UNITED NATIONS
GATE, August
8
– 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 August
8
more
than two
hours before the
UN noon
briefing by spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, after
the July 26
noon briefing
had no
questions at all,
video here,
Inner
City Press submitted 1107
questions,
including why
it continues
to be
lawlessly banned
from entering
to ask
questions in
person:
"There
are more than
700+
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
August 7
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
3-28,
and July 1-2,
8-31 and August
1-5,
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.
August
8-1: On
Colombia (and
Venezuela),
what is the
SG's comment
and action if
any on the
abuses in
Catatumbo,
northeastern
Colombia,
including
killings,
disappearances,
sexual
violence,
recruitment of
children as
soldiers, and
forced
displacement
by the ELN,
EPL and a
group that
emerged from
the
demobilized
FARC?
Venezuelans
who fled the
humanitarian
emergency in
their country
are among the
victims.
Children as
young as 12
have been
forced to join
an armed group
after members
threaten to
kill them or
their
families, or
they join for
money.
Colombian
authorities
have thus far
failed to
ensure justice
for abuses
committed by
armed groups.
As of April
2019, there
were over 770
cases related
to murders
that occurred
in Catatumbo
since 2017.
There have
been
convictions in
61 cases. Only
two armed
group members
have been
charged with
murder,
according to
the Attorney
General’s
Office. Two
armed group
members have
been charged
for forced
displacement,
but no one has
been
convicted; 480
cases remain
pending.
August
8-2: Also on
human rights,
what are the
comments of SG
Guterers and,
separately, of
USG Melissa
Fleming on
reports that
EU border
agency Frontex
supports
brutality
against
migrants, with
the border
guards of
Greece,
Bulgaria and
Hungary being
especially
brutal? Not
only have
Frontex guards
tolerated
violence
against
displaced
people by
their national
counterparts
on the EU's
external
border, they
have often
treated
refugees
inhumanely
themselves.
Rather than
pulling its
own agents
from
collaborations
with national
border forces,
Frontex simply
closed the
cases...
August
8-3: On UN
corruption and
corporatization,
please
immediately
explain what
the SG is
doing about
ASG Cristiana
Pasca Palmer
of CBD having
struck a deal
with the World
Economic Forum
(WEF) to
recruit on her
behalf a
director for
Director of
Partnership
and Business
Engagement,
Nature Action
Agenda. As
indicated in
the JO, the
position will
be recruited
by the Forum
but the
Director will
be seconded to
and report to
the Executive
Director of
the UN
Convention on
Biological
Diversity with
a dotted line
connection to
the Head of
Forum’s
Biodiversity
work. The
proposed
recruitment
which clearly
violates a
number of UN
rules and
regulations -
so what is the
SG doing?
Where is
he?
August
8-4: Also on
UN corruption,
favoritism and
no-show jobs,
please
immediately
respond to
what OCHA
whistleblowers
have told
Inner City
Press, that
Reena
Ghelani's
favorites are
allowed to
"work from
Upstate" and
telecommute in
Geneva while
rank and file
staff are not
allowed the
most
rudimentary
flex-time.
Also, please
provide an
update on why
the computer
of UN budget
staff
including Tony
Wilson had
their
computers
raided, and
any actions
taken against
OIOS' Ben
Swanson for
his
retaliatory
comment shown
on video
leaked to
Inner City
Press.
August
8-5: Given
that the SG's
public
schedules for
August 2,
August 5,
August 6,
August 7 and
now August 8
are entirely
blank, not
even "all
appointments
internal" as
before but
just blank,
given that
Poland's
Foreign
Minister was
not able to
meet with the
SG on August
3, nor
Pakistan PR
Maleeha Lodhi
on August 7
(tweeting "As
the SG is
away"), please
immediately
state where
the UNSG is,
now and for
the next three
weeks, and at
what cost to
the public.
Additionally,
since public
officials from
Trump to de
Blasio to
Corey Johnson
all disclose
where they
are, and given
the UN system
travel
scandals at
UNRWA, UN
Women and
previously
UNEP, explain
why Mr.
Guterres' lack
of
transparency
is not part of
the problem.
Given the
Secretariat's
communication
failures,
state when
exactly Ms.
Fleming takes
over from
Alison Smale,
whether Ms.
Fleming is
still has
stated on her
profile at
UNHCR (Chief
Communications
@Refugees as
of August 7)
and if she is
answering
some/any of
her e-mail
there.
August
8-6: On press
freedom, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on that the US
Court of
Appeals for
the Ninth
Circuit says
that the
University of
California San
Diego may have
violated
students’
rights to free
speech by
defunding all
UCSD’s student
media outlets,
a move that
The Koala
staff
suspected was
targeting them
following the
publication of
a
controversial
article that
satirized
campus “safe
spaces” and
trigger
warnings... Now
that the US
Court of
Appeals for
the Second
Circuit has
ruled against
public
officials
blocking
critics on
Twitter even
if the
official
claims their
account is
private, what
is the
justification
for UNSG
Spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric, with
the UN flag in
his profile
photo and
Guterres
promoting
content,
blocking Inner
City Press?
What is SG
Guterres'
response /
reaction to UN
DSS and
Guterres'
actions on
Inner City
Press being listed
in the U.S.
Press Freedom
Tracker.
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
14-5: 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
11-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any
on this report
from Chinese
state media:
"YAOUNDE, June
10 (Xinhua) --
Cameroon's
House Speaker
of National
Assembly
Cavaye Yeguie
Djibril on
Monday
denounced
foreign
interference
in the
country's
internal
affairs which
he referred to
as
"conspiracy."
"Cameroon has
become an
object of
conspiracy
intended to
destabilize
the country.
To justify
their
interference
in internal
affairs, the
conspirators
pretend to
denounce it."
Again, how
many offices /
desk does the
Secretariat
give to
Chinese state
media inside
the UN?
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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