On Sri Lanka, UN Won't Answer on Torture of Its Own Staff, Protest of Ban's Censorship

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 7 -- On February 19, Inner City Press was thrown out of the UN, on two hours notice, after having put critical questions to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

On March 3 Dujarric's Deputy Farhan Haq refused for a second day to comment on a protest of the ouster, held at the UN Compound in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. English; English II; Tamil; UN Q&A Video. That is today's UN: UNaccountable.

Now the UN won't even allow the question to be asked - and speaks for USg Jeffrey Feltman, that he will have no comment on how this thuggish behavior by the UN in New York plays in Sri Lanka, which the UN purports to care about. March 2 video here and embedded below.

 Meanwhile Inner City Press has received more evidence of how UNprotected the UN left Sri Lankans, including its own UN staff in Sri Lanka. Inner City Press is exclusively publishing here a Witness Statement for the OISL, in which a staff member of UN OCHA describes being kidnapped in one of the notorious white vans and tortured by burning.

The witness also describes the horrendous conditions at the camps that Ban Ki-moon himself visited in May 2009. Redacted OISL testimony here. Inner City Press on March 7 asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq about it, video here, Vine here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: since the protest that I've asked you about, and I'll sort of open-endedly say whether you have any response to it, of the UN compound in Jaffna, I've been sent a copy of a UN OCHA staff member's witness statement for the [Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka], in which he states that, during the time frame in Sri Lanka, he was an OCHA staff member and has presented his identification card, et cetera, that he was picked up by white vans of the Government, was tortured, and that, although he told his employers at UN OCHA, absolutely nothing was done for him since. And I wanted to know, what has the UN done since it's admitted what Ban Ki-… or what the Petrie report called a systemic failure to ensure that at least those that actually worked for it at the time have either some recompense or some justice?  And are they aware… I can… you know, I published a redacted version of his statement.  What does the UN… what was its duty to these staff members, and what does it say about those who were tortured with no response by the UN?

Deputy Spokesman Hq:  Well, certainly, we have a duty to all staff members to make sure that their basic rights are respected.  If there's a report of a staff member being tortured, we would have to take that up.  We'll need to follow up on… on what happened with this particular case.  Thanks.

 Nine hours later and counting, nothing.

  Triggered by UN Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach's no due process order, and use of UN Security to oust Inner City Press, Inner City Press has as when the UN Correspondents Association under Giampaolo Pioli did in 2012 begun to receive threats. Many, even most, of the same UNCA board members aware of the 2012 threats remain in place now.

The Northern Provincial Council letter to Ban Ki-moon on which Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq refused to answer Inner City Press on March 4 also noted that Inner City Press has "exposed the dealing between certain UN Press Corps officials and the Sri Lankan diplomats" - we'll have more on this too.

Ironically, one of the UN Security officials who in 2012 was providing assurances to Innr City Press - was among those who Banned Inner City Press from UN premises now in 2016. In which direction is the UN moving?

UN Sri Lanka Staff Member Testimony on Torture, White Vans, UNprotected by Matthew Russell Lee

On March 4, Inner City Press changed tacks and asked Ban's spokesperson Haq about a letter, video here,


UN transcript here:

Inner City Press:  I want to ask about Sri Lanka, and I'm asking about a letter, physical letter, that was addressed to the Secretary-General from the Northern Provincial Council, which is a body that Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman, for example, has met with in the north.  The letter says that Inner City Press has been critical of UN-affiliated personalities who are alleged of sidelining or siding with genocidal commanders involved in war crimes against the Tamil people.  And finally, it says, we are shocked to learn that, on 19 February, the Under-Secretary-General of DPI (Department of Public Information), Cristina Gallach, signed a letter giving two hours to Mr. Lee, summarily expelling him from the premises, revoking his press pass…

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, Matthew, you're not expelled from the premises.  We are in the premises right now.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  Right.  Right. [What about office and Resident Correspondent pass?]

Deputy Spokesman:  I see you in front of me.  [cross talk]

Inner City Press: I know that you like that point.  The end of the sentence is revoking his UN resident correspondent pass and access to his office.  And so I am asking you, as a response to a letter from the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka, what is your response to the letter?  They also say there was no due process...  the combination of the two, the lack of coverage of, for example, Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar's dealings in the white flag killings, Mr. Shavendra Silva being a senior peacekeeping adviser to Ban Ki-moon, followed by this act without due process, unprecedented and totally disproportionate penalty...  So I'm asking you, what's the response to the letter?

Deputy Spokesman:  I have no response to the letter, and I have no comment on this.  As you're well aware, the concerns that we have about the peace process in Sri Lanka, the… and the end of the fighting are a separate matter from your particular issues with the Department of Public Information, on which I would have no comment.

[cross talk]

Inner City Press:  And what's your concern of a journalist being in this room…  That's what I'd like to know.  What is so extreme about a journalist being in this room and saying, when DSS (Department of Safety and Security) asked me to leave, I'll leave that justifies the things that are described in this letter?  Can you explain?

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, I am not going to get into why you have a problem with your accreditation with the Department of Public information.  You have an issue… [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  Well, they've asked Ban Ki-moon.  You speak for Ban Ki-moon.  Is Ban Ki-moon going to answer the letter?  [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  The decision on your accreditation is a decision taken by the Department of Public Information.  [cross talk] It's based on actions, having to do with actions that you took, indeed, in this very room, that were hindering…  [cross talk]

Inner City Press:  In a meeting that wasn't listed as closed, not in the UN Journal of anywhere else as closed.  I'm just asking.  Should they write to Cristina Gallach?  They've written to the wrong person…  [cross talk]

Deputy Spokesman:  You can say whatever you want, but it's not my place to argue with you about the decision…

Inner City Press:  It's a letter to Ban Ki-moon.  You speak for Ban Ki-moon.  So I'm asking you for a response to the letter.

Sri Lanka NPC Letter to Ban Ki-moon Protesting USG Gallach Stripping ICP Of Resident Correspondent Accredit... by Matthew Russell Lee

Deputy Spokesman:  This is a decision taken… you can talk over me as much as you want but it doesn't preclude the reality of it.

Question:  No, I see you trying to move… if you'll just stay stationary, I'll be quiet.

Deputy Spokesman:  Okay.  Yes.  Nabil?

  On March 3 Inner City Press again endeavored to ask Sri Lanka questions, including about the UN's role in killings there. Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Farhan Haq tried to PRE cut off the questions. Video here,from the UN transcript:

Inner City Press:  I want to ask about Yemen, DPKO [Department of Peacekeeping Operations] and Sri Lanka.  On…

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  Sri Lanka or you?  Is it really about Sri Lanka?

Inner City Press:  Well, why don't we just wait and see, you know?  Because I thought actually people can ask questions in here.

Deputy Spokesman Haq:  You're perfectly entitled to.  It's just that you have this adorable way of saying what your subject titles are for your questions, and they seem to not match what the actual questions are.

Question:  There was a protest in Jaffna.  That's actually not what I was going to ask about.  You could easily take a look at it.  And I think it's outrageous that you didn't answer it.  But, I have another question on Sri Lanka. ...

Inner City Press:  Here's a Sri Lanka question you seem to have tried to stop in advance, but…

Deputy Spokesman:  I wasn't stopping in advance.  I just don't like false advertising.

Inner City Press:  If the UN is protested in Sri Lanka, I think it is a Sri Lanka question.  And I actually think you do answer about protests of the UN elsewhere.

Deputy Spokesman:  Sure.

Inner City Press:  And, in fact, if VICE News…

Deputy Spokesman:  Is this a protest having to do with Sri Lanka, or is it about you?

Inner City Press:  If VICE News asks you about Turkey locking up VICE News journalists in Turkey, do you say, don't ask about VICE News?  I'm just asking you.  So, if the UN does something that people protest, you don't answer?  But, here's my question.  There's a letter from a group called the Tamil Relief Fund, and it is saying the following… it is saying that not 40,000, as reported in Mr. Ban's report, but 70,000 civilians were killed in 2009.  And it says that the UN has not conducted any credible investigation in it and that, therefore, a number of parties, including the UN, should not invest in… with the Government who had just committed, they say, a genocide.  And I'd like to know the UN side of this letter, how do you respond?  Does the UN feel that it conducted an inquiry, a sufficient inquiry, into the number of people killed and that there's been accountability, and how does the UN justify its now more accommodative stance given the facts alleged in this letter?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, you'll have seen what we've been saying about the [Maithripala] Sirisena Government and its efforts to investigate.  We're trying to encourage an effort to get to the bottom of what happened in the end of the conflict with the Tamils.  And we want to make sure that there's an actual good-faith effort by the Government of Sri Lanka to do that, and we'll keep pressing on that.

Inner City Press:  According to the UN, how many people were killed?

Deputy Spokesman:  Hold on.  Yeah, yes?

UNCA / ex-Reuters:  Just a housekeeping question.  Are there transcripts available of press conferences in… oh, sorry.

Deputy Spokesman:  Yeah, please use that.

UNCA / ex-Reuters:  Thanks.  Just a housekeeping question:  Are there transcripts available of press conferences in Geneva like Jan Egeland this morning, and do I have to listen to it live again?

Deputy Spokesman:  Yeah, the press conferences that they have, the UN Office in Geneva transcribes those.  So, hopefully, they'll be out on the website later.

Inner City Press:  According to the UN, after all this time and all this interest, according to the UN, what, approximately, as close as you can make it, was… was the approximate number of civilians killed in 2008 and 2009?  And also, has the matter of Mr. Vijay Nambiar, close senior adviser of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and his role in communicating with surrendering individuals at end of the conflict who ended up being killed with a white flag in their hand, has this matter been resolved within the UN system to the satisfaction of Ban Ki-moon?  Because it's not to the satisfaction of people in Jaffna.

Deputy Spokesman:  We have already said where we stand on the question of how Mr. Nambiar handled that.  I'd refer you back to what we said several years back.  Regarding the death tolls, ultimately, that's… the figures had been developed and… and have… are in the hands of, I believe, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, so you should ask them.  All right.  Have a good afternoon.

  This is a new low for the UN. From the March 2 UN transcript:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, I'd asked you about a protest that took place at the UN compound in Jaffna.  And you'd said you had no comment on it. There's video of it.  Many people have said it seems strange, and they've looked at other comments your office has made on other protests.  The question is…

Deputy Spokesman:  And I… I continue…  Matthew, I continue… You called…

Inner City Press:  Right, what I'm asking is, when do you respond to a protest…?

Deputy Spokesman:  Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.  You called this a question about Sri Lanka.  This is actually a question about yourself.  I have nothing to say about you and your particular thing.

Inner City Press:  It took place in Jaffna.  Have you seen it?  Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman has seen it.  How does it relate to the work of the UN in Sri Lanka?

Deputy Spokesman:  It's a question for which neither I nor Mr. Feltman, by the way, have any comment.  Have a good day.

  This is a new low - including for Feltman. There is a video of the protest - of which senior UN officials have been made aware. Now what?

In a letter that gave Inner City Press only two hours, Ban's Under Secretary General for Public Information Cristina Gallach told Inner City Press to surrender the key to its long-time shared office.

  That evening eight UN Security guards under Deputy Chief Michael McNulty physically threw Inner City Press and its laptop out onto First Avenue in below freezing weather, without a coat. Audio here; video as UN Security turns off Inner City Press' Periscope livestream, here.

   On February 22, UN Security official Matthew Sullivan told Inner City Press it could not even be signed into UN headquarters as a guest, it was Banned from all UN premises. Audio here.

  Since then Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta urged Gallach to reverse her decision, taken without one speaking to Inner City Press concerning its January 29 attempt to cover, to pursue its series on UN corruption under Ban, an event the UN Correspondents Association held in the UN Press Brief Room. Video of that event - used against Inner City Press with no opportunity to be heard.

  Business Insider was told, by an unnamed Gallach spokesperson, that it was fine to throw out a 10-year journalist at the UN without any opportunity to be heard, article here, and on Yahoo Finance.

A petition to restore Inner City Press to access to the UN, and to its office under its long-time but stripped Resident Correspondent accreditation, is here, with 675 signatures as February 29 and comments.

The DC-based Government Accountability Project, which defends UN and other whistleblowers, has written that the ouster of Inner City Press is “retaliatory in response to independent, critical journalism.” (Dujarric, who previously “lent” the UN Press Briefing Room to his native France's President Francois Hollande, said he disagrees with GAP.)

  Ban Ki-moon, whose “victory tour” of blood-soaked northern Sri Lanka Inner City Press covered and was never forgiven for by Ban's UN, was the target of a demonstration in Jaffa for the ouster of Inner City Press.

Handwritten signs at the Jaffna protest cited back to questions about Ban accepting a Sri Lanka war crimes suspect Shavendra Silva as one of his Senior Advisers on Peacekeeping, and another suspect Palitha Kohona's involvements with the UN including the White Flag Killings with Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar.

  Inner City Press reported how Kohona got UNCA under current president Giampaoli Pioli to screen a war crimes denial film in the UN; Pioli has been Kohona's landlord but did not recuse himself or consult other UNCA member members including, at that time, Inner City Press (which quit and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access.)

  See photo here from the demonstration outside the UN compound in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.  There's video. An anonymous troll Twitter account which counts among its few followers Cristina Gallach, Stephane Dujarric, UNCA board members and Reuters' Lou Charbonneau says darkly this was not a spontaneous protest - whatever that means. The UN's Censorship Alliance. Haq on March 2:

On March 1 Inner City Press asked Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: on Sri Lanka, I wanted to ask you, there was a protest overnight, whatever the time difference is, at the UN compound in Jaffna by Tamils.  And I have to say, the protest was to restore full credentials to Inner City Press and open press.  You can find it, it was reported in Uthayan, which is a publication that was burned down repeatedly by the Government that's been spoken of from this podium.  So, I know that Stéphane [Dujarric] yesterday said he doesn't agree with the Government Accountability Project.  What is the UN's response to a protest at its compound in Jaffna on this topic of free press?

Spokesman Haq:  Matthew, I'm not going to comment on your personal case.

Inner City Press:  I'm asking about a protest of the UN.

Spokesman Haq:  I know that you're dealing with DPI [Department of Public Information].  While you’re…

Inner City Press:  I'm not dealing with the DPI.  They never spoke to me before they did it, and I'm asking you about a protest.  Do you have a comment?

Spokesman Haq:  I would have no comment on this, no.  Thanks.  And let's get to our guest.

But what does Ban care? He is, as usual, out of New York, on a trip in Spain where neither the King nor President is meeting with him. Ban will not even visit the headquarters of "his" MINURSO mission in El Aaiun since Morocco's King won't be there or let him.

  Beyond Ban's troubling ambivalence about war crimes, most recently for example in Yemen (which he has a pro-Saudi envoy) and Burundi (where his Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is embroiled with the military, as it commits child rape as part of the UN mission in Central African Republic), a corruption scandal which Inner City Press is pursuing threatened to undermine Ban's plan to run for President of South Korea.

   Macao-based business man Ng Lap Seng, now under house arrest, bought a photo op with Ban, giving tens of thousands of dollars to the UN Correspondents Association, though South South News. (This is why Inner City Press sought to cover the January 29 event in the UN Press Briefing Room, openly Periscoping an event that was nowhere listed as Closed.)

Indicted Frank Lorenzo got South South News into the UNTV archives. Spokesman Dujarric has twice refused to explain this, despite being in charge of UNTV at the time.

   The UN's response has been to order an audit by its own Office of Internal Oversight Services into all UN deals with Ng's Sun Kian Ip Foundation and also-indicted Sheri Yan's Global Sustainability Foundation.

 Inner City Press has shown: Ban's wife and his adviser Vijay Nambiar, of Sri Lanka “fame,” were at the FOUNDING of this corrupt Global Sustainability Foundation. And Inner City Press after reporting this is thrown out of the UN?

   Even with Ban's UN, through Gallach's no due process decision, hindering its reporting, Inner City Press will have more on all this. 

On Sri Lanka, Inner City Press Asked UN of Torture, No Answer But Ban Ki-moon Late Night Praise of Sirisena

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 7 -- Sri Lanka represents one of the lowest points of the last decade at the UN, from inaction in 2008 and 2009 to cover-ups since.  On January 4, 2016, Inner City Press which covered UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Sri Lanka in May 2009, asked Ban's spokesman basic questions about Sri Lanka, which the UN has declined to answer for three days. From the transcript, videohere:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you something on Sri Lanka, which is that, in the last couple of days, the President [Maithripala] Sirisena has said that there's no requirement of a special court for events in later stages of the conflict and also has announced some parcels of land to people in the north, but there seems to be a demand by the Tamil National Alliance that the military disoccupy land, that… private land that it continues to be in.  What's the UN's response to that?  What's the UN's, I guess, involvement, including through the peacebuilding commissioner and any other way…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:  I'll have to check… [cross talk] I don't have an update.  I'll check.

  Three day later, nothing. On January 7, Inner City Press asked about reports of torture in Sri Lanka in the last year, under President Sirisena.Video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: there were two reports issued yesterday about torture in Sri Lanka, not in the past but in the last year as well while Mr. [Maithripala] Sirisena has been in the Government, a UK-based group and a South Africa-based group, very detailed reports including, like, locations that they found.  What is… I mean… I guess…

Spokesman:  I will… I will check.

  While not answering any of those questions, on the evening of January 7 Ban Ki-moon issued a statement of pure praise of Sirisena, here. Has Ban's UN turned the corner on Sri Lanka or not?

Even as Ban and his spokespeople declined to answer basic follow up questions about Sri Lanka, about who in his Executive Office was informed of peacekeepers raping children in the Central African Republic, and about Burundi, his UN Correspondents Association now known as the UN Corruption Association, having charged $6000 for seats next to Ban, continues to promote him - without questions, literally.

  UNCA head Giampaolo Pioli, who tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for accurately reporting that Pioli had accepted rent money from Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador, then gave a "UN screening" on a war crimes denial film in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, has issued this, only to those who pay UNCA money, leaked by a disgusted UNCA member:

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would like to meet with UNCA members and all UN correspondents for the New Year's visit this Wednesday, Jan 6th, 2016 from 10:35 to 10:50 am in the UNCA room. It will be an opportunity for him to say a few words to all of our colleagues and to exchange his best wishes. There will not be a Q&A session but as in every year it is a great occasion to be together. Please attend."

 Well, no. Providing a rah-rah session with no Q&A is pathetic. And, "all correspondents" will not enter the UN Corruption Association, which charges money for access to Ban. But there are questions, including on Sri Lanka. For now, the January 6 "event" was canceled, so Ban could speak to / at the press from the UN Security Council stakeout, without taking questions.

The former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and four others have been indicted, Ashe for buying documents from Ban's UN Secretariat.

Ban's envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon was exposed by leaks as having taken instructions and then a job from the United Arab Emirates.

And Ban's head of UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, is listed in UN Dispute Tribunal documents as having tried to cover up child rapes in Central African Republic by peacekeepers from his native France.

  Inner City Press, which Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not call on despite calling two separate times on the same UN Correspondents Association scribe, asked audibly, “Do you have any update on the John Ashe indictment? Bernardino Leon? These were major developments this year.” Vine here.

  But Ban refused to answer the question. He walked out of the briefing room, shaking hands scribes. The press conference began with Dujarric setting aside the first question for the head of UNCA, who thanked Ban for attending an event on Wall Street for which UNCA charged $6,000 to sit with Ban. This is the UN Corruption Association.

  A question on or to cover up the sexual abuse scandal was arranged, with Agence France Presse congratulating Ban for this response to the sexual abuse scandal. (Senegalese Babacar Gaye was urged to resign, Ladsous who on camera linked the rapes to “R&R," video here, remains in place.)

Ban read out a wan answer on Burundi; his deputy spokeperson refused an Inner City Press question on Burundi at the previous day's noon briefing.  We'll have more on this.

Ban once promised monthly press conference but his last one was three months before, then nine months before that. On September 16 with the UN being less than successful in mediating in Yemen and Libya, Syria and South Sudan, accused of rapes in Central African Republic and killing 8,000 in Haiti with cholera (after 40,000 died in Sri Lanka with little response from the UN), Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was asked, What is your legacy?

  That question, nor none of the other 11 Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric selected, did not refer to the rape scandal, much less deadly cholera or the Sri Lanka report released earlier in the day in Geneva, after months of delay and supposed concern by Ban.

  Inner City Press asked, before the press conference ended and then again before Ban left the room, “Anything on Sri Lanka?” But there was nothing. Ban's spokesman Dujarric didn't even allow Inner City Press to put a question to UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who covered up rapes in DR Congo, Darfur and now CAR.

  Most recently, Ladsous linked rapes to a lack of “R&R,” rest and relaxation, video here.

Dujarric himself cut off Inner City Press questions on what Ladsous said, and declined to answer on Reddit in an “Ask Me Anything.” (He didn't say he's ANSWER everything, one wag pointed out.)

  But even beyond the scandals, Ban did not in his opening statement mention Somalia, or CAR, or Darfur; none of the questions selected by Dujarric was about Africa. (One wire points out Africa was part of a UN-at-70 question; noted.)

    Inner City Press also tried to ask about Burundi -- nothing - and South Sudan, on which we are preparing a story.

  It was Voice of America with the “What is your legacy” question. Ban said he'd answer next year. Inner City Press might answer sooner. Watch this site.

Inner City Press Asks UN's Juan Mendez of US Torture Report, Guantanamo, Obama's Prison Trip

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 20 --  When the UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez held a press conference on October 20, Inner City Press asked him for his view of the only partial release of the US Senate's report on CIA torture, about Guantanamo Bay and whether he thought President Barack Obama's visit to a prison might make his long-pending request to visit US prisons move faster. Video here.

   Mendez said there should be more release(s), and accountability. He said he had had to request the US' conditional offers to visit Guantanamo Bay and US prisons, as he would not be allowed to speak with all prisoners. He praise Obama's visit, but still - Mendez can't get in.

On October 16 when the Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Benyam Dawit Mezmur held a press conference at the UN, Inner City Press asked him about US President Barack Obama's decision to continue to provide military aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan, despite all four being on the UN's (and US') lists on children and armed conflict. Video here.  

    Benyam Dawit Mezmur said that while the US is the lone holdout on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the issue can still be gotten-at under the Optional Protocol. Inner City Press asked about the sexual abuse of children in the Central African Republic by French and UN peacekeepers.

   Benyam Dawit Mezmur replied that the Committee is asking France about the alleged sexual abuse of children, and will conduct a review in January. We aim to have more on this.

  At the press conference, there were only two correspondents, as there was an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Palestine at the same time. Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access thanked Benyam Dawit Mezmur for the briefing but suggested that in the future postponement of briefings, so that more journalists could attend, be considered. UNCA wasn't present at all; nor has it disclosed the extend of funding and connection by indicted David Ng and Frank Lorenzo and their affiliates.

 Also on the UN, when the UN find a staff member using the UN's email system to trafficking in sexual images of minors, a crime, what does it do? On October 16, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about this paragraph from a UN report it had dug up:

“49. A staff member sent, through the Organization’s e-mail system, pornographic material, including pornographic material involving a minor, and failed to report that another staff member had sent the staff member inappropriate material though the Organization’s e-mail system. Disposition: dismissal.”

  Inner City Press asked, was that all that happened, dismissal? Such that the person could, for example, work in a day care center? Haq said in instances the UN waives immunity.

  Inner City Press asked, how would law enforcement know that the person had used the UN's email system for child porn? Haq said there have been cases in which the UN told local authorities. Inner City Press asked, did it do so in this case? Apparently, the UN will not answer this. For now. Here are other paragraphs:

46. A staff member stored pornographic material, including pornography involving a minor, on the staff member’s United Nations computer, distributed other pornographic material through the Organization’s e-mail system and failed to report that another staff member had sent the staff member inappropriate material through the Organization’s e-mail system. Disposition: dismissal.

47. A staff member sent, through the Organization’s e-mail system, and stored on the staff member’s United Nations computer, pornographic material involving a minor and, on other occasions, distributed, through the Organization’s e -mail system, other pornographic material. Disposition: dismissal.

 48. A staff member sent, through the Organization’s e-mail system, pornographic material involving a minor and, on three other occasions, distributed other pornographic material through the Organization’s e-mail system and stored pornographic material on the staff member’s United Nations computer. Disposition: dismissal.

 The report is entitled "Practice of the Secretary-General in disciplinary matters and cases of criminal behaviour, 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015."

We'll have more on this. Watch this site.
   

On Sri Lanka, UN Tells Inner City Press It Hasn't Seen Torture Reports, After Peacebuilding Spin

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 13 -- While the UN helps the Sri Lankan government delay and perhaps blunt the report into war crimes, on August 13 Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about torture in the country - including in 2015. From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: on torture, there’s a report by a group called Freedom From Torture about Sri Lanka, and although some of the witness statements they get are from a previous couple of years ago, they’re actually documenting cases in 2015 even since the election of Mr. Sirisena of the unauthorized detention and torture of people perceived as having been a part of the LTTE in the past.  And I wonder, given the UN’s engagement, what you read out here about the million dollars, about rehabilitation, one of the testimonies is from someone who was, quote, rehabilitated, then released, picked up in a white van, tortured…

Spokesman Dujarric:  I haven’t seen those reports.  Obviously, we stand clearly against the use of torture.

 We'll see.

The UN delayed the war crime report on Sri Lanka until September. UN documents leaked to Channel 4 indicate that the UN is trying to undercut that report and support a merely national investigation, or cover-up. 

  Inner City Press asked the UN about it on July 30 and July 31, first two responses below, and on August 5 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric returned with a third response. Third time's the charm? Here's what he said:

And I’ve asked to offer some more details and clarification to the UN’s support to the Government and people in Sri Lanka.

And so as I said last Friday, the UN supports the Government and the people of Sri Lanka in their efforts to advance reconciliation and accountability.  At the request of the Government of Sri Lanka, the UN is exploring the provision of a broad package of technical and financial assistance in consultation with all key stakeholders.  The framework of UN support for peacebuilding in Sri Lanka was presented in Sri Lanka last June by the Resident Coordinator.  And that presentation is available online on the UN’s country office in Sri Lanka and that’s un.lk.

What is being discussed for support by the Peacebuilding Fund are initiatives to advance the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka through the resettlement of internally displaced persons, national reconciliation, and the development of credible transitional justice mechanisms in line with international standards.  UN support is always built on the basis of inclusive, transparent and participatory consultations with all key stakeholders.

$1 million has already been disbursed to support resettlement and integration initiatives for the remaining internally displaced persons in the north and east on seized land that has been returned by the Government.  For the rest, the UN continues to consult with the Government of Sri Lanka, and all key stakeholders, to finalize the details of UN support.

The same principle of inclusive, participatory and consultative processes will apply to UN support for the establishment of credible accountability and reconciliation mechanisms that meet international standards.

And lastly, the UN of course believes that there should be genuine and inclusive consultations on a national basis, including the Northern Province, to help arrive at the right model in the Sri Lankan context. Done.  Matthew.

Inner City Press:  Thanks for that.  I’m going to have to, I guess, go over that Sri Lanka statement. 

  Here is what Dujarric was responding to: on July 31, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: yesterday I’d asked you about Sri Lanka and this memo that’s emerged where the UN appears to be working for a purely national mechanism.  And the foreign ministry spokesman there has spoken today about Mr. Feltman’s trip and has mentioned the Peacebuilding Fund.  So I wanted to ask you more specifically, is Mr. Taranco and the Peacebuilding Fund considering funding a purely national accountability mechanism in Sri Lanka contrary to what’s been said here and to the Human Rights Council report that’s due in September?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think what I can tell you is that the UN supports the Government and the people of Sri Lanka and their efforts to advance reconciliation and accountability as evidenced by commitments made by the Secretary General and during the Under-Secretary-General’s recent visit — Feltman’s recent visit to Sri Lanka.  In this regard, we’re exploring provision of a broad package of technical and financial assistance at the request of the Chief Minister, also including the support of the Northern Province to bolster citizen confidence in the peace process.  What is currently under discussion for support by the Peacebuilding Fund are initiatives to advance the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka by resettlement of internally displaced persons, national reconciliation, strengthening human rights mechanism, and ending impunity.  The UN support is always based on the basis of inclusive and participatory consultations with all key stakeholders.  And my understanding is that already $1 million have been already dispersed to support resettlement and integration initiatives for the remaining internally displaced people in the north and east on land that’s been… on seized land that have been returned by the Government.  For the rest, we continue to consult with the Government of Sri Lanka and the Northern Provincial Council and all key stakeholders to finalize the UN support.

Inner City Press:  Are you saying this Peacebuilding Fund support is not for an accountability mechanism that would be entirely national, which is the one denounced by the Tamil group that you mentioned?

Spokesman:  You know, I think the… whether there should be domestic or international process, the… I think what we are looking at is obviously implementing projects both with the support of the Government and the Northern Provincial Council.  If I have more, I will share it with you.

Inner City Press:  What about an international mechanism?

Spokesman:  I think, you know, whether it’s domestic or international, that will need to be determined.  We are obviously awaiting the High Commissioner’s report and recommendations to make that decision.

 We'll have more on this.

 Back on July 30, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: this has to do with the UN’s engagement on the issue of Sri Lanka.  There’s been a… Channel 4 has published what they say is a leaked UN document in which it appears that the UN is preparing to give its blessing to an entirely national accountability mechanism that would involve the National Provincial… according to the document, Northern Provincial Council, Tamil, which they deny that they ever saw it.  They say it’s an outrage and would be a… a… kind of selling out the Human Rights Council and any international mechanism.  I wanted to know, since I saw the pictures of Mr. [Jeffrey] Feltman meeting with that group and that there was a lot of discussions of documents going back and forth, is the document referred to by Channel 4 a document that Mr. Feltman had?

Spokesman:  Let me see… I don’t have any language on that with me here. 

  Five hours later, no answer from Dujarric - who had, it emerged, provided notice of Ban Ki-moon's visit to the US White House only to the same UN Censorship Alliance president, Giampaoli Pioli, who unilaterally granted a UN screening of "Lies Agreed To" after renting one of his apartments to Sri Lanka's Palitha Kohona. This is today's UN.

Back on June 24, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Dujarric:

Inner City Press: Sri Lanka.  I wanted to get your comment on this, given the Secretary-General's historic involvement.  It's been now confirmed by the Foreign Minister there that the promised internal domestic human rights investigation into crimes in the final stages of the conflict is now not going to take place until September, and now this is being laid off on elections, due to the failure to dissolve parliament.  So, I guess, given that the Secretary-General, it seems, kind of supported the delay, what's the response?

Spokesman Dujararic:  I don't have any language on that, but I will harvest some for you.

  But the language "harvested" did not address the delay. Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq on June 25 returned with this answer to Inner City Press:

"We were also asked earlier about accountability in Sri Lanka.  I can say that the new Government in Sri Lanka has passed a constitutional amendment which, if implemented appropriately, brings renewed hope for democracy and the rule of law.  In this regard, it is important that the Government consults broadly with all political parties, civil society, and above all victims and their families, to ensure full national support and ownership of these processes.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights remains engaged in discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on the need for transparent and inclusive processes to develop credible mechanisms for accountability and reconciliation."

  So delaying or even dispensing with the promised domestic war crimes investigation is now OK with Ban's UN? We'll have more on this.

Back in May, with the UN's already long delayed report into war crimes in Sri Lanka postponed until at least September, now one of those most responsible for the crimes in 2009, Jagath Dias of the 57th Division, was named Chief of Staff of the Army. 

  One wondered if those recently praising the Sri Lankan government, from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to US Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit two weeks ago will say anything about this. 

  On May 18, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq if Ban had any comment on Dias, named in Ban's own report on Sri Lanka, getting this post.

  Haq said to wait and see what the Human Rights Council says -- the Human Rights Council which already delayed release of their report.Video here.

  Dias was ejected from Germany and Switzerland, as a Sri Lankan diplomat, for his past.  At the UN, equally problematic military figureShavendra Silva at a screening of the Rajapaksa government's war crimes denial film "Lies Agreed To" chided Inner City Press for attribution to him the acts of Dias' 57th Regiment. 

  Now Silva is in War College in India and Dias is Army chief of staff. Will anything be said by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid, now embroiled in a scandal about OHCHR's seeming cover up for child rapes by French troops in the Central African Republic, and letting French UN Peacekeepin chief Herve Ladsous try to fire the OHCHR whistleblower? What has changed?

 Inside the UN in September 2011 the government's "Lies Agreed To" -- but NOT "No Fire Zone" -- was screened.  When Inner City Press reported on the screening, then on the background fact that the person who agreed to the screening, Giampaolo Pioli, had previously been the landlord of Palitha Kohona, who as Sri Lanka's Ambassador requested the screen in the UN hosted by the United Nations Correspondents Association, then and now headed by Pioli, demands for censorship and expulsion began.

 Unhappy with Inner City Press reporting, Pioli demanded that the story come down.

  When Inner City Press instead of censorship offered amplifications and to publish a letter to the editor of any length, Pioli rejected it and pushed to get Inner City Press thrown out. After some of this was reported in the media in Sri Lanka, and Inner City Press informed Pioli of this and of death threats it had received, Pioli refused to suspend his campaign, instead trying to use the threats as leverage to get Inner City Press to publish a "box," that he would dictate, on the front of its website. 

  In this audio clip, after Inner City Press informed Pioli and other UNCA Executive Committee members that their kangaroo court proceeding had given rise to death threats, Pioli demands a "box of apology... as long as it is Inner City Press." 

  This is what UNCA became, the UN's Censorship Alliance, and what it is, and functions as. Inner City Press when its elected term on the UNCA Executive Committee ended quit the group and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access, now defending the rights of journalists from Somaliland to Bangladesh and beyond. We will have more on this.

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

And it has been on HuffPost Live, here. Watch this site.

   

On Lebanon, Inner City Press Asks Sigrid Kaag Again of World Bank Limitation, Torture in Roumieh Prison

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 --  When the UN's Special Coordinator on Lebanon Sigrid Kaag emerged from the UN Security Council on July 8, Inner City Press asked her if there has been any progress or at least effort on the problem caused by the World Bank classifying Lebanon as a middle income country, and about torture in Roumieh prison. Video here.

  Kaag reply about the World Bank was that things take time, but that she would like to see the issue discusses at the upcoming Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa -- where as noted by the Free UN Coalition for Access some but not all of the Zone 9 Bloggers have just been released -- and that it was raised at the World Bank's and IMF's most recent meetings.

  On torture, Kaag pointed to her response when the video emerged, and said that a comprehensive response is being pushed for, citing the CAT, ombudspersons and training. Video here.

Back on March 17, Kaag said that the "UN family" stands ready to help with Lebanon's development. 

  Inner City Press asked Kaag about the use of white phosphorus by Israel, cited in Paragraph 10 of the underlying 1701 report.

    On this last, Kaag said to ask the UNIFIL spokesperson - done.

(On the killing of a Spanish UNIFIL peacekeeper, of which Inner City Press asked the Security Council's president for March, Francois Delattre of France, Delattre make a point of answering, saying that the investigation is ongoing but to check that with the UN Spokesperson - to be done).

  Kaag said on March 17 that there is a debate about the financing for development implications of "middle income" status, that Lebanon is not the only country facing humanitarian issues which faces this problem. The question remains, how will the "UN family" address it?

   “It is absurd that Lebanon has no access to World Bank grants because it is considered a middle-income country,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres' prepared remarks to the UN Security Council on Syria on February 26 said.

   When he delivered the remarks, he added in Jordan. So Inner City Press, when Guterres came to the Security Council stakeout after that meeting, asked him about this addition, and if he -- and UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Kyung-wha Kang beside him -- would be pushing for a change at the World Bank, which is official a part of the UN “family.”

  Guterres replied that development assistance should taken into account this new world, where Lebanon and Jordan but also Chad, Niger and Cameroon with respect to Nigeria, and Ethiopia and Kenya with respect to Somalia, are the “first line of defense for global collective security.”Video here.

  Lebanon's Ambassador to the UN Nawaf Salam told Inner City Press, "This is unfortunate indeed," here.

 But what will be done? Watch this site.
   

UN Human Rights Chief Prince Zeid In US To Meet Only Government Officials and Legislators, Issues Like Police Brutality and Predatory Lending Ignored?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 3 -- The official visit to the US of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid features today a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to Zeid's Office, he will

“hold meetings with State Department and other U.S. Government officials, including National Security Adviser Susan Rice, to discuss a wide range of overseas and domestic issues. He will also meet with around eight senior members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.”

   One is left wondering: what kind of human rights visit is it, not meeting with civil society representatives but only the government?

  Zeid's announcement emphasizes that his is "the first official visit by a UN Human Rights Chief to Washington D.C. to meet senior  U.S administration officials and Members of Congress since 2007, when former High Commissioner Louise Arbour made a similar visit."

  The Commissioner in between, of course, was Navi Pillay, to whom US Secretary General Ban Ki-moon only gave half of a second term. But Pillay on her visits met with civil society. How should this lack on Zeid's official visit be viewed? 

  What about, just for example, the issues of police brutality as raised in the UN Committee on Torture andpredatory and discriminatory lending, raised for example in the UN Committee on the Eradication of Racial Discrimination? What of human rights issues like tortureand spying? There are non-governmental experts -- and victims -- a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should meet with, and elsewhere would, if the past is any guide. We'll have more on this.

  Back on November 21, Inner City Press which has previously praised Zeid for example on Sri Lanka and other issues reported that, protesting layoffs and lack of transparency, staff at the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights were petitioning then-new High Commissioner Prince Zeid for due process and accountability. Inner City Press obtained the petition andexclusively put it online here.

In it, the OHCHR staff call for “transparent and comprehensive information on prospective cuts and restructuring, detailing their impact on savings and OHCHR’s overall financial situation... tangible accountability measures by attributing responsibility for the present crisis and taking the requisite action to prevent another financial crisis of this magnitude in the future and a meaningful dialogue and truly consultative decision-making on ongoing financial including putting decisions on hold.”

The staff complain to Zeid that “the lack of transparency, consultation and information on who, where or how, not to mention why, some of us are affected is deplorable and unacceptable.”

The lack of transparency in the current OHCHR extends from Geneva to New York, where the Office anonymously spun its Ukraine report to hand-picked scribes then refused when asked to explain the basis. 

 Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked at the November 20 UN noon briefing that the New York representative of Prince Zeid hold a press availability about the report, including incongruities in report on labor issues such as the cut-off of pensions, click here for that.

  On accountability, the staff complain that the “senior management level evidently bears much more responsibility. Yet, it is other individuals at lower levels who are paying the price for this mismanagement.”

Also on accountability at the OHCHR, as Inner City Press has twice reported, document leaks from inside the UN have identified improper service of Morocco, on the question of Western Sahara, by a current staffer at the OHCHR, Anders Kompass, and by another who has recently left.

 Prince Zeid still not publicly addressed this scandal, though Inner City Press understands that no only is their an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, but also inquiry from member states such as Sweden. Inquiry on them was not permitted at Zeid's one press availability that week in New York. Zeid's spokesman has indicated there will be no comment at all until OIOS' "investigation is completed." Since the OIOS process is far from transparent -- it has become even less so -- this is the way the UN system tries to make issues go away, but it is even less appropriate at the UN's human rights office.

   Zeid should address this scandal - and his Office's staff. Watch this site.