| UN Guterres Takes
3 Pre-Picked Qs, UNAIDS #MeToo
Retaliation Asked After by Inner
City Press
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Photo,
Periscope,
Vine
UNITED NATIONS,
March 23 – After UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres took
three pre-picked questions on
March 23, Inner City Press
audibly asked him about the
sexual harassment and
retaliation scandal at his
UNAIDS. Vine here. Guterres
did not answer. Afterward his
"Global Communicator" Alison
Smale, who has ordered UN
staff to speak with one voice
(hers) to fend off coverage of
the UN's harassment and abuse
scandals - including child
rape allegations in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo - stood chatting with
the picked correspondent of
her former employer. In six
months she has not responded
to detailed petitions on the
lack of content neutral media
access rules by her Department
of Public Information. Those
favored ask such questions as
how big a role the UN has
played in the North Korea
talks (real answer would be
none, or very little). At
UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe told
staff he will investigate
those who have complained.
Whistleblowers have reached
out to Inner City Press, which
has so far published only the
Burundi sub-set of the
allegations, seeking answers.
But the UN does not answer.
Watch this site. Back on
February 2 after Guterres
similarly took three
pre-picked media questions on
February 2, Inner City Press
audibly asked him if before he
meet over the weekend with
Darfur genocide indictee Omar
al Bashir, he informed the
International Criminal Court's
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda - in
advance, as required. Photo,
Periscope,
Vine
Guterres
did not answer; his spokesmen
have been dodging the question
all week from Inner City
Press. Here's from the UN
Guidelines: "A procedure has
been established whereby OLA
[the Secretariat's Office of
Legal Affairs] informs the
Prosecutor of the Court and
the President of the Assembly
of States Parties to the Rome
Statute in advance of such
meetings. The
letter informs the Court of
the meeting and explains why
it is considered necessary."
While Guterres refused to
answer, Inner City Press is
reliably informed that the ICC
Prosecutor was NOT informed in
advance. Tellingly, when in
2017 it was thought possible
that Guterres' Deputy SG Amina
J. Mohammed might run into
Bashir at a summit, the ICC
was told in advance of that
possibility. On this and other
matters such as the continuing
lack of any content neutral
rules for media accreditation
and access, Guterres is more
and more lawless. But the
three question(er)s picked by
his spokesman Dujarric didn't
inquiry into Guterres or even
the UN's performance at all.
This is today's UN. Back on
November 10 when Guterres took
questions before leaving the
UN building and then leaving
New York for a week, none of
them were on Yemen, much less
Cameroon. After the last
question - on robots, for
which Guterres seemed
strangely prepared - there
were (gently) shouted
questions on Yemen, and Inner
City Press asked about
Guterres calling Kenya's
Ambassador "unfair," click here
for that. Even on Myanmar,
question two of three,
Guterres' answer showed his
weakness. He is waiting for a
non-binding General Assembly
resolution to ask him to
appoint a Special Envoy,
sometime he could do without
any resolution. The glaring
omission of Yemen from his
opening statement or the three
questions his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric hand-picked
shows the extent to which
Guterres is afraid of Saudi
Arabia, which has imposed a
blockade on Yemen which
violates international law,
during a famine. Then Dujarric
canceled the day's noon press
briefing, so no other
questions could be asked.
Neither he or Guterres less
than credible public schedule
listed Guterres' next stop,
out of the building, at 9:15
am. More on that soon. On
October 4, Guterres took five
questions, all of them on
climate change, and his trip
to Antigua and Barbuda. With
the UN for example refusing to
give any estimate of how many
civilians Paul Biya killed
this week in Cameroon,
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric gave the first
question to Voice of
America (on
climate change), then AP and
SABC, then an ex-Reuters
reporter who called the US the
"elephant in the region." For
this, Dujarric canceled the
UN's noon briefing on all
other topics, while refusing
to answer the majority of
questions which Inner City
Press submits to him and his
deputy by email. Guterres
cited as a precedent the World
Bank loans to Jordan and
Lebanon. Inner City Press
previously asked him
about these, before he became
responsible for UN censorship
of the Press and cover ups in
Cameroon and elsewhere.
***
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