On
Yemen, Dujarric
Denies DPA
Witch Hunt,
Claims Free
Press Amid
Eviction Bid
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
29 -- A month
before the one
year
anniversary of
the Saudi-led
Coalition's
campaign of
airstrikes on
Yemen, Inner
City Press
exclusively
published, not
for the first
time, an email
leaked to it
between UN
envoy Ismail
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed and UN
Department of
Political
Affairs chief
Jeff Feltman.
As Inner City
Press
subsequently
reported,
Feltman
conducted
questioning --
some called it
a witch hunt
-- of DPA
staff to try
to find out
who had leaked
it to Inner
City Press.
On
March 28,
after
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq had
refused to let
Inner City
Press asked
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed a
single
question at
his length
press
conference at
the UN, Ban's
top lawyer
issued a
threat of
imminent
eviction
threat to
Inner City
Press, here.
Not
surprisingly,
particularly
given
Feltman's
questioning,
some viewed
the UN's
escalation
against Inner
City Press as
a response to
its
publication of
UN leaks.
On
March 29,
Feltman wrote
to Inner City
Press and we
publish it in
full:
"Dear
Matthew,
On
Yemen:
Your job is to
publish what
you consider
to be
news. My
job includes
the protection
of what is UN
sensitive
information.
So we are
naturally
going to be at
odds over
things such as
leaked
e-mails;
that's just
part of the
respective
roles we
play. I
don't blame
you for
publishing
what you had
-- were I a
journalist, I
would likely
do the same --
but you are
surely
sophisticated
enough not to
be surprised
that I would
try to stop
leaks.
As for your
status at the
UN, you are of
course welcome
to continue to
send e-mails
to me, but, as
I expect you
know, others,
not DPA, have
the
appropriate
responsibilities
in this
case.
DPA is not
involved.
Jeffrey
Feltman
Under-Secretary-General
for Political
Affairs
United
Nations, New
York"
Feltman
cc-ed his
spokesman, who
ironically
used to work
at Amnesty
International.
Feltman's
statement that
the
retaliation
against Inner
City Press is
only
attributable
to Cristina
Gallach's DPI
and now Miguel
de Serpa
Soares' OLA
does not wash.
Inner City
Press has
written back
to Feltman, in
part that:
"Meant
to thank you
for your
response, at
least the part
acknowledging
that
publishing
leaks is (some
of) what
journalists do
- spend much
of the day
dealing with
new exclusions
to access,
unable to
cover a
meeting in
Trusteeship,
even an event
in the GA /
Visitors
Lobby.
I raised my
accreditation
cut without
due process to
you after I
woke up to
news of a
protest of USG
Gallach's
decision in
Jaffna. I view
DPA's work as
among the
substantive
work of the
UN; DPI is
more in a
service role,
akin to the
relation
between DPKO
and DFS.
If you were to
think and say
that this
arbitrary
accreditation
cut causes
problems for
the UN, or
problems in
communities
the UN cares
about, I feel
sure it would
be reversed.
And I think it
has and will
continue to
cause harm.
That's the
basis of my
request to you
-- that and
that a UN
system for
journalists
with no rights
whatsoever, to
due process or
appeals,
undercuts the
UN's
credibility.
And in this
case, all I
was doing was
trying to
cover in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
an event,
which I
believed and
believe is
related to the
ongoing John
Ashe, Ng Lap
Seng et al
corruption
scandal - that
is,
journalism.
This totally
disproportionate
response is
what
indicates, to
me and others,
retaliation.
Without
undercutting
that point,
which I hope
someone has
some impact in
the real
world, on
leaks I'd
think more of
a
technological
solution, like
documents that
disappear
after they are
read, rather
than
questioning
people. Since
the UN, to my
chagrin,
doesn't have a
FOIA,
self-erasing
documents
would be no
problem.
Mostly, if you
see that the
protests in
Jaffna, and
the acting Res
Rep's
disingenuous
response to
the Northern
Provincial
Councilor, are
indicative as
are responses
from some in
Burundi, and
about Yemen
and Western
Sahara, of
harm from the
accreditation
cut and office
seizure,
please make
that known to
those who can
and should
reverse the
decision."
, 
