeper or UN civilian,
violates human rights or commits
criminal conduct. And he's
extremely focused on ensuring that
there's accountability and that
there is no impunity.
Extremely
focused. That's why he and his Under
Secretary General for "Public
Information" Christina Gallach threw
out the critical Press which is asking
about these issues, and Gallach's
"2016 Communications Guidelines"
barely mention sexual abuse, and are
silent on the Ng Lap Seng UN bribery
case which broke in 2015 and in which
Gallach is implicated, see UN
OIOS audit at Paragraphs 37-40
and 20(b).
April 25, 2016
After
UN Evicts ICP,
Ban's Spox
Says "You've
Been Afforded
A Lot of
Courtesies"
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
21 -- Contrary
to what the UN
says about
freedom of the
press, and
despite a petition
signed by 1400 people and opposition from the Government
Accountability
Project and
several
Permanent
Representatives
at the UN and
members of
Congress in
DC, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
April 16 threw
five boxes of
Inner City
Press'
journalistic
files out onto
First Avenue.
Photo
here;
video here and here
(Periscope).
This
followed eight
of Ban's
guards, at the
direction of
his "Public
Information"
chief Cristina
Gallach,
physically
throwing Inner
City Press
onto First
Avenue, and
its laptop on
the sidewalk,
on February
19. Audio
here.
Inner City
Press: I’m
going to again
try to do this
politely, but
I want to ask
this
question.
In the audit,
of the OIOS
(Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services)
audit, one of
the longest
sections in
terms of Ng
Lap Seng
affiliates
concern
South-South
News.
They described
five separate
engagements
with the UN,
and each party
is saying we
didn’t really
know or we…
we’re… you
know, and the
recommendation
that you’re
aware of to…
to take a
closer look at
this
relationship.
So I wanted to
know,
yesterday, or…
or some…
earlier this
week,
South-South
News put out a
press release,
sent to many
people, and
they said, “It
is disgraceful
that a few
independent
journalists
are exhibiting
a lack of
professionalism
and
irresponsibility,”
essentially by
questioning
this. So
my question to
you is… you
may or may not
have seen
this.
Reuters wrote
a story about
it.
Spokesman:
Yeah.
Inner City
Press:
Okay.
You’ve seen
it.
Here’s my
question.
Given all
this, given
that the
indictment
came out in
October, six
months ago, I
went upstairs
yesterday, and
I see that
South-South
News still has
a UN
office.
And
apparently,
you said it’s
under
review.
There seems to
be some due
process
rights.
What I want to
ask you
directly
is: How
can there be a
due process
right with an
institution
that’s charged
with bribery
when a smaller
institution,
Inner City
Press, was
physically
thrown out of
its office
with no due
process?
And my
question to
you is, given
that,
yesterday,
they tore a
sign of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access (FUNCA)
off the door
without the
consent of the
office’s still
occupant,
who’s a member
of FUNCA, what
is the
intention?
And what would
you say to
those who say,
basically, if
you have
money, you get
due process at
the UN, up to
six months,
and if you
don’t, you get
two
hours?
What would you
say?
Spokesman:
I would say
that you’re
wrong, and I
think you’ve
been afforded
quite a lot of
courtesies.
Thank you.
On April
20, when Inner
City Press
arrived at the
UN's Visitors'
Entrance well
in time to
cover 10 am
meetings, a UN
Security guard
blocked its
way in to the
metal
detectors.
"I know
who you are,"
the guard
said, telling
Inner City
Press to go to
the back of a
long line of
visitors.
Since on all
previously
days
non-resident
correspondents,
like the
"affiliates"
who staff the
UN's food
venues and
even its UNTV,
are sent into
the glass
building with
the metal
detectors,
this new
"rule" was
noteworthy.
Ban
Ki-moon Has
ICP's Files
Thrown Onto
1st Av,
Bribery Audit
Names His
Gallach
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
16 -- Contrary
to what the UN
says about
freedom of the
press, and
despite a petition
signed by 1300
people and
opposition
from the
Government
Accountability
Project and
several
Permanent
Representatives
at the UN and
members of
Congress in
DC, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
April 16 threw
five boxes of
Inner City
Press'
journalistic
files out onto
First Avenue.
Photo
here;
video here.
This
followed eight
of Ban's
guards, at the
direction of
his "Public
Information"
chief Cristina
Gallach,
physically
throwing Inner
City Press
onto First
Avenue, and
its laptop on
the sidewalk,
on February
19. Audio
here.
In the
case of
Gallach and
ultimately Ban
Ki-moon, this
is retaliation
for Inner City
Press'
critical
coverage of
the UN
including
each's
involvement in
the bribery
scandal which
so far was
resulted in
four guilty
pleas.
As the
UN bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation
(GSF), David
Ng Lap Seng's
Sun Kian Ip
Group and its
affiliates
including the
"World Harmony
Foundation"
and South
South News,
among others.
The
audit,
completed
early this
year but first
put online
by Inner City
Press,
directly
criticizes
Cristina
Gallach, the
Under
Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information,
for example in
Paragraphs
20(b) and
37-40. She
should have
recused
herself.
Instead
Gallach has
ordered the
search and
eviction of
Inner City
Press' files,
on April 16.
She has
misrepresented
it to UN
Ambassadors of
major
countries
including
South Africa
and to Nobel
Prize winner
Jose Ramos
Horta.
She and / or
Ban Ki-moon
above her are
so intent on
permanently
restriction
Inner City
Press' ability
to cover
corruption at
the UN that
they had there
functionary
head of MALU
write to Inner
City Press at
1:30 AM on the
morning of the
eviction,
limiting the
Press' ability
to document
the seizure of
its files:
From:Tal
Mekelat
UN.org Date:
Sat, Apr 16,
2016 at 1:30
AM Subject:
Saturday
access To:
matthew.lee@innercitypress.com
Dear Matthew,
Access on Saturday is 'exceptional' in nature (as Green Ps do not have access to UNHQ on weekends save for an official event being convened e/g. emergency SC meeting) and is solely for the purpose of over sighting the removal of your belongings.
You may bring with you one (1) individual, again on a exceptional basis.
Best, Tal
------------------------------------------------ Tal Mekel Acting Chief Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit United Nations - S-250 New York, NY 10017
Earlier on April 15, Mekel had told Inner City Press that a two-person film crew was approved. This was revoked at 1:30 am, precluding the crew. And yet...
Gallach, the highest UN official of Spain, has by her no due process orders BANned Inner City Press from covering even UNSC meetings on Western Sahara. This is retaliation and censorship.
On the afternoon of April 15 Inner City Press was told that it
will be UN staff going through the files but that then they will be
given to, and impounded for some time by, a third party or parties whom
the UN won't even name to Inner City Press.
As one wag put it, maybe they'll just keep passing them along.
Gallach's Team heard on April 15 from Capitol Hill to maintain the status quo. Did they even tell Ban Ki-moon, his chief of staff or deputy? Is this what allows Ban Ki-moon to (try to) say, "That is not my decision"? We'll have more on this.April 11,
2016
ICP
Asks UN of
Audit
Criticism of
DPI's Gallach,
Lax on
Slavery,
Impunity?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
8 -- As the UN
bribery
scandal
gathered force
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon called
for an audit
by the UN
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services.
While Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric has
said it will
not be made
public until
April 22, on
April 6 as a
full text
exclusive
Inner City
Press
published the
audit while
noting
affiliates the
UN audit
omitted, and
portions of
the audit that
some involved
seem to be
trying to
cover up.
Beyond
the Under
Secretary
General of the
Department of
Public
Information's
responsibility
for exhibits
in the
Visitor's
Lobby such as
the one
indicted Sheri
Yan's Global
Sustainability
Foundation
held on June
30, 2015, she
was also in
charge when
GSF was
allowed,
without any
due diligence,
to on March
25, 2015
sponsor an
event entitled
"Unveiling of
the 'Ark of
Return'
Permanent
Memorial."
Audit at
Paragraph 20
(b).
Inner
City Press asked
the UN about
DPI's
engagement
with the
Global
Sustainability
Foundation
around the Ark
of Return in October
2015. To
be diplomatic,
this should
have led to /
required a
recusal. But
again to be
diplomatic, on
April 8 this
is what Inner
City Press
asked
Dujarric, video here, UN
transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: this
OIOS [Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services]
audit, I
obtained it,
published it
and I want to
ask just for
today, two
specific
questions
about
it. One
is, it talks
about funds
going to this
thing called
UNPAN, which
I've heard of,
but it seems
to be pretty
obscure.
And in looking
at its
website, it
claims to be
publishing
articles they
say were
published in
December 2016,
which hasn't
actually
occurred
yet. So,
there's
something a
little… What's
been done on
the
recommendations
as to… to
UNPAN and the
use of its
name by the
entities that
were
audited....
Spokesman:
The recommend…
the audit, I
think, as all
of you have
seen now,
includes
recommendations
and includes
the status of
those
recommendations,
and we're
following
through with
them.
Inner City
Press: I'd
asked Farhan
[Haq]
yesterday
about the 30
June 2015
event in the
Visitor's
Lobby, which
has a section
of the whole
audit about
DPI
[Department of
Public
Information]
being in
charge of it,
not doing
it. I
want to ask
you about
another event,
which was 25
March, this
unveiling of
the Ark of
Return permit
memorial,
which they
said was no
due diligence
done of the
Global
Sustainability
Foundation.
It seems like,
in this audit,
they make
these two
findings about
DPI, these two
events, but
it's only
looking at it,
I guess,
institutionally.
As I've asked
you, when
Global
Sustainability
Foundation was
founded in
this building,
a senior
adviser of the
Secretary-General
and his spouse
were present…
Spokesman:
I mean, I
think…
Inner City
Press:
Does this
audit look at
individuals or
only
entities…?
Spokesman:
The audit
looks at…
looked at the
systems.
When there are
issues related
to
individuals,
further
investigations
are being
done.
Inner City
Press:
Right.
But, it seems
like they only
mention the
individuals
that were in
the criminal
complaint.
There was
nothing…
Spokesman:
You know, the
audit… I think
the audit
speaks for
itself and
outlines how
we're
following up
with it.
There is
a need for
follow up.April
4, 2016
UN's
Gallach Says
ICP Covers
Wrong Things
After Orders
Eviction by
April 6
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
30 -- On
February 19
without once
speaking to
Inner City
Press,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information,
Spain's
Cristina
Gallach,
ordered the
Press to leave
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
in two hours.
February
19 letter
here.
On March 30,
despite having
been
petitioned to
stop her
censorship and
hindering of
the Press'
reporting by,
among others,
a Nobel Peace
Prize winner,
Jose Ramos
Horta, Tamils
of Sri Lanka
and elsewhere
including a
Northern
Provincial
Councilor,
over one
thousand
petition
signers and
commenters,
Ambassadors
and UN
officials and,
it seems,
Jeffrey Sachs,
Gallach
nevertheless
had delivered
to Inner City
Press a final
eviction
letter, below.
Then
after having
the eviction
order
delivered to
Inner City
Press by the
acting head of
her Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit -- which
rebuffed a
request to
come into the
UN from the
outside and
actually film
what Gallach
is
misrepresenting,
from the
ludicrous
claim Inner
City Press
“hid” in a
glassed-in,
entirely
visible
interpreters'
booth to the
non-functioning
of its cut
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass at the
turnstile to
the second
floor of the
UN Conference
Building --
Gallach on the
afternoon of
March 30
approach Inner
City Press as
it openly
Periscope
filmed at the
Security
Council
stakeout.
That
Inner City
Press was
openly filming
is clear from
the video
itself: a UN
Security guard
tells it it
cannot step a
single foot
beyond the
Security
Council
stakeout
without a MALU
escort or
minder
(censorship),
then critiques
its Periscope
voice-over
about
censorship,
saying You
know you can't
do that.
But
Inner City
Press, while
to accommodate
the censorship
guard
suspending its
voice-over,
continued
openly filming
with its phone
held high, as
a UN tour
guide told a
group
including
Cristina
Gallach and
her assistant
Darrin Farrant
that the
replica of
Picasso's
Guernica was
lent to the UN
by the
Rockefellers.
As the group,
at another of
Gallach's
deputy's
suggestions,
went in to
tour the
Security
Council
chamber
itself,
Gallach came
over to where
Inner City
Press stood
openly
filming.
To
Inner City
Press it is
outrageous
that the UN's
Under-Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information,
while
insisting it
is fair to
strip Inner
City Press of
its long time
office and
ability to
cover events
on the UN's
second floor,
including the
Office of the
President of
the General
Assembly on
which even Ban
and his lawyer
issued a
report on
March 29,
excuses and
does nothing
about the head
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
having come to
the stakeout
on March 24
and four times
loudly called
Inner City
Press an
“a*hole.”
Gallach's
excuse for
UNCA's
Giampaolo
Pioli, whose
bidding (along
with the
bidding of
other very
senior
personalities
at and in the
UN) she is
doing, is that
Inner City
Press is said
to photograph
or cover the
wrong things
while at the
stakeout,
things that
Gallach thinks
are not news
worthy.
Is UNCA
giving
indicted Ng
Lap Seng a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon
not
newsworthy? Is
a member of
the UN
Secretariat
giving advance
information to
privileged
corporate
media not
newsworthy?
Who is
Cristina
Gallach to
decide what
the Press can
or cannot
photograph or
cover when it
is at the UN
Security
Council
stakeout?
Does
Cristina
Gallach, with
the power to
evict the
Press, even
watch the UN's
daily noon
briefing? Does
she know that
those she is
working for
don't even go,
don't ask any
questions, in
some cases
don't write
any articles
and do
unrelated
commercial
business in
the office
space she
leaves them
with, while
evicting Inner
City Press for
retaliation?
Inner City
Press has
tried to
discuss all
this with
Cristina
Gallach; her
retaliatory
mantra, with
no respect
from freedom
of the press,
remains the
same. There is
a week: watch
this site.
Here is the
letter that
Gallach had
delivered to
Inner City
Press at 3 pm
on March 30,
before she
approached
Inner City
Press
Periscoping
later than
afternoon:
“Dear Mr. Lee,
I write
further to my
letter of 19
February 2016.
As I made
clear in that
letter, your
accreditation
privileges to
access the
premises of
the United
Nations to
conduct your
journalistic
activities
have been
changed to
that of
non-Resident
Correspondent.
In this
regard, I note
that you have
applied for
and received
your
non-Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
on 25 February
2016. Such
accreditation
allows you
access to the
premises of
the United
Nations in
that capacity
in order to
carry out your
full
journalistic
activities in
the same
manner as any
other
journalist
with such
accreditation
privileges.
“At the same
time, I also
note that as
of today, and
after several
reminders, you
have not yet
emptied the
office of your
belongings,
which remain
untouched, nor
have you
returned the
key to that
office.
“In light of
the above, I
request that
you remove
your
belongings
from the
office and
return its key
to the Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit by no
later than
5:00 p.m. on 6
April 2016. If
you do not
collect your
belongings
from the
office by that
deadline, I
would request
your presence
for the
packaging and
forwarding of
your
belongings to
the address
listed in your
accreditation
application.
Yours
sincerely,
Cristina
Gallach,
Under-Secretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information”
To many
who petitioned
her, from
Washington to
Jaffna in Sri
Lanka, Gallach
had repeatedly
claimed that
despite
seizing Inner
City Press'
long time
shared office
and
investigative
files, Inner
City Press
would have the
same access AS
IT HAD BEFORE,
or the same
access as
OTHER
REPORTERS AT
THE UN.
This
has proved to
be false.
Since the
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass does not
open the
turnstile on
the second
floor of the
UN's
Conference
Building,
Inner City
Press has been
Banned from
covering
meetings in
the ECOSOC and
Trusteeship
Council
chambers, on
such topics as
UN Security
Council
reform,
counter-terrorism
and Sri Lanka,
the selection
of the next
Secretary
General, and
more.
Even Security
Council
meetings, such
as the March
21 session on
Western
Sahara, Inner
City Press was
Banned from by
Gallach's
order. Now,
after make
claims, she
says Inner
City Press
will have not
the same
access that it
had, or even
access to all
Security
Council
meetings --
rather, the
same access as
other with the
restricted
non-Resident
Correspondent
pass: a
tautology.
We'll have
more on this. March
28, 2016
On W.
Sahara,
Spain's
Gallach Bans
ICP From UNSC
Stakeout March
21, Minders
March 24
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
26 -- When to
respond to
Morocco's
ouster of the
MINURSO
mission from
Western Sahara
the UN
Security
Council met at
8:30 am on
March 21,
Inner City
Press arrived
to cover the
meeting, as it
has Council
meetings on
the topic each
April and
October.
But this
time, it was
unable to
access the
Security
Council
stakeout in
order to speak
with diplomats
for its
reporting. Video here. Any reporter with a
Resident
Correspondent
pass, as Inner
City Press had
for eight
years, could
go to the
stakeout. But
not Inner City
Press, not
anymore.
The reason
Inner City
Press was
Banned from
stakeout out
the Western
Sahara meeting
was UN Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach's
February 19
letter telling
it, on two
hours notice,
to leave the
UN after ten
years of
coverage. Letter here.
Gallach never
once spoke to
Inner City
Press before
issuing the
order.
The results of
Gallach's
order, which
remains in
place as of
March 26, is
systemic
exclusion from
covering and
staking out
events ranging
from Sri Lanka
counter-terrorism
to the process
for selecting
Ban Ki-moon's
successor,
from UN
Security
Council reform
to an
event about
slavery,
the UN's
memorial to
which has
funded since
indicted and
pleaded guilty
to bribery at
the UN.
After the
March 24 UN
Security
Council
consultations
on Western
Sahara, just
after the
reading out o
the Council's
“Press
Elements,”
things hit a
new low. UN
Department of
Public
Information
staff, working
for Gallach,
told Inner
City Press it
had to leave
the Security
Council
stakeout even
as other
pro-Morocco
journalists
were
conducting
interviews
with
diplomats.
After Inner
City Press
stated this
was censorship
attributable
to Gallach,
her staff's
“solution” was
even more
Kafka-esque:
Inner City
Press would require
an escort, or
minder, as it
conducted
interviews.
Obviously,
diplomats
desiring to
speak on
background
about Ban's
performance on
Western Sahara
would not do
so in the
presence of a
minder working
for Ban's
Secretariat.
What has led
to this
censorship or
Banning of the
Press at the
UN, on Western
Sahara, Yemen,
Sri Lanka,
Burundi and
other topics?
While
Gallach's
February 19
letter is
vague, in the
“incident” she
alludes to
Inner City
Press sought
to report on
an event,
nowhere listed
as closed,
held in the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
January 29.
It was a
meeting of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
and Inner City
Press wanted
to cover it to
see if the
group's having
under Giampaolo
Pioli
taken money
from thhe
South South
News of now
indicted Ng
Lap Seng's and
Vivian Wang's
(and Frank
Lorenzo, who
has pleaded
guilty) would
be discussed.
UNCA's Pioli
demanded that
UN
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric ask
Inner City
Press to
leave.
When
despite no
showing that
it was a
“Closed
Meeting” a
single UN
Security
officer told
Inner City
Press that
Dujarric
wanted Inner
City Press to
leave, it did.
But the
disagreement
about the
right to
exclude the
press from the
UN Press
Briefing Room
was used by
Gallach -- and
it seems UNCA
“leaders”
including
Giampaolo
Pioli and at
least two news
services which
now operate
anonymous
troll social
media accounts
-- to three
weeks later,
on two hours
notice and
with no due
process, order
Inner City
Press out.
March
21, 2016
ICP
Asked About
Lorenzo's
Bribery, US
Cites UN
Audit, Not
South South
News
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow Up on
Exclusives
UNITED
NATIONS, March
16 -- For more
than six
months Inner
City Press has
asked the UN
about its
dealings with
Frank Lorenzo,
former Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of the
Dominican
Republic and
head of South
South News,
who has now
formally
pleaded guilty
to conspiracy
to commit
bribery at the
UN.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, who
had accepted
a prize from
Lorenzo,
has yet to
comment; Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
February 9
told Inner
City Press,
“I'm done
answering
questions.” Vine here.
Inner City
Press: I
wanted to ask
you, there was
– today – it
was announced
today that the
deputy
ambassador of
the Dominican
Republic,
Frank Lorenzo,
is set to
plead guilty
to bribery
charges at the
UN. So I
wanted to ask,
what’s the
State
Department’s
view of that
case? Do you
view it as
just a slip-up
in the
president of
the General
Assembly’s
office, or is
it a
reflection of
a wider
corruption or
sale of access
at the UN and
what the
Government
Accountability
Project also
calls
retaliation
against the
press
reporting on
the case? Do
you – what do
you make of
this case that
began in
October and is
ongoing, the
wheels are
turning?
MR KIRBY: I’m
going to have
to take that
question. I do
not believe I
have anything
for you on
that. So
you’re going
to have to let
me get back to
you.
On the
afternoon of
March 16, when
Inner City
Press asked
Kirby's deputy
Mark Toner the
above
questions,
along with
questions on
Yemen, Sudan
and genocide,
a State
Department
official on
background
answered Inner
City Press:
"Rooting out
fraud and
corruption,
and advancing
accountability
is a priority
for the United
States, and
has been for
many years. In
addition to
ongoing legal
action in the
Southern
District of
New York, we
support the
Secretary
General’s
request for an
Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
(OIOS) audit
of the
interaction
between the UN
and the Global
Sustainability
Foundation and
the Sun Kian
Ip Group, and
the use of any
funds received
from these
entities. As
this matter is
under ongoing
investigation
by the U.S.
Attorney’s
office, as
well as by the
UN and OIOS,
it would be
inappropriate
to comment
further."
We'll
have more on
this - for
example on
what the
indictment
calls "NGO-1,"
which is South
South News,
and about the
US and the GAP
letter. Watch
this site.
On
February 19
Inner City
Press was
ordered out of
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years
as a Resident
Correspondent
with a shared
office full of
files, by a letter
signed that
day with
two hours
notice by
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach - who
attended the
September 2015
South South
Awards with
Lorenzo, photo
here.
On
Gallach's
order, and
with the
participation
of Ban's
spokesman
Dujarric,
Inner City
Press was
thrown out
onto First
Avenue along
with its
laptop, but
without its
passport still
in its shared
office, by
eight UN
Security
guards. Audio
here. On
February 22,
UN Security
told Inner
City Press it
was Banned
from all UN
premises.
After
stories in BuzzFeed
and Business
Insider,
Inner City
Press
re-entered the
UN on a much
reduced
“non-resident
correspondent”
pass, Banned
from covering
such events as
UN Security
Council
reform, Sri
Lanka and
terrorism, and
the Office of
the President
of the General
Assembly.
(Inner City
Press has
continued,
with sources,
to report, for
example here.)
The
harassment
continued:
hours after
Inner City
Press raised
its case
orally to Ban
Ki-moon and
his deputy, UN
Security
against
physically
ordered Inner
City Press to
leave the UN,
at 8 pm.
Video
here.
Dujarric said
it is not his
job to find
Inner City
Press a place
to work. Q&A
here. More
and seemingly
final threats
were made on
March 14 --
just before it
emerged that
Lorenzo is
pleading
guilty to
bribery
charges. Now
what? March
14, 2016
UN's
Jan 29
"Incident"
Featured UNCA
Hiding Ng Lap
Seng Info, UN
Staff at
Pioli's Open
Bar
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
12 -- The UN's
ouster of
Inner City
Press on
February 19,
on a mere two
hours notice,
was said by UN
official
Cristina
Gallach's
letter to be
based on “the
incident” of
January 29. In
the three
weeks of
struggle --
and UN
harassment --
since, more
has become
clear about
that incident.
The UN Press
Briefing Room,
which is
supposed to be
for all
journalists,
was “lent” to
the UN
Correspondents
Association to
hold their
annual
meeting. Inner
City Press
quit UNCA in
2012, finding
it to be
corrupt.
UNCA's then
and now
president
Giampaolo
Pioli
unilaterally
granted a UN
screening for
the Sri Lankan
government's
war crimes
denial film
“Lies Agreed
To” after
havingtaken
rent money
from Palitha
Kohona, Sri
Lanka's
ambassador.
When Inner
City Press
reported that,
Pioli demanded
removal of the
article from
the Internet
or he would
“get Inner
City Press
thrown out of
the UN” (which
later took
place.)
So on
January 27,
Inner City
Presspublished
a storyabout the coming misuse
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room, and on
January 29
went to cover
the meeting as
a news event.
To not
participate in
the meeting -
and be heckled
by Pioli's
UNCA thugs, as
later
nevertheless
happened -
Inner City
Press covered
it from the
glassed in
interpreters
booth, fully
visible,
waving at
attendees,
live-tweeting
and streaming
Periscope.
Pioli
at the podium
in the front
of the room
grew angry and
ordered Inner
City Press to
leave. Inner
City Press
said no, the
room is for
all
journalists
(It took the
same position
when UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric tried
to “lend” the
UN Press
Briefing Room
to France's
andhis President, Francois
Hollande;
Inner City
Press won that
standoff, the
private
briefing was
opened to
all.)
This
time at
Pioli's
request
Dujarric came
in and asked
Inner City
Press to leave
so he could go
see his
“f*cking
kids.” Inner
City Press
said it was a
point of
principle, of
equal
treatment of
all
journalists in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
but that it
would leave if
UN Security
requested it.
In the
weeks that
followed,
Inner City
Press repeated
asked Dujarric
and his Deputy
Farhan Haq why
they had
“lent” the UN
Press Briefing
Room to UNCA,
to whom else
they had lent
it -- no list
was provided
-- and why,
for example,
indicted Frank
Lorenzo had
appeared in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
but not in
that day's UN
Media Alert.
Was it lent to
him, too? By
whom?
Seemingly
based on this
questioning,
linking the
privatization
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room to the
widening
corruption
scandal, UN
official
Cristina
Gallach issued
a letter
throwing Inner
City Press out
of its long
time office
and
deactivating
its Resident
Correspondent's
accreditation.
This was
enforced by
eight UN
Security
guards who
threw Inner
City Press in
the street and
its laptop on
the ground as
two UNCA
insiders --
Margaret
Besheer of
Voice of
America, a
correspondent
to Dujarric,
and Sherwin
Brice of SABC
-- stood and
filmed and
laughed.
Gallach, as
Inner City
Press has
reported
before January
29, has
attended the
South South
Awards of
indictee Ng
Lap Seng, with
indictee Frank
Lorenzo. Not
only should
she have
provided due
process but
didn't - she
should have
recused
herself from
any
decision-making.
UNCA under
Pioli, as
Inner City
Press also
reported, took
tens of
thousands of
dollars from
Ng Lap Seng's
South South
News, then
gave Ng a
photo op with
Ban Ki-moon;
after this,
UNCA under
Pioli openly
sold seats
with Ban at
Cipriani Wall
Street for
$12,000.
But
there's more.
Why was the
UNCA meeting
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room in the
first place,
when the UN
gives UNCA a
large
clubhouse on
the UN's third
floor?
Well,
on the evening
of January 29
UNCA / Pioli
was to hold a
party in the
UNCA
clubhouse,
with waiters
(who and how
paid was
unclear.) At
the event, the
advertised
open bar was
open to
members of
Dujarric's
Office of the
Spokesperson
and Gallach's
DPI. Is that
ethical?
In the UNCA
meeting after
Pioli got
Dujarric to
get UN
Security to
tell Inner
City Press to
leave, an UNCA
member asked
to at least
get a
hard-copy of
the UNCA
budget
information.
Pioli told
that member to
just vote
against the
budget,
then.
Where did the
Ng Lap Seng
money go? The
money for the
seats sold
next to Ban
Ki-moon? Who
paid for the
January 29
party? Why is
the UN taking
and giving
these
freebies? This
is a corrupt
UN -- and for
seeking to
cover it,
Inner City
Press has been
thrown out,
and is still
being harassed
(thrown out
again on March
10). It is
UNacceptable.
Watch this
site.
After Inner
City Press was
summarily
ejected from
the UN, which
it has covered
for 10 years,
on February 19
(audio
here), the
ostensibly
deciding
official
Cristina
Gallach told
Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Jose Ramos
Horta, who
contacted her
to oppose her
arbitrary
decision, that
Inner City
Press would
still be able
to cover the
UN.
Now
Gallach, even
having been
informed that
Inner City
Press can no
longer for
example go to
the second
floor of the
UN Conference
Building and
speak with
diplomats
entering and
exiting
meetings like
March 9 on UN
Security
Council
reform, and
March 10 on
Counter-Terrorism
including in
Sri Lanka,
repeats the
same position
to others - as
does Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson,
under Stepane
Dujarric, see
below.
But Inner City
Press had been
told that
while the pass
would not
allow it to
enter the UN
after 7 pm, if
it was already
inside
working, it
could finish.
On
March 10 at 8
pm, as Inner
City Press sat
in the UN
Lobby cafe
area editing a
video of the
day's noon
briefing, see
below, UN
Security
officers
approached and
told it to
leave.
Immediately.Video
here.
Inner
City Press
asked if this
rule applied
to all
non-resident
correspondents,
many of whom
stayed much
later than 8
pm, or only to
it.
"I"m
just doing
what I'm
told," UN DSS
Officer Clyde
said, telling
Inner City
Press to take
it up with his
supervisor
Chief (Michael
or Mick)
Brown.
This is
harassment; it
flows from the
February 19 no
due process
order of Under
Secretary
General of DPI
Cristina
Gallach but
has been
enabled by
inaction by
the highest UN
officials and
some
diplomats.
On March 11,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
having been
ousted from
the UN again,video
here,UN transcript here:March
7, 2016
Exclusive: UN Yemen
Envoy Told Feltman
Houthis Ready to
Meet in
Jordan, Saudi
Low-ball
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, March 4 -- The UN
Secretariat's bungling of Yemen
mediation has become ever more
clear, according to multiple sources
and documents exclusively seen by
Inner City Press, see below.
Now Inner City Press has another
exclusive: UN envoy Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed's email to UN Under
Secretary General for Political
Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, which
contradicts what enovy Ould Cheikh
Ahmed most recently told the
Security Council. The email
exclusively published by Inner City
Press shows flexibility on the
Houthi said, with the prospects of
meeting in Jordan or Morocco, while
the Saudis insist on sending low
level representation. Here is the
email:
"Dear
Jeff, I just completed a 2-day visit
in Riyadh and wanted to give you a
quick update on how things have
developed since my discussions with
H/Mohamed AbdelSalam last week in
Muscat.
I had a
private discussion with both State
Minister Mussaeed Al Ayban and Abu
Ali where I briefed them on the
readiness of th Houthis to resume
discrete face-to-face meetings with
KSA representatives. While they
welcomed the progress made and
expressed their commitment to go
ahead with this track, they also
emphasized that:
i) in
light of the progress the Coalition
has been making on the ground and
their advance toward Sanaa, the
Houthis should seize this
opportunity and discuss in good
faith as they are in a weaker
position on the ground and their
options are narrowing;
ii) KSA
will not consider elevating the
level of their representation in the
KSA-H talks, as Mohamed AbdelSalam
had requested. KSA considers that
the 2 representatives they are
sending are at the level of Mohammed
AbdelSalam and the Houthis should
not expect a higher representation
at this point;
iii) KSA
accepted the proposal of Mohamed
AbdelSalam to meet in a third
country (Jordan). Mohamed Abe
Assalem has suggested to me either
Morocco or Jordan as the venue.
I
immediately called Mohemad
AbdelSalam from Riyadh to share the
outcomes of the meeting. He was
going to talk to his leadership and
revert to me with a confirmation. If
the Houthis accept, the Houthi - KSA
meeting could go ahead as early as
next week, in Jordan. We of course
would not participate nor be
present. I have however already
started coordination with the Jordan
Ambassador to Yemen, as needed.
Although
we still do not have an agreement
for a new cessation of hostilities,
we have continued to press for
commitment to the De-Escalation and
Coordination Committee (DCC), and a
range of economic initiatives
(especially in relation to the
Central Bank's independence and the
reactivation of the Social Welfare
Fund).
In my
meeting with the GoY delegation, I
continued to impress upon them the
importance of participation of the
GoY in the DCC, and to training
which we are planning to organize in
Amman during the coming weeks. The
UK Ambassador informed me that
Foreign Minister and Head of GoY
delegation AbdelMalik El Mikhalfi
today had responded positively to
his suggestion.
There are
been positive developments on
economic initiatives which I have
supported as well. Foreign Minister
Mikhalfi participated in the Central
Bank board meeting last week in
Amman together with the Minister for
Finance and the CB Governor.
DPM/MoFA Mikhalfi acknowledged that
significance of the Governor's
attendance from Sanaa and was very
grateful for my personal efforts to
secure his participation with the
Houthis, which was seen by the GoY
as an important confidence building
measure. Mikhalfi agreed on the
necessity of developing further
economic initiatives including the
support for the SWF and SFD. My
office is working with the UNCT,
World Bank and IMF in order to
ensure a sufficient level of
technical support for these
proposals.
I
am now in Nouakchott for 4 days
where I need to renew my G4 visa and
will proceed to New York on 16
February ahead of the SC briefing. I
intend to remain in NYC until 22
February in order to meet with key
Member States and HQ officials. I
plan to also travel to Washington DC
19 February and hold meetings there.
I look forward to seeing you in New
York in a few days.
Best regards, Ismail."
The above email was sent on February
11 and contradicts what Ould Cheikh
Ahmed told the Security Council;
meanwhile Saudi Arabia's Ambassador
to the UN told the press on March 4
that envoy IOCA does NOT want a
humanitarian access resolution.
In
the UN Security Council on the Yemen
sanctions resolution adopted on
February 24, language was added to
try to discourage the Panel of
Experts from looking into the act of
the Saudi-led Coalition. Concessions
were made, of a kind not made for or
about other countries under
sanctions.
(Inner City Press had to follow the
process from outside the UN,
literally, the park on 43rd Street
across First Avenue, because only days
after Inner City Press asked why the
UN was so quiet about false
claims of Iranian military equipment
in a UN WFP aid ship, Inner City Press
was summarily thrown out of the UN for
seeking three weeks earlier to cover
an event in the UN Press Briefing
Room, and Banned, without due process.
Petition
here.)February
29, 2016
UN's
Ouster of ICP
Opposed from
Yemen,
Burundi, NY,
Nigeria,
Dominica,
Geneva
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 25 --
After Inner
City Press was
summarily
ejected from
the UN, which
it has covered
for ten years,
on February
19, the
ostensibly
deciding
official
Cristina
Gallach told
no less than
Nobel Peace
Prize laureate
Jose Ramos
Horta that
Inner City
Press would
still be able
to cover the
UN.
What she
didn't say was
that Inner
City Press'
ability to
cover the
unfolding UN
corruption
scandal in
which she has
played a role
would be
curtailed
under the
proposed
arrangement -
by design.
Inner City
Press is
opposing this.
And so
now are a
range of
people from
around the
world, who
have signed a
petition to
immediately
restore Inner
City Press to
the UN
Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
it had for
nine years
until, without
any due
process, the
UN pass was
physically
torn from its
chest as UN
Security throw
its laptop
onto the
sidewalk in
front of the
UN (also owned
by the UN and
immunity from
US law
including the
First
Amendment).
UN cover-up
artists are
taking
advantage of
the dying
months of Ban
Ki-moon's
tenure to
remove a thorn
in their side,
because they
are worried
the new SG
won't want to
start out with
a fight.
-James Bone,
Shelter Island
Heights, NY
ICP has been
the only voice
for the
oppressed in
#Burundi,
#Haiti &
#Yemen at #UN.
-Eloge Tinya,
Lagos, Nigeria
Innercitypress
is the voice
of many
oppressed
Burundians and
many Africans
under
dictatorship.
I have decided
to stand with
the oppressed
and not the
oppressor, UN
needs to
practice what
it preaches by
setting free
innercitypress
to do his
work! -Lievin
Manisha,
Pineville, LA
ICP asked
questions that
will bring
clarity on the
agreement the
Prime Minister
of Dominica
signed in
Macau on
August 25,
2015 together
with Ng Lap
Seng and a UN
official.
-Hon. Hector
John,
Salisbury,
Dominica
I am signing
for UN to
restore
Matthew Lee
Inner City
Press right to
access to the
UN as a
Resident
Correspondent
to question
authorities
because it is
the
fundamental of
free speech as
the UN
preaches to
other
countries it
must first
practice
itself to set
example.
-Smret Kibrom,
San Gallo,
Switzerland
Freedom of
press. -Prem
Kumar, India
innercitypress
defends the
human rights
of Burundians
and help to
avoid
genocide,
please free
innercitypress!
- MICHAEL Tim,
London, United
Kingdom
I'm signing
because the
barring of
access to Mr.
Lee appears to
be at worst
motivated by a
reluctance to
engage with
and continue
to receive the
probing
questions he
asks, and at
best the
result of a
petty personal
vendetta based
on
unprofessional
antipathy
towards Mr.
Lee by the
'respectable'
wing of the
United Nations
press corps.
-Marlon
Ettinger,
Hastings-on-Hudson,
NY
I am signing
this petition
for Matthew
Russell Lee
and Inner City
Press be
restored to
the shared UN
office and
Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
they have had
for eight
years prior to
this
pretextual
incident. It
also requests,
as does the Free UN Coalition for Access that
Matthew
co-founded,
that an
investigation
be launched
into how all
of this
occurred.
Moreover to
call for
aggressive
investigative
journalism at
the UN and to
tell the
leaders of the
UN that the
UN, too, must
live up to the
principles of
due process
and freedom of
the press.
-Martha
Fassil, New
York, NY
Comment l'onu
peut agir de
sorte alors
qu'ils sont
comme meilleur
modèle de la
démocratie, je
garde espoir
qu'on aura un
jour un vrai
dirigeants de
l'onu pour
tous. -Steve
Ndacasaba,
Montréal,
Canada
I'm signing
cause, want a
real
journalist who
tells it like
it is. No
agenda but the
truth. I am
supporting him
for standing
up for UN
bully. -Paulos
Welday,
Cambridge,
United Kingdom
Han er en
journalist som
forteller
sannheten til
verden.
Mussie Tesfay,
Oslo, Norway
UN should walk
the talk.
Practice what
you preach -
rule of law,
democracy,
freedom of
expression, of
press.
Reinstate ICP
Mathew Russell
Lee to full
resident
reporter.
-Seble Ephrem,
London, United
Kingdom
we need a
voice for
africa
redae medhane,
Kitchener,
Canada
Incredible.
This banning
is the exact
opposite of
the
transparency
and
accountability
that the UN
should be
defending for
all
institutions.
This must be
reversed.
Denis
Rancourt,
Ottawa, Canada
ICP is the
most reliable
source of
information at
the UN. The
other
corporate
media are
controlled by
the special
interest
groups. Thus
their
journalistic
integrity is
always
suspect. ICP
is voice of
the voiceless
- of course
unlike the UN
and its
sponsors and
financiers.
-tsehaie
mahary,
edmonton,
Canada
I express my
solidarity
with Mathew,
God bless you
friend
Mohamed
MAYARA, El
Aaiun, Western
Sahara
Matthew Lee
has been a
lone voice
asking the
difficult
questions in
the UN press
gallery.
-Martin Field,
Geneva,
Switzerland
I have seen
Matthew only
defending the
truth. He is a
journalist
with a genuine
journalist
ethics. He is
also the one
of the most
intelligent
and courageous
journalist. He
is a model how
other
journalist
should be. He
should be
given a noble
prize for what
he does not
get banned
from the UN.
-Yacob
Woldehiwot,
London, United
Kingdom
The UN cannot
be dismissive
of new media
as people get
their news
from new
media.The UN
cannot pick
and choose
media persons
according to
their whims
and fancies.
-soraya patel,
India
Shame on UN.
-ibrahim
alhaifi,
Sanaa, Yemen
I believe this
is censorship
of the press.
Shameful.
-Douglas
Smith, New
York, NY
I
believe this
is censorship
of the press.
Shameful.
-Douglas
Smith, New
York, NY
I'm signing
because I
believe in ICP
to bring
balance to the
reporting of
UN activities
around the
globe. I also
believe in the
ability of Lee
to
investigate,
without fear
or favour, to
keep the UN
reputation
intact. -Saare
Tsehaye,
London, United
Kingdom
Because this
is censorship
on free press.
Inner City
stands for
Truth, Justice
& Peace
!!! -Aman
Kubrom,
Frankfurt,
Germany
How can the UN
be so
ridiculous?
Feridun
Akpinar,
Turku, Finland
For Truth
&
Transparency,
there must
always be
those who
Question more.
-Auet Melache,
Bolton, United
Kingdom
I am signing
because UN is
being unfair
and need to
take some
responsibility.
-Lynda
Charles,
Boynton Beach,
FL
He's credible
and follows
the ethics of
journalism to
the fullest.
-Amanuel
Tseggai, Stone
Mountain, GA
We need the
alternative,independent
and
investigative
media to be
present
everywhere.
-Marja
Konttila,
Solna, Sweden
I demand the
U.N.
unconditionaly
and ASAP to
restore access
to Inner City
Press`Matthew
Russell Lee to
the U.N. as a
Resident
Correspondent.
-johannes
abraham,
Germany
I believe in
press giving
independant
views on
ignored issues
Cyrilla
Bwakira,
Johannesburg,
South Africa
Ban is a tool.
-Michael
Klett, San
Francisco, CA
InnerCity
Press has been
very
professional
and a life
saver. His
reports on
different
issues around
the world
helped uncover
certain hidden
truths. If Ban
was in
#Burundi 2
days ago, I
can say it is
mainly because
of his
persistence of
bringing
Burundi to
light from the
repression of
de facto
president
Manirambona
Juma, Kirundo,
Burundi
Matt spells
out the truth
and exposes
the games
protecting the
outdated
system for
what it
currently
is.Matt
actually
supports the
principle of
the UN, those
within it,
support
themselves.
-Andy Wren,
Littlestone,
United Kingdom
Weil ich sihe
das innercity
einsige
unabhengige
median
vetretete vor
Stimmenloss.
-Iassu
nugusse,
Germany
Matthew
Russell Lee,
founder of the
Inner City
Press, is a
veteran
investigative
journalist I
have relied
upon on UN
news for the
past six
years. He is
truthful, and
pursues truth
in reporting
tenaciously
and with
integrity. We
need more
journalists
like him at
the UN to keep
us informed.
He and his
Inner City
Press must be
reinstated as
a fully
accredited
resident
journalist to
the UN. -Elias
Amare, San
Rafael, CA
We need
unbiased and
impartial
reporting from
the UN. -David
Macilwain,
Australia
Does the UN
have something
to hide? The
UN is also
obligated by
the same
principles and
norms it
preaches. I
demand the UN
to reinstate
Matthew
Russell Lee to
his desk so he
can do what he
does best-
pure
journalism. He
is the only
honest
journalist at
the UN
compound and
being the
voice of the
voiceless.
-Daniel Berhe,
Seattle, WA
I am signed
because ICP
thrown out on
the street by
the decorator
of UN media
Personnel with
out his
belongings
Shame UN.
-Yakob
Tesfaye,
Edmonton,
Canada
I am signing
this because I
want to learn
about the
corrupt UN
security
council.
TEKLU BAHTA,
NORTH CHICAGO,
I respectively
ask UNSG and
Mr Ban ki-moon
to reture Matt
to his post us
a dedicated
reporter in
the UN. I have
a huge respect
for the guy.
It would be a
travesty of
justice if a
reporter like
matt is out
the office of
the biggest
office in the
world when we
need a
reporter of
such kind.
-Kibrom
tekeste,
berkeley, CA
I'am signing
because I
believe in
freedom of
speach and
Free Press
Reporters/Journalists.
-Ndayizeye
APOLLINAIRE,
Gatineau
(Hull), Canada
The UN
repeatedly
acts like
human rights
protections
apply to
everyone but
themselves.
-Betsey Chace,
Cambridge, MA
Matthew is the
only bona fide
journalist
reporting on
UN. He alone
is rectifying
the defects
created by
system of
diplomatic
immunity. Why
makes his job
harder? Do you
have something
to hide from
him? He makes
UN a more
acceptable
organization
and indeed, by
genuinely
reporting he
makes this
world a better
place. -T
Chan, London,
United Kingdom
I am signing
for UN to
restore
Matthew Lee
Inner City
Press right to
access to the
UN as a
Resident
Correspondent
to question
authorities
because it is
the
fundamental of
free speech as
the UN
preaches to
other
countries it
must first
practice
itself to set
example.
Sara Haile,
Alexandria, VA
Matthew Lee
is, far and
away, the
hardest-working
and most
dogged of any
journalist at
the United
Nations. His
arbitrary
expulsion is
both
outrageous and
a reflection
of the fact
that things
are not as
they should be
at the United
Nations, and
certainly not
what YOU would
expect. -
alberto
martin, New
York, NY
He is the best
one, for the
world in the
UN which tells
us the truth.
So if he is
out of his
work then the
UN only
remains with
out the truth.
ghebreyohanis
michiel,
bachenbülach,
Switzerland
Burundi medias
burned by
violent/genocidaire
regime;our
genuine source
of information
from UN was
ICP:fair,not
sided.Pls,Reestablish
ICP in its
rights!
Ange Nganji,
Bujumbura,
Burundi
I'm signing
because I
believe in the
freedom of the
press. I often
reads Matthew
Lee's work
which reports
on difficult
topics and
events that
need covering
and exposure.
He should be
reinstated at
your earliest
convenience.
Rebecca Myles,
New York, NY
I'm signing
because I'm an
advocate for
real,
independent
journalism and
condemn the
UN's decision
to remove
Inner City
Press's access
based on a
nonsensical
pretext!
-Hermon
Gebrai,
Northamptonshire,
United Kingdom
I appreciate
Inner City
Press'
persistent and
prepared
journalism at
the United
Nations.
-Brian
Concannon Jr.,
Marshfield, MA
Freedom of the
press. -Luiz
Rampelotto,
New York, NY
18 hours ago
The UN needs
to be held to
standards of
openess,
transparency
and freedom of
the press.
-Samuel
Horton,
Silsden,
United Kingdom
Lee should not
have been
expelled, it's
a disgrace to
the UN.
-Richard
Johnson,
Potomac, MD
It's unfair to
throw someone
out like that
with out
hearing from
his side of
history.
-Hermon
Tsegay,
Slough, United
Kingdom
Such a crck
down on media
in an
organization
promoting
freedom of
speech and
information is
really awkward
and clearly
disgraceful
and
unacceptable.
-Florent
Nduwayo,
Kibungo,
Rwanda
This is
another in a
long line of
incidents
conclusively
evidencing the
UN's complete
and utter
disrespect for
the laws of
its HOST
country, the
US, in
particular the
1st
amendment!! UN
IMMUNITY =
IMPUNITY--END
IT NOW!!
Journalists
are the
ultimate
whistleblowers,
and I am well
aware of how
UN
whistleblowers
like Mr Lee
are persecuted
and suffer
grievous harm
at the hands
of rogue UN
officials. The
treatment of
Mr. Lee is an
outrage.
How ironic
this has
happened just
as the US
House Committe
on Foreign
Relations is
today, on 24
Feb, holding a
hearing about
the gross
mistreatment
of
whistleblowers
at the UN and
WIPO. Congress
must act now
to cut off 15%
of US
appropriations
to the UN this
year on
account of its
failure to
protect and
encourage UN
whistleblowers
like Mr Lee,
as provided
for in US law,
as it already
did to WIPO!!
-ted beacher,
Geneva,
Switzerland
ICP is doing a
great job. UN
should
support,respect
and promote
free speech.
-Kalu Thapa,
Kathmandu,
Nepal
UN
Security
Ejecting ICP
Wouldn't Give
Name, Grabbed
ID Badge,
Pushed Out
Gate
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 21 --
The UN on
February 19,
after Inner
City Press
asked about UN
inaction in
South Sudan
and Burundi
and financial
irregularities,
handed Inner
City Press a
letter to
leave the UN
by 5 pm. Letter
here.
While
Inner City
Press was
writing up a
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Syria that
went into the
evening, and
Periscope
broadcasting,
UN Security
guards walked
up. They told
Inner City
Press it could
not transcribe
and report on
answers to its
(final?)
questions at
the Security
Council
stakeout.
Inner
City Press
asked the
Security
officer making
this order to
provide his
name, but he
refused. Audio
here.
Inner
City Press
asked how this
could be UN
protocol,
since police
department in
many
jurisdiction
require
officers to
give their
names, and
have names on
their badges
or shields.
The
officer -- who
would late
shove Inner
City Press out
into First
Avenue without
coat or files
-- said, "You
are acting in
a very..."
A very
what? Uppity
manner, asking
for the name
of a security
supervisor
ordering a
journalist to
leave, and
ultimately
grabbing the
journalist's
laptop?
Finally
the name was
provided:
Deputy
Security Chief
Michael
McNulty.
Previously
bragging of
serving Ban
Ki-moon in
Iraq. We'll
have more on
this.
For now we
note this is
why a reduced
accreditation
status that
allows for UN
Security
actions like
this while
reporting from
the Security
Council
stakeout is
UNacceptable.
Later
UN Security
grabbed Inner
City Press'
laptop,
blocked its
Periscope
camera and
turned off the
livestream. Video here.
Then
eight UN
Security
officers led
by Deputy
Chief McNulty
tore off Inner
City Press' UN
ID badge and
carted off
Inner City
Press' laptop
and camera,
returning
these by
throwing them
on the
sidewalk of
First Avenue.
Audio
here.
They did
not allow
Inner City
Press to get
coat or
sweater, or
the files in
its office. No
provision was
made for this.
The
ejection
letter was
signed by the
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Galach of
Spain but
ultimately
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon is in
charge. Ban
and his chief
of staff
Edmond Mulet
and Deputy SG
Jan Eliasson
were all
written to
with details
as this took
place.
When
Inner City
Press was
thrown out
onto First
Avenue,
standing
waiting,
laughing and
filming, was
Voice of
America's
Margaret
Besheer and
another board
member of the
UN
Correspondents
Association,
whose
president
Giampaoli
Pioli told
Inner City
Press if it
didn't remove
a (truthful)
article about
his screening
of a war
crimes denial
film for a
tenant of his,
Sri Lanka's
then
ambassador
Palitha
Kohona, he
would get
Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN.
But who
is running
this asylum?
Ban Ki-moon,
his spokesman
also involved
Stephane
Dujarric (who
threw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
Press Briefing
Room on
January 29,
also trying to
turn off ICP's
Periscoping
phone), and,
some surmise,
some who don't
like Inner
City Press'
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
The
pretext was
Inner City
Press three
weeks earlier
seeking to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
by an
organization
which has
taken money
from now
indicted Ng
Lap Seng and
Frank
Lorenzo's
South SOuth
News, then
gave Ng Lap
Seng a photo
op with Ban.
(As Inner City
Press
reported,
Gallach
attended the
South South
Awards with
Frank Lorenzo,
photo
here, just
before his
indictment.
She should
have been
recused from
any
decision-making
on this.)
UN
Security
demanded ICP's
pass - and
later tore it
off. February
15, 2016
As New
UN Rapes In
CAR Revealed
in Feb 11
Emails, UN
Says DRC
Troops Still
In Place
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive Must
Credit
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 13 --
Amid a litany
of rape
charges
against UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous, Inner
City Press
exclusively
obtained and
on February 12
published UN
emails showing
another round
of sexual
abuse of
minors in
Ouaka
prefecture in
the Central
African
Republic by UN
Peacekeepers
from the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo. Click
here to view.
The
emails, dated
February 11,
2016, describe
at least four
underage
victims, two
of whom were
impregnated by
the rapist UN
peacekeepers.
Middle
management at
the UN,
further up the
email chain,
notes that the
majority of
sexual abuse
in CAR has
been committed
by the
battalions
from the DRC
and the
Republic of
Congo. And so
Inner City
Press posed
these
questions to
UN
spokespeople
in both New
York and the
CAR:
"This is a
request for
your comment
on, and any
update on, the
sexual abuse
and
exploitation
cases in the
Feb 11, 2016
emails now here
Also, what
will be done
with the
Republic of
Congo and DR
Congo
contingents?
We are
interested in
if the UN and
DPKO can, as
currently be
configured, be
reformed.What
is the status
of the sexual
abuse and
exploitation
cases that
have been
listed,
including in
the UN Press
Briefing
Room?"
The
response
received by
Inner City
Press on
Saturday
afternoon in
New York was
from
Bangui-based
MINUSCA
spokesman
Vladimir
Monteiro:
"Regarding
your questions
on DRC and
Congo, here is
Minusca's
position:
"On DRC
contingent, a
decision to
repatriate
them has
already been
taken. It will
be completed
without delay
by the end of
the month. It
is just a
matter of
planning it
properly.
"On the 120
troops from
Congo, they
have been
cantoned in
Berberati to
permit
investigations
by national
investigators
before their
repatriation
to their
country
which will
occur on 20
February 2016.
For further
details on
this matter
please contact
HQ."
But of
course Inner
City Press has
already
contacted "HQ"
or UN
Headquarters,
including for
exa
In Other
Media e.g. Somalia,
Ghana,
Azerbaijan,
The
Gambia
Click here
for Global
Inner City Archives 2006
