By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 19 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece, he was handed an orange Yamaha life jacket. Amazingly, he put it on - and smiled. It was reminiscent of when Ban, on a Sri Lankan government victory tour in 2009, doffed his UN blue cap to Tamil children locked up in a camp.
That was a war without witnesses - Inner City Press was there for the trip, its last one with Ban Ki-moon who has since had Inner City Press' office evicted from the UN and confined it to minders. Greece 2016, it was photographed, here.
Ban and the Press
How does the UN under Ban and his "Public Information" chiefCristina Gallach pretextually evict the critical Press from its long time office and confine it to minders, hindering further reporting on their corruption?
This UN "Aide Memoire," which Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric called "leaked" and refused to answer questions on, shows how.
First, Ban's spokesman Dujarric made a non-public deal on January 26 with Giampaolo Pioli of the UN Correspondents Association to privatize the UN Press Briefing Room on January 29 - but not tell anyone it was private.
Next, when Inner City Press which quit UNCA in 2012 finding it too close to Ban and corrupt, for example Pioli's unilateral granting of a "UN" screening for Sri Lanka's war crimes denial film at the request of its Ambassador Palitha Kohona who had been Pioli's tenant, click here,appeared to cover the event, get Dujarric to order Inner City Press to leave, without showing any paperwork.
After Inner City Press, as it said it would, left as soon as a single UN Security guard said to, conspire with Under Secretary General Gallach, whom Inner City Press had previously questioned about her role in the Ban's Ng Lap Seng UN bribery scandal, to issue a letter on February 19 telling Inner City Press to leave its office and the building on two hours notice - without once speaking to Inner City Press.
Throw Inner City Press in the streets, audio here, evict its ten years of investigative files from its office, video here, then just before Inner City Press could re-apply for its stolen office, gave it to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar Elyom, whose correspondents Sanaa Youssef, a former UNCA president, has not anywhere near met the UN's stated three day a week requirement for such an office, and who never asks questions.
To top it off, leave South South News, founded with Ng Lap Seng's money and by Francis Lorenzo, who has pleaded guilty to UN bribery charges, with its office and Resident Correspondent accreditation. See Courthouse News, here.
Thus the investigative Press is punished, publicly, and a chilling message sent to anyone else who might dare to cover Ban Ki-moon's role in the corruption scandal, while he seeks to run for the South Korean presidency in 2017. This Ban, or his spokesman, coyly denies of course.
Of the retaliatory eviction, Ban said “that is not my decision.” But it is. He was set extensive information, including the total inconsistency of what Gallach told Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta when he inquired for Inner City Press (she said she ouster order was based on an “internal report”) and what the UN told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (that the UN has “no records” that the meeting was closed.
Ban Ki-moon is responsible; he has created an atmosphere of retaliation, has retained and empowered Under Secretaries General like Herve Ladsous, who linked rapes to R&R and openly refuses Press questions, and Gallach. We'll have more on this: it must be reversed.
For ten years as Inner City Press covered the UN in ever greater detail, showing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Herve Ladsous' inept overseeing and cover up of sexual abuse and exploitation bypeacekeepers, disparate treatment in Mali, dalliance with genocide in Sri Lanka and prospectively Burundi, impunity for cholera deaths in Haitiand until now for UN lead poisoning in Kosovo and cravenly pro-Saudi position on Yemen amid the airstrikes (BBC this week here from Min 6:18), it was never thrown out of the UN.
Now in 2016, Ban Ki-moon's last year at the UN, it has been. New York Times of May 14 here.
The issue is to be raised at the UN Human Rights Council this coming week.
And this contraction has already been raised, between the UN's "Aide Memoire" to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee saying there is no written records of the underlying January 29 meeting being closed, and Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach telling Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta that her ouster decisions was based on considering an "internal report."
So is it no written record, or internal report?
Was inaccurate information provided to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee? Or to Nobel Peace Prize winner / UN official Jose Ramos Horta? On June 13, Inner City Press asked the question to Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who cut the question off, saying "we're good" then, "You may not be good, I'm really good" - perhaps a new motto for the Ban Ki-moon administration. Video here. UN Transcript:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you this, a request for a document. The… the Under-Secretary-General of DPI wrote to [José] Ramos-Horta in February and said that she had considered an internal report, and I've seen an aide-memoire, which says that there's no written record of the same topic that she raised. So, I wanted to know, can you square these two? How is it possible…?
Spokesman: No. I have no… again, these are your personal issues.
Inner City Press: She wrote to the Senate and she wrote to a Nobel Prize winner…
Spokesman: Matthew, Matthew. We're good.
Inner City Press: No, no, we're not good…
Spokesman: You may not be good. I'm really good.
Inner City Press: I'm sure you're good.
Spokesman: But, I'm not answering those questions. Those are questions to be dealt with… your personal case should be raised directly with DPI.
Spokesman: No. I have no… again, these are your personal issues.
Inner City Press: She wrote to the Senate and she wrote to a Nobel Prize winner…
Spokesman: Matthew, Matthew. We're good.
Inner City Press: No, no, we're not good…
Spokesman: You may not be good. I'm really good.
Inner City Press: I'm sure you're good.
Spokesman: But, I'm not answering those questions. Those are questions to be dealt with… your personal case should be raised directly with DPI.
Inner City Press: I'm asking you how a Nobel Prize winner was told one thing, and the Senate was told something else.
Spokesman: Thank you. We're going to get our colleague on the phone.
Spokesman: Thank you. We're going to get our colleague on the phone.
Gallach told Ramos-Horta Inner City Press had "open" violated a rule and she considered an "internal report" -- when the Aide Memoire, here,shows the UN says it has no written record the meeting was closed and the Handbook allegedly violated is not public:
"Dear mr Ramos-Horta,
Many thanks for your message which allows me to inform you about the
decision I have taken on the type of accreditation that Mr Lee has and will have in the future.
Recently mr Lee openly broke the rules that guide all the residentcorrespondents. After careful consideration of the internal report elevated to me, I decided to continue providing him with a press pass that allows him to work without any impediment at the UN, as the vast majority of
journalists. What the UN cannot do is to let him use an space exclusively for him, after the mentioned events.
As you can see, mr Lee will have a valid press card as soon as he presents himself to the accreditation premises.
Rest assured that I am the first person to be interested in ensuring totally free and safe reporting from the UN HQ and about the UN. This is what mr. Lee will be able to do.
I remain at your disposal for any further clarification that you might need and want. My warmest regard, Cristina"
Many thanks for your message which allows me to inform you about the
decision I have taken on the type of accreditation that Mr Lee has and will have in the future.
Recently mr Lee openly broke the rules that guide all the residentcorrespondents. After careful consideration of the internal report elevated to me, I decided to continue providing him with a press pass that allows him to work without any impediment at the UN, as the vast majority of
journalists. What the UN cannot do is to let him use an space exclusively for him, after the mentioned events.
As you can see, mr Lee will have a valid press card as soon as he presents himself to the accreditation premises.
Rest assured that I am the first person to be interested in ensuring totally free and safe reporting from the UN HQ and about the UN. This is what mr. Lee will be able to do.
I remain at your disposal for any further clarification that you might need and want. My warmest regard, Cristina"
But the UN says it has no written record the meeting was closed; the Handbook allegedly violated is not public. And "without impediment" has turned out to mean "with minders," and even not permitted to cover a Western Sahara briefing Inner City Press was invited to, only on June 10.
The UN is trying to give Inner City Press' long time shared office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar Elyom, whose correspondent hasn't come close to meeting the three day a week requirement and never asks any questions. It rewards others like this, while retaliating against and trying to censor the critical Press.
This will be raised this week at the UN Human Rights Council; the UN in continued attempt to censorship has not responded to Inner City Press' formal requests submitted more than two week ago. Watch this site.
On June 8 Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric outright refused to provide a copy of, or any answer questions about, the "Handbook" the alleged violation of which the UN told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the basis for evicting Inner City Press. Aide Memoire to SFRC here.
Before Inner City Press was even able to ask the question, Dujarric cut it off, and later disallowed an unrelated Press question about other UNcorruption. Video here, transcript here and below, with quotes from Ban Ki-moon later on June 8.
Ban later on June 8 said: "I will continue to defend the rights of journalists and to do everything possible, publicly and privately, to ensure that journalists have the freedom to work...I will also continue to stand up for the rights of journalists and their defenders to be represented here at the United Nations.
"I am extremely disturbed by recent remarks by the President-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. [Inner City Press had asked, here.] I unequivocally condemn his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms. Such comments are of particular concern in light of on-going impunity for serious cases of violence against journalists in the Philippines. I have expressed my disappointment that the Non-Governmental Organization Committee voted to deny the Committee to Protect Journalists consultative status with the Economic and Social Council...I have presents for each of you [segue to presentation]. "
"I am extremely disturbed by recent remarks by the President-elect of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. [Inner City Press had asked, here.] I unequivocally condemn his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which is illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms. Such comments are of particular concern in light of on-going impunity for serious cases of violence against journalists in the Philippines. I have expressed my disappointment that the Non-Governmental Organization Committee voted to deny the Committee to Protect Journalists consultative status with the Economic and Social Council...I have presents for each of you [segue to presentation]. "
e This is what it has come to: censorship while Ban exchanges gifts and drinks champagne with his friends and sells out the UN human rights lists to the highest bidder (for now, Saudi Arabia.) From the June 8transcript:
Inner City Press: I've asked you about this aide-mémoire that was sent by the UN to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So I want to ask you about it again. What I want to ask you about…
Spokesman: My answer's not going to change.
Inner City Press: No, here's what I want to ask you about specifically. You call it a leaked document. It's hard to understand if it's sent from the UN to a committee. It's leaked. But this is my question. And it's sort of a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) like question. The document says that what was violated is something called the UN Handbook for Safety and Security Personnel.
Spokesman: Matthew, Matthew, your personal issues will not be discussed here.
Inner City Press: You're calling it personal…
Spokesman: Thank you. Masood?
Inner City Press: But if you can punish journalists, where is the document? I'm requesting the handbook.
Spokesman: Talk to DPI (Department of Public Information).
Inner City Press: I did, and they don't have it.
Spokesman: Talk to them again.
Even as groups like the Government Accountability Project tell Ban to reverse the eviction and give Inner City Press back its long time office and Resident Correspondent pass, Ban's UN tellingly moved to award Inner City Press' office to Egypt state media Al-Akhbar / Akhbar Elyoum.
Spokesman: My answer's not going to change.
Inner City Press: No, here's what I want to ask you about specifically. You call it a leaked document. It's hard to understand if it's sent from the UN to a committee. It's leaked. But this is my question. And it's sort of a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) like question. The document says that what was violated is something called the UN Handbook for Safety and Security Personnel.
Spokesman: Matthew, Matthew, your personal issues will not be discussed here.
Inner City Press: You're calling it personal…
Spokesman: Thank you. Masood?
Inner City Press: But if you can punish journalists, where is the document? I'm requesting the handbook.
Spokesman: Talk to DPI (Department of Public Information).
Inner City Press: I did, and they don't have it.
Spokesman: Talk to them again.
Even as groups like the Government Accountability Project tell Ban to reverse the eviction and give Inner City Press back its long time office and Resident Correspondent pass, Ban's UN tellingly moved to award Inner City Press' office to Egypt state media Al-Akhbar / Akhbar Elyoum.
While Ban told Inner City Press "That is not my decision," and his Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach has yet to explain anything to Inner City Press, on June 5 we published the UN's "Aide Memoire" which claims that the "rule" against being in an interpreters booth is in a UN Security handbook that is not available to the public - it is not on the Internet, not on the UN's in-house iSeek and on June 6, UN MALU did not have it -- and states there is no paper work for the underlying meeting being closed.
On UN Eviction of ICP, UN Aide Memoire to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Admits No Written Record, Oral... by Matthew Russell Lee
The UN Aide Memoire says the entire event -- which included UN paid sound engineering - was organized orally between UNCA President Giampaolo Piolo and Ban Ki-moon's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric. So on June 5, Inner City Press asked Dujarric about it, video here, only to have Dujarric call it a "leak" he could not verify and to insist Inner City Press ask the Department of Public Information.
Inner City Press: This I wanted to ask you and I'll try to keep it brief. I've seen now a aide-mémoire that the UN, I guess, Office of Legal Affairs sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and they said this. It had… since it involves you, I wanted to ask you about it. It says that, as to a meeting held in this room on 29 January, the UN has no documents, correspondence or other written materials in print or electronic that it was a closed meeting. And it says you arranged it entirely orally that it would be closed. So, I wanted to ask you this. As a financial matter, how is it possible to arrange for UN audio engineering without there being any written record and how…?
Spokesman: Matthew, I don't know what document you're quoting for or what… the veracity of this leaked document.
Inner City Press: They sent it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Spokesman: We've gone through your personal case here over and over again, and I would ask you to take it up with DPI [Department of Public Information].
Inner City Press: This quotes you.
Spokesman: Lot of things quote me.
Spokesman: Matthew, I don't know what document you're quoting for or what… the veracity of this leaked document.
Inner City Press: They sent it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Spokesman: We've gone through your personal case here over and over again, and I would ask you to take it up with DPI [Department of Public Information].
Inner City Press: This quotes you.
Spokesman: Lot of things quote me.
But here is what the UN's Aide Memoire provided to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee says, in Paragraph 9:
“The Spokesperson of the Secretary-General of the United Nations has informed the Office of Legal Affairs that on or about Tuesday, 26 January 2016, he was approached by the President of UNCA who orally requested permission from the Spokesperson for the use of the UN Press Briefing Room in order to hold a members-only meeting of UNCA. Among his other duties, the Spokesperson grants permission for the use of the UN Press Briefing Room for meetings other than press briefings. The UNCA President told the Spokesperson that the UNCA Meeting Room on the fourth floor of the United Nations Secretariat Building was being prepared for a reception to be held after the closed members-only meeting and so, the UNCA Meeting Room was unavailable for such closed members-only meeting on the 29th of January. The Spokesperson gave permission orally to the President of UNCA during that encounter on or about the 26th of January.”
As Inner City Press reported, there were UNTV audio staff in the engineers' booth for the UNCA meeting. Is it credible that this use of UN resources was organized without a single written record? Inner City Press was told that the engineer was to make sure to disable the microphones in the briefing room, other than those at the podium occupied by this UNCA President Giampaolo Pioli and two others.
The UN's response is false in many ways - but note that the UNCA Meeting Room is NOT on the fourth floor. So what else is false? Watch this site.
Aide Memoire now here It states that Gallach has NO paperwork that the meeting she ousted and evicted Inner City Press for attending was closed. This was requested:
“Documentation received by Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, including emails, letters, and any other written communications indicating that the United Nations Correspondents Association meeting in the Press Briefing Room, that Mr. Lee was barred from attending, was a closed meeting.”
Here is the UN's response:
“No official of the United Nations has received or is in possession of any documentation, correspondence or any written materials, whether in print or electronic form, indicating that the closed meeting of the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), which took place on Friday, 29 January 2016, was taking place or was a closed meeting.”
So if the UN admits there is NO WRITTEN RECORD that this event in the UN Press Briefing Room was a closed meeting, how was it a closed meeting? How could Inner City Press be ousted and evicted for seeking to cover, in the UN Press Briefing Room, an event attended by other correspondents and NOWHERE listed as closed?
And now Inner City Press' long time office given to an Egyptian state media which rarely comes to the UN and never asks questions? This is a scam; this is UN censorship..
The UN "aide memoire" also claims that Stephane Dujarric orally told UN Correspondents Association honcho Giampaolo Pioli, who previously demanded that Inner City Press remove from the Internet a factual story about his financial relationship with Sri Lanka's Ambassador Palith Kohona, that the meeting was closed. This is a joke; this is a pretext. This is censorship.
Tweeted photograph here.
Tweeted photograph here.
On May 19, a sign for "Al Akhbar Yom" went up on Inner City Press' office - Inner City Press has STILL never seen the correspondent being given the stolen office.
So on May 20 Inner City Press went to get an on the record explanation from Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Duajrric, before Ban sets out on a campaign trip to South Korea (denied by his senior adviser Kim Won-soo). But not only did Dujarric refuse to answer the question - Gallach's DPI intentionally omitted from the transcript Inner City Press' entirely audible question about Ban Ki-moon's commitment to freedom of the press. The question then, answer itself.
Since the spin to the NYT is that Inner City Press' questions on corruption and censorship somehow block questions other correspondents want to ask, Inner City Press twice told Dujarric it would hold one question to the end. But Dujarric, showing that the spin is a scam, insisted: go ahead. Video here. From the UN Transcript:
Inner City Press: I have another question, but I don't want to…
Spokesman: Well, just ask it.
Inner City Press: No, no, I'll wait.
Spokesman: I'd like you to ask it now.
Question: Okay. Stay where you are and I’ll do it as fast as I can. I wanted to ask you, you sometimes say you don’t have a long memory, but you’ve been a Spokesman for a while. When is the last time, to your knowledge, that the publication Akhbar al Youm has been in this room and asked a question? And the reason I asked… you said I could ask. I’ll do it quickly. The office that was formerly "Inner City Press", has been given to this organization. I've never seen them here. I'm aware there's a rule of being three days a week here. So, I’m wondering… and you used to implement that rule. And the reason I’m asking you, and you’re going to say, ask MALU [Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit], I want an on the record quote. This is a media organization that CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] says targets other medias for arrest for not agreeing with the Government.
Spokesman: I will tell you that I do not have in my head the attendance records of journalists here. Some of you are here every day. But, for the rest of you, I don't keep tabs in my head. And again, that’s a question for you to ask MALU.
Spokesman: Well, just ask it.
Inner City Press: No, no, I'll wait.
Spokesman: I'd like you to ask it now.
Question: Okay. Stay where you are and I’ll do it as fast as I can. I wanted to ask you, you sometimes say you don’t have a long memory, but you’ve been a Spokesman for a while. When is the last time, to your knowledge, that the publication Akhbar al Youm has been in this room and asked a question? And the reason I asked… you said I could ask. I’ll do it quickly. The office that was formerly "Inner City Press", has been given to this organization. I've never seen them here. I'm aware there's a rule of being three days a week here. So, I’m wondering… and you used to implement that rule. And the reason I’m asking you, and you’re going to say, ask MALU [Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit], I want an on the record quote. This is a media organization that CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] says targets other medias for arrest for not agreeing with the Government.
Spokesman: I will tell you that I do not have in my head the attendance records of journalists here. Some of you are here every day. But, for the rest of you, I don't keep tabs in my head. And again, that’s a question for you to ask MALU.
Inner City Pres: But, I'm asking for an on-the-record comment. What does it say about freedom of the press…
Spokesman: I’ve given you… Nabil?
Spokesman: I’ve given you… Nabil?
Inner City Press' last line, "What does it say about freedom of the press," was intentionally mistranscribed and censored: it said, What does it say about Ban Ki-moon's commitment to freedom of the press."
This is today's UN: ham-handed censorship.
The UN says Resident Correspondents must be at the UN three days a week, but Inner City Press has never seen this person, former UN Correspondents Association president Sanaa Youssef, much less asking a question in the UN noon briefing.
The point, of course, which Dujarric did everything he could to cut off, including walking out of the brieifng room and not returning, is what does it say about Ban Ki-moon's supposed commitment to free press to evict the investigative Press here every day for a state media never here, never with questions, which targets other journalists for arrest?
The question is answering itself, but we will continue. Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq after the briefing was heard telling DPI staff under Gallach that he had predicted Inner City Press would "go after" Akhbar Elyom.
This is today's UN: here's Haq on Jan 29, video here, and before. Haq claimed incorrectly that "non resident correspondent" passes get one through to the second floor: either years out of date or intentional inaccurate. This too is today's UN.
Scribes speaking off the record according to the New York Times of May 14 "accused [ICP] of printing gossip, rumors." That UNCA's president rented an apartment to Palitha Kohona then granted his request to screenin the UN his government's war crimes denial film is no rumor or gossip.
But Akhbar Elyom, to which Gallach's and Ban's MALU and UNCA have given Inner City Press' office, not only gets journalists in Egypt attested - it targets, with a "Muslim Brotherhood" smear, a journalist who works right in the UN. Arabic article here.
This is the journalism that Ban Ki-moon and his Cristina Gallach want and reward. By taking away Inner City Press' office, it is now required to have a minder and is told to not ask diplomats questions. This is censorship.
Akhbar Elyom has been used to finger for imprisonment non-state journalists in Egypt. For example, in July 2015 Aboubakr Khallaf, the founder and head of the independent Electronic Media Syndicate (EMS), “was arrested after a news article was published by the government-owned daily Akhbar Elyoum.” Inner City Press has formally requested the return of its long time shared office and Resident Correspondent status, as have 1,450 people in this petition, here.
