Before
152-5-12
Migration Vote
UN Bachelet
Mused of
Slapping Or
Naming As
Fascist An
Opponent
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive CJR PFT
UNITED NATIONS,
December 19 – Before the UN
Global Compact on Migration
was adopted albeit with five
votes against, 12 abstentions
and some other countries not
voting at all, UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Michelle Bachelet mused about
slapping or calling a fascist
the Ambassador of a country
which did not support it. Multiple
sources in Bachelet's
office in New
York and
Geneva, which
she rarely
visits, told
and showed Inner
City Press,
with audio,
that on
December 13
Bachelet said
of a
Swiss diplomat
opposed to the
UN Global Compact on
Migration, "I
was thinking
do I slap her?
Do I tell her
you are a
fascist?" Before
noon on December 17
Inner City
Press in
writing asked
Guterres
and his
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric,
"December
18-2: On the
(Office of
the) High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, what
is the SG's
comment and
action on
complaints
that the
Commissioner
mused to staff
about slapping
or calling a
fascist a
Swiss diplomat
in Geneva?"
There was no
answer to this
or any other
Inner City
Press
question,
including on
Cameroon and
Sri Lanka, in
the day that
followed. Having
received the
audio from
multiple OHCHR
staffers in
New York, we
published
it here
on SoundCloud,
here on
Patreon.
During
the December
19 voting,
joining the US
in voting No
were Hungary,
Czech
Republic,
Israel and
Poland.
Abstainers
included
Austria,
Australia, Bulgaria,
Bachelet's Chile,
Italy, Latvia,
Libya,
Liechentenstein
and Singapore.
Those
not voting at
all included
not only small
states but
also Somalia,
Panama,
Paraguay and
Ukraine. Which
of these might
Bachelet slap?
This
comes after Antonio
Guterres had
Inner City
Press roughed
up by UN
Security on
July 3 and
banned since.
Call it
authoritarian.
Even diplomats
in Geneva, who
have so far
put up with
censorship of
the Press by Guterres
and now
Bachelet, are
expressing
concern. It is
said the
diplomat
Bachelet was musing
of slapping or
calling a
fascist is
Sabrina
Dallafior,
Swiss Deputy Permanent
Representative
to the UN in
Geneva. But
does it matter
which diplomat
Bachelet was
referring to?
In
UN
Headquarters
in New York,
Guterres'
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric before
having Inner
City Press
roughed up and
banned now 167
days, summoned
it in
demanding an
explanation of a
tweet that
referred to a
German
assistant in
French
controlled UN
Peacekeeping
with the hashtag
#WW2. But Guterres'
High
Commissioner for
Human Rights can
link a current
host country
diplomat to
fascism? We'll
have more on
this - and
on this:
On
December
7 Inner
City Press
immediately wrote back,
to the sender
and
Bachelet and
her assistant, to
Andrew Gilmour
and to the
moderator of
the event, "Particularly
since you are the UN
Office of the High
Commissioner for
*Human Rights,* did
you not ask why a
journalist who asks
the Secretary
General and his
spokesmen about the
killings in Cameroon,
Burundi, UN
corruption, UN
peacekeepers' sexual
abuse of civilians,
and Sri
Lanka, is
“BARRED” from
attending your human
rights event -
without any hearing
or appeal? I will
appreciate your
Office's answer to
this."
We'll have more on
this.
Bachelet
gave
a speech on
October 15 in
the UN's Third
Committee, she
emphasized a
prioritization
of social and
economic rights
and said one of
the officials of
her office is
"on mission in
Silicon Valley"
in the US. There
are questions
about this - but
Inner City Press
which has
covered human
rights and the
UN for more than
a decade was for
the first time
banned from
access a High
Commissioner's
speech. This has
been raised
repeated to
Bachelet since
she took office
but she has so
far done
nothing, not
even responded.
Meanwhile on
October 12
Cameroon, from
whose Paul Biya
Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres took a
golden statue
and favors in
the Fifth
(Budget)
Committee and
remains silent
on the slaughter
of Anglophones,
was elected to a
seat on the UN
Human Rights
Council. This
system is
failing - but if
Bachelet cannot
even answer on
Guterres
maintaining a
secret banned
list including
not only Inner
City Press but
also "political
activists," then
the UN has hit a
new low.
Inner City Press
was never given
a hearing by
Smale before her
August 17 letter
with withdrew
Inner City Press
media
accreditation.
Nothing in it
said anything
about a ban from
entering the UN
as a person, a
tourist, or in
another other
way. But this is
what happened,
without any
recourse. Pure
Kafka-esque
censorship, by a
former New York
Times Berlin
bureau chief to
hinder coverage
of the
corruption of
the former
Portuguese prime
minster Antonio
Guterres, see
September 23 New
York Post
here. What
next? Watch this
site.
***
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