UN
Gave 700 Staff
DPI to
Gallach, Who'd
Run Only 7,
Since Spain
Onto UNSC,
Then Ouster
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 27 --
The decision
to throw Inner
City Press out
of the UN
on February
19, on only
two hours
notice, was
made by
Spain's
highest UN
official,
Under
Secretary
General of
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach. Audio
here.
With seeming
disdain for
due process,
Gallach never
once spoke to
Inner City
Press before
signing the letter to
throw it out,
to hear its
explanation of
why it sought
to cover an
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
three weeks
earlier on January
29.
How was such a
decision,
contrary to
due process
and press
freedom, made
by the UN's
communication
chief? How did
she get this
job?
When Spain put
Gallach's name
in contention
for the USG
DPI position,
Inner City
Press reported
on her and two
other
short-list
candidates,
then acting
chief Maher
Nasser of
Palestine and
Romania's
Permanent
Representative
Simona
Miculescu.
At the time,
many said
Nasser was the
most
qualified. But
because Saudi
Arabia put
forward its
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
and used the
muscle it is
showing on
Yemen, Iran
and now
Lebanon to
demand
support,
Nasser was not
above to get
the support of
the
Organization
for Islamic
Cooperation
(OIC) or the
Arab Group.
But many said
Gallach was
the worst
interview, and
had the least
experience.
They say - and
Inner City
Press has a
question
pending to
confirm or
deny - that
prior to Spain
putting
Gallach
forward to run
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
with some 700
staff, the
largest team
Gallach had
run had
consisted of
one-hundredth
of that, more
like SEVEN
people.
In most
organization,
such a person
would never
get the job.
But this is
the UN. Spain
was about to
take a
two-year seat
on the
Security
Council, and
the Ban
Ki-moon
administration
has a pattern
of doling out
high jobs to
some of the
countries
coming on to
the Council
(less so the
African
countries), as
a way of
getting
support for
proposals it
will have
before the
Council.
And so
Gallach,
described as
underprepared
and the “worst
interview” of
all the
candidates,
was given the
job by Ban
Ki-moon.
Miculescu was
given a
consolation
prize with the
UN in Serbia.
Nasser stayed
on as a deputy
to Gallach,
seemingly not
consulted even
when Gallach,
on February
19, decided to
have a long
time UN
journalist
thrown to the
curb, on two
hours notice.
Prior to that
- and
separately
requiring
Gallach's
recusal -
Inner City
Press had
accurately
reported the
Gallach hobnobbed
at the "South
South Awards"
with Frank Lorenzo,
photo
here, just
before he was
indicted for
bribery at the
UN.
This is why senior
UN officials
telling Inner
City Press to
"stay in touch
with Cristina
Gallach on
this matter.
She will keep
me informed"
is both
Kafka-esque
and indicative
of the UN's
inability to
clean up or
even look into
corruption.
There are a
number of
connections between
those indicted
for bribery
and DPI and
its partner in
this, the UN
Correspondents
Association who
event
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room Inner
City Press was
seeking
to cover on
January 29,
on corruption
related
issues: how
indicted Ng
Lap Seng was
given a photo
op with Ban
Ki-moon by
UNCA,
after UNCA
took money
from Ng's South
South News.
This has yet
to be answered
either.
Or perhaps the
ouster is the
answer.
When Ban
Ki-moon
imposed his most
recent budget
cuts, the
Department
hardest hit
was Gallach's
DPI. Staff
complained she
didn't fight
for them;
those to whom
she made
presentations
in the UN's
budget process
called her
woefully
unprepared, “a
joke,” one of
them said.
But to throw
an
investigative
journalist
into the
street,
without even
coat or
passport, to
refuse to
reconsider it
even when
contacted as
Gallach was by
such people as
Nobel Peace
Prize winner Jose Ramos
Horta (she
dissembled
to him), a
range of
Ambassadors
and even,
privately and
publicly,
by the
President of
the Security
Council,
is not a joke
at all.
When Business
Insider
wrote about
the ouster,
published on
February 26,
Gallach
couldn't (be
bothered) to
give a quote:
an unnamed DPI
spokesperson
said it was
fine to throw
out Inner City
Press without
even speaking
with it or
allowing an
opportunity to
be heard:
“When
contacted for
comment, the
Office of the
Undersecretary
General for
Communications
and Public
Information
did not deny
that Lee had
never been
questioned
over the
incident
before his
pass was
revoked. 'In
conducting its
investigation
into the
incident on 29
January,
[Department of
Public
Information]
reviewed
several videos
of what
happened,
including
footage that
was taken by
Mr. Lee and
posted on his
website,' a
representative
of the office
wrote in an
email to
Business
Insider. 'DPI
also spoke at
length with
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary-General
and officers
from the UN
Department of
Safety and
Security who
were in
attendance on
29 January.
These steps
were
sufficient to
determine that
Mr. Lee's
actions
clearly
infringed the
guidelines
that apply to
all
correspondents
at the United
Nations.'”
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
this quote; he
has yet to
answer. In
writing, Inner
City Press has
asked both
Dujarric and
Gallach about
this: but
questions
submitted back
on February 20
have yet to be
answered.
Both Gallach
and Dujarric
are, however,
among the
handful of
followers of
an anonymous
troll Twitter
account
which is
defending both
of their
actions,
including
interestingly
to journalists
in Spain.
Ban Ki-moon is
slated to be
in Spain on
March 1. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
