UNITED NATIONS
GATE, May 23
– 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 May 23
more than three
hours before a
UN noon
briefing in
which Dujarric belated
responded ton
Chagos not to
Inner City
Press which
asked twice in
writing, but
to a softball
in the room
(saying only
that Guterres "takes
note," like
he took Paul Biya's golden
statue),
Inner City
Press submitted
865
questions,
including why
it continues
to be
lawlessly banned
from entering
to ask
questions in
person:
"There
are more than
500+
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 belatedly
sent on
May 20
about sexual
exploitation
allegations
and 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, 3-30 (one
answer
in the
entire month -
corrupt), and
now May
1-13, 15-17,
21-22, many
questions.
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.
May
23-1: On Kenya
and Somalia,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any, without
an SRSG
withdrawn for
signing a
human rights
letter, to
this as
recounted in
the Kenyan
press (the
Somalia
version is of
course
different) on
Somalia’s
Parliament on
Monday passing
a petroleum
law, paving
the way for
exploration in
its waters?
“With the
passage of the
petroleum law
it is
anticipated
that PSAs
(production-sharing
agreements)
will
subsequently
be signed,
which will
enable
exploration
activity to
then
commence,”
read a
statement by
Somalia’s
Government.
May
23-2: On West
Papua, please
confirm or
deny these SG
quotes and
unless deny,
explain how
this is not a
sell out of
human
rights:
“There is a
framework in
the
institutions,
namely the
human rights
council… there
are special
procedures,
there was a
panel, that
recently made
a report on
those issues,
a report that
was then
presented
internationally.
Indonesia also
responded. So
the UN is
doing its job,
with a major
concern that
there and
everywhere,
human rights
are
respected...
we had the
institutions
working, we
have a panel
of experts,
but there are
also from our
side strong
commitments
there and
everywhere.”
May
23-3: On
Cameroon,
AGAIN, now
with this
account: "n
the 20th of
May 2019, Neba
Martha Mbuh, a
baby of about
four (4)
months, was
brutally
murdered by
unidentified
gunmen in
Makanga, a
quarter in
Muyuka
Subdivision of
the South West
Region.
As analysed in
a video
circulating on
social media,
the mother of
the baby is
seen seated by
the lifeless
body on a
couch, with
the baby’s
brain
shattered by
bullets."
Again: May
22-5: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment if any
and action if
any at all on
for example
that Paul
Biya's forces
reportedly
shot dead 4
month old
Martha in
Muyuka on 20th
May?
May
23-4: On press
freedom and P5
France, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that police
summoned for
questioning a
senior
correspondent
for Le Monde
who has
written
extensively on
a corruption
scandal
involving
French
President
Emmanuel
Macron?
Ariane Chemin
first broke
the news in
July 2018 of
what has
become known
as the
“Benalla
affair,” a
story about
misconduct by
a former
Macron
security aide
that has
fueled
allegations of
a coverup
within the
Elysee
Palace.
France’s
national
security
police
division has
demanded that
Chemin appear
for
questioning on
May 29,
intensifying
concerns about
press freedoms
in the Macron
era. What is
each of yours
- particularly
the SG's -
response to
the letter
written and
sent by
Burundi
activist
Manisha
Lievin? To the
April 15
letter to the
SG, DSG and
USG Smale for
which receipt
has not even
been
acknowledged,
other than a
single lawless
line from
MALU: "Your
media
accreditation
request, with
reference no:
M66561081, has
been
declined"?
This is a
formal request
for the UN's
explanation of
grounds for
this denied,
and since
SGcentral, the
SG's chief of
staff and
Deputy SG and
USG Smale
haven't even
confirmed
receipt of the
April 15
letter much
less
responded, for
reconsideration.
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.
May
22-5: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment if any
and action if
any at all on
for example
that Paul
Biya's forces
reportedly
shot dead 4
month old
Martha in
Muyuka on 20th
May?
May
22-6: On
China, what is
the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that
prominent
Chinese human
rights lawyer
Mr. Yu
Wensheng, who
for a number
of years has
defended human
rights and
promoted the
rule of law in
China and
represented
human rights
activists and
lawyers, was
put on trial
behind closed
doors on 9 May
at the
Intermediate
People’s Court
of Xuzhou
City?
May
22-7: On Tibet
and China,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on that
Chinese
authorities
continue to
detain Tibetan
monks and
other peaceful
critics
arbitrarily
imprisoned
since the
protests
across the
Tibetan
plateau? There
has been no
information
regarding some
of the
prisoners’
whereabouts,
wellbeing, or
charges...
May
22-8: On
Taiwan and
China and the
WHO, please
immediately
state does SG
Guterres
support or
oppose calls
for Taiwan to
be granted
observer
status at the
World Health
Organisation’s
annual
gathering?
May
22-9: Also on
colonialism
and the P5,
please
immediately
state the SG's
position on
calls for the
UK to
relinquish
control over
the Chagos
Islands
May
16-2: On
Sudan, what is
the SG's
comment and
action if any
that the new
interim vice
president,
Mohamed Hamdan
“Hemeti”
Dagolo, was in
charge of the
janjaweed
militias in
Darfur?
May
15-3: On the
Public
Financial
Disclosures
for 2017
belatedly
published over
the weekend of
April 27-28,
please state
why Mohammed
Ibn Chambas,
like the
Executive
Secretary of
the UN
Biodiversity
Convention,
Cristiana
Paşca-Palmer,
UNICEF's
Henriette
Fore, with
documented
links to
ExxonMobil and
others, USG
Mark Lowcock
(undisclosed
while the
Secretariat's
speaker at the
UNSC Arria on
Cameroon),
UNCTAD's
Mukhisa
Kituyi, UN
Women's
Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka,
UNOG chief
Michael
Moller, UNDP
chief Achim
Steiner,
Heidi Mendoza,
Adama Dieng,
UN Security
chief Peter
Drennan,
Rosemary
DiCarlo and
Nicholas
Haysum, is not
even on the
list. OIOS
chief
Inga-Britt
Ahlenius
reported - why
not Mendoza?
Where IS
Mendoza? Isn't
it a bad
practice for
the UN's head
(anti)
genocide
definition
official to
conceal from
the public
even cursory
financial
disclosure?
Did DiCarlo
decline to
make any
public
disclosure
despite being
the UN's top
political
officer? What
is the even
plausible
applicability
of this line
from SG
Guterres' web
page: "Please
note that
given the
multi-cultural
environment of
the UN and the
often security
sensitive
locations
where UN staff
are either
working or
come from,
full public
disclosure may
not always be
a viable or
sensible
option for
certain staff
members"? Why
has Guterres
changed the
previous
system in a
which a
"choosing not
to disclose"
statement was
upload and
listed, to one
which helps
conceal who
reports and
who does
not?
Again, state
why
considering
the UN bribery
conviction of
Patrick Ho of
CEFC, and
CEFC's attempt
to purchase
the oil
company of
Gulbenkian
Foundation
which paid Mr.
Guterres in
2016 was
omitted from
his online
public
financial
disclosure
covering 2016,
and why
Guterres has
not even
started an
audit of CEFC
in the
UN.
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