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UN GATE, Sept 1 –  With Ireland taking over the presidency of the UN Security Council on September 1, on August 30 Inner City Press wrote to the Irish Mission to the UN to request access to its September 1 press conference. 

 The Irish Mission's Alternate Political Coordinator and Spokesperson Eoghan McSwiney wrote back, "We would refer your request for access to the UN and to UN press conferences to the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit of the UN Secretariat." In context, this is Kafka-esque collution in UN censorship., see below.

On September 1, Inner City Press submitted to McSwiney and the Mission four questions then live tweeted Ambassador Nason's "press" conference, here:

Now UNSC President Geraldine Byrne Nason has begun a "press" conference with Inner City Press banned

Inner City Press emailed  @IrishMissionUN : "South Sudan is on your / the UNSC's agenda for Sept 15. What is Ireland's position on that  internet access in #SouthSudan has been cut as the authorities scuttle a planned nationwide protest?

Inner City Press asked  @IrishMissionUN  "On #Haiti, which is on the Council's general agenda but not your Program of Work, what will you be doing this month to address the suffering and chaos after the earthquake and assassination?

Banned Inner City Press asked "On the mass killing of civilians in #Cameroon [and relatedly #Nigeria], why have you not asked to put Cameroon even for an Any Other Business session, given the ongoing killing of civilians in the Anglophone areas a/k/a Ambazonia?

 Inner City Press asked  @IrishMissionUN  What if your mission doing about sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers, including new cases of UN child rape in CAR by UN "peacekeeping" troops from #Cameroon - and Nepal peacekeeper child rape in DRC? no answer

So  @IrishMissionUN  Eoghan McSwiney denied Inner City Press' formal request for WebEx codes as "Alternate Political Coordinator and Spokesperson" - but it's a guy "Irwin" handpicking questions, three at a time, chosen apparently in advance.

PR Nason brags of Sept 21 [no-vax] High Level Week, as if COVID & Delta didn't exist &  there weren't positive case in UN FF building. Well, Ireland says return of non-essential workers to offices Sept 20. 

 So  @IrishMissionUN  made sure  @rtenews  is in the room to ask PR Nason a hand-picked question (handpicked as questioner by spox Irwin, not blaming RTE) - while the mission refused to given Inner City Press the WebEx code, colluded with  @MelissaFleming ,

  PR Nason says she hopes heads of state are in NYC on September 23 - apparently hasn't heard US/NYC request they NOT come, or hasn't heard of COVID? Don't know - her staff have refused to answer Inner City Press' written questions.

 Now  @IrishMissionUN  spox Irwin, who has not taken Inner City Press' written questions on Cameroon, Haiti, South Sudan and UN peacekeepers' sex abuse, says he's being transparent, doesn't know name of Turkey state media.

 One asks why  @IrishMissionUN  doesn't invite an Irish psychiatrist to their super-spreader meeting on terrorism - Inner City Press yesterday wrote an exclusive on terrorism

Now  @IrishMissionUN  spox Irwin is closing it out by calling for a second time on Turkish state media, no answers to Inner City Press' written questions on #Haiti & #SouthSudan (on UNSC agenda), #Cameroon (not) and UN peacekeeper sex abuse (covered up).

 Spox Irwin said, we'll be available all month. We'll see - watch this site.

Back on August 30 Inner City Press replied:

"With all due respect, that is not in keeping with your duty as President of the UN Security Council.  Inner City Press covered the UN and UNSC under Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon then was thrown out under Antonio Guterres after asking him directly about [, among other things including Cameroon,] the omission from his financial disclosure covering 2016 of his link, through Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation which paid him money, to convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy.

This was and is a legitimate journalistic question however Inner City Press has been banned by Guterres and his USG Melissa Fleming. 

Your current response is Kafka-esque collusion in light of UN Spokesman Dujarric recently saying, in the briefing room, that there is no commitment by the UN Secretariat to even response to a polite law firm letter seeking access to Inner City Press, see video. See also Press Freedom Tracker and The Independent (UK)

The Irish Mission and Ireland have a duty to not collude in censorship, and to take questions from media. Inner City Press is permitted (in fact, invited) to put WebEx questions to the IMF briefings, see below, and is accredited at the SDNY Federal court here in New York. 

So it is up to you and your Mission to provide access. This response make you aware / puts you on notice of the conflict of interest that has resulted in Inner City Press' questions on abandonment of UNAMA staff, sexual abuse by peacekeepers, and corruption by the UN Secretariat being blocked. 

You should either get this reversed by the UN Secretariat by Sept 1, or in the interim provide the WebEx code for your press conference(s).  On deadline, thank you for your attention."

Watch this site. 

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