As UAE Prosecutes Online Critics, Ban Does Not Raise to FM, Instead Syria & Iran

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 4 -- Amid crackdowns throughout Middle East on not only physical but also intellectual opposition, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seems to focus on the former.

On November 3, Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy Spokesman Eduardo Del Buey

Inner City Press: In the UAE there is a trial of five on-line activists. They have been put on trial in what's called the UAE five case for insulting UAE Government officials in an on-line forum, and Amnesty International and a variety of groups have said that the trial is a travesty and that international organizations should speak against it. I am wondering if anyone in the UN system is observing that trial, do you have any statement on the UAE putting essentially bloggers on trial for their speech.

Deputy Spokesperson: No, we have no statement on that yet. If we have anything, we will let you know.

While Ban's Spokesperson has yet to issue any statement on the UAE's so-called "Franz Kafka" blogger trial, the Office did put out a read-out of Ban's meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 meetings in Cannes with the UAE's foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahya, with no mention of the trail or crackdowns by the UAE.

Instead, Ban says he discussed Syria and "they also discussed the situation in Iran." What about the situation in the UAE?

Inner City Press also asked about Ban's whirlwind stop off in Libya on his way to the G-20 meeting in Cannes:

Inner City Press: Yesterday I asked you, maybe you have an answer now, when the Secretary-General flew to Libya -- he has now left so there is no security concerns -- on whose aircraft did he fly? Did he fly commercial?

Deputy Spokesperson: He flew, he and the delegation flew from here to Frankfurt on commercial aircraft, and then from Frankfurt to Libya on a UN-chartered aircraft; and then from Libya to Nice on a UN-chartered aircraft.

Inner City Press: just contracted out, paid?

Deputy Spokesperson: To the best of my knowledge, yes... A UN-chartered aircraft.

There are mounting questions about the costs and manner of Ban Ki-moon's travels. Watch this site.

Cannes Confidential, UN TV Show "21st Century" Refuses to Disclose Payments to Host Daljit Dhaliwal

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1cannes041508.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 15 -- The UN hired a television reporter, Daljit Dahliwal, to host its new television series, 21st Century, but refuses to disclose how much it paying Ms. Dhaliwal, nor how much it spent flying two UN staffer to Cannes, France, to offer the show for free to TV networks. The show's trailer does not mention any UN connection, and Inner City Press' sources describe filming session in which UN photos and logos are covered up to not be shown.

Questions have arisen about what benefit the UN and its paying member states receive from the money spent on such a show, and why the amount of the expenditure is confidential, as the head of UN TV and Radio Susan Farkas on April 15 told Inner City Press.

Ms. Farkas was one of the two UN staffers who flew this month to Cannes, for the MIP TV convention. Describing it to Inner City Press as a junket, sources suggested that the cost of the trip, how it differed from previous years, and the amount paid to Ms. Dahliwal to host it be inquired into. On April 11, Inner City Press sent written questions to the UN Spokesperson's office, and received a response that same day from Ms. Farkas, who confirmed that she "travelled to France for MIP TV, the international television production market held twice yearly in Cannes."

While not stating how many other UN people traveled there, Ms. Farkas wrote that "some other UN agencies also attended and very useful meetings about cross-agency coproduction and cooperation were held...I am referring to UNifeed, our daily satellite feed of news material, the feature series, UN in Action, and the monthly magazine program 21st Century."

Ms. Farkas came to UN TV from stints at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and then from NBC. The UN-hired host of 21st Century is the BBC and CNN journalist Daljit Dhaliwal. On April 15, asked how much the UN is paying Ms. Dahliwal, Ms. Farkas said simply, "that is confidential." But the UN has procurement and hiring rules, and what it pays outside contractors, particularly for work such as this, is presumptively public.

Following questions about the Cannes venture and the budget of the 21st Century show, a breezy description of the trip was put on the UN's intra-net. But this did not say how much the outside contractor is getting paid.

In fact, there has already been controversy in the UN system regarding whether it is ethical for the UN to pay journalists who might (otherwise) cover the UN. In a memo this decade to the UN Communications Group, former spokesman of the UN Development Program William Orme proposed among other things that the UN not hire journalists, or at a minimum make full disclosure of all sums paid. Either this proposal was never accepted, or it never reached UN TV. We will have more on this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1cannes041508.html