|
As
UNDP
Justifies $5
Charge to Kids
to Hear Clark,
Re-Directs to
Airline Ads
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 5 --
Now the UN
Development
Program has
provided a
justification
to the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
of the $10 charge
to hear
Administrator
Helen Clark
speak,
from Clark's
personal
spokesperson
Christina
LoNigro:
"The
Tauranga
Branch of the
United Nations
Association is
a small local
organisation
and the fees
charged for
the event will
be used to
cover the cost
of the
venue.
Any additional
proceeds will
be given to
the YWCA
Future Leaders
Programme."
It's
appreciated,
but charging
money to hear
a UN system
official speak
-- in this
case, charging
$5 to children
-- is not only
unsavory, but
may run afoul
of General
Assembly
Resolution
92(I), which
provides that
"Members
of the United
Nations should
take such
legislative or
other
appropriate
measures as
are necessary
to prevent the
use, without
authorization
by the
Secretary-General
of the United
Nations, and
in particular
for commercial
purposes by means of trademarks or
commercial
labels, of the
emblem, the
official seal
and the name
of the United
Nations, and
of
abbreviations
of that name
through the
use of its
initial
letters"
When
previously
raised by
Inner City
Press
regarding a
similar $10
charge to hear
Robert Orr at
the Korea
Society, the
oral response
was to waive
the fee.
Presumably
children
weren't being
charged in
that case.
Also, there
may be a UNA
pattern here:
Inner City
Press previously
questions the
charging of
money for
another UNA
event, here.
Meanwhile, now
more than 24
hours after it
was exposed, UNDP's Liberia website's "Delivering
as One"
section is
still 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 fixed
the link.
Beyond these,
FUNCA asked
LoNigro and
UNDP lead
spokesperson
Satinder
Bindra and
Abdel-Rahman
Ghandour this:
"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."
On
this, no
response yet.
The decline in
New York media
Q&A by
UNDP's Administrator
began under a
UN official
now in charge
of both
accreditation
and UN
Television,
about which questions
asked Monday
by FUNCA
and others,
about the low quality
of audio for
the MERCOSUR
foreign
minister's
stakeout about
US spying
were not
responded to.
Meanwhile even
UNWebcast gushed
to the new US
Ambassador.
This is the
UN.
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.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest service,
and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2013 Inner City Press,
Inc. To request reprint or other permission,
e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
|
, 
