UNITED NATIONS
GATE, June
10
– 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 June 10
three
hours before the
UN noon
briefing run by
Eri Kaneko who
did not answer
a single one
of the submitted
questions,
from Cameroon
to China,
Inner City
Press submitted 921
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,
21-31,
June
3-7, 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.
June
10-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that on
June 8 over
200 supporters
of the
Cameroon
Renaissance
Movement were
arrested in
Yaounde? The
supporters
were arrested
at various
locations in
town as
they were
about to carry
out a
protest.
The CRM had
announced a
protest for
Saturday at
the central
town but the
area was
flooded by
anti riot
security
forces...
June
10-2: On UN
retaliation
and
corruption,
please
immediately
explain the
raid on the
office and
computer of
Tony Wilson,
Chief,
Financial
Policy and
Internal
Controls at
the D-1 level
with the
Office of
Programme
Planning,
Finance and
Budget, and
provide the
SG's response
to this sent
to Inner City
Press by UN
staff worried
about further
retaliation:
" "From:
[ ]
@guerrillamail.com
Date: Sun, Jun
9, 2019 at
1:17 AM
Subject:
info To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
I write you
inform to you
about Tony
Wilson,
Director in UN
Management.
Wilson
complained to
the big bosses
about
retaliation
after he made
reports to
Investigations.
He won at UN
court but gave
up when he got
sick and not
been at work
since. Last
week his desk
was raided by
Investigations.
Bosses told
all staff that
all his
equipment and
files were
taken, in a
meeting, and
the Wilson is
investigated.
We hear he is
suspended.
This is the
response by
bosses. Staff
are scared of
reporting
anything."
June
10-3: Speaking
of Management
/ the
Department of
Management
Strategy,
Policy and
Compliance
(DMSPC),
please confirm
upon receipt
and well
before noon
that the SG is
giving the top
post to
replace Jan
Beagle to
Catherine
Pollard, and
if so explain
how her string
of internal
justice system
losses while
head of OHRM
impacted or
was taken into
account in the
decision,
along with for
example her
long recent
travel to
Morocco "to
accompany the
Moroccan PR"
and stay in a
hotel in
Marrakesh far
outside UN DSA
ranges. Who
paid for that?
And her use of
business class
to Argentina
for the South
South
conference,
while
interpreters
took coach
despite UN
rules. Also
confirm that
Moses Abelian
is being made
head of
DGACM.
June
10-4: In South
Sudan please
immediately
state the UN's
role in and
aware off the
security
worker's
strike in
Juba, and UN
DSS chief
Peter
Drennan's
response to it
including an
email he sent
casting
aspersion on
journalistic
reporting on
it. See below,
re DSS Dobbins
and Drennan's
refusal to
ever respond
to questions
about his
rough-up of
Press and
order to other
officers not
to give their
names, despite
a promise of
response by
Jane
Connors.
June
10-5: Since
the SG claimed
publicly that
the mansion he
lives in
"cannot" be
sold, please
immediately
provide any
and all
documents with
such a
restriction,
and separately
explain why
the concept of
cy pres or
reformation of
donor intent
has not been
explored.
Separately,
Boutros
Boutros Galli
wrote in his
book that the
building was
given by
Arthur
Houghton
through the
United Nations
Association of
the USA. What
actual
inquires, with
UNA-USA or any
successor to
Houghton or
Corning Glass,
has Guterres
made?
June
10-6:
Relatedly,
with the SG
making excuses
for living
alone in a $15
million
mansion,
please confirm
his orders
to
downsize or
merge agencies
by Sept. 2021,
including IFAD
and WFP as
well as
UNCTAD, UNDP,
UNIDO and
UNEP...
June
10-7: What is
the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that
hundreds of
thousands - or
one million
protested in
Hong Kong on
Sunday against
a government
plan that
would allow
extraditions
to mainland
China? The
mass
demonstration
was among the
largest in
Hong Kong’s
history, and
another sign
of rising fear
and anger over
the erosion of
the civil
liberties that
have long set
the
semiautonomous
city apart
from the
Chinese
mainland.
June
10-8: On
Kazakhstan,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on the
protests
during the
election with
“hundreds”
detained, a
British
journalist
being hauled
into an Almaty
police
station, and
riot police
out in full
gear?
June
10-9: On
Saudi Arabia,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on
that
Saudi teenager
Murtaja
Qureiris, held
for more than
four years
without charge
faces possible
execution for
acts he is
accused of
having
committed when
he was as
young as
10?
June
10-10: On
press freedom
and Germany,
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on the
German
Ministry of
the Interior's
draft
legislation
that would
make it easier
for
intelligence
services to
surveil
journalists
and their
sources and
would remove
protections
prohibiting
the country's
domestic and
foreign
intelligence
services from
hacking
journalists'
computers and
smartphones
during
terrorism
investigations?
The law would
also loosen
the
restrictions
on Germany's
domestic and
international
intelligence
agencies'
ability to use
spyware --
software
installed on a
computer
without the
user's
knowledge to
transmit data
about the
user's
activities --
to surveil
targets... In
the UN, what
has the
accountability
been for Lt
Ronald E.
Dobbins and
those those
refused on
camera to give
their names?
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.
June
7-1: On
Liberia, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on today’s
Save-the-State
protest and
the incident
Monday that
saw a member
of the
national
legislature,
the
controversial
Rep. Yekeh
Korlubah come
under protest
as he left a
talk-show
appearance on
Sky FM’s
50-50, and
youths were
beaten by
authorities?
June
7-2: On DRC
and UN
failure, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that the UN
has failed to
deliver
justice for
the killing of
at least 30
civilians in
Mutarule,
South Kivu
province, in
June 2014? UN
peacekeepers
stationed in
the area were
aware of the
attack but
failed to
intervene.
What has the
UN done?
June
7-3: On
Cameroon, as
Inner City
Press asked on
the morning of
June 5 (a day
on which the
deputy
spokesman
while not
responding on
Cameroon did
respond, at
least
partially, to
a DC-based
correspondent),
and again on
June 6, what
is the SG's
response,
after
receiving
Biya's golden
statue and
multiple
meetings with
Tommo Monthe
only about his
the
chairmanship
of the UN
Budget
Committee, on
NRC now saying
NRC: "Cameroon
tops the
Norwegian
Refugee
Council’s
annual list of
the world’s
most neglected
displacement
crises
launched
today.
June
7-4: On UN
impunity and
having brought
cholera to
Haiti, what is
the SG's
comment and
action for UN
accountability,
if any, now
that a cert
petition and
amicus brief
have been
filed to put
the UN's
impunity in
Haiti before
the U.S.
Supreme Court?
What is is
response to
amicus brief
argument that
absolute
denial of
redress.
Notably in Jam
v.
International
Finance Corp.,
860 F.3d 703
(D.C. Cir.
2017), the
D.C. Circuit
held the
International
Finance
Corporation
(“IFC”), head-
quartered in
Washington,
D.C., was
immune from
civil
liability in a
case arising
out of an
IFC-funded
project. In
Jam, the D.C.
Circuit
struggled to
deter- mine
the exact
extent of IFC
immunity....The
amicus brief
is certified
as served on
the head of
OLA - please
immediately
confirm that
he / OLA have
received the
brief.
June
7-5: On press
freedom and
Nigeria, what
are the
comments and
actions if any
of the SG and
separately DSG
Amina J
Mohammed
that
Nigeria's
broadcasting
authority shut
down private
radio and
television
stations owned
by a key
opposition
figure who
hours earlier
said his media
operations
were being
targeted in a
crackdown.
June
4-3: On UN
sexual abuse
and
exploitation,
AGAIN as
requested on
the morning of
June 3
immediately
disclose what
IS the new
"allegation of
SEA" which the
UN on the
morning of
June 3
announced by
e-mail.
Clicking
through to the
UN website,
the previously
announced case
against South
Africa
peacekeeper is
no longer at
the top of the
page, and it
is unclear
what the new
allegation is.
This lack of
clarity is
unacceptable.
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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