UNITED NATIONS,
October 15 – When UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres took
off on a six day publicly
funded trip on October 8 his
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
said Guterres would be back in
New York on Sunday, October
14. But past 10 am on Monday
October 15 when Inner City
Press -- banned from the UN by
Guterres for 104 days and
counting - passed by the $15
million mansion Guterres lives
in on Sutton Place and 57th
Street, in front were not only
but two UN Security vehicles.
Photo here.
Guterres, it seemed clear, had
decided to sleep in. His
public schedule, as it so
often does, said All
appointments internal. So
Inner City Press before noon,
and the UN Daily Briefing it
remains banned from, e-mailed
questions to Guterres
spokesmen, Communicator Alison
Smale who said questions would
be answered though less than
10% are, and Deputy Amina J.
Mohammed (also "all
appointments are internal")
including: "October 15-2: You
have said the SG returned to
NY on Sunday. Please state
what time the SG came to UNHQ
today Monday to work." Past
two pm Dujarric's deputy
Farhan Haq leaving 100+ other
questions still UNanswered
including for example one on a
UN staffer injured
in Somalia and stiffed by
Guterres UN since, replied on
this one: "Regarding question
15-2, the Secretary-General
was back at work in New York
today; all appointments for
Monday are internal." Inner
City Press asked what time
Guterres "came to UNHQ" - UN
headquarters, a dozen blocks
from Guterres' publicly funded
mansion. But the answer is
about Guterres working "in New
York," presumably then from
home. How often does he do
this? Before the trip he did a
photo op with Belarus in the
mansion, which his spokesman
Dujarric has otherwise
insisted should not be filmed.
We'll have more on this - and
this: the UN maintains a
secret list of people banned
from entering its premises.
Even the Security officers who
enforce the ban are not told
the reason why a person is on
the list: whether it was for
actual violence, or writing
articles questioning the
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' misuse
of public funds, for example.
One told Inner City Press the
secret list includes
"demonstrators" and "political
activists," audio here.
Guterres
or apparently his head of
Global Communications Alison
Smale, if only as a proxy, can
put a journalist on the list
without any review, any
notice, any appeal. It is a
dictator's dream come true.
Inner City Press was
physically ousted twice by
Guterres' UN Security this
summer as it reported on his
now-15 flights to his home in
Lisbon with public funds, his
trading away of Cameroon human
rights abuses for favors in
the Budget Committee, and now
his son Pedro's undisclosed
business links in Africa.
Smale on August 17, without
once speaking to me covering
the UN for Inner City Press
for 11 years, withdrew my
media accreditation.
But it's
gone further than that. For
example, on October 11 I
showed up for a film screening
about sex trafficking, “Love
Sonia,” to which I had been
invited by the UN Office of
Drugs and Crimes. UNODC's New
York director personally put
me on the list for a post
screening reception and came
and met me and took me to the
UN gate to sign me in, since
my ticket - which she said
she'd seen - mysteriously
disappeared.
UN
Security refused to allow the
NY director of UNODC to sign
me in. “Even if he had a
ticket we'd have to check,”
one officer said. I was told
that a supervisor would come
out, and that UNODC would
speak to them. But after one
hour it never happened.
Guterres' chief of staff Maria
Luiza Viotti left the building
and I audibly told her, I'm
invited but I'm being blocked.
She did not even break stride.
The UN has
given me nothing in writing
that I am banned. Guterres'
spokesman has stated it as a
fact, without explanation or
rationale, on October
9 and 11, while refusing
to answer my e-mailed
questions despite Smale's
promise they would be answered
to supposedly respect my
"journalistic endeavours."
Another UN Security officer
told me, No one is going to
help you. You are on the list.
I asked him, who else is on
the list? He mentioned
“demonstrators” and "political
activists" and others. Audio here.
Tellingly,
NOT on Guterres' banned list
are those who pleaded guilty
to UN bribery for example
in the Ng Lap Seng - John Ashe
case. They are not banned by
Guterres, UNlike the
journalist who most closely
covered those convictions, and
the current
UN bribery case of Patrick Ho
and the China Energy Fund
Committee. Guterres is fine
with bribery, but bans those
who investigate and expose it.
UNSG Guterres
thinks he can ban people
without no notice, no due
process, no review? And that
it won't be noticed or
reviewed? Watch this site.
***
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