UNITED NATIONS
GATE, March 12
– Inner City Press on July 5
was banned from entering the
UN, the day after it filed a
criminal complaint against
UN Security for physically
removing it from covering
the meeting about the UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' $6.7 billion
peacekeeping budget, as
witnessed and essentially
cheered on by senior UN
official Christian Saunders,
tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and
intentionally twisting his
arm and slamming shut and
damaging his laptop. On
August 17, Guterres' Global
Communicator Alison Smale
issued a letter banning
Inner City Press from the UN
- for life. With no due
process. She and Guterres
have put the UN in the US
Press Freedom Tracker, here.
Smale said,
again, that the UN would
answer Press questions to
the Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric and his Office; Dujarric said the same on
camera.
On March 12
more
than three
hours before a
Dujarric noon briefing that was already
over by 12:19 pm, Inner City
Press submitted 607 questions: "There
are more than 300+ questions
UNanswered. While appreciating
and using what was sent on
January 29 after it was
read out in the briefing
room, no answers on Dec 17
or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 -
another FIVE days in a
row, even as SG's direct
conflicts of interest and
failure to disclose
emerge, and a newest low.
While
appreciating the
lone partial
response to Question
Feb 28-3,
nothing on Dec 24 or
Dec 26 or Dec 27 or
Dec 28, or January
2, 3 or 4 or 8 or 9
or 10 or 11 or 14 or
15 or 16 or 17 or 18
or 21 or 22 or 23 or
24 or 25 or 28 -
that was FIFTEEN
week-days in a row,
apparently under
orders, then a
simple post-facto
answer. Now what? No
answers on January
30 nor 31 nor
February 1 nor 4 nor
5 nor 6 nor 7 nor 11
nor 12 nor 13 nor 14
or 15 nor 18 nor 19
nor 20 nor 21 nor 22
nor 25 nor 26 nor 27
nor March 1
nor 4 nor 5 nor 6
nor 7 nor 8
nor 10 nor 11. No
answers at all
during those four
days of the US v Ho
trial showing
corruption in the UN
says it all. This
ban is just
censorship - and
Inner City Press
must be allowed back
into the noon
briefing to ask its
questions in person
and follow up on
them.
March
12-1: On Thailand,
what is the SG's
comment and action
on Thai authorities'
pursuing defamation
complaints brought
by poultry company
Thammakaset Company
Limited against Nan
Win and Sutharee
Wannasiri for their
involvement
promoting labor
rights?
March
12-2: What are the
SG's comments and
action on complaints
of UNOG staff to
Inner City Press
about recruitment
irregularities for
"the much-coveted
P-5 job managing the
road safety trust
fund... The position
for a Senior Program
Management Officer
on road safety was
advertised on 25
September, with
requirements
including ten years
of experience in an
organization dealing
with road safety and
extensive experience
in international
cooperation in the
transport sector.
These criteria would
have excluded the
[connected person
who got the post]
who has spent years
as a human rights
expert at OHCHR. Yet
one week after the
post appeared, it
was quietly
cancelled and
readvertised, with
the requirements
considerably watered
down, suddenly
making the
[connected person
who got the post]
eligible. She was
subsequently
confirmed to the
post by ECE chief
Olga Algayerova?
March
12-3: On sexual
abuse and the UN,
what is the SG's
comment and action
if any on the arrest
of UN system
"coordination
specialist" Gregory
Connor "for sexually
abusing an Italian
teenager who was
visiting the Big
Apple for a class
trip, police sources
told The Post.
The 17-year-old
victim was inside
his hotel room at
the Hilton Hotel on
Sixth Avenue near
West 53rd Street
around 6:30 p.m.
Friday when stranger
Gregory Connor, 46,
allegedly approached
him in the hotel’s
hallway and asked if
he could use the
teen’s iPhone
charger, police
said. The
teenager said yes,
walked with him into
his hotel room and
allowed him to use
his charger.
That’s when, police
said, Connor started
to take his shirt
off and began
touching the
victim’s chest. He
then groped the
victim’s groin over
his pants before
leaving a few
minutes later.
A second 17-year-old
was in the hotel
room at the time and
witnessed the
encounter, police
said. Connor,
who has an Upper
West Side address,
was arrested hours
later, around 1:30
a.m., while still at
the hotel. He was
charged with
forcible touching of
intimate parts, and
released without
bail following an
arraignment later
Saturday?
March
12-4: On the
Ethiopia Airlines
crash, on whichInner
City Press questions
on March 10 and 11
were not answered or
acknowledged despite
the attempt to
ascertain the fate
of the names raised
by concern by UN
staff in Somalia,
please now answer
this question, put
to the WFP without
answer: " at what
point does the
credibility of an
airline become
eroded sufficiently
for a large
organisation not to
risk the lives of
its staff by flying
on it.
This article linked
here in a respected
professional
publication about
the 2010 Ethiopian
fatal crash in
Beirut and the spin
put on the
investigation by the
airline makes scary
reading... Notwithstanding
the concern about
the model of
aircraft in question
in Addis, there have
now been two crashes
within nine years
where independent
analysis suggests
pilot error may have
been a decisive
factor,
at what point would
WFP decide that it
would suspend its
use of an airline
pending
investigation? will
there have to be
another crash?"
March
13-5: On Venezuela
and press freedom,
what is the SG's
comment and action
if any on the
disappearance /
detention of
journalist
Luis Carlos Diaz?
AGAIN, immediately
explain how it is
legitimate to ban
from enter into the
UN the media that
has been asking
about these and
other questions,
with no hearing or
appeal.
March
11-2: From the
Advance Copy of the
ACABQ report on the
SG's re-configured
GSDM proposal, which
Inner City Press has
published today,
please provide SG's
comment on inter
alia "Taking into
account the
significant number
of French-
speaking clients in
the African region,
the Advisory
Committee notes with
concern the
time zone gap
between the region
and Montréal, the
centre that would
provide French-
speaking services to
clients in Africa.
The Committee
expects that the
Secretary-General
will provide more
detailed
information."
And, on Uganda,"
Upon enquiry, the
Advisory Committee
was informed that
since the inception
of RSCE,
approximately $7.71
million has been
invested in RSCE
office space, in
addition to $9.77
million invested in
training and
technology
facilities which are
not related to the
scope of the global
service delivery
model. The Advisory
Committee expects
the
Secretary-General to
provide further
information to the
General Assembly, at
the time of its
consideration of
this report, on the
investments made in
RSCE. Considering
the significant
number of proposed
abolishments, the
investments made in
RSCE to date, the
request of the
General Assembly in
resolution 72/266 B,
and its key regional
role, the Advisory
Committee trusts
that the
Secretary-General
will ensure the
optimal use of
RSCE’s capacity and
the implementation
of mitigation
measures for its
affected
staff. The
Committee recommends
that the General
Assembly request the
Secretary-General to
provide more
information on this
matter."
March
11-3: Also on
Uganda, perhaps
relatedly, what is
the SG's comment and
action on President
Museveni's threat to
pull Ugandan troops
from AMISOM?
March
11-5: On press
freedom and, today,
Turkey what is the
SG's comment and
action if any on
that Thomas Seibert,
a reporter for the
Berlin-based
Tagesspiegel daily,
and Jörg Brase, a
correspondent for
public broadcaster
ZDF, flew to Germany
on Sunday after
their accreditation
to work in Turkey
was not
renewed?
AGAIN, immediately
explain how it is
legitimate to ban
from enter into the
UN the media that
has been asking
about these and
other questions,
with no hearing or
appeal.
March
8-1: On Cameroon,
what is the SG's
comment and action
if any on the
holding over of
barrister Michele
Ndoki, whom the
government
previously shot, on
charges like Maurice
Kamto of
"rebellion"?
March
8-2: On UN
corruption and
bribery, yesterday
evening Inner City
Press saw in front
of the UN and
questioned Francis
Lorenzo, who pleaded
guilty to UN
bribery. Please
immediately state
the last time
convicted UN bribery
felon Francis
Lorenzo entered the
UN (same for former
El Salvador
Ambassador Carlos
Garcia, who it was
shown facilitied
Lorenzo's illegal
acts, and for
Patrick Ho), and
state whether
Lorenzo is
affiliated in any
way to the Dominican
Republic mission to
the UN.
March
7-4: AGAIN -
immediately state
who, with public
funds, the SG
invited to eat
halibut with him
on March 4, and
why it was not on
his public
schedule. Please
state whether the
UN considers "The
Century Fund" to
be a media and if
so, why - and,
AGAIN, immediately
explain how it is
legitimate to ban
from enter into
the UN the media
that has been
asking about these
and other
questions, with no
hearing or appeal.
March
6-3: Please
immediately provide
the SG's comment and
response to the
Staff Unions'
complain that DSS
funds are being
diverted to for
profit events of
CulinArt and USG
Smale's DGC: " "the
Department of Safety
and Security is
currently ceding
some of its funding
to serve
profit-making
ventures, both a
contractor,
CulinArt, and
another Secretariat
department, the
Department of Global
Communications, by
providing security
services for their
ventures, that is,
Friday nights
activities at the
Delegates Lounge and
United Nations
Tours, respectively.
The funds to provide
those services from
the UNDSS’s annual
budget are
substantial and are
not reimbursed. Why
should UNDSS
continue to provide
those services out
of its budget free
of charge when cuts
are being made
elsewhere?"
,
