UN
Silent on
Press Bans in
Myanmar &
Yemen, Claims
Spoke
May 2 on
Ethiopia
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May 9
-- Today's UN
is often
silent as
journalists
are
deported or
censored; now
its Office of
the
Spokesperson
claims to
have made
statements
that were
never heard.
On
May 9 Inner
City Press on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access
asked about
attacks on
press freedom
in Yemen,
Myanmar and
Ethiopia.
Video here.
On the first
two, the UN
had no
comment. On
the last, the
UN inserted
into the
transcript a
claim it had
said something
on May 2. But
the
statement was
neither in the
UN's
transcript of
that day, nor
was it
sent to Inner
City Press.
From UN's
May 9
transcript:
Inner
City Press:
And on press
freedom, can I
ask these
questions? Ok,
I
wanted to ask
you… and see
whether
there’s a
comment on any
of
these. One is,
Yemen has
deported a
journalist
named Adam
Baron, who
was described
as one of the
few foreign
correspondents
in the
country, and I
wanted to know
if the
Secretariat or
Mr. Benomar
has
any comment on
that?
Deputy
Spokesman Haq:
I don’t have
any comment on
that at this
stage, no.
Inner
City Press:
Myanmar has
deported a
journalist
called Angus
Watson for
supposedly
reporting on
media freedom
protest. Is
Mr. Nambiar or
the
UN Secretariat
have any
comment on
that?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Again, at this
stage there’s
no comment.
We’d have
to look at
what the
details of the
case are.
Inner
City Press:
And Ethiopia
has jailed and
US based
twitter has
suspended the
accounts of
the so-called
Zone9 bloggers
that I asked
here about a
week ago.
Since there’s
a UN office in
Addis, I’m
wondering, are
they aware of
this arrest of
journalists
and now
suspensions of
their accounts
or on what
basis that
would have
been?
Deputy
Spokesman: I
believe we
have some
language on
this, but I
don’t
have it with
me right now.
But we’ll try
to share that
with you,
if we’ve got
it.
[The
Spokesperson
had said the
following on 2
May 2014:
Matthew,
you
asked earlier
this week
about
journalists in
Ethiopia. I
want to
draw your
attention to a
statement by
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, issued
today. In it,
Navi Pillay
says she is
deeply
concerned by
this recent
wave of
arrests and
the increasing
climate
of
intimidation
against
journalists
and bloggers
prevailing in
Ethiopia.
Pillay also
notes that the
Ethiopian
authorities
continue
to use the
Charities and
Societies
Proclamation
Law, the
Anti-Terrorism
Proclamation
and the Mass
Media Law to
restrict the
rights to
freedom of
expression,
association
and assembly.
She says
that the fight
against
terrorism
cannot serve
as an excuse
to
intimidate and
silence
journalists,
bloggers,
human rights
activists
and members of
civil society
organizations.
And that
working with
foreign human
rights
organisations
cannot be
considered a
crime. You
can see her
full statement
online.]
But
here
is the UN's
May 2
transcript,
which does not
contain any of
that. Nor did
Inner City
Press receive
that by email.
This same
claim
to have sent
an answer
happened
earlier this
week on a
supposed
response about
UN
Peacekeeping
moving
Ghanaian
soldiers
weapons by
road. So it
goes at the
UN.
, 
