Polisario
Banned from
UNTV &
Quiet Room, UN
Says Stakeout
for
"Participants"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
Who decides
who can speak
at the UN
Television
stakeout
outside of the
Security
Council, and
who can go
into the
Quiet Room
inside the
Council's
chambers?
Last
week Inner
City Press exclusively
reported that
the Frente
Polisario,
a party to the
Western Sahara
item on the
Security
Council's
agenda,
was
told it could
no longer
speak at the
stakeout, as
it has in the
past,
and could not
even go into
the Quiet Room,
previously
always
allowed.
Since
that report,
other
diplomats have
approached
Inner City
Press with
examples of
other non- or
not-yet states
which have
been allowed
to
speak on UNTV
cameras,
listed on
Media Alerts
prepared by
the UN --
the Turkish
Republic of
Northern
Cyprus on
September 28,
2013 comes
to mind.
Others asked
why the 15
countries on
the Security
Council
would control
the "UN"
stakeout
there, and not
all 193
states.
On
November 4,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Farhan Haq who
controls who
can speak at
UN stakeouts
in general, in
front of the
Security
Council in
particular,
and who
controls who
can enter the
Quiet Room.
Later
one of these
questions was
partially
answered:
Subject:
Your
question on
stakeouts
From: UN
Spokesperson
[at] un.org
Date:
Mon, Nov 4,
2013 at 3:26
PM
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
We
have the
following
information in
response to
your question
about
stakeouts:
Regarding
stakeouts
outside the
Security
Council: When
the Security
Council
meets, a
stakeout is
set up outside
the Security
Council, and
is
available for
participants
of the Council
meeting.
First,
this
doesn't answer
the argument
that UN
stakeouts
ultimately
must be
controlled by
all 193 member
states.
Second,
it doesn't
address
Polisario's
exclusion from
the Quiet
Room.
Third, it
doesn't define
who a
"participant"
is. When the
Council
meetings about
Western
Sahara, and
Polisario is a
formal party,
isn't it a
participant?
Three strikes
and you're
out? The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
contends there
must at least
be
transparency
on this. We'll
have more on
this.
Addendum:
so if there is
a consultation
about a
country under
sanctions, for
example, that
the country
can't enter --
the country
can't speak at
the stakeout
afterward,
even if
another
country goes
to speak about
them? To be
continued.
, 
