SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 23 – To candidates
nominated and running for Secretary General of the United
Nations, a detailed questionnaire has been sent by Inner
City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access, on issues
of transparency, independent, accountability, press
freedom and freedom of information.
The
questionnaire has been sent, including via the UN Mission
of the countries nominating them, to candidates Michelle
Bachelet, Rafael Grossi, Rebeca Grynspan, Macky Sall and
Virginia Gamba. We will continue reporting the responses,
or lack thereof, including for the candidates expected
before April 1, and after.
But as some make excuses, or even praise, the abysmal
level of campaign finance disclosure to date - phrases
like "private resources" with no further detail - it's
time to again look at who funds the ringmaster of this
UNGA circus, Germany's Annalena Baerbock. For her entire
terms, she has refused daily press questions and has
colluded in censorship. Here is what she, in the tradition
of the indicted PGA John Ashe (RIP) has disclosed (while
not answering who seconds her staff):
Government
of People’s Republic of China
General Administrative, logistical & management
support $500,000
July 2025 Government of the State
of Qatar General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$250,000
July
2025 Government of
Germany General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$1,159,200 July 2025
Government
of Australia General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$250,000 August 2025
Government
of Turkiye General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$60,000 August 2024
Government
of Morocco General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$50,000 August 2025
Government
of Ireland General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$116,230 September 2025
Government
of State of Kuwait General
Administrative, logistical & management
support $150,000 September
2025
Government
of India General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$100,000 September 2025
December
2025 Government of
Japan General Administrative, logistical
& management support $31,635
December 2025
Government
of the Republic of Cyprus General
Administrative, logistical & management
support $20,000 January
2025
Government
of New Zealand The implementation of the
UN80 Initiative $20,000
Government
of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia General
Administrative, logistical & management
support $80,000 October
2025
Government
of Estonia General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$11,737 October 2025
Government
of Italy General Administrative,
logistical & management support
$16,464.50 November 2025
Government
of Zimbabwe General
Administrative, logistical & management
support $5,000 December
2025
From
China to Zimbabwe, with fig leaf pittances from Estonia
and New Zealand. And of course, her own country Germany,
which wrote:
"Dear
Mr Lee, thank you for reaching out
to us and for your detailed inquiry regarding press access
to the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week. We
value the role of journalism, acknowledge the importance
of press freedom and appreciate your dedication to this
important work. However, we
must kindly inform you that the accreditation and access
of journalists to the United Nations premises fall under
the exclusive jurisdiction of the United Nations itself,
specifically the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit
(MALU). The German Mission to the United Nations
does not have the authority to intervene in or influence
these accreditation
processes. Please note that
our Mission can only provide support to German journalists
accompanying official delegations. For further assistance,
we encourage you to continue to address your concerns
directly to MALU or the relevant UN
officials. Best
regards, Pia
Naendorf
Pia Naendorf Permanent
Mission of Germany to the United Nations 871
UN Plaza, NY 10017." Today's UN is a buck-passing
joke, with the bucks murky and the watchdogs defanged (or
never fanged). We'll have more on this.
Here
are some of the questions sent to the UNSG candidates:
A. CAMPAIGN FINANCE & TRANSPARENCY
1. Beyond the minimum required disclosures, will
you commit to publishing on the Internet the full names,
nationalities, and amounts contributed by every donor to
your campaign, on a rolling basis, within 48 hours of the
contribution, for the duration of the selection process?
If not, why not?
2. Have any member state governments, state-owned
enterprises, or entities with business before the UN made
financial contributions — direct or in-kind — to your
campaign? If so, which ones, and in what amounts?
3. Some candidates' disclosed campaign financing
documents are available only in one language or contain
limited detail. Will you commit to publishing English as
well as French versions of complete, itemized financial
disclosures?
4. Do you believe the current campaign finance
disclosure framework for SG candidates is sufficient? What
reforms, if any, would you propose to strengthen it?
Please be specific.
5. If elected, will you apply equivalent or
stricter financial transparency standards to the
Secretariat's own contracting, procurement, and
partnerships with member states and private entities? If
not, why not?
B. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION / PUBLIC ACCESS
6. The United Nations has no Freedom of
Information Act or equivalent framework governing public
access to Secretariat documents. See, e.g., https://www.freedominfo.org/2014/09/un-lacks-freedom-information/ As
Secretary-General, would you support and propose the
adoption of a formal UN Freedom of Information policy?
What would it cover? What if anything would it not cover?
7. Which categories of UN Secretariat documents do
you believe should be presumptively public? Which, if any,
do you believe should be exempt from disclosure, and on
what grounds?
8. How would you handle requests from journalists
and civil society organizations for access to UN internal
communications, reports, and meeting records that are
currently withheld? How would you ensure that
transparency-focused press does not continue to be
excluded from the UN and its (possibly your) briefings?
9. The UN's current information-withholding
practices have been criticized as inconsistent and opaque
— some documents are routinely shared with select
delegations while withheld from press and public. How
would you address this asymmetry?
10. Would you support an independent appeals
mechanism for journalists or researchers whose requests
for UN documents are denied? Penalties for those who
willfully withhold public information, particularly
regarding the spending of the public's money?
C. PRESS FREEDOM & MEDIA ACCREDITATION
Questions from the Free UN Coalition for Access
(FUNCA)
11. The current UN press accreditation system has
been used to exclude or ban individual journalists,
including some who have covered the UN for years. What
criteria do you believe should govern the granting,
denial, renewal, and revocation of UN press credentials?
12. Do you believe accreditation decisions should
be content-neutral — meaning a journalist cannot be denied
or stripped of credentials based on the substance of their
reporting about the UN or member states?
13. Under the current system, the Department of
Global Communications has broad discretion over
credentialing with no independent review. Would you
support establishing an independent body, including judges
from member states with freedom of the press traditions,
to adjudicate press accreditation disputes?
14. The Press has been banned from UN premises for
years without a formal hearing, written charges, or appeal
process. How and on what timeline would you address this
case?
15. What due process protections, if any, do you
believe journalists are entitled to before their UN access
is revoked or denied?
16. The UN has been criticized for applying
different standards to state media outlets versus
independent journalists, freelancers, and watchdog
journalists. How would you ensure equitable and
content-neutral accreditation?
17. Would you commit to a full review of all
currently banned or suspended press credential holders
within your first 10 days?
D. INSTITUTIONAL REFORM & ACCOUNTABILITY
18. The UN Secretariat has faced repeated findings
of mismanagement, fraud, and abuse. What structural
changes would you make to ensure genuine accountability?
19. The Secretary-General's office currently
operates with limited external oversight. Would you
support an independent Inspector General mechanism with
the authority to investigate the Office of the
Secretary-General itself? Should the SG — a position you
seek — be covered by the same restrictions as other UN
staff members?
20. How would you respond if a member state, P5 or
otherwise powerful, including one of your campaign donors
or supporters, pressured you to suppress a report, deny
press access, or take other actions adverse to
transparency or press freedom? Please be specific.
21. The UN's relationship with civil society has
become more closed in recent years, with accreditation of
NGOs and independent observers becoming more politicized.
What would you do to reverse this trend, including in the
relevant Committee(s)?
22. How do you view the relationship between the
Secretary-General's function as a "chief administrative
officer" and the obligation to speak publicly about human
rights violations, press freedom abuses, and institutional
failures within the UN system itself?
E. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR UN-CAUSED HARM
23. For years, UN peacekeepers accused of sexual
exploitation and abuse have simply been flown home to
their troop-contributing countries, with no justice in the
communities where the alleged abuse took place. Will you
commit to waiving UN immunity in such cases, so that
host-country justice systems can prosecute? Will you
support mandatory reporting of all sexual exploitation and
abuse allegations to host-country prosecutors, regardless
of the nationality of the accused?
24. The United Nations introduced cholera to Haiti
through its peacekeeping mission, causing an epidemic that
killed thousands. The UN acknowledged "moral
responsibility" in 2016 but never paid a penny in
compensation to victims or their families, and the trust
fund established for that purpose raised essentially
nothing. Would you reverse that position and commit to
compensating the victims and families? What specific steps
would you take to avoid a repetition of this impunity —
including supporting binding arbitration for communities
harmed by UN operations, as an alternative to the current
system under which the UN claims absolute immunity?
PART II: YES OR NO QUESTIONS
by the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA)
1. Will you, within your first 30 days as
Secretary-General, propose a formal UN Freedom of
Information framework to the General Assembly?
2. Will you establish a publicly accessible
register of all meetings between the Secretary-General's
office and member state delegations?
3. Will you immediately restore Inner City Press
to resident correspondent status at UN Headquarters?
4. Will you commit to content-neutral press
accreditation — meaning no journalist will be denied or
stripped of credentials solely because of the substance of
their reporting?
5. Will you establish an independent press
accreditation review board, including judges from member
states with press freedom traditions, to hear appeals of
denied or revoked credentials?
6. Will you conduct and publish a full review of
media currently banned or suspended from UN press access
within your first 10 days?
7. Will you make all UN Secretariat procurement
contracts above $100,000 publicly available online, in
easily searchable format, API-accessible?
8. Will you publish a full, itemized accounting of
the Secretary-General's discretionary funds and travel
budget on a weekly or monthly basis?
9. Will you commit to holding regular, unscripted
press conferences open to all journalists, including
independent and freelance reporters?
10. Will you support a formal whistleblower
protection framework for UN staff who report misconduct?
11. Will you commit to not accepting any post-SG
employment, advisory role, or paid engagement with any
entity that had a financial relationship with your
campaign within five years of leaving office?
12. Will you make your personal financial
disclosures — including with specificity assets,
investments, and any ongoing income streams — publicly
available for the duration of your term?
13. Will you publish the full text of all
communications between your office and member state
governments regarding press access or accreditation
decisions?
14. Will you commit to responding to this
questionnaire within 10 days of receipt?
15. Will you make this questionnaire and your
response publicly available on your campaign website?
(Rest assured, Inner City Press will be publishing it, and
your response or non-response.)
16. Will you commit to waiving UN immunity for
peacekeepers credibly accused of sexual exploitation and
abuse, so that host-country justice systems can prosecute?
17. Will you commit to compensating the victims
and families of the UN-introduced cholera epidemic in
Haiti?
All candidates and/or their nominators have
received the above - watch this site.
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