UNITED
NATIONS, April
24 -- The UN
says much
about
protecting
journalists,
but what does
it do? It has
a peacekeeping
mission in the
Congo --
but when
journalist
Blaise Bahisha
was arrested
in Goma by the
Congolese
authorities,
the UN's
partner, the
UN said
nothing.
Inner
City Press on
April 24 asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about
Bahisha's
arrest,
but there was
no
response, no
“if-asked”
from the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
under Herve
Ladsous.
While
time did not
permit at the
April 24 noon
briefing,
Inner City
Press
had
planned to ask
about DPKO's
silence in
South Sudan,
where it has
a mission,
even as Lakes
State governor
Mabor Achol
Kuer says
said,
“those who are
writing
negatively
about this
state
government
will
be crucified
like Jesus
Christ if we
capture them.”
The
UN Mission is
closely
aligned with
the South
Sudan
government;
there
has been no
response to
this threat to
“crucify”
journalists.
On
April 23 in
the UN
Committee on
Information,
UNESCO spoke
of a UN
Plan to
protect
journalists,
which would be
much needed.
Not
enough has
been said
about the editor in
Mali facing
charges for
reporting on
the windfall
to coup leader
Amadou Sanago.
It's
unclear what
the UN did
while a reporter
was in danger
in
Central
African
Republic
recently. And
what of Prageeth,
disappeared
in Sri Lanka?
These are only
examples.
.
And
now on May 2,
for World
Press Freedom
Day, the UN is
holding an
event. But
beyond the
contradiction
listed above,
the event
itself
has false
notes.
On the
panel is the
spokesman for
DPKO chief
Herve
Ladsous. Not
only has
Ladsous openly
refused to
answer Press
questions, for
example about
126 rapes in
Minova by the
Congolese
Army, his
partner -- his
spokesman
Kieran Dwyer
has said, on
camera,
that Inner
City Press
questions will
not be
answered. What
respect
for freedom of
the press.
What a joke.
Also
on the panel,
seemingly
automatically
but we'd say
inappropriately,
is Pamela Falk
of CBS, the
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
Earlier this
year, while
the UN
conducted a
non-consensual
raid on the
Press' office,
Falk was
ghoulishly
taking
photographs.
Then Falk
issued
a legal
threat,
through her
CBSNews.com
e-mail
account, to
“cease and
desist” even
asking why she
was
taking
photographs.
Freedom of the
press?
The
UN Department
of Public
Information
conducted the
raid;
photographs
taken while it
was in control
of Inner City
Press' office,
including
photos of the
Press' desk
and bookshelf,
were shared
and leaked
to
BuzzFeed right
after that
publication
contacted Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman to
ask about the
raid.
DPI has
been asked
again by the Free UN
Coalition for
Access to
explain and
make full
disclosure on
this, as
a way of
moving
forward. We
are waiting.
UNCA,
as noted and documented
by ongoing
Freedom
of Information
requests, spent
much of 2012
trying to get
the Press thrown out of
the UN.
Just last
month, one of
its Executive
Committee
members Tim
Witcher of Agence
France Presse
filed a false
complaint with
the UN,
leading with
the claim
that Inner
City Press'
question to
Ladsous on
March 8 about
the
Minova rapes
as “abusive.”
Also on the
May 2 panel is
Joel Simon
of CPJ
- which has a
blind spot.
UNCA
first vice
president Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters
complained
as well this
year,
about the
content of
Inner City
Press' website
- to UN
Security. To
try to use
Security
forces against
a media for
its content?
This from
UNCA's first
vice
president.
Some freedom
of the press.
Some May 2
event.
(There's
slated to
be another,
more reform minded
event on May
2). We'll
have more on
this.
, 
