UN Abuses Florence Hartmann at ICTY As It Ousted Inner City Press from UNHQ Jan 29 & March 10, Ban Ki-moon's UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 26 -- It seems UN Security is given no training on non-abusive treatment, of the press or anyone else. In New York on January 29, eight UN guards under the command of DSS Deputy Chief Michael McNulty threw Inner City Press onto First Avenue, its laptop on the sidewalk. Audio here.

 On March 10, Sargent Clyde ordered Inner City Press out of the UN at 8 pm, again out into First Avenue, in contradiction with the UN's own Access Guidelines. Video here.

In fairness to DSS, behind each of these was the lawless February 19 order by Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach, and beyond her powers higher and lower in the UN, including potty-mouthed UNCA boss Giampaolo Pioli, who on March 24 came to the UN Security Council stakeout with the sole purpose of cursing at Inner City Press. Audio here. The UN has yet to do anything.

 On March 24, after UN Security at the ICTY roughed up former Le Monde journalist and ICTY spokesperson Florence Hartmann, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson, on before of the Free UN Coalition for Access, to explain, from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: in the ICTY case, there was also a detention or arrest, of the former spokesperson of the ICTY, Florence Hartmann, who's a former journalist.  And it's described she was physically detained by, they said blue-shirted.  I'm not sure if it's the UN court or who it was.  Are you aware of this detention of Ms. Hartmann and what's behind it?

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  I am aware of the reports.  Ultimately, I think that's a question for the ICTY… if that's an action that they have taken, they would need to explain what the reasoning is behind it.

Inner City Press:  Who provides security there?  Is it the UNDSS [Department of Safety and Security] or is it some separate entity?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, like I said, ultimately, though, this is proceedings at the ICTY, so you'd need to talk with them.

  But look at this France 24 photo, along with a report of abusive lights-on suicide watch. Does today's UN have any respect for the rights of critics, journalistic or otherwise?

After Inner City Press was summarily ejected from the UN, which it has covered for ten years, on February 19, the ostensibly deciding official Cristina Gallach told no less than Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta that Inner City Press would still be able to cover the UN with the same access as before.

This has proven false: Inner City Press has been Banned from covering meetings on Security Council reform, Next SG selection, Sri Lanka andWestern Sahara, to name a few.

  In seeking to for little reason and no due process take away Inner City Press' long time office and Resident Correspondent accreditation, Gallach and UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric have worked with some board members of the UN Correspondents Association, a campaign that included at least two anonymous troll social media accounts followed by Gallach and Dujarric devoted to nothing else than defending the two, and Herve "R&R" Ladsous. (Last time, Media Bistrolinked the similar anti-Press trolls to Reuters and AFP, here.)

 They are mad UNCA was exposed as taking indicted Ng Lap Seng's South South News' money and giving Ng a photo with Ban Ki-moon, or in Gallach's case, at being questioned by Inner City Press in October about having attended the South South Awards with Frank Lorenzo who has now pleaded guilty.

   But this lawless attempt to seize Inner City Press' long time office and files is illegitimate. Consider for example that one of the UNCA board members, used by Dujarric for a shameless colloquy about Inner City Press' accreditation status on the day Inner City Press was told it was Banned from all UN premises, barely if at all writes any articles: on the website of Pakistan's Daily Dawn it says, "Could Not Find That Page."

  So if Inner City Press like him did nothing, wrote nothing, merely collaborated with the UN in attacking more active and less cooperative journalists, it too could continue with an office in Gallach's corrupt UN system.

 Under Gallach, tellingly, South South News which was exposed as corrupt at latest in October -- when Inner City Press questioned Gallach, on October 19, video here, as has been timely raised to the UN Ethics Office, she should have recused herself -- has been left with office space, while Inner City Press which most actively pursues the UN corruption story in order to try to clean up and improve the UN is ousted.

 Well, no. Beyond further exploration of the links of South South News and the indicted with the UN including Gallach's Department of Public Information, which she is bringing low, it is time to explore "what it takes" in her system to retain office space awarded under her predecessors. It will be, to coin a phrase, a new (Daily) Dawn.

 Where for example is Giampaolo Pioli's blog? Dormant since 2011. Or Twitter feed? Other than following his / DPI's troll accounts? Or articles? Other than about Morgan Freeman? Or questions? He rented one of is apartment to Palitha Kohona, then screened Kohona's Sri Lanka war crimes denial film in the UN. Who is bringing the UN low?


On Wall Street, seats with Ban sold for $6,000; Bans and Pioli, at right, credit UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

And if being where a journalist supposedly should be is the pretext to oust Inner City Press without due process, what about those UNCA board members including but not limited to Pioli who have routinely been allowed by the UN to slouch and parade around the so-called Turkish Lounge, where the published rules say they should only go when invited by a diplomat? We'll have more on all this. Watch this site.

When Inner City Press came to the UN on February 22, with another journalist there to sign Inner City Press in as a guest, UN Security said, “You are Banned from the UN.”  Audio here.

  Inner City Press left the UN pass office, and set up shop in the Isaiah plowshares park across from the UN. Several Permanent Representatives, at least two Under Secretaries General (the same rank as Gallach) and many staff came to express outrage at the UN's censorship.

 But in the UN Press Briefing Room, which was "lent" to the UN Correspondents (or Corruption) Association back on January 29, the reaction was different.

 In an embarrassing colloquy, long time UNCA board member and Daily Dawn-er Masood Haider asked Spokesman Dujarric about "the blogger Matthew Lee" who has been "spewing on the Internet reports whether false or not." Vine here; Video here; UN transcript here:

UNCA Question:  Stéphane, can you please tell us about the blogger, Mr. Matthew Lee, who has been very active on the internet spewing all kinds of reports, whether false or not?  What is the status now?

Spokesman:  Mr. Lee has available to him a non-resident pass for four months and which, last I heard, he had not claimed, but that's what he has available.  I know there were reports that we had “seized his files”.  Completely untrue.  His office remains untouched.  And we await him to return so he can vacate his office.  Thank you.

  Yeah - thank you for the set-up question to put propaganda in to the UN record. 

On February 19 Inner City Press asked to get its passport and most important files but was pushed out onto First Avenue by UN Security Deputy Chief Michael McNulty without either. That's not seized? That's OK?

And the extortionate offer - no access unless with much reduced rights - is entirely disproportionate to the non-existent "crimes," which was to seek to cover an event in this same UN Press Briefing Room, by UNCA which took money from indicted Ng Lap Seng's and Frank Lorenzo's South South News then gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Ban Ki-moon.

  UNCA President Giampaolo was there, leaving first from the February 22 Press-less press conference; another UNCA board member slapped Dujarric on the back. Great job!

  Bloggers are, of course, hacked to death in Bangladesh, a country on whose free press record USG Gallach never even replied to a detailed email from the Free UN Coalition for Access, for protection for a Bangladeshi journalist then in the UN. Spewing indeed.

 Dujarric took the opportunity to deny that the UN had seized Inner City Press' files -- the reality is, when Inner City Press asked on February 19 to take the most important of them, and its passport, it was denied by UN Security. On February 22, UN Security said Inner City Press is Banned from all UN premises.

  Dujarric said, as if it's ok, that Inner City Press is being "offered" much reduced access, for four months. But Inner City Press did nothing wrong, and the "investigation" by Gallach which led to its ouster did not involve a single conversation with or reaching out to Inner City Press.

  Any reduced access to loss of office space -- which Masood Haider, who hardly writes articles, has, and UNCA President Giampaolo Pioli has, a private office, while writing about Morgan Freeman -- is unfair and is to cast a chill of freedom of the press. No staged colloquy can hide that. We'll have more on this.

  Later, after being told to leave even the UN Pass office, a UN Under Secretary General told Inner City Press Gallach had told other USGs that Inner City Press was in fact in the building - that AFTER Inner City Press was told by UN Security, twice, that it is banned from all UN premises and was told to leave the UN Pass office.

  Gallach, and Ban Ki-moon and his chief of staff Edmond Mulet to whom Inner City Press wrote on February 19, still without response, has received a legal letter with a

"demand that Mr. Lee be immediately reissued with the resident correspondent accreditation that he has enjoyed for many years.  I request these remedies pending an examination of the entire matter by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression or by any other mutually agreed and independent review mechanism.

In reaching the decision to perfunctorily revoke Mr. Lee’s resident correspondent accreditation, a number of accepted principles of natural justice and rules of administrative law were breached. These principles include, inter alia, the right to be informed before the imposition of administrative measures, the right to make representations before being subjected to those measures and the right to appellate review of such measures. Mr. Lee was denied all of these procedural safeguards which are commonplace in most democratic societies and which are routinely
vaunted by the United Nations itself."

 As Inner City Press sits in the park across from the UN using its phone as a hot spot -- hence no Periscope -- there has been no response.

 Ban Ki-moon's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who'd also told those who questioned him that Inner City Press could end and cover “his” briefing on Monday.

  False. UN Security then said, you cannot wait in the pass office, you are banned from all UN premises. Trying to cover the UN Security Council meeting on Syria from the Isaiah plowshares park across from the UN, various Ambassadors came to say they were appalled. But Gallach's office has told then, nothing will be done.

  This is disgusting censorship by an increasingly corrupt UN.

As Inner City Press at the UN pursues unfolding stories of corruption, peacekeepers committing rapes in the Central African Republic, UN inaction in Burundi, South Sudan and Yemen, on February 19 with two hours notice UN Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach ordered Inner City Press to be ousted. Letter here.

   On the evening of February 19, UN Security Deputy Chief Michael McNulty, who refused to provide his name (audio), pushed Inner City Press out onto First Avenue (audio), having cut off its Periscope video livestream (video) and not allowed it to get its files, coat or passport from its longtime shared office. Gallach wants the office back, to retaliate and so the UN Correspondents Association can, in essence, sell the UN space just as it sells access to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

  On February 20, Inner City Press posed four questions to Dujarric and his deputy Farhan Haq, with a copy to Gallach --which 24 hours later have not been answered or even acknowledged (while both Dujarric and Gallach were wildly spinning to those who contacted them, includingNobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta, see here, who was told there was no problem taking over Inner City Press' office and undermining its ability to report, edit videos, conduct interviews. There is a big problem. Here are the questions:

"Please state the status and condition of all of my papers and property in my office, Room S-303A, including investigative papers, communications from sources including whistleblowers and my passport and when I will have the access to them that I was denied on February 19 and since.

Please state when the Resident Correspondent UN pass I have had for years, but which was torn off my neck on Feb 19, will be returned, in connection with 1, above, and the UNSC meeting(s) and UN Noon Briefing on Monday February 22.

Please state and explain the role of the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary General in the deprivations in 1 and 2, above.

Finally, for now, please state the Secretary-General's position on UN Security Deputy McNulty on February 19 threatening twice to have me “handed over to NYPD” (including the concomitant acceptance by the UN of the NYPD's jurisdiction), of UN Security officers grabbing my phone which was live-broadcasting Periscope video at the UN Security Council stakeout and turning it off.

I have other questions but these are most pressing, for immediate answer."

  And as yet, no answer. Watch this site.

  While Inner City Press was writing up a UN Security Council meeting on Syria that went into the evening, and Periscope broadcasting, UN Security guards walked up, grabbed Inner City Press' laptop, blocked its Periscope camera and turned off the livestream. Video here.

  Then eight UN Security officers led by Deputy Chief McNulty tore off Inner City Press' UN ID badge and carted off Inner City Press' laptop and camera, returning these by throwing them on the sidewalk of First Avenue. Audio here.

 They did not allow Inner City Press to get coat or sweater, or the files in its office. No provision was made for this.

  The ejection letter was signed by the Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Galach of Spain but ultimately Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in charge. Ban and his chief of staff Edmond Mulet and Deputy SG Jan Eliasson were all written to with details as this took place.

  USG Gallach's office, Darrin Farrant in charge, merely "took note" of questions about and criticism of the lack of due process. Gallach did not respond to email, even from Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, here.

  When Inner City Press was thrown out onto First Avenue, standing waiting, laughing and filming, was Voice of America's Margaret Besheer and another board member of the UN Correspondents Association, whose president Giampaoli Pioli told Inner City Press if it didn't remove a (truthful) article about his screening of a war crimes denial film for a tenant of his, Sri Lanka's then ambassador Palitha Kohona, he would get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN.

  But who is running this asylum? Ban Ki-moon, his spokesman also involved Stephane Dujarric (who threw Inner City Press out of the UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, also trying to turn off ICP's Periscoping phone), and, some surmise, some who don't like Inner City Press' questions. We'll have more on this.

  The pretext was Inner City Press three weeks earlier seeking to cover a meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room by an organization which has taken money from now indicted Ng Lap Seng and Frank Lorenzo's South SOuth News, then gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Ban.

(As Inner City Press reported, Gallach attended the South South Awards with Frank Lorenzo, photo here, just before his indictment.  She should have been recused from any decision-making on this.)

  UN Security demanded ICP's pass - and later tore it off.

On Haiti Cholera, Opposition to US "Suggestion of Immunity" for UN Filed in Federal Court, Manfred Nowak Among Amici

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 15, with a song -- On the UN having brought cholera to Haiti, the US government on March 7 filed a briefing supporting the UN's immunity -- or in this case, impunity. 

   Now today, May 15, opposition to the US position has been filed, with amicus support from a bevy of law professors, an ex judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and former UN human rights rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak.

  Nowak said, "the UN needs to understand that immunity cannot mean impunity. If it refuses to provide people alleging harm with a path to justice, courts will refuse to uphold its immunity.”

   But for now, the UN under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon won't even bring its envoy on cholera Pedro Medrano forward for questioning. Inner City Press has asked, for example on April 21:

Inner City Press: … seemed to quote Mr. Medrano as predicting in advance that this panel he would be on with the Government may provide assistance, but he said, like, the word “compensation” won’t be used. So I wanted to know, is that a UN position? Is it his prediction of that the Government doesn’t want the word “compensation” used? And is there some way that we can have by video or otherwise, a kind of, some kind of presentation by Mr. Medrano?

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric: Sure, on Haiti, over the weekend, the terms of reference on this high level committee on cholera, which would be a UN and Government of Haiti committee, have been officially agreed on. And the aim is really for the joint effort of to fight cholera between the UN and the Government of Haiti. The Committee aims at further improving the coordination response to the epidemic and obviously we expect to have an official announcement in the next couple of days. But this is a very important… the establishment of this committee is a very important one in terms of our efforts, and most importantly the Government of Haiti’s efforts, to address not only cholera but also the associated water and sanitation issues....

Inner City Press: Just on Medrano, I will like to say again if you could do a briefing in this room it would help.

Spokesman Dujarric: I hear you.

  But did he? There has been no briefing. Then again on May 8, from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask about Haiti and cholera.  It was said here on 21 April that there was this new committee that would be the Government of Haiti and of the UN, and Stéphane said that we expect a more official announcement shortly.  Some people are wondering, what are the terms of reference of the committee?  Who’s on it?  Has there been any development in the two weeks since on setting up, on this committee?

Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq:  I believe there has been, but I don’t think there’s anything to announce just yet.  I’ll check if and when there’s something to announce and we’ll try to get some details at that point, but right now we’re just going through the work of trying to get it formed.

From the US State Department's May 7 briefing transcript:

 Today is the deadline, apparently, for the State Department to decide whether it wants to file a brief in this lawsuit that’s being brought by some Haitians against the United Nations. Has the Department decided whether it will file a brief in this case, and if it has, is it in support of the UN or is it in – which wants the case dismissed – or is it in support of the people bringing the case? Or is it just neutral?

MS. PSAKI: Sure. Well, my understanding is DOJ, of course, would file the brief, right, not the State Department. But we did – the U.S. Government filed a statement of interest and suggestion of immunity yesterday, asserting that the United Nations, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Assistant Secretary General for UN Peacekeeping Operations are immune from suit in the case of – in this case.

The cholera outbreak resulted, as we all know, in a tragic loss of life just when Haiti was struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake from 2010. We, of course, first and foremost, express our sympathy for the victims of the epidemic. But in cases like this, we don’t file a brief out of a lack of empathy. We – the United States has legally binding treaty obligations that require it to afford the UN immunity from suit and also provide immunity for UN officials. That’s why it was important to file the brief and why we filed the brief.

Q: So you believe, along with the UN, that this case should be dismissed because they enjoy immunity?

MS. PSAKI: Well, we believe that they should enjoy immunity, and this brief was submitted based on the legal analysis of that issue.

    To many, this is shocking. Members of Congress have written to State Department diplomats about this case.

   As this US answer was released, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was partying with in-house scribes, most of whom never pursued this most outrageous case of UN impunity, or even asked if Ban Ki-moon like a scoff law was hiding from the process server.

  Inner City Press, having twice asked asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople to confirm Ban has been served with legal papers, on February 28 asked about Gallon's report:

Inner City Press: on Haiti, there is a recent report just out by Gustavo Gallón, who is the UN independent expert on human rights in Haiti, and he says, as a direct quote, that full compensation for the damage suffered by the Haitian people by the introduction of cholera to the island should be paid as quickly as possible. So, I understand that he is an independent expert and doesn’t work for the Secretariat; at the same time, it’s a respected position and a mandate formed by the Human Rights Council, so I wanted to know what in the face of this sort of either intra-UN or intra-UN system critique, what is the response of the United Nations?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, simply, that you answered the question yourself. The Human Rights Council-appointed special rapporteurs and other special advisers of various kinds are independent and they are not appointed by the Secretary-General and I don’t have anything further to say on that.

Inner City Press: But does the UN system expect, for example, countries when when they are subject to these type recommendations or criticism by an independent experts of the Human Rights Council to respond in some way to them to say: we agree or disagree, or that is why we disagree?

Spokesperson Nesirky: That’s for each individual Member State to decide.

Ah, leadership. Meanwhile, while the UN has refused to answer if Ban was served the court papers, beyond thissong, Inner City Press will now publish the sad litany of attempts to serve what could be described as a scoff law:

On December 19, 2013, at approximately 3:11 PM, a paralegal for Plaintiffs’ counsel contacted OLA by telephone and spoke to a woman who identified herself as “Mae” (who, upon information and belief, is Mae Arkoncel, Assistant to the UN Legal Counsel). Mae confirmed that OLA had received the faxed documents from Plaintiffs’ counsel and stated that the UN was currently 'reviewing the documents'...

Service of process by delivery to Defendant Ban personally through the use of a private process server... was attempted again on January 20, 2014, at approximately 10:05 AM, at Defendant Ban’s residence located at [redacted by ICP]. A security guard informed the server that Defendant Ban was not present, and refused to open the door or accept service.

8. Service of process by delivery to Defendant Ban personally through the use of a private process server... was perfected on January 20, 2014, at approximately 2:00 PM, at Defendant’s Ban residence located at [redacted by ICP]. A male who identified himself as 'security' answered the door and informed the server that he would not accept service and that Defendant Ban was not present. The server affixed the process to the front door with masking tape and informed the security guard that he was doing so with the intention that the documents would be forwarded to Defendant Ban. The server then mailed another copy of the process to Defendant Ban at the same address.

That's called "nail-and-mail," and it's what's used with a fugitive or scoff law. Is that what this UN has become? It's the basis of this lyric, can't serve the papers up in the townhouse, song here. Watch this site.

   

On Eve of Kenya Showdown in UNSC, Togolese Competes for ICTY Judgeship with Estonia & Australia: Retail Politics

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 14 -- The night before the scheduled November 15 showdown in the Security Council on the African Union's request that the Council defer for one year the International Criminal Court's Kenya proceedings, another vote on November 18 gave rise to more retail politics.

  In the first floor of Uganda House on 45th Street, Togo sponsored a reception for Koffi Kumelio A. Afande, candidate to be a permanent judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

  Earlier in the week Inner City Press was told there were either five or six candidates for this single position; one Permanent Representative (not Togo's Kodjo Menan) told Inner City Press that "the Westerners are standing in the way of an African judge on the ICTY."

  This, combined with descriptions of Friday's Security Council vote as one for or against Africa, added spice to Thursday evening's reception, along with the Togolese food, stews of two different colors and three kinds of rice.

  In attendance were Permanent Representatives ranging from New Zealand to Cameroon, Somalia, Djibouti, Egypt and others; two representatives from the US Mission; a hard-working Gulf state election officers. "They're all qualified," was a complaint, "I'm glad the capital will made the decision." 

   As from the Human Rights Council race, Jordan dropped out ("all in" for the Security Council, it was observed). In the audience were candidates from Estonia and Australia - this is not to ignore them, it is a sketch of a quintessentially UN event, a campaign speech with spicy food and open bar.

  (Also, there is not much on the Internet on this race, another trigger for this story. It can be said some of those convicted by the ICTY serve their sentences in Estonia; here is a statement from Australia on the ICTY residual mechanism.)

  As photographs were taken and hands shaken, Inner City Press received a complaint that France had "played cheap" with the peacekeeping mission in Somalia, that things now depend on pledging and will "go slow." The question arises: how then would Central African Republic get done?

  But first, the campaigning, the retail politics. Kodjo Menan made the introduction, going back two years to give thanks for election to the Security Council, where Togo's term ends next month. Koffi Kumelio A. Afande pointed out that he is the consensus candidate, speaks French and English and knows all the applicable law.

  He said that while Togo has given peacekeepers and police for some time, to Mali it send medical personnel as well, and now offers legal expertise. 

  He greeted the two other candidates in attendance but closed with the hope that every one makes the right decision on Monday. We may have more before then -- but first, Friday's Kenya ICC vote in the Security Council. Watch this site.

   

In UNSC, Disputes on ICTY on Day of Egypt Crackdown, UN Dysfunction

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 14 -- As news of Egypt's deadly break-up of the Muslim Brotherhood's camps spread around the world on Wednesday, the UN Security Council called close door meeting for 4 pm. 

  Some thought the topic must be Egypt. But no: along with a press statement on Central African Republic and a discussion of the dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria about the Bakassi Peninsula, there was a third topic that led to discord, sources told Inner City Press.

  Long after the other Security Council members and what media had come had gone, it was explained to Inner City Press that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had been discussed. Inner City Press asked: was it the letter of the Danish judge? Click here to view.

  No. There is a need for the UN General Assembly to elect another judge for the ICTY, and the Security Council is supposed to put forward three candidates. But there was no agreement, and some were calling for a vote.

  Other, citing the Security Council's failure to agree on "other pressing topics," urged that "good offices" be used to search for a compromise and consensus on the matter of the ICTY judge.

  It was pointed out that this month's Security Council president, Argentina, has said that ouster of Morsi was a coup. Why not then at least call a Security Council meeting?

  UN envoys are at cross purpose. Tony "This Gun For Hire" Blair wrote that the ouster of Morsi could be a good thing; Tawakkol Karman flew to Cairo to try to join Morsi's supporters but was turned back.

  When Inner City Press asked to see if Ban Ki-moon had any comment on the banning of Tawakkol Karman, whom Ban named to a UN panel, the answer was that she traveled in her personal capacity, not for the UN. Clearly. And so it goes at this UN.

  At the US State Department in Washington, spokesperson Jen Psaki was asked if the US would ask the Security Council to consider events in Egypt. She said she would check.

  Before learning all this, as other Ambassadors left, one Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that no, Egypt has not been mentioned, "but it was in all our minds." Well there's that. Watch this site.

Footnote: There was only a press statement and not a resolution on the Central African Republic -- the pen holder, France, has its Ambassadors on vacation. Video of the two 1:30 pm question and answer stakeouts on CAR, by the UN's Valerie Amos and envoy Babacar Gaye, were still not online on the UN's website at 8 pm. 

  Despite three rounds of questions by the Free UN Coalition for Access to UNTV, its supervisor Stephane Dujarric and finally contractor Team People, no explanation was given. We'll have more on this.

   

Syria Rebels Used Sarin, UN's Del Ponte Strongly Suspects, Of UK's Trolls & Popova

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- Amid disputes of the scope of a UN chemical weapons probe in Syria, UN Human Rights Council appointee Carla Del Ponte has said this:

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas... on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities."

  Now the question is, how fast can the UN Human Rights Council, or Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, or in the Security Council the Permanent Three (France, UK and US) walk back from this?

  Del Ponte previously caused a stir when she reported on the extraction and sell of organs from Serbian prisoners of war. 

  But her work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia before that had been such that she was put on the HRC's Syria panel.

  Now this.

  Last week at the Russian mission, a Russian state media reporter Anastasia Popova showed some of her footage from eight months inside Syria. 

  Inner City Press asked her about chemical weapons. She replied she had been in Khan al Asal, and had eye witness testimony that chemical weapons use was by the opposition.

  At the next UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson if his prober, Ake Sellstrom, would take a look at the information Popova assembled inside Syria. (Popova said the HRC's Paulo Pinheiro panel, which includes Del Ponte, had been unwilling to.) 

  The answer was yes. Now this. Again, how fast can Ban, the HRC or really the P3 walk back from this?

Footnotes: When Inner City Press reported on the session at the Russian mission, anonymous social media accounts associated with Reuters and others of the UN Correspondents Association board quickly made the false allegation that Inner City Press must be funded by the Assad government, then asked the UN's Stephane Dujarric to dis-accredit Inner City Press -- just after "World Press Freedom Day."

  We've noted that the UK Mission, also on social media but at least like Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant under its own name, produced its own World Press Freedom Day video, with four short interviews at least two of which we'll review in another post.

The UK "quartet" included Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who on March 8, 2013 filed a false complaint with UN Security saying Inner City Press "abused" French head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous.

 It also included, from Reuters, not Louis Charbonneau but Michelle Nichols, who did the same. Higher tech than Witcher, Nichols is associated with UNCA's trolling social media accounts which falsely and anonymously accuses others of being funded by Assad or Sri Lanka's defunct Tamil Tigers, leading to death threats. 

  World Press Freedom Day, indeed. Watch this site.

Budget Endgame Has Russia on ICTY, Cuba on R2P, Swiss Ox Gored, Silva Eminent?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 24 -- Past 3 pm on Christmas Eve, the UN's Fifth (Budget) Committee called votes, deferred some items including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "mobility" proposal, and ended.

  In the waning minutes, Ban's senior adviser Kim Won-soo lobbied hard with Algeria's Permanent Representative, the chair of the Group of 77, and even with the chair of the Budget Committee, which was called a "circus."

But mobility, along with Human Resources Management, got deferred. The first intervention in this final Fifth Committee session was by Switzerland, criticizing a paragraph inserted, again after lobbying by Mr. Kim, to merge seven entities. The rationale is not clear, Switzerland complained.

  Inner City Press notes that several of the entities to be merged are in Geneva. But it's true that some of the entities have different governing structures, so there are legal questions.

  The next open conflict involved the budget of the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia. Earlier in the month, as first reported by Inner City Press, Russia proposed amendments to and then abstained on the ICTY resolution. This was seen as related to the release of two Croatian military figures who ethnically cleansed Serbs.

  In the Fifth Committee, Russia proposed a series of amendments for example to reduce the Tribunal's budget cycle from biennial to annual. The vote on the amendments of Russia and Serbia was 17 for, 59 against, 58 abstaining. 

  On the resolution as a whole, Russia abstained -- Belarus and Laos initially voted no, then switched back to abstain.

  As Inner City Press predicted, including to Under Secretary General Adama Dieng, Cuba on behalf of others proposed amendments on or against the Responsibility to Protect office, which it says was launched without following the rules.

  The vote on Cuba's amendments was 14 for, 73 against, 56 abstaining. Those in favor included Sudan, St. Vincent, Nigeria and Myanmar, bringing to mind the Rohingya, and President Obama's moves. Cuba said it would call the question again in the General Assembly.

  Then, in a letdown for Ban and Mr. Kim, and South Korea and some others, mobility was deferred. The final item in committee was mention of Ban's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations; chairman Miguel Berger of Germany said it included "eminent persons."

  As Inner City Press exposed, the SAG included General Shavendra Silva of the Sri Lankan Army, depicted in the UN's own report as engaged in war crimes. Ban told Inner City Press this was a decision of member states. So is the budget. Watch this site.

After Freeing of Croatian Generals, Russia Questions ICTY & Resolution

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

 

UNITED NATIONS, December 13 -- Decisions, even on apeal, have consequences.

  The recent reversal of the convictions of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina and security chief Mladen Markac for their roles in Operation Storm in 1995 now impacts on the pending resolution on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, sources exclusively tell Inner City Press.

  The resolution had been scheduled for adoption on December 12, but did not happen. Inner City Press looked into it and has been informed that Russia has proposed a number of amendments, including on the terms of judges and how to oversee the ICTY's remaining work.

  Some members view this as the politicization of international justice -- if so, not unlike the rejected request to Palestine to agree not to take cases to the International Criminal Court in exchange for votes for State observer status at the UN.

  It's worth revisiting what Gotovina told Croatian leader Franjo Tudman: "A large number of civilians are already evacuating Knin and heading towards Banja Luka and Belgrade. That means that if we continue this pressure, probably for some time to come, there won’t be so many civilians just those who have to stay, who have no possibility of leaving." See here, page 5.

   Serbs committed war crimes, for sure, for example in Vukovar as simply one example. But what is this Gotovina to Tudman quote, if not a Joint Criminal Enterprise?

  General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic has set up and tweeted about a debate on the topic in April, it's said with the intent to bring in some who fled in 1995. In a December 5 speech, the Serbian representative asked again and again, "Who killed these people?"

 
  And now, some over-dramatically say, who will kill the ICTY or the mandates of its judges? We will cover this and the April UNGA session, and the run-up. Watch this site.