UNITED NATIONS
GATE, March 15
– 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 15
hours before a
UN noon briefing where Dujarric went
"off the record"
and off camera
about the UN
rapes he refuses
Inner City
Press' questions
on, Inner City
Press submitted 622 questions: "There
are more than 400+
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
1-14. 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
15-1: On Cameroon,
what is the SG's
comment and action
if any on that 26
people who were
arrested in Cameroon
in January during
protests called by
opposition leader
Maurice Kamto have
been given one-year
jail terms for
“illegal gathering
and demonstration”
or just planning to
take part in a
non-political
demonstration? What
does the UN say
about the reported
murder of civilians
by Biya's forces
yesterday in Sop and
Melim?
March
15-2: On Bangladesh
and
Myanmar/Rohingya,
what is the SG's
position on
Bangladesh's plan to
start relocating
over 100,000
Rohingya refugees to
Bhasan Char, a tiny
island in the Bay of
Bengal?
March
15-3: On Nigeria,
what are the
comments and actions
of the SG and
separately DSG on
that " Nigerian
Military had
announced that it
had received
credible
intelligence report
of a plan by the
Amnesty
International to
release a false
report on
“fictitious rape
incidents” in IDPs
camps in the
North-east region of
Nigeria, urging the
public to disregard
the report.
However, AI released
the report, entitled
“They betrayed us”,
the global rights
group reported “how
the Nigerian
military and
Civilian Joint Task
Force (Civilian JTF)
have separated women
from their husbands
and confined them in
remote ‘satellite
camps’ where they
have been raped,
sometimes in
exchange for
food.” Amnesty
International said
it has collected
evidence that
thousands of people
have starved to
death in the camps
in Borno State,
north-east Nigeria,
since 2015"?
March
15-4: On Kosovo and
UN impunity, since
no one allowed in
asked at yesterday's
noon briefing, what
is the SG's response
to UN expert Baskut
Tuncak saying the UN
housed Roma families
and other ethnic
minorities in toxic
camps in Kosovo and
then failed to
compensate them.“The
circumstances demand
individual
compensation and a
public apology by
the United Nations,”
the UN expert said
after a meeting with
victims and UN
officials in
Kosovo. “I am
deeply disappointed
by the inertia
surrounding this
case." What is Mr.
Guterres
doing?
March
15-5: Please explain
the basis of Inner
City Press yesterday
afternoon being
singled out and
pushed out of the
metal detector line
at the Visitors
Entrance of the UN
despite being
invited and with a
ticket to the press
freedom / CSW event
"Journalism and the
Empowerment of
Women: New
Challenges in the
Digital World." The
DSS officers said it
was based on a
"barred" list and
that they would show
me the list once I
left. But they never
did. This is a
request to see this
barred list, and
separately to be
informed how people
are put on it, what
due process if any
is afford, and how a
person put on the
list can appeal. In
my case this is a
request to be
informed what person
or persons put me on
the list, and
why.
March
15-6: Also on press
(un) freedom, and
South Sudan, what is
the SG's comment and
action if any on
that " Anna
Nimiriano, Juba
Monitor editor
(South Sudan) works
to keep her
co-workers at the
Juba Monitor
newspaper out of
jail, but
authorities have
threatened her with
arrest and
previously ordered
her to shut down the
paper, one of the
leading daily
English newspapers
in South Sudan"?
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
14-3: On UN bribery
and Patrick Ho's
sentencing
submission -- where
did the $1 million a
year in
"administration" go?
Is any going to be
returned, as was
done in the case of
Sun Kian Ip
Foundation? Again:
the filing states
inter alia that
"Beginning in 2013,
the CEFC Think Tank
also held annual
symposia at the
United Nations
(“UN”) devoted to
issues raised at the
most recent annual
political convention
in China. In
addition, the CEFC
Think Tank, in
consultation with
the UN Department of
Economic and Social
Affairs (“UN-DESA”),
established and
funded the “Powering
the Future We Want”
grant—an annual $1
million award for a
promising
sustainable energy
project (the “Energy
Grant”). The CEFC
Think Tank donated
approximately $2
million to the UN
every year to fund
the prize and its
administration."
What entity or
subdivision of the
UN took the $1
million beyond the
$1 million "prize"?
What are the details
on the 2013, 2014,
2015, 2016, 2017 and
2018 "symposia" by
this UN bribery
group? Again, why
has SG not initiated
an audit at least
like Ban Ki-moon did
on Sun Kian Ip - and
why did the SG omit
his paid board
position with
Gulbenkian
Foundation, which
tried to sell its
oil company to CEFC,
from his public
financial disclosure
covering 2016? When
are the already
delayed public
financial
disclosures,
including that of
Alison Smale who had
not yet published
anything, be made
available?
March
13-4: On China, and
Kazakhstan, what is
the SG's comment and
action on that A
prominent human
rights activist and
China critic based
in Kazakhstan, has
been arrested by
Kazakh police and
charged with
inciting ethnic
strife, according to
his lawyer.
Serikzhan Bilash is
the co-founder of
Atajurt, an
Almaty-based
organization that
brings attention to
the crackdown on
Muslims in China's
western region of
Xinjiang.
Aiman Umarova,
Bilash's lawyer,
said that her client
was arrested on
Saturday night in
Almaty and
transferred to
Astana, the
Kazakhstan capital.
Umarova added that
Bilash was "roughed
up" during his
arrest?
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
11-3: 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
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.
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