By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- At the UN's noon briefing on August 13, on the eve of today's long planned protests in Bahrain, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's outgoing deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about them:
Inner City Press: In Bahrain, there is going to be a 14 August protest that the Government is trying to cut off at the pass. There are a lot of reports of journalists and bloggers and others being arrested in advance of this protest. I wonder, is it something that the UN, either DPA [Department of Political Affairs] or anyone is monitoring and what can you say about the rights of people to protest on 14 August in Bahrain?
Deputy Spokesperson Del Buey: Well, as we’ve said the umpteenth number of times from this podium, the Secretary-General believes that the right of democratic and peaceful protest is a right that people have, and it has to be… it should be respected at all times. With respect to whatever may be happening on 14 August, I’ll have to find out for you. I don’t have that information with me. [Video here.]
Apparently the UN still doesn't have or want to acknowledge having the information, even as the Bahraini government has rolled out barbed wire to cut off villages like Budaiya from the main roads. Maryam Alkhawaja uploaded just such a photo to Twitter.
But when some people tried to click and see it, Twitter characterized it as "sensitive," requiring an additional step of settings-changing to view.
While outrageous and with troubling resonance, what is so "sensitive" about a photograph of rolls of barbed wire in a street, with no people in it? What is the process within Twitter whereby some newsworthy photographs are flagged as "sensitive"?
And, on this day, where is the UN? Back in June 2013, the Free UN Coalition for Access questioned why the "UN Public Administrators' Network" blithely held a conference in Bahrain with nary a word about human rights. Here's Facebook photo of royals with UN officials -- apparently not sensitive.
The "UN Information Center" in Manama didn't speak about rights, rather tweeting about Ban Ki-moon then being in China. The new @FUNCA_info asked how this could be.
The "UN Information Center" in Manama didn't speak about rights, rather tweeting about Ban Ki-moon then being in China. The new @FUNCA_info asked how this could be.
Part-time UN official Terje Roed-Larsen, good friend of the royals, has in the past gone to Bahrain and been described there as a UN official. Then he characterized his trip as "personal" -- another form of "sensitive"? -- even though he took his UN-paid staffer with him.
Now, for months, the UN has left an Inner City Press question about Road-Larsen's UN staffing unanswered. Too sensitive? Watch this site.
