By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 13, updated
-- Rather
than having a
single
standard, the
UN picks and
chooses which
free speech it
will speak up
for, when it
will speak
including
about attacks
on it and who,
when push
comes to
shove, gets
excluded. All
this was on
display at the
UN's August 13
noon briefing.
Video
here and
embedded
below.
In the
morning, Inner
City Press reported
that in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
where the UN
provides
military
support to the
Joseph Kabila
government, a
parliamentarian
was arrested
for insulting
Kabila on a
radio station.
Then
at noon, Inner
City Press
asked for the
UN's comment
on this, and
on the Kabila
government
jamming the
new radio
station of the
M23
insurgents.
Does the UN
view this is a
free speech or
press issue,
or as just an
attack on an
armed group
the UN wants
to disarm?
UN
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey chose and
repeated the
latter: it's
an attack on
an armed group
we want to
disarm. Is
that would
UNESCO would
say? And what
of the arrest
of a non-armed
parliamentarian?
The UN
itself stays
silent, for
example on the
taking hostage
of three of
its catering
contractors
in Darfur for
more than a
week now.
Inner City
Press, after
reporting the
story, asked
Del Buey what
the UN's
policy is, of
speaking up
about attacks
on it in some
places and not
others.
Are there
other UN or UN
contractor
hostages being
held but not
disclosed by
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
office? Del
Buey said he
would not
comment on
that.
With
protests
scheduled for
Bahrain
tomorrow, and
reporters and
bloggers being
harassed in
advance, Inner
City Press
asked what the
UN is doing.
Del Buey
repeated a
general
statement
about the
right to
protest. One
wondered, is
Ban's half
time envoy
Terje
Roed-Larsen
telling that
to the
Bahraini
royals?
Finally,
on
an issue Inner
City Press
asked and
wrote about
yesterday, the
elimination of
all 53 press
seats at the
upcoming
General Debate
week, and the
exclusion of
civil society
from the
General
Assembly for
the entire
time it is in
the North Lawn
building,
Del Buey still
had not
answer. He
said first the
delegates have
to find space.
Is that the
only priority?
Given what Ban
has said or
mouthed about
civil society?
Before
asking at the
briefing, the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
had asked
the
question of
who decided
for a second
time to the
Department of
Public
Information's
Stephane
Dujarric, by
twitter since
he uses it,
and by e-mail
to two other
DPI officials,
one above and
one supervised
by him, who do
not. One of
these is away
from another
week; the
other is
"looking into
it." Watch
this site.
, 
