On Sri Lanka, Inner City Press Asks UN of Electoral Violence After Ban Ki-moon Called GL Peiris on December 24

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 5 -- Amid attacks on opponents of Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka in the run-up to elections, Inner City Press on January 5 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the violence, and why his office delayed the read-out of Ban's December 24 call to minister GL Peiris until December 29. Video here.

   The delay was not explained; Dujarric said that recent events, including today (January 5) make Ban's call for reconciliation and political dialogue all the more important. Something wrong with this sequence: Ban makes a call, violence increases; his Office says his call if more important than ever.

   On December 23 after Rajapaksa reiterated that he will not cooperate with the UN inquiry in to human rights and war crimes, Inner City Press asked Dujarric about that. Video here.

 On December 29, Dujarric's office put out this read-out of Ban's calls to  Peiris on December 24 -- that is, the read out came five days after the call:

"The Secretary-General spoke on the phone with H.E. Mr. GL Peiris, Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka, on 24 December. The Secretary-General conveyed his strong expectation that the Government of Sri Lanka will ensure the peaceful and credible conduct of the Presidential Election on 8 January 2015. The Secretary-General also noted the importance of inclusive participation of all Sri Lankan voters, including from minority communities, in the election process without any fear. He reaffirmed the UN’s continuous support for reconciliation, political dialogue and accountability in Sri Lanka. "

  We'll see.  Meanwhile the UN's website for the inquiry says, "The call for submission is now ended. No further submission will be accepted." Is this really Ban's "Rights Up Front"?

When the UN's Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng took questions on December 9, Inner City Press asked him if he considered what happened in Sri Lanka in 2009 (and before and after) to be genocide, and of the work of and reaction to the UN panel, see below.

  Dieng said what happened in 2009 was a failure of the international community, with the killing of thousands "under our eyes." Video here, and embedded below.

  Dieng cited the UN's Petrie report, and then Ban Ki-moon (who'd gone on a Rajapaksa sponsored victory tour of northern Sri Lanka in mid 2009) later establishing a "Rights Up Front" program.

  (As Inner City Press points out, Ban has tellingly disconnected Rights Up Front from its roots of failure in Sri Lanka.)

  As the belated investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka mandated by the UN Human Rights Council proceeds, new evidence concerning the "white flag killings" of surrendering Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam leaders has emerged.

  A statement has been published in media censored by the Sri Lankan government that Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, was ordered by Defense Secretary and presidential brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa "not to accommodate any LTTE leaders attempting to surrender and informed that they all should be killed." Full text below.

 Killing those who are surrendering is a war crime. The LTTE leaders were lured out, to their deaths, by assurances delivered through the UN from Sri Lankan officials including its Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona.

  Inner City Press has doggedly pursued the ramification of these White Flag killings and the wider Bloodbath on the Beach (initially here, in Johns Hopkins' SAIS Review of International Affairs); below is a response to Inner City Press from Shavendra Silva. Tellingly, there has been censorship inside the UN itself.

  Palitha Kohona and Shavendra Silva appeared on a three person "UN" panel with Giampaolo Pioli, past and future president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, to screen a film denying war crimes called "Lies Agreed To." Photo below.

  As Inner City Press reported, Pioli had a previous financial relationship with Kohona, having rented him one of his Manhattan apartments; for using the UN Correspondents Association to screen the Sri Lanka government war crimes denial inside the UN, Pioli did not seek prior approval of other UNCA Executive Committee members.

  Inner City Press reported these facts, after pro-government media in Sri Lanka portrayed the screening inside the UN as a victory or even absolution. Immediately after that, Pioli convened a series of "emergency" UNCA  Executive Committee meetings. Links to audio are below; here's a sample story from The Guardian in the UK.

  First, Pioli demanded that the article be removed from the Internet (he rejected the offer to submit a written response of the type Shavendra Silva submitted).

  After Inner City Press refused to remove the entire article from the Internet, Pioli said he would get Inner City Press thrown out. Issues about the French mission to the UN were raised. Pioli's First Vice President from Reuters filed a complaint with the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison unit, copied to Pioli (the Reuters bureau chief subsequently filed a sworn statement with Google to get this blocked from Search, claiming it was a private and even copyrighted communication, here.) 

  But Voice of America, which filed a formal request to the UN to "review" Inner City Press' accreditation, is subject to the US Freedom of Information Act. After Pioli tried to get Inner City Press to withdraw the FOIA request it filed, Inner City Press obtain documents, many heavily redacted and some not yet reported, showing how the campaign to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN worked, including UNCA talking "quietly" with UN officials to bring it about.

  We'll have more on all this. But how can it be, as the belated investigation of Sri Lanka war crimes goes forward, that not only is Shavendra Silva still a Deputy Permanent Representative in the UN (Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Inner City Press that Silva being one of his advisers of Peacekeeping Operations was simply up to member states), but that this censor, Pioli, is slated in a classic no-competition "election" to come to head the UN Correspondents Association at least for 2015?

  This is a new low at the UN. The new Free UN Coalition for Access, which seeks to hold the UN to its stated principles including defending the right to free press and investigative journalism in the UN, will now pursuing these issues. 

Shavendra Silva, Giampaolo Pioli & Kohona in UN, UNCA banner, decay

Here is the new statement, as published, followed by Silva's previous response, and background including audio clips

Date: 5/17/2009   Time: 11.45 am – 12.30pm

Place: Wellamulliwikkal, MLT Sri Lanka (58 Division Operations room)

When the instructions from Mr.Gotayabhaya Rajapaksha the Secretary Defence of Sri Lanka to the 58 Division Commander Brigadier Shavendra Silva (Now Major General) was passed down over the telephone I was with the Brigadier. I was functioning as one of the defence correspondents attached to 58 Division.

The conversation took place is as follows.

Time:11.45am 1st call.

Mr.Gotabayaya Rajapaksha to Brigadier Shavendra Silva

Ordered not to accommodate any LTTE leaders attempting to surrender and informed that they all should be killed.

Time: 12.00 noon. -2 nd call.

Mr.Gotabayaya Rajapaksha to Brigadier Shavendra Silva.

Mr. Rajapaksha confirmed his order to Brigadier Shavendra Silva and informed about the International influence the LTTE is trying to bring upon on the Government at that time.

There after at about 12.15pm the Division Commander Brigadier Shavendra Silva having summoned his Brigade Commanders and Commanding Officers briefed them on what Secretary Defence told him.

However I do not know whether the troops on ground carried out the above instructions or not .

After two days time on the 19th I called the Commander of the Army General Sarath Fonseka and asked whether he is aware about the above instructions given by Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha. He said that he is not aware about such instructions.

If any international commission or any war crime court requests from me to give any evidence regarding this telephone conversation between Mr.Gotabhaya Rajapaksha and Brigidier Shavendra Silva on 17th May 2009 I am prepared to give a statement or an affidavit to them.

Shavendra Silva to Inner City Press:

What I said was, in  the paragraph (90 of the POE page 25), never talks about the 58 Div shelling PTK hospital. After you read out loud the first part of the first  line of paragraph 90 where you talked about 55 and 58 Div, where I replied that what is in the paragraph is incorrect as it was the 53 and 58 Divisions who were involved in PTK. and the 55 Div was not there. Thats why I told you at the briefing that the content of the paragraph in the POE is inaccurate. In fact, later after the briefing I told you that they were in Challai when you asked where that Division was.

warm regards,

Ambassador Major General Shavendra Silva WWV RWP RSP USP psc
Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka
To the United Nations

Background and audio clips:  Press access and answers to questions at the UN generally have been in decline since at least 2011. Now the newFree UN Coalition for Access is combating the trend, which can only be done by naming names and providing specifics, now including audio. And so these clips, in reverse chronological order.

 In this audio clip, two days before formally beginning a process to try to get Inner City Press thrown out, Giampaolo Pioli as President of the United Nations Correspondents Association complains about Inner City Press reporting that he rented out of his Manhattan apartments to "Palitha" [Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN] in the context of Pioli unilaterally using UNCA to screen a Sri Lanka government war crimes denial movie inside the UN. 

 Two days later, Pioli would convene a UN Correspondents Association Excutive Committee meeting to "examine" Inner City Press and try to throw it out - first of UNCA, then of the UN at a whole. This is the Pioli slated to return, with no competition at all, to head what he made the UN's Censorship Alliance.

 In a previous audio clip, Pioli tried to dictate to Inner City Press how it should have covered Sri Lanka, suggesting it should simply transcribe what "Palitha" (Kohona) and Shavendra Silva said and not report that he, Pioli, had rented out of his Manhattan apartments to Kohona before agreeing to use UNCA to screen the Sri Lankan government's war crimes denial film inside the UN.

  "Why did you have to" report that? Pioli demanded, claiming the rental arrangement was significantly further in the past than it was.

  When Inner City Press refused to remove the article from the Internet, and Pioli refused the offer to publish a letter to the editor, Pioli made good on his threat to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Complaints were filed by Pioli's first vice president from Reuters, who also used the Reuters servers for the campaign.

  Now Pioli has reappeared, slated to re-take over the helm of UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance. Who will serve him last his past first vice president, a position current held by a representative of Turkish media? As to how correspondent Pioli owns so much real estate, there is a Turkish connection on which we will have more. The UN cannot be allow to further decay on press freedom and access. Watch this site.

  In the last audio clip, Pioli as President of the UN Correspondents Association said of this Press story about him, "take it out" -- that is, remove the entire story from the Internet -- because it is false or, he then says, "basically false."

  But Pioli first complained that he still found online (audio) facts of which he admitted "nothing is false" -- that before unilaterally deciding to screen a Sri Lankan government film denying war crimes he had rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN.

  What was reported wasn't false, but Pioli ordered "take it out" and off the Internet. That is censorship. One question is, why is Pioli now seeking to return as head of UNCA, which he turned into the UN Censorship Alliance?

  The same clip has Pioli's then Vice President, himself a censor, here, deriding Inner City Press as a blogger someone "using" UNCA. In fact, after seeing how it could be used for censorship, Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access.

   On September 6, 2011 without consulting with other UNCA board members Pioli used the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium and UNCA's now-debased logo to host a war crimes denial film by Sri Lanka's government. Inner City Press reported on the event, here. 

  Numerous "emergency" UNCA meetings followed, including about Inner City Press' coverage of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping despite his role during the Rwanda genocide of 1994; there was an amateurish statement drafted by Pioli about ethics. 

  Then Pioli, supported by Agence France Presse, said that no dissent, no matter how short, could to appended to the statement. Audio clip here. AFP even said, send it out yourself - seemingly an invitation to write about the issue, which happened and led to threats to oust Inner City Press from the UN, which Voice of America requested saying it had thesupport of AFP and Reuters, which then tried a cover-up, here.

(There was was an even more free press unfriendly "apology" drafted by Pioli, as well as his UNCA stirring up death threats which have been ongoing -- but that's another story.) 

   The day of Pioli's UNCA screening -- without UNCA board approval or even notice -- of Sri Lanka's war crimes denial, attempts at outright censorship began.

  Pioli had a financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador Palitha Kohona, renting Kohona one of Pioli's Manhattan apartments. Inner City Press was told if it persisted in reporting this, Pioli would get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Inner City Press offered to run a response by Pioli, of any length, but the demand was that the article be removed from the Internet in its entirety: pure censorship. This is UNCA's past and seemingly future; watch for the next installment in this series --

Pioli on January 5 went to the UN noon briefing apparently only to try to brand it for the UNCA he's used for censorship; we'll have more on this.

On Sri Lanka, UN's Ban Ki-moon Urged GL Peiris on Inclusive Elections, But Read Out Five Days Late

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 29 -- After Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterated as part of his flash campaign for a new term that he will not cooperate with the UN inquiry in to human rights and war crimes, Inner City Press on December 23 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it. Video here.

 On December 29, Dujarric's office put out this read-out of Ban's calls to G.L. Peiris on December 24 -- that is, the read out came five days after the call:

"The Secretary-General spoke on the phone with H.E. Mr. GL Peiris, Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka, on 24 December. The Secretary-General conveyed his strong expectation that the Government of Sri Lanka will ensure the peaceful and credible conduct of the Presidential Election on 8 January 2015. The Secretary-General also noted the importance of inclusive participation of all Sri Lankan voters, including from minority communities, in the election process without any fear. He reaffirmed the UN’s continuous support for reconciliation, political dialogue and accountability in Sri Lanka. "

  We'll see.  Meanwhile the UN's website for the inquiry says, "The call for submission is now ended. No further submission will be accepted." Is this really Ban's "Rights Up Front"?

When the UN's Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng took questions on December 9, Inner City Press asked him if he considered what happened in Sri Lanka in 2009 (and before and after) to be genocide, and of the work of and reaction to the UN panel, see below.

  Dieng said what happened in 2009 was a failure of the international community, with the killing of thousands "under our eyes." Video here, and embedded below.

  Dieng cited the UN's Petrie report, and then Ban Ki-moon (who'd gone on a Rajapaksa sponsored victory tour of northern Sri Lanka in mid 2009) later establishing a "Rights Up Front" program.

  (As Inner City Press points out, Ban has tellingly disconnected Rights Up Front from its roots of failure in Sri Lanka.)

  As the belated investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka mandated by the UN Human Rights Council proceeds, new evidence concerning the "white flag killings" of surrendering Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam leaders has emerged.

  A statement has been published in media censored by the Sri Lankan government that Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, was ordered by Defense Secretary and presidential brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa "not to accommodate any LTTE leaders attempting to surrender and informed that they all should be killed." Full text below.

 Killing those who are surrendering is a war crime. The LTTE leaders were lured out, to their deaths, by assurances delivered through the UN from Sri Lankan officials including its Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona.

  Inner City Press has doggedly pursued the ramification of these White Flag killings and the wider Bloodbath on the Beach (initially here, in Johns Hopkins' SAIS Review of International Affairs); below is a response to Inner City Press from Shavendra Silva. Tellingly, there has been censorship inside the UN itself.

  Palitha Kohona and Shavendra Silva appeared on a three person "UN" panel with Giampaolo Pioli, past and future president of the United Nations Correspondents Association, to screen a film denying war crimes called "Lies Agreed To." Photo below.

  As Inner City Press reported, Pioli had a previous financial relationship with Kohona, having rented him one of his Manhattan apartments; for using the UN Correspondents Association to screen the Sri Lanka government war crimes denial inside the UN, Pioli did not seek prior approval of other UNCA Executive Committee members.

  Inner City Press reported these facts, after pro-government media in Sri Lanka portrayed the screening inside the UN as a victory or even absolution. Immediately after that, Pioli convened a series of "emergency" UNCA  Executive Committee meetings. Links to audio are below; here's a sample story from The Guardian in the UK.

  First, Pioli demanded that the article be removed from the Internet (he rejected the offer to submit a written response of the type Shavendra Silva submitted).

  After Inner City Press refused to remove the entire article from the Internet, Pioli said he would get Inner City Press thrown out. Issues about the French mission to the UN were raised. Pioli's First Vice President from Reuters filed a complaint with the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison unit, copied to Pioli (the Reuters bureau chief subsequently filed a sworn statement with Google to get this blocked from Search, claiming it was a private and even copyrighted communication, here.) 

  But Voice of America, which filed a formal request to the UN to "review" Inner City Press' accreditation, is subject to the US Freedom of Information Act. After Pioli tried to get Inner City Press to withdraw the FOIA request it filed, Inner City Press obtain documents, many heavily redacted and some not yet reported, showing how the campaign to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN worked, including UNCA talking "quietly" with UN officials to bring it about.

  We'll have more on all this. But how can it be, as the belated investigation of Sri Lanka war crimes goes forward, that not only is Shavendra Silva still a Deputy Permanent Representative in the UN (Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Inner City Press that Silva being one of his advisers of Peacekeeping Operations was simply up to member states), but that this censor, Pioli, is slated in a classic no-competition "election" to come to head the UN Correspondents Association at least for 2015?

  This is a new low at the UN. The new Free UN Coalition for Access, which seeks to hold the UN to its stated principles including defending the right to free press and investigative journalism in the UN, will now pursuing these issues. 

Shavendra Silva, Giampaolo Pioli & Kohona in UN, UNCA banner, decay

Here is the new statement, as published, followed by Silva's previous response, and background including audio clips

Date: 5/17/2009   Time: 11.45 am – 12.30pm

Place: Wellamulliwikkal, MLT Sri Lanka (58 Division Operations room)

When the instructions from Mr.Gotayabhaya Rajapaksha the Secretary Defence of Sri Lanka to the 58 Division Commander Brigadier Shavendra Silva (Now Major General) was passed down over the telephone I was with the Brigadier. I was functioning as one of the defence correspondents attached to 58 Division.

The conversation took place is as follows.

Time:11.45am 1st call.

Mr.Gotabayaya Rajapaksha to Brigadier Shavendra Silva

Ordered not to accommodate any LTTE leaders attempting to surrender and informed that they all should be killed.

Time: 12.00 noon. -2 nd call.

Mr.Gotabayaya Rajapaksha to Brigadier Shavendra Silva.

Mr. Rajapaksha confirmed his order to Brigadier Shavendra Silva and informed about the International influence the LTTE is trying to bring upon on the Government at that time.

There after at about 12.15pm the Division Commander Brigadier Shavendra Silva having summoned his Brigade Commanders and Commanding Officers briefed them on what Secretary Defence told him.

However I do not know whether the troops on ground carried out the above instructions or not .

After two days time on the 19th I called the Commander of the Army General Sarath Fonseka and asked whether he is aware about the above instructions given by Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha. He said that he is not aware about such instructions.

If any international commission or any war crime court requests from me to give any evidence regarding this telephone conversation between Mr.Gotabhaya Rajapaksha and Brigidier Shavendra Silva on 17th May 2009 I am prepared to give a statement or an affidavit to them.

Shavendra Silva to Inner City Press:

What I said was, in  the paragraph (90 of the POE page 25), never talks about the 58 Div shelling PTK hospital. After you read out loud the first part of the first  line of paragraph 90 where you talked about 55 and 58 Div, where I replied that what is in the paragraph is incorrect as it was the 53 and 58 Divisions who were involved in PTK. and the 55 Div was not there. Thats why I told you at the briefing that the content of the paragraph in the POE is inaccurate. In fact, later after the briefing I told you that they were in Challai when you asked where that Division was.

warm regards,

Ambassador Major General Shavendra Silva WWV RWP RSP USP psc
Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka
To the United Nations

Background and audio clips:  Press access and answers to questions at the UN generally have been in decline since at least 2011. Now the newFree UN Coalition for Access is combating the trend, which can only be done by naming names and providing specifics, now including audio. And so these clips, in reverse chronological order.

 In this audio clip, two days before formally beginning a process to try to get Inner City Press thrown out, Giampaolo Pioli as President of the United Nations Correspondents Association complains about Inner City Press reporting that he rented out of his Manhattan apartments to "Palitha" [Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN] in the context of Pioli unilaterally using UNCA to screen a Sri Lanka government war crimes denial movie inside the UN. 

 Two days later, Pioli would convene a UN Correspondents Association Excutive Committee meeting to "examine" Inner City Press and try to throw it out - first of UNCA, then of the UN at a whole. This is the Pioli slated to return, with no competition at all, to head what he made the UN's Censorship Alliance.

 In a previous audio clip, Pioli tried to dictate to Inner City Press how it should have covered Sri Lanka, suggesting it should simply transcribe what "Palitha" (Kohona) and Shavendra Silva said and not report that he, Pioli, had rented out of his Manhattan apartments to Kohona before agreeing to use UNCA to screen the Sri Lankan government's war crimes denial film inside the UN.

  "Why did you have to" report that? Pioli demanded, claiming the rental arrangement was significantly further in the past than it was.

  When Inner City Press refused to remove the article from the Internet, and Pioli refused the offer to publish a letter to the editor, Pioli made good on his threat to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Complaints were filed by Pioli's first vice president from Reuters, who also used the Reuters servers for the campaign.

  Now Pioli has reappeared, slated to re-take over the helm of UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance. Who will serve him last his past first vice president, a position current held by a representative of Turkish media? As to how correspondent Pioli owns so much real estate, there is a Turkish connection on which we will have more. The UN cannot be allow to further decay on press freedom and access. Watch this site.

  In the last audio clip, Pioli as President of the UN Correspondents Association said of this Press story about him, "take it out" -- that is, remove the entire story from the Internet -- because it is false or, he then says, "basically false."

  But Pioli first complained that he still found online (audio) facts of which he admitted "nothing is false" -- that before unilaterally deciding to screen a Sri Lankan government film denying war crimes he had rented one of his Manhattan apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN.

  What was reported wasn't false, but Pioli ordered "take it out" and off the Internet. That is censorship. One question is, why is Pioli now seeking to return as head of UNCA, which he turned into the UN Censorship Alliance?

  The same clip has Pioli's then Vice President, himself a censor, here, deriding Inner City Press as a blogger someone "using" UNCA. In fact, after seeing how it could be used for censorship, Inner City Press quit UNCA and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access.

   On September 6, 2011 without consulting with other UNCA board members Pioli used the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium and UNCA's now-debased logo to host a war crimes denial film by Sri Lanka's government. Inner City Press reported on the event, here. 

  Numerous "emergency" UNCA meetings followed, including about Inner City Press' coverage of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping despite his role during the Rwanda genocide of 1994; there was an amateurish statement drafted by Pioli about ethics. 

  Then Pioli, supported by Agence France Presse, said that no dissent, no matter how short, could to appended to the statement. Audio clip here. AFP even said, send it out yourself - seemingly an invitation to write about the issue, which happened and led to threats to oust Inner City Press from the UN, which Voice of America requested saying it had thesupport of AFP and Reuters, which then tried a cover-up, here.

(There was was an even more free press unfriendly "apology" drafted by Pioli, as well as his UNCA stirring up death threats which have been ongoing -- but that's another story.) 

   The day of Pioli's UNCA screening -- without UNCA board approval or even notice -- of Sri Lanka's war crimes denial, attempts at outright censorship began.

  Pioli had a financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador Palitha Kohona, renting Kohona one of Pioli's Manhattan apartments. Inner City Press was told if it persisted in reporting this, Pioli would get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Inner City Press offered to run a response by Pioli, of any length, but the demand was that the article be removed from the Internet in its entirety: pure censorship. This is UNCA's past and seemingly future; watch for the next installment in this series.

Pioli & Ban Ki-moon, Sri Lanka war crimes denial not shown. UN Photo/Mark Garten

  Here is an audio clip in which Pioli while he was president of UNCA told Inner City Press that it should not report what a UN Assistant Secretary General said in a public place. Audio here. 

  Pioli would go on to order that an article about his own conflict of interest regarding Sri Lanka be taken down from the Internet or he would get the Press thrown out of the UN.

   So Pioli wants to ride again. After seeking the ouster of the investigative Press from the UN -- promising to bring it about, and demanding the removal of articles from the Internet -- he seeks to re-assume UNCA's presidency, endorsed by his two-year figurehead fill-in, Pamela Falk.  He is endorsing a slate of media that supported the ouster of the investigative Press, one of which then sought to censor even that, click here.

  To show how far the UN has fallen, consider that Pioli in September 2011 wrote and proposed this statement for UNCA's Executive Committee to issue:

"GiamPioli [at] aol.com; dear Colleagues, I propose to consider for a vote this statement  but I am more than happy to discuss  again

   UNCA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE"

  That is Giampaoli Pioli, the once and future president of the UN's Censorship Alliance. The above draft, by Pioli, was at the request ofAgence France Presse, after an inquiry by the French mission to the UN. AFP's reporter wrote: "I am writing to you to request some kind of action by UNCA over a story published by Inner City Press on Friday which has caused serious damage to AFP. Inner City Press published a story about the new head of UN peacekeeping" -- that would be, Herve Ladsous. We will have more on this.

  Neither in 2011 and 2012 nor since has Pioli asked any critical questions at the UN, or pushed for greater access for journalists - quite the opposite. He rented one of his apartments to the ambassador of a country he later let screen a war crimes denial film in the UN under the sponsorship of UNCA, without even checking with other Executive Committee members much less recusing himself. 

  After Inner City Press reported on this, as later revealed by a Freedom of Information Act request to US state media Voice of America, "the lawyer's at our UNCA president's newspaper are preparing their libel lawsuit" against Inner City Press, click here for that. No lawsuit was ever filed, and how could it be? Pioli DID rent one of his apartment to the ambassador whose war crimes denial film he later screened. It was simply pressure to censor the coverage. Later it showed up in Italian, here.

  Pioli hosts UN officials and those whose votes he wants at a Long Island mansion he rents out, for tens of thousands of dollars a month, during the summer. He makes campaign contributions to politicians he is supposed to be covering. Small but telling, in the UN Press Briefing Room he gave a gift to the UN Deputy Spokesperson. This is the past and future UNCA.

  And how would this further decayed UNCA advocate even to maintain media access at the UN? The question has been asked by FUNCA, elsewhere. And it has been on HuffPost Live, here. Watch this site.

Footnote: as noted the old UN Correspondents Association, which is given privileged status and set-aside first questions nearly always used for softballs, has done nothing in recent years to improve or even defend press access. In fact, members of UNCA's Executive Committee have tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN, and there have been no reforms since. It's become the UN's Censorship Alliance. Theyprovide Ban Ki-moon with photo ops playing soccer with them. This is today's UN - and FUNCA is fighting to hold the UN to its stated principles.

   

In Geneva, Sri Lanka's GL Peiris Cites Last Minute Reports at UN It Has Manipulated, UN Censorship Alliance

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- When the UN Human Rights Council speeches resumed Wednesday morning, Sri Lanka's foreign minister G.L. Peiris denounced the report of outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the pending draft and any international inquiry.

   Peiris cited two reports that he said are to be released within weeks; he cited a railroad plan announced only yesterday. This comes after nearly five years of stonewalling and intimidation.

  At the UN, where blame for inaction in 2009 and even participation in events leading to the execution of surrenderees go to the highest levels, Sri Lanka sent military figure Shavendra Silva as its Deputy Permanent Representative.

   Under Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General, Shavendra Silva became a senior adviser to UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to hold that post. When Inner City Press asked, Ban said this was entirely up to member states.

   After Inner City Press wrote about the United Nations Correspondents Association screening the government's "Lies Agreed To" inside the UN, when "Killing Fields" which it purported to rebut was not shown in the UN, and noted that Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona had a prior financial relationship with the president of UNCA, a demand was made to remove the article from the Internet.

  When Inner City Press refused this censorship bid, attempts began to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN,directed to the UN official set to become Ban's new spokesperson on March 10. 

  One such complaint, upon the dubious request by Reuters UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, has been banned from Google's search. (The new Free UN Coalition for Access is now combating censorship at the UN and beyond.)

   Ban Ki-moon ended up giving Pillay only half of a second term; the "Rights Up Front" plan he belatedly announced, specifically as a response to what was found to be the UN's "systemic failure" on Sri Lanka, he now presents without any reference to Sri Lanka.  

  Despite denials, Sri Lankan official tell Inner City Presswhen they met recently with Ban, they invited him to Colombo in May. 

   Before then, it appears, a vote will be held at the 25th session of the Human Rights Council.  When HRC25 began its speeches on Monday morning the 3rd of March, Hugo Swire of the UK, Canada and others cited Sri Lanka and the need for accountability.

  US Ambassador Samantha Power, according to the UN's list of speakers, was to appear late Tuesday.

   But at 4 pm on Monday when the marked up Sri Lanka resolution was tabled, its eight operative paragraph appeared to some to simply kick the can down the road again, asking for another update from the High Commissioner for Human Rights -- who soon won't be Navi Pillay anymore. Click here for draft as provided to Inner City Press.

   Later on Monday, the US State Department announced that the US' speech would be given by another official, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall: not Power. 

  During the speeches on Monday, Syria and North Korea remained in nearly every speech but Ukraine and the Central African Republic worked their way in, along with a smattering of references to Sri Lanka, where the killing of tens of thousands of civilians remains unaddressed.

  It was noted that the term of High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is almost up. But it was Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who said she'd only have one half of a second term. 

  Pillay on January 20 said the France put Muslim communities at risk in CAR. How will that be acted on? She's called for a international accountability mechanism for Sri Lanka; Ban says its entirely up to member states, as he told Inner City Press regarding having controversial military figure Shavendra Silva as an adviser to UN Peacekeepingunder Herve Ladsous.

  Qatar, which sent only a "Minister's Assistant," predictable denounced Syria and also spoke for freedom of the press if not of speech. #FreeAJstaff, we and the Free UN Coalition for Access absolutely agree with. But what about Qatar having locked up the poet Ajami?

  Greece spoke on Ukraine, taking the EU line, which implies that the International Monetary Fund will save Ukraine. Has they happened in Greece? What about the protesters in Greece's squares?

  Ban Ki-moon gave a press conference, pitching for relevance and a role in Ukraine, where instead of Robert Serry he has now sent his deputy Jan Eliasson. But once it was leaked that former US now UN official Jeff Feltman "got" Ban to send Serry to Ukraine, Ban's UN being viewed as impartial is more difficult.

  It was World Wildlife Day, so Ban gave a speech on that as well. But unaddressed since Inner City Press reported and asked about it on February 28 are what UN whistleblowers say are more than 50 rapes in Eastern Congo by poacher Mai Mai Morgan. Ban will meet his Special Representatives including Martin Kobler from the Congo. What will the UN's answer be?

  UK Hugo Swire took on the Sri Lanka issue; here's his response to Pillay's report. He said it's time for international action.

 US Samantha Power won't speak until March 4, in the afternoon in Geneva so work hours in the US. Sri Lanka's G.L. Peiris on the other hand appears March 5 but 3:40 am Eastern Times. Watch this site.

   

As Bangladesh Bans Rohingya, UN Silent Like On Sri Lanka, Joining OIC as PR Like #AskJPM?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 14 -- The Rohingya, Kachin and other groups stand to be lost in the Burmese shuffle amid much praise of Myanmar. Yesterday Inner City Press asked the UN about the Rohingya, specifically Bangladesh saying it will close its borders to those trying to flee. The UN has yet to answer:

Inner City Press: Bangladesh has said, formally, that they will close their borders to Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar, what they view as persecution in Myanmar, and in the past the Secretariat has commented on Bangladesh's treatment of Rohingya. Do you have any comment? Is there anything that the UN system, DPA [Department of Political Affairs] or anyone, is trying to do with regard to this closing of the border?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Let me check with my colleagues who deal with that matter; the Refugee Agency, with Political Affairs and others, certainly.

  Eighteen hours later, no comment on this, nor on crackdowns in Sri Lanka against the media and about survivors of the 2009 "bloodbath on the beach" who are trying to testify, despite UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's (still only internal) "Rights Up Front" plan triggered by the UN's inaction in 2009.

  The Organization for Islamic Cooperation's outgoing Secretary General Ihsanoglu is in Myanmar, with Turkey's foreign minister and others. 

  Inner City Press twice asked Ihsanoglu about the plight of Muslims in Sri Lanka; he expressed concern but each time noted that Sri Lankan foreign minster GL Peiris has said the country would like to join the OIC in some way. September 26, 2013 video here from Minute 13:05, and October 28 video here, from Minute 20.

  Would Sri Lanka joining with the OIC just be public relations, like this from Sri Lanka, or the JP Morgan Chase's abortive #AskJPM question and answer set for today then canceled? At the UN, we're still waiting for the UN's answers, on Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Rohingya, and on Sri Lanka. Watch this site.

   

Sri Lanka Meets Ban Ki-moon, No Prageeth or Petrie Report, No Accountability?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- It was on the final day of the week-long UN General Debate that Sri Lanka's G.L. Peiris spoke, along with North Korea, Belarus and Syria.

  Like these other three, Sri Lanka spoke out against any outside interference in its internal affairs. Unlike Syria, however, Sri Lanka has largely prevailed in this request. No one has been held accountable for the killing of civilians in 2009. Peiris bragged about redeveloping northern Sri Lanka, without saying who is benefiting.

  In the afternoon, before North Korea spoke, Inner City Press waited and attended the photo op between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Peiris. Beyond UN Photo, the only other photographers present were both affiliated with the Sri Lankan government. 

  Visible was Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona and other Mission staff, but not his Deputy, general Shavendra Silva of whose presence on the UN Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations Ban on February 8, 2012 told Inner City Press, "it was the member states that decided."

G.L. Peiris signed, Ban Ki-moon shakes, (c) MR Lee 

 After the October 1 meeting Ban issued a bland read-out:

"The Secretary-General met with H.E. Mr. G. L. Peiris, Minister for External Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. They exchanged views on the post-conflict situation in Sri Lanka and cooperation with the United Nations.

"The Secretary-General noted the Government’s latest efforts to implement the recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission as well as the steady progress and remaining tasks on resettlement efforts in the North. He also emphasized the need to find a political solution without further delay to the underlying factors of the past conflict."

  So when is the report by Charles Petrie, about the UN's own inaction in 2008 and 2009, going to be finished -- that is, released to the public? Was the crackdown on journalists, including the disappearing of Prageeth Ehaliyagoda, raised by Ban Ki-moon?

  Is it difficult to know: Ban held a so-called "press encounter" on Monday, but no questions were allowed. On Tuesday, the UN Secretariat's description of the week will be given by Ban's new Deputy Jan Eliasson at 11:15 am. 

  And late on Monday in what some called garbage time it was announced that "Due to the press conference tomorrow by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, there will be no noon briefing by the Spokesperson."

   Will Eliasson take more than 45 minutes? In the past, a noon briefing might be canceled if Ban spoke at the same time. Now, it will be cancel for the Deputy, apparently in an attempt to get correspondents to focus on the UN's own messaging rather than ask questions, for example about Sri Lanka. This is Ban's UN.