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UNSG Guterres For China Now Censors In Geneva As He Has In NY For 429 Days Banning Press For CEFC China Energy

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFTracker, Vine video

UN GATE, Sept 5 – Before Inner City Press was roughed up by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Security on June 22 and July 3, 2018 and banned since then, it insistently asked for disclosure of Guterres' links to convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy and silence on China's abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

The questions are not been answered by Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who on 2 November 2018 simply bicycled away as Inner City Press asked about Guterres' failure in Cameroon and attempt to get even Park East Synagogue to oust Inner City Press from covering his 31 October 2018 speech about tolerance. 

  Now after on August 30 Guterres and his USG Melissa Fleming denied Inner City Press' application to even enter the UN to cover the UNGA high level week like dozens from Chinese state media, this: "The letter by 135 NGOs urges UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet to condemn China's escalating abuse of UN rules to censor, interrupt and block references at the world body to its detention of an estimated 1 million Muslim Uighurs.  The joint complaint references an incident in March, widely shared on social media, in which UN Watch director Hillel Neuer took the floor at the UN Human Rights Council to condemn China's abuses of Uighur Muslims. Neuer was interrupted three times by the Communist regime's delegates in an attempt to shut down his testimony.  As noted in the complaint, UNHRC President Coly Seck of Senegal urged Neuer to "stick to the agenda item" on racial discrimination, implying that China's abuses against Muslim Uighurs did not qualify. Later in the debate, however, Seck told China to “prevent disturbing the proceedings of the room the next time.”  When UN Watch submitted the joint complaint by 125 NGOs about the incident, the UNHRC secretariat—in a break from past practice—refused to publish it, together with four other submissions.  "In our 15 years of submitting written statements to the UN for publication, this is the first time I've experienced such blatant, heavy-handed and unapologetic censorship," said Neuer today.  "In 2005 and 2010, the UN asked us to make certain modest edits to written statements, such as replacing the word 'regime' with 'government', but we've never seen anything like this before."   "That the UN is now barring the entire publication of major NGO statements while refusing to tell us which word, sentence or even statement is allegedly in breach of a UN rule is simply Kafkaesque. By exercising arbitrary censorship, the UN is also in breach of our right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."  Also Censored: Complaint Over UN Handing Names of Dissidents to China  One of the other censored UN Watch submissions urged the UNHRC secretariat to stop its potentially life-threatening practice of providing China with names of human rights dissidents who are accredited to attend UN sessions. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Block, replying to queries filed by lawmakers, noted that the UN Ethics Office confirmed that a “list of names” of activists registered to attend sessions of the UN Human Rights Council was handed to Chinese authorities by OHCHR. Whistelblower Emma Reilly tried to stop this practice, and was stifled; her case before a UN tribunal has now been stopped after the UN chief removed the judge at the last minute.  UN Refuses to Specify Reasons for Censorship  On July 30th, after UN Watch had asked why its statements were not published, the UN refused to specify which statements or words it found objectionable, instead making only a general remark that submissions must be "relevant to the work of the Human Rights Council" and must not contain "personal attacks against individuals." The UN failed to specify where the complaint had allegedly violated any UN rule or regulation.  In reaction to this unprecedented censorship, UN Watch filed an appeal with the UN Secretary-General on August 8th, protesting the "alarming" UNHRC action, and noting its selectivity.  The appeal also noted that the HRC Secretariat's failure to specify specific objections to the submission "infringes on NGO rights and appears to be a form of censorship."  Yesterday, in a meeting with the President of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, his advisor confirmed that UN Watch's appeal to UN chief Guterres was rejected. Eric Tistounet, Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch at the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), stated that the UN has the right to "intervene" to prevent written submissions which include "personal attacks," and that in doing so the UN is "not censoring anybody." Listen here at 5:38-6:54...

There are the groups that signed on - and which should take action on Guterres' wider corruption with China and censorship of Inner City Press from the UNGA week: Hillel C. Neuer, Executive Director, United Nations Watch, Switzerland Souad Talsi MBE, Founder, Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women’s Project, United Kingdom Mia Hasenson-Gross, Executive Director, Rene Cassin, United Kingdom Valle Thierry, Président, Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, France Marie-Anne Delahaut, President-CEO, Millennia 2025 Women & Innovation Foundation, Belgium Jean Paul Laurent, Founder-CEO, Unspoken Smiles Foundation, France Avvy Go, Clinic Director, Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Canada Temour Shah, Program Coordinator, Rural Community Development Program, Pakistan Mariam Ina Koita, Vice President, Inter-Action Globale, Mali Charles Phillips, Executive Director, Service For Peace, Inc., United States Erold Elcius, Président, Organisation Conseillère pour le Développement Économique et Social de la Commune des Gonaïves, Haiti Jenifer White, Founder, Project 1948 Foundation, United States Ashot Ayrapetyan, Director, Center for Interethnic Cooperation, United States Kenneth Amoateng, Executive Director, Abibimman Foundation, United States Tall Lacina, Président, Comité/Club Unesco Universitaire pour la Lutte Contre la Drogue et autres pandémies (CLUCOD), Côte D’Ivoire Margaret Mayce, Main Representative, Dominican Leadership Conference, United States Karim D. Philips, President, Young Heart Foundation, Ghana Kwegueng Emile, Secrétaire Exécutif, Build Africa, Cameroon Ramakrishnan Nagarajan, Executive Director, Ideosync Media Combine, India François Simon Pierre Ngan Tonye, CEO, Association des Ressortissants et Amis D’Eseka, Cameroon Lukman Adefolahan, Lead Coordinator, 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative, Nigeria Aisha Ahmed, Chairperson, Murna Foundation, Nigeria Mange Ram Adhana, President, Association for Promotion Sustainable Development, India Rose Ngalula, Co-Founder, Action Communautaire Femme et Enfant, Democratic Republic of the Congo Padonou Sourou Fabrice, Président, Mouvement des Jeunes pour le Réveil et le Développement (MJRD), Bénin Damien Noma, Executive Director, Association Respect Cameroun, Cameroon Dr. Dominic Dixon, Executive Director, More Trust, India Teh Francis, Director, Goodness and Mercy Missions Common Initiative Group, Cameroon Vera Da Ros, President, Brazilian Harm Reduction and Human Rights Network – REDUC, Brazil Pierrette J. Cazeau, President & Founder, Haiti Cholera Research Funding Foundation Inc., United States Rashid Anyetei Odoi, Executive Director, Free World Foundation (FWF), Ghana Marcel Saturnin Kouna, Président National, Association nationale de promotion et de protection des droits de l’homme, Cameroon Thierno Hamidou Balde, Executive Director, Zero Pauvre Afrique, Guinea Victor Amisi, Executive Director, Vision GRAM-International, Canada Dosse Sossouga, Executive Director, Amis des Étrangers au Togo (A.D.E.T), Togo Francis N. Nchu, Director, Community Development Volunteers for Technical Assistance – Cameroon, Cameroon Michael Enahoro, Executive Director, Excellent World Foundation LTD/GTE, Cameroon Roger Lokapatchu, Directeur Général, Association locale pour le développement intégral, Democratic Republic of the Congo Datuk Agung Sidayu, Chairman, Yayasan Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia Darren Harper, President, Maawandoon Inc., Canada Mohamed Hassan, CEO, Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO), Ethiopia Sylvanus Murray, President, Advocacy Initiative for Development (AID), United States Alan Owen, Chairman, British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, United Kingdom Samir Kumar Das, Advocate & Chairman, International Movement for Advancement of Education Culture Social & Economic Development (IMAECSED), India Sandeep Ahuja, CEO, Operation ASHA, India Patrick Spencer, Executive Director, Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, United States Iba Sarr, Directeur des Programmes, Rencontre Africaine pour la défense des droits de l’homme, Senegal Sudaba Shiraliyeva, Director, “Women and Modern World” Social Charitable Centre, Azerbaijan Dr. Alan Goldsmith, President, The Jewish Renaissance Foundation, United States Banding Gassama, Président, Cause Première, Senegal Anne Trehern, Secrétaire Générale, United Villages (Villages Unis), Switzerland Botnaru Petru, Director, Terra-1530, Moldova Hermann Koffi Kouame, Président, Change Human’s Life, Côte D’Ivoire Prof. Rajendra Pratap Gupta, President, Disease Management Association of India, India Getro Mathieu, Executive Director, Action Secours Ambulance (ASA), Haiti Lucica Humenuc, President, SIRDO – Romanian Independent Society of Human Rights, Romania Omonade Kejekpo, Executive Director, Poverty Alleviation for the Poor Initiative, Nigeria Eskinder Kebede, Managing Director, Ethiopia Change and Development Association, Ethiopia Robert Kibaya, Executive Director, Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organization (KIRUCODO), Uganda Godwin Osung, Founder, Godwin Osung International Foundation, Inc. (African Project), Nigeria Ahmed Pathan, President & CEO, Green Planet, India McShimana Jacobs Akem, Project Director, I.D.S-Intercommunity Development Social Organisation, Nigeria Churchill Butalia, Coordinator, Alliance for Development and Population Services (ADEPS), Kenya Descartes Mponge Malasi, Executive Director, ACADHOSHA (Action des Chrétiens Activistes des Droits de l’homme à Shabunda), Democratic Republic of the Congo Fongoh Eric, General Coordinator, ICENECDEV-International Centre for Environmental Education and Community Development, Cameroon Moussa Gawi, Président, Association Mauritanienne Pour la Promotion des Droits de L’homme AMPDH, Mauritania Anand Karunakaran, Founder, Child Care Consortium, India Lufuluabo Kabambi Thierry, Président, African Development Assistance Consult, Democratic Republic of the Congo Mamadou Sarr, Secrétaire Exécutif, Association Nationale des Partenaires Migrants, Senegal Tohfa Eminova, President, Azerbaijani American Cultural Association in Florida, United States Ataurrahman Khan, Executive President, National Women’s Welfare Society Darwha, India Mbuh Raphael Mbuh, President, FI.MO.AT.C.I.G, Cameroon Prince Charles Sackeyfio, President, Emperor Gaza International Foundation, Ghana Rana Abdul Sattar, CEO & President, World Welfare Association, Pakistan Obuesi Phillips, Global Director, Community Agenda for Peace, Nigeria Teresa Kotturan, Main NGO Representative, Sisters of Charity Federation, United States Romuald Djivoessoun, Directeur Exécutif, Autre Vie, Benin Tijani Abdlumumin, Senior Youth Coordinator, Asabe Shehu Yar Adua Foundation, United States Hazel Dukes, Links NGO Representative, The Links Inc., United States Yves Laurin, President, French Committee for South Africa (Comité Français Pour l’Afrique du Sud), France Shola Mese, Founder, Shola Mese Foundation, Nigeria Spanana Ole Meitiaki, Program Coordinator, Ilngwesi Afya Program, Kenya Emil Kambala, Secretary, Fondation Nehemie, Democratic Republic of the Congo Braema Mathi, President, Singapore Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, Singapore Sheldon Clare, President, Canada’s National Firearms Association, Canada Germaine Tuamba, CEO, Centre d’Accompagnement des Filles Désoeuvrées, Democratic Republic of the Congo Muzaffer Baca, Vice President, International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation, Turkey Bikash Rautray, Secretary, Association for Rural Area Social Modification, Improvement and Nestling (ARASMIN), India Taz Mukorombindo, CEO, Canterbury & New Zealand Business Association Inc., New Zealand Mohammad Safi Ul Alam, Founder & CEO, Youth Foundation of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Lakshmikanta Singh, Executive Director, Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECDO), Bangladesh Amjad Khan, President, Ekta Welfare Society, India Mohammed Masood Mohiuddin, Chairman, AIM Education & Research Society, India Moussa Mahamadou, Coordinator, Association pour la Lutte contre le Travail des Enfants au Niger (ALTEN), Niger Salim Khan, General Secretary, Social Development and Management Society, India Télesphore Balonga, Président, Centre d’Accueil et de Volontariat pour Orphelins Abandonnés et Handicapés du Cameroun, Cameroon Gugulethu Resha, Intern – Youth Programs & Capacity Building, South African Institute of International Affairs, South Africa Alain Ilunga wa Ilunga, Président, Bureau Pour la Croissance Intégrale et la Dignité de L’enfant, Democratic Republic of Congo Gertrude Kenyangi, Executive Director, Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN), Uganda Abdoullah Bazyar, President, Internationale Gemeinschaft für die Unterstützung von Kriegsopfern e.V., Germany Altin Hazizaj, Director, Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania, Albania Souvi Sidi Batt, Président, L’observatoire Maurtanien des Droits de l’homme et de la Démocratie, Mauritania Rachel Nisbet, Communications, International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance, Switzerland Imtiaz Ahmed, Chief Executive, DESSI International, Pakistan Henry Appiah, International Coordinator, City 2000 Youth Action International, Ghana Philippe Nanga, Coordinateur, Association Un Monde Avenir, Cameroon David Borden, Executive Director, DRCNet Foundation, United States Nick Kent, National Director, Students for Sensible Drug Policy – Australia, Australia Paul Usi Elomien, Executive Director, Community Social Welfare Foundation, Nigeria Emmanuel Sevidzem, Managing Director, Technical Centre for Fine Art and Computer Studies CIG Group (TechCeFaCos), Cameroon Abul Lkair, President, Mankind Welfare Organization, Pakistan Babatope Babalobi, Executive Director, Bread of Life Development Foundation, Nigeria Awoussi Koura-Napo, Présidente, Association Togolaise Femmes et Sida, Togo Davy Koller, President, Österreichische Lebens – Rettungs – Gesellschaft Bundesverband Österreich (OLRG), Austria Nathaniel Odudele, President, African Heritage Foundation Nigeria, Nigeria Abayomi Olatunji, Executive Director, Entrepreneurship Development and Support Initiative, Nigeria Moka Gabriel, President, Kalipa Foundation for Development, Democratic Republic of Congo Mashario Sakata, Chairperson of the Board, Japan Asia Cultural Exchanges (JACE), United States Kofi Kankam, President & CEO, Elizka Relief Foundation, Ghana Hilaire Bell, Présidente, Cercle de Recherche sur les Droits et les Devoirs de la Personne Humaine (CRED), Switzerland Sylvia Briggs, CEO, Women Educators Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Cheikh Mohamed Vadhel Cheikh, Coordinator, Association Mauritanienne pour la Transparence et le Développement (ATED), Mauritania Dr. George-Hill Anthony, CEO, Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Nigeria Yvonne Singleton Davis, Founder, Sister to Sister One in the Spirit, Inc., United States Jay Sorensen, President, Kids First Fund, United States Phillip Phinn, President General, Word of Life Christian Fellowship, Jamaica Ann Fordham, Executive Director, International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), United Kingdom Dopé Adjoko Benedicta Koudadje-Assagba, Directrice Exécutive, Credo Action, Togo Neil Belanger, Executive Director, BC Aboriginal Network on Disability Society, Canada Didier Kiyanga Mundonda, President, Coup de Pouce, Democratic Republic of Congo Ibrahim Salih, Director, Local Action Organization, Sudan David Younus, Chairman, All Christians Welfare Association, Pakistan John Lupoli, Archbishop, World Council of Independent Christian Churches, United States Tiffany Taylor, President, Sociologists for Women in Society, United States Nicholas Kunga, Director, Volunteers For Africa, Kenya Rami Harajli, Managing Director, Medrar Foundation, Lebanon."

   On June 14 Dujarric said this, about Guterres' counter-terrrorism envoy on a dubious trip to Xinjiang to bluewash the mass detention of Uighurs: "Vladimir Voronkov is on an official trip to China at the invitation of the Chinese Government... there will be some sort of a press release from his office at the end of his visit at some point over the weekend." 

   With Guterres and his spokesman refusing to answer Press questions, now Inner City Press has in writing asked them to respond to this: "Dolkun Isa, president of theWorld Uyghur Congress, called the Xinjiang visit by Voronkov “an irrevocable mistake on the part of General Secretary Guterres.”  “It is truly shameful for the UN that its Under Secretary for Counterterrorism Vladimir Voronkov visited East Turkestan and China at a time anywhere from one to three million Uyghurs have been locked up in Chinese concentration camps for more than two years,” he told RFA on Monday.  “This official visit, approved by the UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres, allows China to link its crimes against humanity in East Turkestan as a necessary counterterrorism measure,” said Isa.  “Instead of raising and investigating China’s horrific treatment of the Uyghur people, the visit by Voronkov should be seen as the UN not only endorsing China’s repression of the Uyghur people but rather legitimizing and collaborating with the authoritarian government in Beijing to further suppress the Uyghur people.” 

  And from the UN, no answers. Online, this canned statement, that said Voronkov “briefed on the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and its four pillars, which focus on conditions conducive to terrorism, preventing and countering terrorism and the role of the United Nations, and upholding human rights and the rule of law.”

  On Sunday June 16, with Guterres' envoy Voronkov having left Xinjiang after blue washing it, nothing from the UN, only this from China's Foreign Ministry: Voronkov had visited Beijing and Xinjiang from June 13-15, meeting senior diplomats including Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng; these two sides "had a deep exchange of views on the international counter-terrorism situation and counter-terrorism cooperation between China and the United Nations, and reached a broad consensus", the ministry said.

  And from totally sold out Guterres' UN, nothing, despite what Dujarric said on camera. We'll have more on this.

   The media Guterres and Dujarric work with to conceal just how corrupt Guterres' UN has become are trying to downplay Guterres' role and financial links, and for example sloppily praise the UK. Reuters stated that the UK also opposes - then runs a quote from an unnamed UNSC diplomat. Oops. A scribe's former boss is quoted without disclosure of the conflict; the former boss has written, here, to Dujarric to get Inner City Press thrown out. Guterres' and Dujarric's UN and their collaborators are in fact similar to China and its state media.

 Now on June 14 from the US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, this: "Deputy Secretary John J. Sullivan spoke by phone today with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to convey deep concerns regarding Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Voronkov’s planned travel to Xinjiang, China.  The Deputy Secretary expressed that such a visit is highly inappropriate in view of the unprecedented repression campaign underway in Xinjiang against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims.  The Deputy Secretary noted that Beijing continues to paint its repressive campaign against Uighurs and other Muslims as legitimate counterterrorism efforts when it is not, and stressed that the UN’s topmost counterterrorism official is putting at risk the UN’s reputation and credibility on counterterrorism and human rights by lending credence to these false claims.  The Deputy Secretary advocated for unmonitored and unhindered access to all camps and detainees in Xinjiang by UN human rights officials."

  So Guterres' capitulation politically to China is becoming known. But what about his personal financial links, and his censorship of the Press to cover them up? Watch this site.

  Three times in early June 2019banned Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres and Dujarric, "On China and human rights, what is the SG's belated comment today on the 30th anniversary of the slaughter by the government of non violent demonstrators in Tiananmen Square?" In the June 3 UN noon briefing, here was Guterres' answer:

Q: Secretary‑General's comment on 30 years anniversary of Tiananmen case, please? 

Spokesman Dujarric:  "No, I have no particular comment on that.  Okay.  Thank you very much.  See you tomorrow." Vine video here.

  No, only those they allow in to the UN and its briefing. So while ignoring Inner City Press' follow up questions, inside his briefing room Dujarric issued this dodge: "I think the Secretary… we're commenting on things that are happening today, right now, under his watch."

 In light of this "bygones" dodges, why is Guterres blaming the UN's budget crunch on the previous Secretary General who hasn't been at the controls for two and a half years? Guterres is killing the UN.

 On May 14, Inner City Press asked Guterres and Dujarric, "May 14-1: On China, human rights and NYC, what is the SG's comment and action if any on that a state-owned Chinese shipping company refused to lease an office space in NYC to  Amnesty International USA? Cosco Shipping acquired Orient Overseas in 2017, and took ownership the company’s real estate investments, including the office building in question, called Wall Street Plaza.  Amnesty said the organization was told that it is “not the best tenant” for a building owned by a Chinese state-owned firm." More than a day later, no answer. One wonders the position of Mayor De Blasio and his International Affairs representative Penny Abeywardena...

  On May 15, Inner City Press asked Guterres and Dujarric, "May 15-1: On China and the UN, beyond the ban on Taiwan journalists, what is the SG's explanation and/or action on that former political prisoners in China who now reside in the United States were informed by the UN accreditation desk in Geneva that they could not enter the premises without a passport from a UN member state. As political dissidents who have fled from China, the visitors did not have valid passports from the country? Dissidents who flee their home countries due to persecution are often not issued passports from their countries of refuge but are rather issued other valid forms of identification."

  Eight hours later, no answer. But there's this, sent to Inner City Press by several outraged UN staffers: "Scheduled demonstration outside VIC Gate 1 on Thursday, 16 May 2019, 10:00 -12:00 hours.   This is to inform VIC staff that on Thursday, 16 May 2019, between 10:00 hrs and 12:00 hrs there will be an authorized demonstration of approximately 100 demonstrators in Muhammad Asad Platz outside VIC Gate 1.  The organizers describe their demonstration message to "Support Taiwan’s participation to the World Health Organisation".  The UN Security and Safety Service, together with the host country police, will monitor this event for its duration.   Office of the Chief, Security and Safety Service United Nations Department of Safety and Security United Nations Office at Vienna." Yeah, Guterres' UN will monitor this event, and movement, for the duration. To (try to) save the UN, dump Guterres.

  While Guterres was in China banned Inner City Press in writing asked him and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric about China's crackdown in Hong Kong - no answer at all. Now even according to CNBC, tens of thousands of people marched on Hong Kong’s parliament on Sunday to demand the scrapping of proposed extradition rules that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial — a move which some fear puts the city’s core freedoms at risk.  Opponents of the proposal fear further erosion of rights and legal protections in the free-wheeling financial hub — freedoms which were guaranteed under the city’s handover from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Guterres said nothing. And when, CNBC reports, China censored its reporting from being broadcast in China, again nothing. Then again, Guterres has had critical Press roughed up and banned from the UN, for 298 days. He is corrupt.

  On April 27 from Beijing, from Guterres' second craven Belt and Road Initiative speech in as many days as he conceals his links with BRI briber China Energy Fund Committee which tried to buy the oil company of Gulbenkian Foundation which has paid Guterres: "I can assure you, Mr. President [Xi Jinping of China], that the UN will do everything possible to help towards the success of the Belt and Road Initiative... the Belt and Road Initiative, with its huge volume of investment, is an opportunity we cannot miss." Guterres will do anything to conceal his own personal financing link to UN briber CEFC China Energy, through Gulbenkian Foundation whose payments to him he omitted from his public financial disclosure covering 2016.  From Guterres's April 26 singing for supper speech: "Convened by President Xi Jinping, we come together at this forum on the Belt and Road in the face of uncertainty and unease around the globe.      I want to recognize China for its central role as a pillar of international cooperation and multilateralism... United Nations country teams stand ready to support Member States in capacity and governance building, and in achieving a harmonious and sustainable integration of the Belt and Road projects in their own economies and societies in accordance with national development plans, anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The world needs to take profit of the Belt and Road Initiative to help close significant financing gaps for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in the developing world, in particular, the need for about $1 trillion needed for infrastructure investments in developing countries.... The United Nations is poised to support the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Sustainable Development Goals, to share knowledge, and to make the most of the opportunities of this large-scale initiative for maximum sustainable development dividends.      Let us work together to restore trust by making good on the shared promise of the 2030 Agenda and our common commitment to leave no one behind.     Thank you."

Before 10 am on April 25, Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, as well as Guterres' email address and that of his deputy and Alison Smale, "April 25-1: Now that SG Guterres is lavishing praise on China's "Belt and Road" please immediately provide the full transcript of Guterres' "interview with Chinese journalists" from which this propaganda came out: "UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the Belt and Road Initiative is a "very important opportunity" to the world. With such a huge volume of investment for international cooperation as the Belt and Road Initiative, it is a "very important opportunity for enhancing the capacity to implement the sustainable development goals and an important opportunity to launch green perspectives in the years to come," Guterres said during an interview with Chinese journalists at the UN headquarters before leaving for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. (Xinhua)." Immediately state how many staff of Xinhua and other Chinese state media the UN DPI/DGC has granted accreditation to to currently enter the UN. 

April 25-2: Immediately state how much Guterres and team's trip to China is costing, the size and composition of the UN delegation, and who is paying for it (given that even the PGA now discloses this information).  Again, state whether after 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 (omitted from his online public financial disclosure covering 2016), he intends to raise corruption and UN bribery issues with China." More than seven hours later, no answer at all. But the UN South South Cooperation Office, which fronted for Chinese businessman Ng Lap Seng, was tweeting photos of its meetings in Beijing including Jorge Chediek and his (Chinese) deputy Xiaojun Grace Wang, here. China was bragging that Guterres would cravenly show up at its Belt and Road event, after Guterres refused to audit UN briber CEFC China Energy. CEFC tried to buy the oil company of Lisbon based Gulbenkian Foundation the payments of which to Guterres were not included in his public financial disclosure covering 2016. This was  days after Guterres' Alison Smale and Tal Mekel summarily denied Inner City Press application to re-enter the UN to ask questions, and after guards physically pushed Inner City Press out of the line for a press freedom event in the UN it was invited to and had a ticket for, then refused to provide the banned-by-Guterres list they said was the basis of their action.

 Back on September 7 Inner City Press reported that Guterres intends to use even Kofi Annan's death and the September 13 event in Ghana as a pretext to again fly to Lisbon. He'll turn it into a five day junket, leaving New York on September 11 (when he's arranged a Myanmar white washing CPPF meeting, also reported exclusively by banned Inner City Press, here), offer praise sure to be ironic of Kofi Annan who Rest in Peace never had a critical journalist roughed up and banned - then fly to Lisbon on the public dime, until September 16. How much will it cost? The UN refuses to answer. But it is not their money. And the climate of cover up includes Guterres not disclosing his own son Pedro Guimarães e Melo De Oliveira Guterres' business links in Africa and elsewhere. We'll have more on this: it is what journalism is supposed to do, hold institutions and those who lead them accountable.

Here from multiple member state sources and open source are the dates of Guterres' first 14 -- 30% of total UN trips - through Lisbon for each of which Inner City Press has asked, and not been answered, and live-stream Periscope of the UN's empty massion on 57th Street and Sutton Place for which it was roughed up and banned:

1/13/2017-1/20/2017    NY->Lisbon->Geneva->Davos Platz->Zurich

2/9/2017-2/20/2017            NY->Istanbul->Riyadh->Dubai->Abu Dhabi->Muscat->Doha->Cairo->Frankfurt->Bonn->Munich->Lisbon

2/24/2017-2/27/2017    NY->Lisbon->Geneva

3/25/2017-3/31/2017    NY->Lisbon->Amman->Baghdad->Arbil->Gaziantep

5/9/2017-5/22/2017            NY->London->Beijing->Strasbourg->Geneva->Lisbon

5/25/2017-5/29/2017    NY->Catania->Lisbon

6/20/2017-6/26/2017    NY->Entebbe->Lisbon

6/27/2017-7/4/2017            NY->Washington DC.->Geneva->Lisbon, (30/06/2017 - 04/07/2017 in Lisbon)

11/3/2017-11/7/2017    NY->Lisbon

2/12/2018-2/19/2018    NY->Kuwait->London->Munich->Lisbon

3/14/2018-3/16/2018    NY->Rome->Lisbon

5/11/2018-5/19/2018    NY->Lisbon->Vienna->Brussels->Washington DC

5/23/2018-5/31/2018    NY->Geneva->Lisbon->Paris->Bamako

7/6/2018-7/11/2018        NY->Lisbon->Addis Ababa->Kinshasa

  Do the member states paying for this - whom Guterres' Smale quotes without name as supporting the roughing up of and permanent ban on Inner City Press, agree with this? Do they know this?

How arrogant or out of touch a self-styled world leader is has been revealed in the Leader's contemptuous approach to freedom of the press and whose who even gently chide him on it, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner. No, this is not a reference to Donald Trump, but to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Nobel Peace Prize winner who has sought the reversal of Guterres' outrageous 56 day and counting ban on Inner City Press even entering the UN is Jose Ramos Horta of Timor Leste, still serving Guterres' UN, who told Inner City Press on August 27, "Dear Matthew I did reach the very inner sanctum of the UN system reporting on your case to no avail. Apologies but I don't know what else I can do."

Later on August 27 an independent journalist asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric why things are not fixed with Inner City Press' access, since it "looks bad" given other attacks on press freedom. Video here. Dujarric tried to cut the journlist off, insisting to say this is about freedom of the press would be wrong. (Then why is it in the Press Freedom Tracker, here, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among others for example in the UK, Japan, Italy and Cameroon?)

Dujarric changed the earlier reference to Inner City Press being in a "garage ramp" - something Guterres' Alison Smale never asked Inner City Press about - to being in the "parking lot." (Inner City Press' pass worked to get there, many use it as a way to exit, and several senior UN official, anti-Guterres sources of Inner City Press ask to meet it and give it documents there. Maybe that's the reason.) Dujarric then said that Inner City Press creates a "hostile environment" for the diplomats, some times correspondents and always UN officials it covers. Seems clear the ban is entirely about freedom of the Press, freedom to question, and a Secretary General and vindictive team of holdovers who seek to retaliate against questions and coverage, including live streamed covering, with a lifetime ban with no appeal. Here is an example of Inner City Press' August 28 questioning at the Delegates Entrance, since Guterres and Alison Smale have banned it from the Security Council stakeout. Is this hostile?  China - and Guterres - would say so, then bluewash their abuse.

  In her lifetime ban letter, outgoing USG Alison Smale also claimed that Guterres' spokesmen would answer Inner City Press' e-mailed questions. But this it false. Of the fourteen question Inner City Press e-mailed to them, and Smale, and Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed and others on August 23 and 24, not one was answered. Not one. Including: "August 24-3: Given that Deputy Spokesman Haq told IPS “we respect his press rights, but we also want to respect other’s press rights. And some journalists feel their press rights have been impeded by his actions” - state, since this is the basis of me being banned, who these are, and how they feel their press rights have been impeded by my actions. Also all video and other evidence that Haq alluded to to IPS should be produced, today, since it is the basis of my being banned." Nothing has been provided, eight hours later, by Spokesman Stephane Dujarric who was drawing pay all day after having essentially ordered or passed on from his boss the order to rough up Inner City Press.

From the IPS article: "Lee has been known for asking thought-provoking questions during daily briefings and at press stakeouts. He has reported on global conflicts such as those in Sri Lanka, Congo, Somalia, and others... However, the incidents with Lee started back in 2012, when he was warned by the DPI to treat his fellow journalists with respect." That's not the case.

In 2012, the President of the UN Correspondents Association Giampaolo Pioli, who had rented one of him Manhattan apartments to one Palitha Kahona then unilaterally granted his request or demand for an UNCA screening of the war crimes denial film of the Sri Lanka government he represented at the UN, ordered Inner City Press to remove from the Internet its article about the conflict of interest. Inner City Press declined but offered to publish any response, at any length. Pioli and the UNCA board demanded removal of the article, and ultimately Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded FUNCA, the Free UN Coalition for Access.

The UN claimed it was uninvolved - instead, then head of Accreditation Stephane Dujarric tried to condition Inner City Press' re-accreditation as a resident correspondent on more positive coverage of the Secretariat, specifically his fellow Frenchman Herve Ladsous, the head of Peacekeeping who famously said peacekeepers would rape less if they had more "R&R." So from 2012 it was the UN trying to strong arm positive coverage of its officials, and using the aura of "other correspondents" in UNCA as the leverage - making UN the UN Censorship Alliance.

 

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