UNITED NATIONS, July 24 – Two weeks after banningInner City Press from entering the United Nations, which has closely and critically covered for a decade, UN Under Secretary General Alison Smale for the first time deigned to explain in writing her basis for the ban, or suspension of privileges.
She wrote: “On two recent occasions, Mr. Lee violated th[e] Media Guidelines by attempting to access United Nations premises beyond the scope of his non-resident correspondent status and by confrontations with United Nations Security and Safety officials. While you have characterized these confrontations as being unprovoked, the relevant facts do not support that characterization. Furthermore, according to the above-mentioned Media Guidelines:
'Where unexpected circumstances arise, the approach will be to avoid confrontation, maintain civility and find the fastest, safest and most secure acceptable solution. Those Correspondents who violate the ground rules governing access, including the abovementioned standards of ethical behavior may have their accreditation withdrawn or suspended by the United Nations.'
As a result of Mr. Lee's recent actions in violation of the Media Guidelines and his unacceptable comportment when dealing with United Nations Security and Safety officials, Mr. Lee's privileges of access to the premises of the United Nations as a non-resident correspondent have been suspended. These privileges of access will remain suspended pending a review of this matter to determine what further action, if any, should be be taken with respect to such privileges.”With the ban on Inner City Press now hitting three weeks, and Smale having left on a three week vacation, there is much to be said about her reasons. First, in other of the two occasions, Inner City Press was within the Guidelines, which state that “Non-Resident Correspondents can access UNHQ through the Visitors’ Entrance at 46th Street and 1st Avenue between 0800-1900 hours from Monday through Friday. Non-resident Correspondents only have access to UNHQ on weekends or after hours accompanied by a resident correspondent or when a meeting is advised as taking place. Entry will be allowed two hours prior to the start of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, the non-Resident correspondent must exit the premises within an hour, unless accompanied by a resident correspondent.”
On June 22 Inner City Press was pushed out of the UN by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins, irregularities in whose promotion Inner City Press has reported on in a previous years, based on a UN Security e-email leaked to it, through the General Assembly lobby in which it was covering an event, listened in Smale's Department's Media Alert, which featured a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Dobbins called in four Emergency Response Unit officers who refused to give their names when Inner City Press asked.
On July 3 - after Inner City Press has complained in writing to Guterres about its improper ouster on June 22 including Dobbins' animus and the ERU officers' refusals to give their names - Dobbins and other still unnamed officer assaulted Inner City Press as it was covering a UN Budget Committee meeting, announced or advised to it by the UN Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly. The meeting concerned Guterres' $6.7 billion budget and proposed moving of UN jobs from New York to Mexico City, Uganda to Kenya and Geneva to Budapest. Inner City Press' reporter's laptop was smashed into his backpack, damaging it. His shirt was torn and his arm was pulled, then twisted.
Most ghoulishly, Smale's July 19 explanation to the Government Accountability Project claims that if a person being thus assaulted by UN Security speaks up, saying loudly “I am a journalist!” they are being uncivil, justifying a suspension of entry for three weeks and counting.
The “review” that Smale cites has included in these three weeks, as to Inner City Press, a single one hour interrogation on July 10 in a basement room across from the UN by UN Security officers Raughn Perry and Valentin Stancu. Perry asked questions, only about the July 3 ouster and refused to include in his write-up Inner City Press allegation of retaliatory animus by UN Lieutenant Dobbins or that Inner City Press had informedGuterres (and Smale) of it on June 25 before the July 3, making each of them partially responsible.
In the two weeks since that “interview” by UN Security, nothing, and not only Smale but also Guterres has gone on vacation, with his Spokesman now three times refusing to answer Inner City Press' written questions as to where, and how much the public is paying.
Background: Inner City Press on July 5 was banned from entering the UN, the day after it filed a criminal complaint against UN Security Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another for physically removing it from covering the July 3 meeting about the UN's $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget, as witnessed and essentially cheered on by senior UN and British official Christian Saunders, tearing its reporter's shirt, painfully and intentionally twisting his arm and slamming shut and damaging his laptop. Secretary General Antonio Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told Fox News that the ban of Inner City Press is pending a “full review of the incident," which by July 9 Haq was calling an altercation - except only UN Security used force, before even talking. On July 12, The Independent (UK) via its US bureau chief Andrew Buncombe, covered the ongoing ban, reporting that "Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said it was 'ridiculous' to suggest Mr Lee had been treated as he had because UN officials were upset with his coverage. He said many correspondents published stories that were embarrassing to the world body. He said a review had been launched into the manner in which Mr Lee had been removed and his future accreditation." But for the two weeks and counting that Inner City Press has been banned from the UN by Guterres, his chief of Communications Alison Smale has not answered the e-mails or 5000+ petition of Inner City Press; the "investigation" seems either a cover up or an attempt to keep Inner City Press out for as long as possible, even forever. Now Smale, Guterres' chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti and at least three members of the US Congress have been written to, on July 17, by the DC-based whistleblower protection organization the Government Accountability Project. Here is the letter, on which we will have more: "July 17, 2018
Alison Smale, Under Secretary General for Global Communications
United Nations, New York, New York 10017
Dear Ms. Smale:
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is concerned about the United Nations’ actions related to Matthew Russell Lee, a journalist and blogger for Inner City Press. As you are aware, Inner City Press has been accredited to cover the UN by the predecessor department to your office, the Department of Public Information, since 2006. For twelve years, Mr. Lee has covered UN operations diligently, informing the English-speaking public via internet about budget decisions, General Assembly resolutions, audit reports, and research findings, among other things. Mr. Lee has also covered
important stories that affect the public interest in a global sense. Among his articles are stories about human rights abuse, peacekeeping, criminal misconduct, and the treatment of children in conflict zones.
GAP was therefore baffled to learn that the United Nations Secretariat has now banned Mr. Lee from its
New York premises. We have been unable to find any reference to regulations allegedly violated by Mr.
Lee. On the contrary, we see only evidence of unprovoked harassment. For example, in 2016, the
Secretariat evicted Mr. Lee from his resident correspondent’s office with insufficient time to prepare for the move. At the time, he was trying to cover an event in the UN Press Briefing Room, convened by a
group that had accepted funds from Ng Lap Seng, who was subsequently convicted of bribery and sentenced to a four-year prison term by a US court. Twice in the past thirty days, Mr. Lee has been expelled from the UN’s New York Headquarters as he tried to cover newsworthy events there.
The UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit Guidelines for ‘Non-Resident Correspondents’ state, at
Paragraph 2a, that:
Non-Resident Correspondents can access UNHQ through the Visitors’ Entrance at 46th Street and 1st Avenue between 0800-1900 hours from Monday through Friday. Non-resident Correspondents only have access to UNHQ on weekends or after hours accompanied by a
resident correspondent or when a meeting is advised as taking place. Entry will be allowed two hours prior to the start of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, the non-Resident correspondent must exit the premises within an hour.
important stories that affect the public interest in a global sense. Among his articles are stories about human rights abuse, peacekeeping, criminal misconduct, and the treatment of children in conflict zones.
GAP was therefore baffled to learn that the United Nations Secretariat has now banned Mr. Lee from its
New York premises. We have been unable to find any reference to regulations allegedly violated by Mr.
Lee. On the contrary, we see only evidence of unprovoked harassment. For example, in 2016, the
Secretariat evicted Mr. Lee from his resident correspondent’s office with insufficient time to prepare for the move. At the time, he was trying to cover an event in the UN Press Briefing Room, convened by a
group that had accepted funds from Ng Lap Seng, who was subsequently convicted of bribery and sentenced to a four-year prison term by a US court. Twice in the past thirty days, Mr. Lee has been expelled from the UN’s New York Headquarters as he tried to cover newsworthy events there.
The UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit Guidelines for ‘Non-Resident Correspondents’ state, at
Paragraph 2a, that:
Non-Resident Correspondents can access UNHQ through the Visitors’ Entrance at 46th Street and 1st Avenue between 0800-1900 hours from Monday through Friday. Non-resident Correspondents only have access to UNHQ on weekends or after hours accompanied by a
resident correspondent or when a meeting is advised as taking place. Entry will be allowed two hours prior to the start of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, the non-Resident correspondent must exit the premises within an hour.
On June 22, Mr. Lee was covering an event, in the UN Media Alert, which featured a speech by the
Secretary General, when he was forced to leave the UN, without his laptop, in violation of the
Guidelines.
Even after Mr. Lee informed you, the Secretary General and others in a June 25 e-mail of the ouster and
what he alleges was the animus behind it, he was ousted again, more violently, on July 3 while covering
a UN Budget Committee meeting of the type he has covered for over 10 years, including the last two as
a non-resident correspondent. The existence of the meeting was advised to him by the Spokesperson of
the UN General Assembly. He was, in short, improperly forced to leave, and violently so.
Mr. Lee informs GAP that his previous messages to you, through which he sought an explanation for the
United Nations’ withdrawal of his resident (and later non-resident) correspondent’s credentials, have
gone unacknowledged and unanswered. We are therefore requesting from your office the following
information in writing:
• The regulation Mr. Lee violated that precipitated his expulsion on June 22, 2018 and again on
July 3;
• His action that warranted expulsion under the rule;
• The name of the decision maker who approved the order to expel him.
Moreover, GAP understands that Mr. Lee is temporarily banned from access to the United Nations New
York Headquarters building, pending the completion of a review. Given this, GAP also requests the
following information:
• The authority under which the review has been undertaken;
• The name(s) of the reviewer(s);
• The process anticipated for conducting the review (i.e. phases, responsible authorities and
timeline).
If there is no regulation violated, GAP requests that Mr. Lee be restored to resident correspondent
accreditation, and his (now) unused office S-303 be reassigned to him. Only that will prevent further
targeting by UN Security with animus, who have not been informed of the rules by the Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit.
As the Under Secretary of Global Communications, GAP realizes that you are sensitive to the need for
due process when taking action against a journalist. Frequently, regimes that silence journalists and
revoke freedoms of expression ultimately come to abuse other human rights and/or tolerate corruption.
The link between human rights abuse and a lack of freedom of expression is recognized in the preamble
to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Similarly, Article 19 of the Declaration is explicit in its
directive to protect freedom of expression and access to information. The possibility that the United
Nations may avoid accountability by restricting access to its premises is disconcerting, and GAP would
very much appreciate responses to the questions posed above.
Very truly yours,
Beatrice Edwards
Senior International Policy Analyst
Cc: US Senator Patrick Leahy
US Representative Chris Smith
US Representative James McGovern
David Banisar, Article 19
Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press"
Secretary General, when he was forced to leave the UN, without his laptop, in violation of the
Guidelines.
Even after Mr. Lee informed you, the Secretary General and others in a June 25 e-mail of the ouster and
what he alleges was the animus behind it, he was ousted again, more violently, on July 3 while covering
a UN Budget Committee meeting of the type he has covered for over 10 years, including the last two as
a non-resident correspondent. The existence of the meeting was advised to him by the Spokesperson of
the UN General Assembly. He was, in short, improperly forced to leave, and violently so.
Mr. Lee informs GAP that his previous messages to you, through which he sought an explanation for the
United Nations’ withdrawal of his resident (and later non-resident) correspondent’s credentials, have
gone unacknowledged and unanswered. We are therefore requesting from your office the following
information in writing:
• The regulation Mr. Lee violated that precipitated his expulsion on June 22, 2018 and again on
July 3;
• His action that warranted expulsion under the rule;
• The name of the decision maker who approved the order to expel him.
Moreover, GAP understands that Mr. Lee is temporarily banned from access to the United Nations New
York Headquarters building, pending the completion of a review. Given this, GAP also requests the
following information:
• The authority under which the review has been undertaken;
• The name(s) of the reviewer(s);
• The process anticipated for conducting the review (i.e. phases, responsible authorities and
timeline).
If there is no regulation violated, GAP requests that Mr. Lee be restored to resident correspondent
accreditation, and his (now) unused office S-303 be reassigned to him. Only that will prevent further
targeting by UN Security with animus, who have not been informed of the rules by the Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit.
As the Under Secretary of Global Communications, GAP realizes that you are sensitive to the need for
due process when taking action against a journalist. Frequently, regimes that silence journalists and
revoke freedoms of expression ultimately come to abuse other human rights and/or tolerate corruption.
The link between human rights abuse and a lack of freedom of expression is recognized in the preamble
to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Similarly, Article 19 of the Declaration is explicit in its
directive to protect freedom of expression and access to information. The possibility that the United
Nations may avoid accountability by restricting access to its premises is disconcerting, and GAP would
very much appreciate responses to the questions posed above.
Very truly yours,
Beatrice Edwards
Senior International Policy Analyst
Cc: US Senator Patrick Leahy
US Representative Chris Smith
US Representative James McGovern
David Banisar, Article 19
Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press"
In the first visible step of the UN's self-investigation of the July 3 assault on the Press, on July 10 Inner City Press was interviewed for more than an hour by UN Security officer Raughn Perry in a windowless basement room of the UNITAR building across from the UN on 47th Street. Perry and his partner / witness Officer Valentin Stancu refused to include in what they typed and edited either the June 22 ouster of Inner City Press by Lt Dobbins and four Emergency Response Unit officers who refused to give their names, or Inner City Press' June 25 formal notification to Guterres, his deputy and chief of staff and Global Communicator Alison Smale that Inner City Press was being targeted by Dobbins based on an investigative piece it published about scam promotions in UN Security, including Dobbins' and others'. They would not include Inner City Press allegation of retaliation or vendetta, saying it was beyond the scope of their interview. They told Inner City Press not to make any notation to this effect on the statement they printed out, complete with mis-spelling of Cameroon, that it could submit that information later. But to whom? Their boss Peter Drennan has not acknowledged any of Inner City Press' e-mails to him, even those at the suggestion of Guterres' "Victims' Advocate" Jane Connors who kindly spoke with Inner City Press outside the visitors entrance and promised to appropriately forward what Inner City Press sent her, so far without effect. On June 11, after refusing to provide Inner City Press with even a summary of what Dobbins and Saunder have said, Perry did hand Inner City Press a copy of "its" statement. It says at the top, "This is a United Nations document and may not be disclosed or used outside of the Organization without first obtaining written permission from the United Nations." It seems absurd that the UN could further retaliate against Inner City Press publishing the print out of its statement about being attacked by UN Security. But when Inner City Press wrote to Perry and USG Drennan notifying them of its intent to publish and asking their confirm receipt, there was no response. This is Guterres' UN. So Inner City Press in an abundance of caution has transformed the hard-copy of its statement handed to it by UN Officer Perry into the below, without any changes other than to fix the UN's telling mis-spelling of Cameroon:
"My name is Matthew Lee. I am a journalist attached to Inner City Press.... I would like to state that on the evening of the 03 July 2018, I remained in the "Bull Pen" press area on the fourth floor of the Secretariat Building from 07:00PM to approximately 10:00PM writing articles and waiting to check on the status of the Fifth Committee Budget meeting. I would like to state that this area is reserved for Non-Resident Correspondents to perform their duties as they are not provided with offices or cubicles. At approximately 10:00PM, I proceeded to the Viennese Cafe, located on the first basement level of the UN Conference Building, to cover the Fifth Committee Budget meeting. I was aware that the meeting was closed so I anticipated waiting in the Viennese Cafe to speak with any of the Committee members about any news regarding the budget. I recalled that Mr. Tommo Monthe, Permanent Representative of Cameroon to the United Nations, and Chairman of the Fifth Committee, approached me in the Viennese later that evening and explained the current state of the meeting/ discussions. I recorded our conversation on my mobile phone.
After Mr. Monthe and I ended our conversation, I proceeded to the dining area of the Viennses Cafe where I sat down to transcribe what Mr. Monthe had shared with me. Less than five minutes after sitting down, I observed two UN Security Officers approaching me. I recognized one of the Officers as Lieutenant Dobbins; I did not know the other Officer. Lieutenant Dobbins immediately said to me that I had to leave the building, while he (Lieutenant Dobbins) grabbed my computer from the table and put it in my backpack. The Officer I did not know approached me and grabbed at my chest. I did not know if that officer was attempting to reach for my UN grounds pass (which was hanging foom around my neck) but he grabbed the shirt I was wearing and he ripped it, creating two holes. That Officer then released my shirt and then grabbed my right forearm and begun twisting it and pulling me towards the front of the cafe towards the garage. I observed that Mr. Christian Saunders was in the vicinity. I called out to him and asked him if he could intervene. Mr. Saunders came over to where the Officers and I were and told me, "If the Officers are asking you to leave, then you should leave." I told Mr. Saunders that there is a Media Accreditation Liaison Unit rule that allows me to remain in the building beyond 07:00PM if there is a meeting to be covered and one hour after the meeting. The Officers then continued to physically pull me by my arms towards the UN garage. I then asked Mr. Saunders to accompany me as the Officers escorted me; to which he did. Mr. Saunders accompanied me as both Lieutenant Dobbins and the other unknown Officer escorted out of the UN premises via the 43rd Street and 1st Avenue exit. There was no other physical altercation through the UN garage or at the exit to the UN compound.
Matthew Lee
This statement was recorded by me at UNHQ on Tuesday 10 July, 2018 at 1100 hours, at room GA-1B-052.
Raughn Perry
Witnessed by: Valentin Stancu"
After Mr. Monthe and I ended our conversation, I proceeded to the dining area of the Viennses Cafe where I sat down to transcribe what Mr. Monthe had shared with me. Less than five minutes after sitting down, I observed two UN Security Officers approaching me. I recognized one of the Officers as Lieutenant Dobbins; I did not know the other Officer. Lieutenant Dobbins immediately said to me that I had to leave the building, while he (Lieutenant Dobbins) grabbed my computer from the table and put it in my backpack. The Officer I did not know approached me and grabbed at my chest. I did not know if that officer was attempting to reach for my UN grounds pass (which was hanging foom around my neck) but he grabbed the shirt I was wearing and he ripped it, creating two holes. That Officer then released my shirt and then grabbed my right forearm and begun twisting it and pulling me towards the front of the cafe towards the garage. I observed that Mr. Christian Saunders was in the vicinity. I called out to him and asked him if he could intervene. Mr. Saunders came over to where the Officers and I were and told me, "If the Officers are asking you to leave, then you should leave." I told Mr. Saunders that there is a Media Accreditation Liaison Unit rule that allows me to remain in the building beyond 07:00PM if there is a meeting to be covered and one hour after the meeting. The Officers then continued to physically pull me by my arms towards the UN garage. I then asked Mr. Saunders to accompany me as the Officers escorted me; to which he did. Mr. Saunders accompanied me as both Lieutenant Dobbins and the other unknown Officer escorted out of the UN premises via the 43rd Street and 1st Avenue exit. There was no other physical altercation through the UN garage or at the exit to the UN compound.
Matthew Lee
This statement was recorded by me at UNHQ on Tuesday 10 July, 2018 at 1100 hours, at room GA-1B-052.
Raughn Perry
Witnessed by: Valentin Stancu"
Even with the material Perry and Stancu refused to include - while including the wrong room number for the "recording" of the statement which took place in a windowless basement room of the UNITAR building which is not the GA or General Assembly, it is amazing that the UN's response to this is to ban Inner City Press from entering the UN for nine days about counting, including so it misses and cannot ask questions at Guterres' rare July 12 press conference. We'll have more on this. On July 11 at noon, Guterres' lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric was asked about Inner City Press by a sunny correspondent, UN transcript here: Question: Thank you. Can you update us on the status of the usual occupant of this chair?
Spokesman: The usual occupant of this chair?
Question: Of this chair.
Spokesman: His… there was an incident, I think, last week or a bit… I'm starting to get lost in the weeks. His status is being reviewed. And I know… my understanding is that he will be having discussions with various parts of this administration, and then we'll keep you updated, and I'm sure he will keep you updated.
Question: And is he currently suspended? Is he barred entry to this…
Spokesman: Yes. His credentials and pass have been suspended, pending review." What review? UN Security investigating itself, and covering up for Guterres who was informed of Lt Dobbins' vendetta on June 25 and did nothing? Officer Perry declined to or could not explain what the process or timing is going forward, or who unilaterally banned Inner City Press pending and apparently during this "investigation." He said to ask MALU and DPI - but DPI's Alison Smale has refused to answer or acknowledge a single one of Inner City Press' seven emails. We'll have more on this.
Spokesman: The usual occupant of this chair?
Question: Of this chair.
Spokesman: His… there was an incident, I think, last week or a bit… I'm starting to get lost in the weeks. His status is being reviewed. And I know… my understanding is that he will be having discussions with various parts of this administration, and then we'll keep you updated, and I'm sure he will keep you updated.
Question: And is he currently suspended? Is he barred entry to this…
Spokesman: Yes. His credentials and pass have been suspended, pending review." What review? UN Security investigating itself, and covering up for Guterres who was informed of Lt Dobbins' vendetta on June 25 and did nothing? Officer Perry declined to or could not explain what the process or timing is going forward, or who unilaterally banned Inner City Press pending and apparently during this "investigation." He said to ask MALU and DPI - but DPI's Alison Smale has refused to answer or acknowledge a single one of Inner City Press' seven emails. We'll have more on this.
