At UN, Few Answers by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Meningitis Vaccination Sickening 38 Chadian Children

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 28 – Earlier this year, following an investigation into 38 Chadian children harmed by a meningitis vaccination campaign done wrong, questions were raised about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that were, at that time, not answered.

  Chad's Health Minister Mamouth Nahor NGawara said diplomatically that “during the last phase of the vaccination campaign organized at Gouro on December 11 to 15, 2012, unusual reactions were noted.” 

  Unusual to say the least: seven children were taken out of the country for treatment in Tunisia.

  The question was raised: “What part does the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) play within the campaign? Who is responsible for administering the funds provided by the BMGF?”

  With no answered, when the UN Department of Public Information sent out invitations to a February 28 briefing by Dr. Chris Elias, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations’ Global Development Program, Inner City Press signed up.

 Even though subsequently a UN Security Council meeting about Mali got scheduled at the same time, Inner City Press left covering it and went up to a glassed-in conference room in the UN's renovated headquarters building.

A number of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation staffers accompanied Chris Elias, who spoke for example about an upcoming event in the United Arab Emirates which he said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend, to praise donations from the UAE.

(Earlier this week when Ban was in the UAE, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman if Ban was aware of the UAE blocking entry by an academic to speak at a London School of Economics sponsored conference about Bahrain, because of the professor's views. 

  The spokesman said Ban was aware of it, but there is no indication that Ban raised it in his meetings with the UAE ruling family.)

When UN Department of Public Information official Stephane Dujarric called on Inner City Press to ask a question at this on the record briefing, Inner City Press asked about the vaccination problems in Chad.

  BMGF's Dr. Elias replied that he was aware of the meningitis vaccination campaign in Chad (and twenty other countries in the Meningitis Belt), but said he was not aware of this case. Video here.

  Off camera a staffer said he was aware, that some “government” action led to illness and promised to send more information to Inner City Press, which gave the staffer all the contact information.

  Fifteen hours later, no information has been provided. From Mr. Dujarric came a letter complaining about Inner City Press' reporting - click here for more on that.

   The UN's recent dismissal of the legal claim it brought cholera into Haiti, killing 8000 people, leaves the UN with little credibility as a defender of any people made sick. In this situation, which side do you think the UN is on?

  An honest UN official, John Ging, this week told Inner City Press that the claim dismissal harms the UN's "corporate reputation." This is a small example of how. There will be many more.

  BMGF's Dr. Elias mentioned the “Path” program. But among the questions raised has been whether “Is the way in which PATH Intl. still promotes the campaign to solicit funds without reflecting on the recent happenings still helpful?”

 These questions should be answered. This is called reporting. Watch this site.

Footnote: Recently UN DPI has set up on the record "brown bag" sessions with, for example, the UN's expert on the prevention of genocide (about Syria), the now gone head of UN Security, a UNHCR official (about Syria, all on the record and helpful.)

  The February 27 session felt different, perhaps because a non-UN entity flush with cash was allowed, essentially, to advertise. On February 22, UNCA (a/k/a the UN's Censorship Alliance) similarly ran a "press conference" which devolved into an advertisement for the German car company BMW. There, questions about environmental impact were referred to BMW. Will these questions be answered? Watch this site.

For BMW, UN Alliance of Civilizations Shills, Press Grills, Sponsor UNCA Lunches

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 22 – When the UN Alliance of Civilization held a press conference at the UN in New York on Friday, one expected to hear of issues such as the amateur video on religion, subsequent rioting and cut-off of YouTube in several countries.

   After all, the last AoC representative Jorge Sampaio said “there is a balance to be found between freedom of expression and respect for religion and for religious feelings and principles.”

  Inner City Press went to the press conference and asked about just this. But the majority of the hour long session was about the corporate sponsor of the UNAOC “Intercultural Innovation Award,” the German car company BMW.

 BMW was extensively praised by the panelists before any questions were allowed. Once they were, Inner City Press asked about the propriety of a UN program like AoC so openly promoting a corporation.

 Jean-Christophe Bas, listed as Senior Adviser of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, said that BMW held helped design the UN program; he said that as a member of the UN Global Compact, BMW “complies with... ten or twelve principles.”

 Inner City Press pointed out that the Global Compact, when Pressed, says it is about reporting, not compliance. Companies are thrown out for not reporting, not for substantive non-compliance with the principles.

 As to BMW, Inner City Press asked about criticism by Greenpeace and others of BMW's role in lobbying against CO2 emission rules in Brussels.

 Again Jean-Christophe Bas launched into praise of BMW, finally saying he is no expert on the environment and that Inner City Press should ask BMW directly.

  But isn't it the UN, through its Alliance of Civilizations, that chose to partner with BMW?

  When asked to cite another UN partnership -- by the New York Times, which can apparently be named -- the answer was UNESCO's arrangement with L'Oreal. 

  And who partnered with the Alliance of Civilizations, sponsoring and promoting their UN press conference on Friday? 

 Without mentioning the name of any officials, it was the UN Correspondents Association. To be diplomatic we'll will only for now note that there has been more serious controversy about UNCA sponsoring events in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium -- click here for one example -- and more recently, this week, demanding the first question from Bolivia's president Evo Morales, even when he repeatedly said no, he had recognized another (Latina) journalist first.

   There has been no mea culpa about this fiasco, even after the next day's doubling-down. What about this sponsorship of what became, in essence, an attempted advertisement for BMW? 

  Without naming the names of officials -- there seems to be some sensitivity about this -- the question is raised, like the question of documents obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act like this one. And the questions should be answered. Watch this site.

Footnote: Ironically, the Director of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, Matthew Hodes, gave the answer of the afternoon, telling Inner City Press in response to the YouTube video question that there is an absolute right to free speech, it's just a question of how to deal with it. Hear, hear. The Free UN Coalition for Access agrees on the primacy of free speech and freedom of the press. If we omit names in this report, it is entirely by choice and not required. Watch this site.