By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 4 --
While the UN
Development
Program has
not
explained a $10 charge
to hear
Administrator
Helen Clark
speak,
after
24 hours, its Liberia website's "Delivering as
One" section
is re-directing
traffic to
airline
advertisements.
While
the UN's
main Twitter
account @UN
quickly
responded
to the Free
UN
Coalition for
Access
when @FUNCA_info
raised
this problem
-- the UN
deleted
its own link,
which it said
worked when it
had been
"scheduled"
-- UNDP
has still not
respond on
that or the
charging
of money to
hear its
Administrator
speak.
Helen
Clark, who
will
apparently be
in her native
New Zealand
from July
past the
middle of
August,
also has not
explained the
$5 charge for
children
to hear her on
August 7 at
the Baycourt
Centennial
Theatre
in Tauranga
City, New
Zealand.
Rather, Clark
has promoted
her
television
appearances
there and
re-tweeted all
praise and
mentions.
The
advertisement
for the August
7 talk says
Clark "will be
speaking
about her work
as head of the
United Nations
Development
Program,
the
peak global
body that
coordinates
development
strategy
globally, and
works in over
170 countries
to empower
people’s lives
while helping
nations become
more
resilient.
With a budget
of over $US 5
billion a
year."
Five
billion
dollars a year
but
Administrator
Helen Clark
virtually
never
holds a
question and
answer press
conference at
UN
Headquarters
in
New York. Last year
after an
inquiry by
Inner City
Press, she did
disavow
a previous
award she'd
given to a
tobacco firm.
That came
through UNDP
lead
spokesperson
Satinder
Bindra, to
whom along
with
Clark's
"personal"
spokesperson
Christina
LoNigro and
Abdel-Rahman
Ghandour the Free UN Coalition for Access has sent
these
questions:
"This
is a timely
request for an
explanation of
how (or if) it
is
consistent
with UN system
principles and
rules for UNDP
Administrator
Helen Clark's
upcoming talk
"about her
work as head
of the
United Nations
Development
Program" to
have an
entrance fee
of
$10, and even
$5 for
children:
http://www.ticketdirect.co.nz/event/details/77032/helen-clark-challenges-and-achievements-in-making-a-better-world
"Given
that this
for-pay event
is impending,
please provide
the requested
explanation
upon receipt /
as quickly as
possible and
confirm
receipt
of this
request for
explanation.
"This
is also a
formal request
that
Administrator
Clark
belatedly hold
a
question and
answer press
conference in
UN
Headquarters
in New York,
and for an
explanation of
why she has
done even
fewer of these
than
Kemal Dervis
or Ad Melkert.
Thank you in
advance."
As
said 24 hours
ago, we
will publish
any
substantive
response --
one would
think, well in
advance of the
August 7
event, which
is listed
(tellingly) as
"sold
out." Will
those people
be given their
money back?
Meanwhile,
hats
off to @UN for
responding so
quickly. Hats
off, too, to UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant, who
replied to a
question
from Inner
City Press about
the attack on
the Indian
consulate in
Jalalabad,
Afghanistan,
if only to
refer the
question to
the UN
Mission of
Australia,
which was
assigned the
lead or "pen"
in the
Security
Council about
Afghanistan.
No
reply yet from
them - but
from Australia
itself comes
news, from
foreign
minister Bob
Carr, that
Australia
wants the
elections in
Zimbabwe
re-run. Will
they raise
that in the UN
Security
Council?
It's been
asked.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
The quick
response, and
"thanks," of
@UN to the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
stands in
contrast to
that of the
sub-unit Department
of Public
Information, which
has threatened
to suspend or
withdraw the
accreditation
of Inner City
Press for
merely hanging
a sign of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access on the
door of its
shared office,
click here to
view.
FUNCA asked
questions that
have not been
answered,
about this
and that,
and noted that
the UN or DPI
can't outlaw
an organization
like the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
which would,
has and will
if necessary do its
work
without DPI.
Watch this
site.
, 
