By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unngo2credentials112009.html
UNITED NATIONS, November 20 -- Days after denying it had stripped the entry pass of a non governmental organization representative who spoke November 5 at the General Assembly stakeout microphone after the Assembly's vote on the Goldstone report on Gaza, the UN on November 19 reversed itself and acknowledged the action.
Inner City Press, which covered the expulsion on November 5 and later asked the UN to confirm it, on November 19 asked for the reason and precedent for the stripping of credentials. Outgoing spokesperson Michele Montas denied that speaking at the GA microphone was the reason, but could not cite any precedent for expelling an NGO for a minor entry violation.
The Wall Street Journal of November 20 chimed in on the topic, citing this reporter's work. Some wondered if the UN only confessed to the expulsion because of inquiries by the WSJ; other hearkened back to a meeting by five senior UN officials, including Ms. Montas, as which legal action against both the WSJ and Inner City Press was discussed.
The UN likes to expel its critics, then deny doing so.
From this week's transcripts on l'affaire Bayefsky:
November 16: Could you give us a status report on Anne Bayefsky, whether her credentials have been restored, or whether there is a plan to restore them or…?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: No, no. Her credentials and the credentials of her organization are not changed at this stage. She belongs to a non-governmental organization. It’s possible in the future that there could be a review, but at this stage there has been no removal of credentials from that non-governmental organization or from Ms. Bayefsky.
Then on November 18, Inner City Press asked
Inner City Press: you’d said, regarding this non-governmental organization that had the pass stripped after speaking in front of the General Assembly the day of the Goldstone Report vote. I think you said on Monday, there has been no change in the status, but I spoke to the person and they can’t get into the building. So can you explain how what you say is consistent with the person actually not having their pass, and who made the decision to remove it and what the process is to follow up on that?
Associate Spokesperson: Well, the accreditation of the NGO has not changed. That non-governmental organization is still accredited with ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council]. In terms of pass cards, I believe their passes had been taken at the time of the incident that occurred when they spoke without authorization. I believe that those were being kept so the NGO could then pick them up. So I believe the NGO can pick up those passes once more. That’s what I was informed.
Inner City Press: Okay. Because the person says they were asked to fill out a statement and if they didn’t turn it in exchange for getting the pass, then the pass was never returned. I just wanted to clear that up, since you’d said that there had been no change, that was your understanding.
Associate Spokesperson: As far as I am aware, the NGO is an accredited NGO, so it’s still entitled to have passes. Until that changes, they have accreditation through ECOSOC.
Then on November 19, Spokesperson Montas reversed course, and Inner City Press followed up:
Spokesperson Montas: We were asked about the situation of a pass card belonging to Anne Bayefsky yesterday. We have received some information from the Department of Safety and Security (DSS) about the matter, and I’d like to make the following clarification:
On Thursday, 5 November 2009, at approximately 1800 hours, Ms. Anne Bayefsky, an accredited member of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Non-Govermental Organization (NGO) Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, utilized her UNHQ-issued building pass in an unauthorized manner at the security turnstiles to grant access to Mr. Joel B. Pollak into restricted areas of the Headquarters complex. Further, Ms. Bayefsky transferred her Geneva-issued UN building pass to Mr. Pollak, in whose possession it was discovered. Based on these breaches of security protocol, both passes were retrieved. The outcome of the security inquiry will be forwarded by DSS to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs/ECOSOC for their determination as to final disposition. So I hope this clarifies what was said yesterday. We got more information today on the issue.
...Inner City Press: On the announcement or the clarification that you gave on this Bayefsky pass -- and thanks for that -- I just wanted to know two things. One is, is there no relation between this continued suspension of the pass and the person speaking at the General Assembly stakeout on 5 November? Because that seemed to trigger the incident, and…
Spokesperson: Well that was part of it. I gave you the two issues that were pending in terms of the security breach, and I already said about the intervention in front of the Security Council stakeout that it was a matter for… Whoever speaks at the stakeout has to be introduced either by a Member State or by an organization within the UN system. An NGO cannot step up unless that person is accompanied by a Member State, cannot step up to the microphone and just make a statement.
Inner City Press: No, no, I understand that, I just want to know if that’s part of the basis for the suspension of the pass or…?
Spokesperson: No, I already said what the basis was.
Inner City Press: Okay.
Spokesperson: …the introduction of someone with a pass that was hers.
Inner City Press: And has DSS ever run across a similar situation with other NGOs and not suspended their passes?
Spokesperson: Not that I know of. In every case where there is a security breach the passes are temporarily suspended until the case is fully investigated.
Inner City Press: And just one last thing on security breaches, is there any update in terms of suspensions or removal of suspensions on the -- I’m trying to think of the best way to say it -- the “chicken episode”? Because these two gentlemen were suspended.
Spokesperson: I don’t know what was done after what I told you. I can, of course, follow up on whether there were any other measures taken.
Inner City Press: Notice the name of the company wasn’t said to give them any publicity. We’ll just call them the “chicken company” for now.
Spokesperson: The “chicken company” yes, thank you so much! [Laughter]
And see, www.innercitypress.com/unngo2credentials112009.html
