In UN
of Cholera
&
“Selfish,”
Media Boss
Stands Behind
False
Complaint,
Leaves
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
15 -- This UN
has no
accountability.
It arrogantly
“stands
behind”
whatever it
says or does,
because it has
impunity. A
fish, as they
say, rots from
the head. But
the lower down
it gets, the
worse it
smells.
The
UN brought
cholera to
Haiti, which
has killed
over 5,000
people. But
faced with a
detailed legal
complaint, the
UN
waited 15
months then
said only that
the claim was
“not
receivable.”
Inner City
Press
has asked
for the legal
basis, a
half dozen
times, without
response.
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon,
when Inner
City Press asked him
about UN staff
opposition
to his budget
cuts and
mobility
proposals in
the course of
a long and
seemingly
heartfelt
response said
that his
opponent are
“selfish.”
Inner
City Press
asked his
spokespeople
if he might
wish to
rephrase. No,
was the
answer, Ban
Ki-moon
“stands
behind” what
he said.
Lower
down but
similar, the
UN Department
of Public
Information
invited
Inner City
Press,
representing
the new and
needed Free
UN Coalition
for
Access, to
a meeting on
February 22
with the old
UN
Correspondents
Association.
At
the meeting,
Inner City
Press said
clearly, “you
are on the
record.” And
UNCA's
President,
Pamela Falk of
CBS, said
“he's
going to write
this up.” Audio here.
Here
is audio
of UNCA's
first vice
president
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters refusing
to answer
questions
about 2012
UNCA/ Voice
of America
requests to Dujarric
to "review"
Inner City
Press'
accrediation,
which VOA
documents say
Reuters
and AFP
supported
(and now
pursue by bad
faith UN
Security
complaints,
see below).
But
after Inner
City Press did
report on the
February 22
meeting, with
verbatim
quotes and
audio, the UN
official left
in charge of
Media
Accreditation,
Stephane
Dujarric,
wrote to Inner
City Press
that “it
was clearly
understood by
all sides
there would be
no reporting
or
recording of
the meeting.”
Inner
City Press has
provided
audio; another
attendee wrote
to Dujarric
and
the head of
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
that Inner
City
Press “did
indicate, in
response to a
comment Pam
made, that the
meeting was
being
recorded.”
So
since February
27 Inner City
Press and
FUNCA have
requested an
explanation or
retraction of
the February
27 letter,
which is in
essence a
complaint by
the official
in charge of
UN Media
Accreditation.
Having
no response at
all, Inner
City Press
wrote to the
head of DPI on
the
morning of
March 15.
Nine
hours later,
as Inner City
Press was
covering an
evening meeting
of
the Commission
on the Status
of Women
at which UN
Women's
Bachelet
announced she
will be
leaving the UN,
it was not the
head of DPI
but
Dujarric who
replied,
stating on
this that “the
letter stands
and I
have nothing
to add.”
How
can that be,
when the
central claim
of the letter
has been
disproved
by two
participants
and even
recorded
audio?
But
this is the
UN, where the
Secretary
General can
call the
headquarters
staff
“selfish” and
then stand
behind it.
And
so, given
Dujarric's
lawless
behavior, it
is any wonder
that UNCA
“leader” Tim
Witcher of
Agence France
Presse has
filed a
frivolous
complaint,
along with Reuters'
Michelle
Nichols,
about an
entirely
verbal
interchange
with Inner
City Press?
Tellingly,
this was about
the use by
the head
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Lardsous,
of Reuters and
AFP,
on
one of whose
management
boards Ladsous
served, as
pass-throughs
for
half-answers
to questions
about rapes
which Inner
City Press had
asked.
A
fish rots in
stages, from
the head
through
mid-level
officials to
wormy scribes
like Witcher.
Inner
City Press
immediately
responded to
Dujarric's
flabbergasting
statement that
his false
February 27
letter
“stands” --
with
audio,
send also to
the head of
DPI.
Then an
auto-response
from
Dujarric, that
he will
henceforth be
away from UN
Headquarters.
Hit
and run, they
call it. Or
lie and run?
And what
of Ban's DPI?
We'll
have more on
this. Watch
this site.
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