By Matthew Russell Lee, Video here, Vine here
UN GATE, Dec 21 -- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says he has a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual harassment, and for retaliation. But after Guterres imposed on Inner City Press a still ongoing ban against entering the UN, his two spokesman are refusing to answer written questions from Inner City Press about Guterres ignoring victims of abuse and harassment, and its many questions about the finances and possible conflicts of interest of the part time UN official Guterres had representing or covering for him, Jane Holl Lute.
For the PBS Frontline "UN Sex Abuse Scandal" documentary, Guterres arrogantly refused to be interviewed - by contrast he did 30 minutes with RT recently - and went on vacation on the broadcast date, after ousting and banning Inner City Press which has asking him about UN sex abuse. Guterres foisted off Jane Holl Lute, who has been saying the same thing on the issue for a decade. Maybe she will answer the UN / Ghislaine Maxwell questions Inner City Press is now sending the UN from SDNY.
On August 27, 2018 Inner City Press asked Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric and Farhan Haq, as well as Smale and Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed, "August 27-2: As asked Friday, please confirm that the SG's envoy Jane Holl Lute is still on the Board of Directors of Union Pacific railroad AND the President and CEO SICPA, North America. Given that she now has two UN jobs and these other two jobs, at least, please explain how there are no conflicts of interest and why she had not made public financial disclosure."
On August 28, 2018 at 11 am Dujarric replied on this (nothing on Cameroon) that "MS. HOLL LUTE SERVES “UNDER WHEN ACTUALLY EMPLOYED CONTRACT.” SHE’S FULFILLED HER OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE RELEVENT ETHICS RULES OUTLINED HERE: https://undocs.org/ST/SGB/2006/6 . HER OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES ARE CLEARED BY THE ETHICS OFFICE." We said we'd have more about this - and now we do.
After "clearing" Lute (and lying about Maxwell links), now with Inner City Press banned Guterres' UN whispers to an in-house publication which has not raised his censorship that Lute is moving on from Cyprus, in light of taking yet another payola job, at Shell. Farman Haq on December 21, 2021 answered (as he and Melissa Fleming won't to Inner City Press, or even to the Quinn Emanuel law firm)
"All UN officials are to maintain a close hold on all of the privileged information they receive in their jobs as UN officials. They are not, under our rulings and our ethical guidelines, allowed to share that with other employers after they leave UN employment, and that is expected of Jane Holl Lute just as it is for everyone else. And we have no reason to expect that she would abuse the normal guidelines at the United Nations." Lies. All of it.
At UNESCO in Paris there are cover-ups and retaliation in the wake of the two-step firing of Assistant Director General Frank La Rue for sexual harassment.
But when Inner City Press on March 20 asked Guy Berger, the grandly titled Director of Freedom of Expression and Media Development at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, if he thought reporting on l'affaire La Rue, which has included Inner City Press' exclusive report that after his suspension he was still getting paid and now questions about UNESCO Ethics Adviser Rebecca Trott, Berger said he was unaware of the specifics of the case and to ask UNESCO's press officer.
Since Inner City Press published the video of the Q&A, it has heard from UNESCO staff in New York that Berger "lied - he was among the best friends of La Rue, defended him at every turn, while also trying to take his job." This is how the UN works - work with collaborators like Berger's former student, to cover up abuse, while seeking mutual advancement. It is disgusting. So too on Rebecca Trott, UNESCO's "Ethics" adviser. As question mount about cover up, it will be interesting to know who is still protecting her within the organization. We'll have more on this.
Likewise, after Berger has spoken and joked with a former student (given the first question) about the importance of independent media and even holding power in check, when Inner City Press asked about the UN's FAO and WIPO going after the press, he said he was unaware but implied it might be justified.
When Inner City Press asked about the UN Department of Public Information's continuing lack of content neutral media access rules, despite Inner City Press' repeated requests, both his student and the UN moderator looked surprised, as if they didn't understand.
OK: Inner City Press was evicted from its UN work space for pursuing the Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case in the UN Press Briefing Room - an event of the group headed by Berger's student - and has been a non-resident correspondent requiring DPI “minders” to cover the UN General Assembly and its President. Meanwhile its office was given to a no-show Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom's Sanaa Youssef, who has not ask the UN a question in ten years.
Media that rarely come in and ask anything have arrived since Inner City Press' eviction and have been given UN office space. Watch this site.
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