By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 27 --
The UN is scheduled
to publicly
release a
report about
human rights
and torture in
Ukraine on
November 28.
So far this
week, it has
restricted
pre-distribution
of the report
to media that
can afford to
have a
Swiss-based
correspondent.
Why?
The November
24 announcement
said only the
"UNOG-based
press corp"
will get
embargoed
copies of
this:
"UKRAINE:
Slow
investigations,
lack of
accountability
regarding
excessive use
of force by
police in
connection
with protests
since November
2013; reports
of torture,
ill-treatment,
enforced
disappearances,
killings in
areas under
control of
armed groups,
notably in
Donetsk and
Lugansk
regions; high
rate of
mortality
among
prisoners,
mainly from
tuberculosis;
increase in
the number of
deaths and
suicides in
custody; high
rate of
domestic
violence."
Inner
City Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
immediately
challenged
this
restricted
distribution.
First
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman in
New York, and
now the UN in
Geneva have
refused to
lift the
restriction,
without
substantive
explanation.
On November
27, Inner City
Press and
FUNCA asked:
"Now on the
eve of the
press
conference,
reiterating
the request
below, that
embargoed
copies not be
needlessly
restricted
only to
"UNOG-based"
press... But
the media that
have reporters
based in UNOG
are larger,
more corporate
media. So that
particular
embargoed
report should
be released to
all UN system
accredited
media, not
only those
with reporters
based at UNOG.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
says that
should go the
other way, too
-- embargoed
UN reports
should not be
restricted to
NY / UNHQ
based media
either."
On November
27, the UN in
Geneva via Liz
Throssell
Media Officer
for the UN
Treaty Bodies,
replied:
"Dear Matthew,
The six-hour
time
difference is
very much in
your favour,
and unlike the
journalists
here you will
have an entire
working day to
report on the
Committee
against
Torture's
'Concluding
Observations'
on the eight
countries they
have been
reviewing this
session. These
will be posted
online at
around 8:00
a.m. New York
Time -- you
will be able
to find
whichever ones
that interest
you by
scrolling down
through the
countries
listed here."
But this
is not
responsive. As
Inner City
Press and
FUNCA have
replied, "the
request is
that you not
arbitrarily
limit
embargoed
copies only to
your
'UNOG-based
press corps.'
They will be
able to
publish
stories at the
embargo time,
while despite
your message,
others will
not."
The UN's
Throssell
replied again:
"Dear
Matthew, The
story is a
Geneva
dateline. The
Treaty Bodies
meet in Geneva
and hold their
press
conferences
here, hence
when we are
able to give
embargoed
copies, often
at short
notice, it is
standard
practice that
it should be
to journalists
based here.
The concluding
observations
will be
available on
our website
from around
8am your time.
It is also
important to
note that the
committee's
session was
not about one
country but
eight, and
that the
interests of
the UNOG press
corps are
similarly not
limited to one
country.
You speak of
the larger
more corporate
media in the
UNOG Press
Corps, but, as
Stephane
[Dujarric, Ban
Ki-moon's spokesman]
pointed out,
there is a
large number
of freelancers
here, working
for a variety
of English
language and
other language
media."
Note that the
UN, at least
in New York,
has stated
that it does
not accredit
freelancers.
Again: Why
limited
pre-distribution
of this report
to the media
which can
afford to have
a
Switzerland-based
correspondent,
or "freelancer"?
What is wrong
with the UN?
And what will
be the effect,
like with the
murky
"gray lady"
system at
the UN in New
York, be of
this
pre-spinning?
Click here for
Inner City
Press and
FUNCA's
coverage of
the opaque
race to head
the UN
Department of
Public
Information, here.
The UN must do
better.
Back
on Novmber 12
in the Ukraine
meeting of the
UN Security
Council,
UN Assistant
Secretary
General Jens
Toyberg-Frandzen
said, among
other things,
that "on
November 5,
Prime Minister
Yatsenyuk
announced that
pensions would
be halted to
areas under
rebel
control."
Inner City
Press asked,
in a November
12 story
and at the
November 13 UN
noon briefing,
isn't the
halting of
pensions to
rebel held
areas by the
government in
Kyiv a form of
collective
punishment?
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson
did not offer
any
substantive
response --
but later, as
we will
explain, there
would be
selective
background
spin on the
eve of the
UN's release
of its "new"
report on
Ukraine.
The Office of
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights in
Geneva issued
the report and
a press
release on
November 20.
Among many
problems with
the report, on
this issue it
does not
mention
Yatsenyuk or
the role of
Kyiv in
suspending
pensions, even
the heading
"Right to
social
security."
Nor is
Yatsenyuk's
and Kyiv's
role mentioned
in the OHCHR
press release,
despites its
statement that
"Severe
curtailment of
the economic,
social and
cultural
rights of
people in
Ukraine is
also of grave
concern."
The OHCHR
press release
quotes the new
(September 1)
head of the
office, Prince
Zeid of
Jordan, who
has yet to say
anything
publicly about
a mounting
scandal of leaked
cables
depicting two
high employees
of the Office,
one still
there,
servicing
Morocco on the
Western Sahara
issue.
But the
Ukraine report
is not
primarily
under Zeid's
supervision
within the
Office. Does
he know how
its spin
works, or
doesn't, in
New York?
Inner City
Press has put
into a
question on
deadline on
precisely
this: watch
this site.
On
November 12,
while the UN
spoke about
the death of
children on a
playground on
Donetsk on
November 5,
they didn't
say who did
it. Russia's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Pankin said it
was Ukraine's
army. Later he
stated that an
adviser to
Poroshenko
said on
October 24
that "the
ceasefire is
going to work
in our favor,
tank factories
working around
the clock."
Ukraine's
Sergeyev
mentioned this
in his reply,
neither
confirming nor
denying the
quote. The
meeting ended;
Sergeyev
headed up the
escalator to
be interviewed
by scribes.
And so it goes
at the UN.
Last
month, Ukraine
was scheduled
to speak at
the UN about
its “Committee
on
Information”
on October 21,
but as UN
speeches
usually go
longer than
allowed, its
turn was
postponed
until October
22.
That
didn't stop
the “UN
Radio” Russian
service from
reporting
on the speech
on October 21
as if it had
in fact been
given that
day. As
translated, UN
Radio on
October 21
reported
“The
representative
of Ukraine
accused Russia
of using the
information
strategy of
the Cold War
“One of
the main
prerequisites
of violence in
Ukraine became
a propaganda
information.
This was
stated by the
representative
of the Mission
of Ukraine to
the United
Nations,
speaking at a
meeting of the
Fourth
Committee of
the UN General
Assembly.”
The
UN's Fourth
Committee did
meet on
October 21 -
but Ukraine
didn't speak.
Instead it was
the first
speaker on the
afternoon of
October 22.
Its speech,
delivered in
perfect French
including the
word “rigolo,”
linked Russia
to Joseph
Goebbels.
In
reply, the
Russian
mission's
spokesman
brought up the
recent Human
Rights Watch
report of the
Ukrainian
government
using cluster
bombs in and
against
Donetsk, and
the lack of
clarity on who
called the
snipers shots
in Maidan
Square.
Later
in the Fourth
Committee
meeting,
Bolivia
slammed
“powers” who
use
information
technology to
intervene and
violate
privacy,
bringing to
mind USAID's
“Cuban
Twitter”
and, of
course, the
NSA.
Then
Jordan said it
was first
among Arab
nations to
enact an
Access to
Information
law, in 2007.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has been pressing
for a Freedom
of Information
Act at the UN,
click here
and
here for that.
FUNCA
covers the
Fourth
Committee,
including on
Decolonization,
and the
Committee on
Information,
where at least
theoretically
the UN's
descent into
censorship
could be
raised and
resolved. The
old UN
Correspondents
Association, a
part of this
trend toward privatization
of
briefings
and even
censorship --
ordering
Press articles
off the
Internet,
getting leaked
copies of
their
complaints to
the UN's MALU
banned from
Google's
search, here
-- was nowhere
to be seen.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
