UNITED NATIONS
GATE, April
2
– 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 April
2 more
than two
hours
before the UN
noon briefing Inner
City Press submitted 686 questions: "There
are more than 300+
questions UNanswered.
And Monday Sept 17,
Tuesday Sept 18, Wed
Sept 19 and Thurs
and Fri Sept 21, that
whole week, no questions
answered. Nor Sept 25,
nor 28th - nor October 2
nor 3. While
appreciating and using
what was sent on March
28 in partial request to
Inner City Press'
questions about the UN
bribery sentence of
Patrick Ho of CEFC and
CEFC's 2018 attempt to
buy the oil company of
Gulbenkian Foundation
which paid the SG, 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. 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 nor 15
nor 18 nor 19 nor 20 nor
21 nor 22 nor 25 nor 26
nor 27 nor March 1 - 27
(!) And
now April
1.
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.
April
2-1: On Kenya and the
UN, what is the SG's
comment and action on
that Kenyan Foreign
Affairs Principal
Secretary (and former PR
at UN) Macharia Kamau
has said the UN was
giving 10 per cent of
humanitarian aid to
terrorists to grant safe
passage of food and
other supplies in
war-torn regions
controlled by the deadly
militia group?
April
2-2: On UN bribery, what
now is the SG's comment
and response to this
translated 22 minute
documentary about
Patrick Ho and CEFC's
bribes through the UN
including Mr. Guterres'
refusal to answer Inner
City Press' question on
it on 5 December 2018,
and that Inner City
Press for allegedly not
complying with interview
"rules" has been
disqualified from
reporting within the
UN?
April
2-3: Again, the
sentencing memorandum
includes quotes from his
e-mails regarding aiming
to violate sanctions and
deal in arms not only to
Chad but also South
Sudan, Libya &
Qatar. What is the SG's
comment and action?
Again, why has no audit
even been begun of CEFC,
at least like the one
Mr. Guterres'
predecessor did of Ng
Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip
Foundation? Why did Mr
Guterres omit payments
from Gulbenkian
Foundation, which sought
to sell its oil company
Partex to CEFC China
Energy, from his public
financial disclosure
covering 2016? Where are
the more recent public
financial disclosures -
has Mr. Guterres ended
that program? Why?
April
2-4: On China and the
environment, what is the
SG's comment and action
after his praise on that
a majority of 39
northern Chinese cities
have failed to meet
anti-pollution targets
over the six-months to
the end of March, adding
to fears that China's
"war" on smog has lost
momentum?
April
2-5: On Saudi Arabia and
transparency, please
immediately provide UN
read out of the SG's
meeting with Saudi
Arabia, or explain why
not.
April
2-6: On Mexico, what is
the SG's comment and
action if any on that
the activist and human
rights defender Abiram
Hernández Fernández was
found dead at his home,
in Veracruz.
Abiram studied sociology
and law and was deeply
rooted among human
rights defenders and
relatives of the
disappeared
people?
April
2-7: On India and press
freedom, what is the
SG's comment and action
if any on that a
Bengaluru court has
favoured advocate and
debutant BJP candidate
for Bangalore South,
Tejasvi Surya, with an
ex parte temporary
injunction against the
publication of
“defamatory statements”
in 49 print, television
and internet media
providers, including
international carriers
like YouTube. The
injunction will be in
place until May 27?
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.
April
1-1: On China, what is
the SG's comment and
action if any on that
Wei Zhili, an editor of
“New Generation”
(xinshengdai) a website
which monitors and
reports about internall
migrant workers in
China, was taken away by
police officers from his
home in Shenzhen on 20
March 2019?
April
1-2: Given UN
consultants' testimony
to Inner City Press
about being misled by
the UN about their tax
liabilities, and
criticism of the UN for
shirking
responsibilities to its
host countries and
works, what IS the UN
policy ont the (over)
use of consultants to
avoid paying benefits,
specifically at UNOPS in
Geneva about which Inner
City Press has
previously asked without
answer, and now also in
Bonn?
March
29-2: On FAO, Mr. Servan
from FAO whom Inner City
Press asked your about
last year has apparently
been subject to
complaints by women
attending an ICSC
meeting in Geneva, with
the issue been raised to
the SG. Please confirm
or deny and state what
if anything the SG has
done.
March
28-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
belated action,
if any, on
Biya's Army's
attack on Abuh,
North-West
region, which
burned an entire
neighborhood to
the
ground. A
woman in her 40s
said she spent
three days
hiding in the
surrounding
countryside with
her five
children after
the attack:
“When I came
back to the
village, my
house was gone,
with everything
inside. I am
left with
nothing but my
clothes.” How
does this square
with UNFPA's
current
propaganda trip
to
Yaounde?
March
27-6: On freedom
of thought and
expression and
China, what is
the SG's comment
and action on
the law
professor at
Tsinghua
University who
openly
criticised
Chinese
President Xi
Jinping has been
suspended and
placed under
investigation by
the university,
according to one
of his
colleagues and
several
academics
familiar with
the situation.
Xu Zhangrun, 56,
was suspended
this month after
he wrote several
articles
criticising
Beijing over
political and
social
issues?
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
25-5: On your /
Spokesperson
Dujarric's
recent podcast
interview,
please
immediately
explain what was
meant by a
relationship
with journalists
of "mutually
assured
destruction" -
and why the
podcast links
are mostly
404/no longer
online.
March
25-8: On the
SG's March 22
appearance on
96th Street,
please
immediately
provide the name
of the UN DSS
officer who
spoke to NYPD on
96th Street to
get them to
restraint in
advance Inner
City Press while
UN Photo and
others like AP
walked freely,
the basis for
this censorship
and any and all
records
regarding
it.
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