By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/unnet1censor111609.html
UNITED NATIONS, November 16 -- After the UN in Egypt removed a poster protesting Chinese web censorship from its Internet Governance Forum, at its headquarters in New York its Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq told Inner City Press the poster was "folded up... undamaged."
Haq said solemnly, "No UN official was involved in throwing the poster on the floor." He confirmed that the UN removed the poster, but said it was "on the floor, face up" when the UN demanded its removal. Video here, from Minute 20:26.
On the other hand, a delegate at the Internet Governance Forum has been quoted that "the poster was thrown on the floor and we were told to remove it because of the reference to China and Tibet. We refused, and security guards came and removed it. The incident was witnessed by many."
A more authoritative account: "The UN officials... asked us to remove it and one of our staff placed it on the ground for us to consider what to do. That's where we had the discussion. When we refused to remove it, their security guards bundled it up and took it away."
The UN's Haq explained the incident by stating that the group which unfurled the poster about censorship had, earlier in the conference, distributed an "unauthorized" flier for a movie about Tibet. Haq said this was prohibited by the UN, because it was a "political issue not related to the Internet Governance Forum."
But isn't web censorship an issue "related to the Internet Governance Forum"?
In fact, as Inner City Press has exclusively reported, the UN in New York uses filtering software which has blocked such web sites as (China's) Anti-CNN.com, click here for that story.
The poster contained the sentence: "The first generation of internet controls consisted largely of building firewalls at key internet gateways; China's famous 'Great Firewall of China' is one of the first national Internet filtering systems."
Inner City Press, which in full disclosure has its own experience with UN attempts to censor, click here, asked the UN's Haq at Monday's noon briefing to confirm that the above-quoted poster concerned internet censorship. Four hours later, no confirmation had been provided. Watch this site.
From the November 16 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: One more about the freedom of expression question. At this Internet Governance Forum (IGF), there has been an incident in which a poster about Internet censorship in China, about what they call the “Great Firewall” was taken down by the United Nations after the complaint by an unnamed delegation. It may seem like a small thing to you, but I’m wondering, given what you just said that the Secretary-General’s focus was on freedom of expression, does he think that that type of removal is consistent with his position?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: Well, in terms of that, I do have the facts of this from our colleagues in Sharm el-Sheikh. The Internet Governance Forum secretariat approved the request by a group called the Open Net Initiative for a room on the first day of the Forum to promote a book, and a room was allocated for that purpose. Subsequently, United Nations officials were alerted to a flyer being distributed at the event promoting a film on Tibet, which was not mentioned in the original request for the room. Officials from the Forum secretariat requested the organizers not to distribute the flyer or show the film, as this was not what the room was requested for, and concerned a political issue not related to the Internet Governance Forum. The IGF secretariat requested the organizers of the event not to distribute the flyers and they agreed.
Subsequently, other delegates complained to the Forum secretariat about a large poster displayed outside the room, which again was not pre-approved for posting outside the allocated room. In response to this complaint, officials from the Forum secretariat went to the room to discuss the issue with the organizers. Officials found that the poster was already on the floor of the room lying face up. No United Nations official was involved in throwing the poster on the floor. Following repeated requests from the IGF secretariat to remove the poster from the floor, United Nations security removed it from the floor and folded it undamaged. The organizers were told that they could pick it up anytime later that evening. And so that’s where we stand on that. But, the point to reiterate on that is that the request was made to the non-governmental organization involved not to distribute the flyers and they did agree to that.
Inner City Press: From the way that you say it, do you acknowledge that the poster had to do with Internet censorship in China and not Tibet, an issue that was related presumably to Internet governance?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: These are the details that were provided by colleagues in Sharm el-Sheikh. That’s what I’ve got.
Inner City Press: Can you ask them what the poster… just to confirm that the poster was about Internet censorship?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: Sure.
But eight hours later, no confirmation (or denial) was provided. Watch this site.
