| UNDT Told Inner City Press
To Destroy Evidence of UN Sex Abuse Now
Guterres Invokes Impunity
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Appeal SG
Response
BBC
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UK - Honduras
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UN GATE, Jan 26 –
How corrupt and unaccountable
is today's United Nations?
Well, in
November 2020 Inner City Press
went to attend and report on a
UN Dispute Tribunal proceeding
about a case of sexual
harassment in the UN, a
proceeding which was announced
as open to the public, as US
court cases are.
But when
Inner City Press signed in and
gave its name, it was
excluded. Later, when it
obtained and published evidenc
presented in the case, a UN
Dispute Tribunal judge ordered
it to destroy the evidence or
be banned from all future
proceedings.
This while
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres falsely claims to
have zero tolerance for sexual
harassment and abuse, while
himself banning Inner City
Press from UN briefings now
for 938 days.
Inner City
Press is even banned from
submitting questions by WebEx,
on which the International
Monetary Fund for example
answers its questions. The
only difference is Guterres
and his corruption.
On December 21
Inner City
Press filed a
formal appeal
with the UN
Appeals
Tribunal, full
filing here
on
DocumentCloud.
And
now in late
January
Guterres' long
time
Portuguese
lawyer Miguel
de Serpa
Soares has
responded,
that Guterers
is not waiving
immunity,
impunity
response on
Document Cloud
here:
"Mr. Lee is
not a staff
member of the
United
Nations, nor a
party to the
current
proceedings.
The current
appeal of
Order Nos. 178
and 179 is,
therefore, a
matter between
the UNDT and
Mr. Lee. 8.
However, the
protection of
witnesses and
participants
in
proceedings,
as well as the
respect for
the Tribunal’s
orders, are of
utmost
importance.
Article 19 of
the UNDT Rules
provides that
“[t]he Dispute
Tribunal may
at any time,
either on an
application of
a party or on
its own
initiative,
issue any
order or give
any direction
which appears
to a judge to
be appropriate
for the fair
and
expeditious
disposal of
the case and
to do justice
to the
parties.” 9.
In addition,
the UNAT has
found in
Nartey that
“[t]here is no
doubt that the
Dispute
Tribunal has
the inherent
power to issue
orders to
protect
witnesses who
testify before
it from
retaliation by
a party. Like
the contempt
power, the
power to
protect
witnesses
stems from
‘[t]he ability
to promote and
protect the
court, and to
regulate
proceedings
before it[;
it] is an
inherent
judicial
power. … [and]
it is
essential to
[…] a
tribunal’s
case
management and
ability to
conduct
hearings.’”
10.
Mr. Lee also
requests that
the UNAT issue
an order
compelling the
Secretary-General
to waive the
immunity of
the presiding
judge in the
hearing held
in Case No.
UNDT/NY/2019/047,
so that Mr.
Lee may bring
action against
her in
domestic
courts. The
UNAT should
reject this
request as not
receivable
ratione
materiae. The
UNAT has
affirmed that
issues
relating to
the immunity
of UN
officials,
including
officials
protected
under Article
VI, Section
22(b) of the
Convention on
the Privileges
and Immunities
of the United
Nations, such
as the UNDT
and UNAT
Judges, are
policy
decisions of
the
Secretary-General
which are not
justiciable.
Therefore, for
the foregoing
reasons the
Respondent
requests the
UNAT to
dismiss Mr.
Lee’s
requests."
Impunity.
On the
morning of January 26 Inner
City Press emailed Guterres
and his spokespeople this
question: "
Given that the
UNDT order
destruction of
evidence
concerning
sexual
harassment
inside the UN,
why is SG
Guterres not
waiving
immunity?" Eight
hours later, no
answer. No second
term.
We will have
more, including listing more
of those complicit in the UN's
cover up of abuse. Watch this
site.
***
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