UN
Elections
Scams from
DRC, Pension
to UNCA,
Banning
Democracy
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 15 --
What is it
about election
scams and the
UN?
On December
14, Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about today's
Egyptian
constitutional
referendum.
Closer to
home, Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
about the UN
Correspondents
Association
violating
their own
constitution
and
purporting to
remain in
office after
January 1,
having ignored
the
December 15
deadline to
hold an
election.
Nesirky
was
dismissive --
see
transcript
here --
and hadn't
even been
asked yet
about the UN's
questionable
role during
the last two
elections in
the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo.
Today there UN
beneficiary
Joseph Kabila
gave a speech
entirely
taking for
granted more
UN
collaboration
with
his army,
which
committed mass rapes
in Minova
which the UN's
Herve
Ladsous
refuses to
answer
questions
about.
Meanwhile
it
emerged on
Friday that
even the UN's
own election
for its
Pension
board has been
extended,
mis-run
according to
staff by
previous vote
player Bibi
Khan.
So the UN
can't
correctly hold
its own
elections,
and enables
scam elections
in the Congo.
Even
on an
absolutely
clear
violation in
not holding an
election by
the
deadline by
its Media
Access
Guidelines
partner, UNCA,
the UN refuses
to take action
or comment,
calling a
blatant legal
violation a
personal
matter.
Here's
from UNCA's
Constitution,
Article 3,
Section 3:
"The
members of the
Executive
Committee
shall assume
their duties
on the
first day of
January
following the
election and
shall hold
office
until the last
day of
December of
the year.
Elections of
the
Executive
committee
shall be held
between
November 15
and December
15."
This
is simple, and
is one of the
only acts this
Executive
Committee is
required to do
(the $250 a
plate
reception for
Arnold
Schwarzenegger
they've set
for December
19 is entirely
voluntary.)
But
on December
14, the day
before the
election had
to be held,
this UNCA
Executive
Committee
simply
announced that
it would not
hold the
election
before the end
of the year.
There
is an obvious
legal problem:
they have no
powers after
January 1,
they have no
power to run
an election
after January
1. They are,
in
essence,
trying to stay
in power
unconstitutionally.
And their
partner the UN
refuses to
comment.
UNCA's
president
or figurehead,
when asked
directly to
about
violating the
terms of
UNCA's
constitution,
had no
response.
It
has been
suggested to
Inner City
Press that
what brings
these
together is an
implicit claim
of
powerlessness:
the UN can do
nothing, and
UNCA does
little.
But UNCA could
and should do
things,
like make sure
that UN
officials like
Herve Ladsous
cannot openly
refuse to
answer
questions
about how to
avoid bringing
cholera to new
countries, and
to not work
with units of
the Congolese
army guilty of
mass rape.
Instead, top
UNCA officials
follow
Ladsous into
the
hallway for
private
briefings,
video here.
These three --
Voice of
America,
supported by
Reuters and
Agence
France-Presse
-- urged
the UN to
dis-accredit
and expel Inner
City Press,
and met with
still un-named
UN officials
in furtherance
of their plan.
Since their
UNCA attacks
rather than
defends
investigative
journalism,
the beta Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
FUNCA, has
been launched,
online
and in action,
Friday here
then here.
The
UNCA executive
committee
announced a
purported
general
meeting for
Friday,
December 21 at
4 pm, but
didn't even
say what the
agenda is,
nor what they
propose to be
voted on.
This microcosm
of lawlessness
takes place
right in the
UN, with an
entity Ban
Ki-moon spoke
before
on December 12
(more on this
anon), and
will party
with on
December 19
along with,
yes,
Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Other
such events
celebrate
actually
investigative
journalists
not
affiliated
with or buying
advertisements
from the
prize-giver.
For
example the
CPJ event
recently at
the Waldorff,
which Inner
City
Press covered
as a
journalist.
This UNCA is
quite
different:
prizes to
Schwarzenegger
and its own
Executive
Committee
members, no
provision
for press
coverage. Is
it any wonder?
Watch this
site.
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