On Ebola, Inner City Press Asks UN's Nabarro Of Unrest in Northern Mali, Since Aid Access Blocked

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 21 -- As UN Ebola envoy David Nabarro went into the Security Council to brief the Council's members on November 21, Inner City Press asked him how fast the UN mission UNMEER can get set in Mali, and if the unrest in the North might pose a problem.

  On the latter, Nabarro said no -- perhaps because cases have so far been in the south. Recently UN humanitarian operations chief John Ging told Inner City Press there are areas in the north where aid workers have no access. Why would it be different with health workers?

  When the Security Council's session started up, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop said that some had asked to participate by video but it was not possible for technical reasons. She then gave the floor to Tony Banbury by video - and it didn't work, at least at that time.

Earlier on November 21 after an Ebola meeting of the UN Chief Executives Board in Washington, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the World Health Organization's Margaret Chan took two questions from the media: both American, NPR and AP.

  Ban Ki-moon said that he has asked Tony Banbury of the UNMEER mission to open up in Mali, given the spread of ebola there. Previously Inner City Press asked the UN to confirm that its Mali Mission MINUSMA has canceled its contract with the Pasteur Institute in Bamako; the UN has yet to confirm it.

  Not mentioned by Ban is that his envoy to Mali Bert Koenders cut and ran, in the middle of the crises, to become Dutch foreign minister. So WHO is running the UN's show in Mali?

  As to WHO, last week it ham-handedly cc-ed BuzzFeed on its internal email stating that BuzzFeed reporter Jina Moore, "who on two occasions reported inaccurately," is banned. (Mashable has posted the chain of WHO e-mails, here.)

  Inner City Press at the UN's noon briefing on November 14 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about WHO banning BuzzFeed. Video here and embedded below.

 Haq said he'd read the reports but wasn't sure if they are correct -- there doesn't seem to be any dispute of the authenticity of the WHO emails. Haq said to asked WHO - but it is a part of the UN system. Isn't there a system wide policy?

 Inner City Press asked again on November 21, just before Ban's and Chan's joint press availability. Ban's lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric replied that much as he'd like to ban some media, they don't and he hopes his colleagues don't.

  During Ban's tenure at the head of the UN system, his Under Secretaries General have been allowed to pick and choose which media to respond to, to say on camera, "I don't respond to you," even to block -- or Ban -- a media's camera filming from the authorized UN General Assembly stakeout, Vine here.

  Things have reached this state in part because the old United Nations Correspondents Association, which one would expect to push back, has joined in the censorship trend. 

  For example, UNCA's then-president Giampaolo Pioli demanded that an article describing his financial relationship with Sri Lanka's ambassador be removed from the Internet or he would get the Press thrown out of the UN. 

  Lo and behold, an UNCA then-board member from Voice of America wrote a letter to the UN requesting just that; an Inner City Press FOIA request showed Voice of America said it had the support of the UN bureau chiefs of AFP and Reuters -- which has gotten Google to block -- or Ban -- from Search even its complaint to the UN, claiming it is private and subject to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This UN breeds censorship.

   Still, WHO's written explanation of a ban for "inaccurate reporting" in the middle of a health crisis is a new low. We and the new Free UN Coalition for Access will have more on this.  For now, consider the UN did nothing when the President of Sierra Leone jailed a journalist for his reporting on Ebola, as well as for daring to question President Ernest Bai Koroma's performance.

  The UN had a peacekeeping mission in the country, has a Country Team and now the UN Mission on Ebola Emergency Response, UNMEER. So at the UN's November 5 noon briefing Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: In Sierra Leone a journalist, David Tam-Baryoh, has been put in jail, maximum security prison, for his reporting on Ebola under a law that says that it is a crime to undermine Government efforts to fight the epidemic. He's also questioned the third term for the Presiden Koroma. So, I wanted to know what is the UN system, given its involvement through UNMEER and otherwise, what do they say about this case? Also, it seems does UNMEER have any human rights mandate or component to it? I thought all kind of UN entities had some overarching or inherent Rights Up Front…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: There's a country office in all three countries. Human Rights Up Front does apply to all UN staff and missions. What is… I don't have the particulars of this case, but it is clear that journalists need to be allowed to do their work free of intimidation and fear.

Inner City Press: What about a law that says, obviously, it's important to fight Ebola, but should a journalist be, should a law exist in which you clearly could be arrested for…?

Spokesman: I think, clearly, the media has a very important role to play in fighting… in part of our response against Ebola, whether it's fighting stigmatization or other issues.

Those are generalities, but what is the UN doing? What does Ban Ki-moon's "Rights Up Front," born of his failure in Sri Lanka in 2009, really mean? Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access have been told that UN inquiries are being made. We'll have more on this.

   

On Ebola, UN's Nabarro to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Maybe Nigeria, Questions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- With the UN's new envoy on ebola David Nabarro in New York before he heads to Washington and then West Africa, he met on August 19 with representatives from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. 

  One of the attendees contacted Inner City Press about the meeting, praising Nabarro but frustrated that “the UN is just talk, talk, talk” which these countries struggle to emerge from or deal with conflict.

  Inner City Press asked Nabarro about the meeting, and also what he would say to authorities in the Philippines who are considering withdrawing their country's soldiers from the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, UNMIL.

  Nabarro said the meeting was useful, adding diplomatically that the countries would like to be empowered including to deal with future outbreaks. (This is consistent with the report / complaint that Inner City Press got about the meeting).

  On the peacekeeping mission, Nabarro said it has a big role to play in Liberia and he will speak with the members of the mission while there. He might want to speak with the capitals of the Troop Contributing Countries, since that is where the decisions will be made.

  Nabarro said that after a day in Washington, where among others he will meet with the CDC, he will travel to Dakar, then for two days to Liberia, to Freetown, Sierra Leone, Conakry and, he hopes, Nigeria. We'll have more on this.

Footnotes: After the UN set aside the first question for the UN Correspondents Association, a group whose Executive Committee has tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for reporting on a financial relationship between UNCA's president and a diplomat for whom UNCA screened a war crimes denial inside the UN -- see here for a summary and here for a documents obtained under FOIA -- Inner City Press thanked Nabarro for the new, alternativeFree UN Coalition for Access: FUNCA.

  Nabarro asked about FUNCA, which is only fair, and asked if that was OK (it was). As long as the UN sets aside first questions for UNCA, become the UN's Censorship Alliance, and continues to grant it privileged status from which it can try to get investigative or alternative media thrown out of the UN, this stage with continue. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ban Ki-moon's Issues Do Not Include Ukraine, Only 4 Questions, Pre-Selected, Softballs on Gaza

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- When the UN said that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would hold a “press encounter” at noon on August 12, this ensured that there would be no other question and answer briefing for the day.

  But when Ban arrived, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban would take only four questions. The first one was pre-selected; to the next, on Ukraine, Ban read a one sentence answer off a note card. This is today's UN.

  On Gaza Ban was not asked in the four questions if he will set up a Board of Inquiry -- Inner City Press said the phrase several times at the end but Ban waved, or waived: he did not answer.

  Ban's three topics did not include the stand-off in Ukraine, including about aid access, an issue on which one might think the UN could play a mediating role. But not this UN.

  Ban began with Iraq, saying nearly exactly the same things as US President Barack Obama. Ban said that “Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abbadi now has the important task of forming a broad-based government acceptable to all components of Iraqi society,” and said “it is imperative that the security forces refrain from intervening in the political process.”

  But Obama and his vice president Joe Biden both spoke with Abbadi, or Abadi as they spell it. Did Ban?

  Of Mount Sinjar, Ban said that “air drops of food and water are reaching some of the trapped people.” 

   But what coordinating role, if any, is the UN playing in these airdrops by the US and UK, as well as in air strikes? No one asked. The first question was set aside for the UN Correspondents Association, proud to play softball soccer with Ban.

  On Gaza Ban made sure to say ““Israel’s duty to protect its citizens from rocket attacks by Hamas and other threats is beyond question.” He added that “I expect accountability for the innocent lives lost and the damage incurred” -- but did not say, and in the pre-selected questions was not asked, if he will set up a Board of Inquiry. 

  When he did in 2009, as revealed in a cable published by Wikileaks, Ban put in his cover letter -- first published by Inner City Press -- exactly what he was told from across First Avenue.

  Ban's third topic, to the surprise of many, was not Ukraine. It was ebola, and named his previous bird flu guru David Nabarro -- a fine man -- the UN's coordinator on ebola. 

 That's a good appointment - but what about Ban's spokespeople refusing to confirm what the UK has announced, that Bernardino Leon is replacing the ousted Tarek Mitri as “Ban's” envoy on Libya?

The UN's non-answering, and selectivity and set-asides, are now opposed by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, which asked Dujarric why there would be no regular briefing (for example on topics like South Sudan). Dujarric called this normal, deference to a four question "encounter." We'll have more on this.

 What about allowing Ban's adviser Ray Chambers to serve on a commission for Chris Christie the governor of New Jersey? What about unanswered irregularities by UNDP and Ban's UNAMA mission and UN Department of Safety and Security? Dujarric said he'd get back with any answers. We are waiting. Watch this site.

   

UN Science Under Fire, Pharma Role in Swine Flu to Pressure on Lancet on MDG 5

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/mdg5who041410.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- The UN system and World Health Organization made much of swine flu, and pharmaceutical companies made much money selling vaccines. On April 14, Inner City Press asked WHO's Margaret Chan how she could accept as a major advisor a man who heads a group lobbying for vaccine makers. Video here, from Minute 32:58.

WHO's Doctor Chan said "I respect the media" but "we have to work together to get the right information out." Next to her, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon nodded. He was headlining a press conference about material mortality. While the UN says that the situation has not gotten better, The Lancet has reported a 35% decrease in the past 28 years.

The Lancet's editor has said he was pressure not to release this positive news while the UN is seeking to raise funds. Mr. Ban denied this, calling it "speculation and rumor." It was unclear if he meant that the Lancet's editor had been misquoted, or was simply wrong.

Earlier, the UN's flu coordinator David Nabarro had told Inner City Press that only Doctor Chan would answer for WHO. He disclosed, however, that the UN's humanitarian coordinator John Holmes is no longer on food security. One wondered where John Holmes is, as the UN falls under fire for renting luxury cruise ships for its staff members in Haiti.

These officials are part of the UN's Chief Executives Board which met in Vienna last week. Inner City Press was told, and Mr. Ban's spokesman confirmed, that former Deputy S-G Mark Malloch Brown was at the Vienna meeting, providing an "outside view." The spokesman committed to find out who invited Malloch Brown. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/mdg5who041410.html

At UN, Food Workers Abruptly Told of Layoffs, Swine Flu and Drugs Gag Order

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1foodswine050409.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 4 -- With the diplomacy for which the United Nations is known, its food service workers in New York were abruptly told Monday that layoffs begin on August 2. The UN headquarters is scheduled to be emptied and repaired, by a contractor Skanska being sued for asbestos, and its cafeteria is to be cut in two, consolidated with the more upscale Delegates' Dining Room.

One worker, staring at the day's offerings of chicken legs and corn, complained to Inner City Press that while "Obama is trying to save jobs, Ban Ki-moon is eliminating them."

The notice was by the UN's contractor Aramark. Its cleaning contractor has not given similar notices, as there will still be a need to clear the UN's so-called swing spaces on Madison Avenue and 47th Street and Second Avenue and 42nd and 46th Streets.

As Inner City Press has reported, the move is called into question by the Department of Safety and Security's failure to produce risk assessments for the swing space locations. Capital Master Plan chief Michael Adlerstein is now said to be blaming the head of the UN's New York security for not preparing the plans.


Adlerstein will hold a meeting with staff on May 7, but the contractors being unceremoniously told of lay-offs are not expected to be invited.

Footnotes: The UN's pandemic expert David Nabarro, in an uncharacteristically testy press conference on Monday, refused to state whether any UN staff have tested positive to swine or H1N1 flu. Inner City Press asked him to comment on irregularities in "pharmaceutical controls," including with regard to Tamiflu as well as Daizepam, in the UN Medical Service, but he declined.

The stated purpose of his briefing was so Ban Ki-moon won't be answered flu-related questions at his May 5 press conference. But now that seemed inevitable.

The role of the pork industry in the UN World Health Organization's decision to change the name of Swine Flu is not yet fully known. Apparently poultry groups didn't have as much clout, as it is still called Bird Flu. On a recent WHO press conference call, Inner City Press repeatedly pushed 0-1 to get in line to ask a question, but wasn't called on. Next time, then. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1foodswine050409.html