On Violent Anti-Drug Camp in Cambodia, UN Ban Still Silent, UNICEF Funds Only “Agency"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 29 -- Before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left on his four country trip through Asia, the UN Special Rapporteur on Health issued a report specifying violent anti-drug programs in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban would be raising this issue, and was told to await incremental reports of what Ban raised.

In Cambodia, after political gatherings were banned in Thailand and a petitioner beaten unconscious in Phnom Penh, it was directly reported that “funds from the United Nations are being used to run a brutal internment camp” to which “undesirables” were sent to be “raped and beaten, sometimes to death.”

Inner City Press, which has reviewed each stop along Ban's tour, wrote about this Prey Speu camp on October 28, and on October 29 asked Nesirky if Ban was aware of the issue and had raised it to Cambodian authorities.

Nesirky replied that “UNICEF and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, her Office, will be very happy to answer you questions.”

But what about Ban? Even on the petitioner who, trying to get a letter to Ban, was beaten unconscious by Cambodian authorities, Ban said nothing, relying instead on the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Beyond passing the buck to UNICEF and the HCHR, Nesirky nevertheless offered this spin, that the “other reports” asked about by Inner City Press followed a Guardian story, which Nesirky said was “an extrapolation from funding to a ministry, not direct funding to a specific institution.” Oh.

Inner City Press asked this and other questions to UNICEF, and received only this in return:

Subject: Re: Q re Cambodia/anti-drug referred by OSSG, old Q re malnutrition in Sudan referred to UNICEF by OCHA [and another]
From: Christopher de Bono @unicef.org>
To: "Matthew R. Lee" @ innercitypress.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 2:02 PM

Re Cambodia

- UNICEF Cambodia is always concerned when allegations of this nature arise, particularly when they involve children.

- We do provide vital support to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) to strengthen standards and systems in child protection. We do not, however, work directly with the Prey Speu centre, nor do we provide any funding to Prey Speu and are confident that none of our funding goes to this centre. Withdrawing our funding to MoSVY would not be in the best interests of children in Cambodia.

- In the case of Choam Chao, we did not withdraw funding, but engaged the government to change its strategy, which it did, and this resulted in the subsequent closure of the centre.

- UNICEF is aware of the need to document the situation in centres like Prey Speu across Cambodia and we are working with OHCHR to provide technical assistance to the government to strengthen systems to prevent such abuses happening in the future.

On Sudan I have no information beyond what was previously made public by our Representative Nils Kastburg.

On [the other] I will ask colleagues in the field.

Here's from the Sidney Morning Herald:

“funds from the United Nations are being used to run a brutal internment camp near Phnom Penh, where detainees are held for months without trial, raped and beaten, sometimes to death. The Cambodian government's Ministry of Social Affairs says the Prey Speu 'Social Affairs Centre' 20 kilometres from the capital is a voluntary welfare center... But human rights groups say the government-run centre is an illegal, clandestine prison, where people deemed 'undesirable' - usually drug users, sex workers and the homeless - are held for months without charge or without ever going before a court. Detainees - men, women and children are housed together in a single building - are regularly beaten with planks of wood, whipped with wires, or threatened with weapons. Gang rapes by guards are reportedly common, and it is alleged guards have beaten three detainees to death. But the ministry that runs Prey Speu still gets money directly from the UN's children's fund, UNICEF.”

Does Ban Ki-moon as the head of the UN system this this is acceptable? We still don't know. When Inner City Press asked if Ban would raise the wider violent anti drug program issue in Vietnam, Nesirky said Ban is still there. Watch this site.

UN Panel on Sudan Vote Said “Independent from UNMIS,” Which Pays It $4.3 Million

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 29 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named a three person panel on the South Sudan referendum, it was said that the panel would be independent from the UN Mission in Sudan, UNMIS.

When Inner City Press asked panel members Benjamin Mkapa, Antonio Monteiro, Bhojraj Pokharel and their staff “are being compensated or having their expenses paid,” UNMIS spokesman Ashraf Eissa replied that “the SG's Panel is a totally independent panel from UNMIS. It reports directly to the SG in NY. The Panel Spokesperson can be contacted for such information.”

After some delay, the Panel Spokesperson told Inner City Press that “the Panel, including the salaries of its staff, is being funded from the budget of UNMIS.”

What then about the panel being independent from UNMIS, if its members and their staff are being paid by UNMIS? How can the UN and UNMIS be credible, including in reporting on troops build ups on the border, if they call something independent from UNMIS when it is getting paid by UNMIS?

In fact, in the Secretariat's current budget submission A/65/509 it is said in Paragraphs 9-10 that

“the Secretary-General’s Panel on the Referenda in the Sudan has been established. This monitoring body will be an instrument for building trust in the process and acceptance of the outcomes of the referenda.... The Panel is independent from the rest of UNMIS, to distinguish it from the Mission and its role in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and other mandated activities, including support for the referenda and planning for the following period.

“The Panel, which has been established for a period of six months, effective September 2010, involves 41 temporary positions, including one Under-Secretary-General and two Assistant Secretary-General positions comprising the Panel itself, supported by 38 international staff (1 D-1, 6 P-5, 21 P-4 and 10 P-3). Given the urgent need for these additional staff, 41 temporary positions have been approved for a period of six months, on an exceptional basis, to enable the Panel to commence its operations. The cost is estimated at $4.3 million, including $4.1 million in staff related costs and $0.2 million in travel costs.”

How can one square this statement that “the Panel is independent from the rest of UNMIS” with the later admission that the Panel members and their staff are paid by UNMIS?

Inner City Press, in writing on October 28, asked both the Panel Spokesman and Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky. By noon on October 29, neither had responded, or even confirmed receipt.

At the October 29 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Nesirky how the Panel could be described -- as in the Secretariat's budget submission, above -- as independent from UNMIS, if its members and staff are being piad by UNMIS. Video here from Minute 12:26.

Nesirky replied that “it's a question of financing and funding... at the end of the day its by [the UN Department of Political Affairs] that this is being handled.”

Inner City Press asked why then isn't DPA paying the Panel members and staff, and how can the UN say the Panel is “independent” from UNMIS if its members and staff are being paid by UNMIS?

Nesirky cut Inner City Press off, saying “Next question.” But the questions will continue. Watch this site.

In Cambodia, UN's Ban Silent as Petitioner Beaten, “Undesirables” Jailed with UN Money

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- In Cambodia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said through his spokesman Martin Nesirky that he was open to receiving written communications from protesters. But when Suong Sophorn, 23, sought to deliver a petition to Ban, he was beaten unconscious by military police.

Inner City Press, whose question about Thailand banning all political gathering gave rises to Nesirky's statement about receiving petitions in Cambodia, asked on October 28 about the beating.

Nesirky said grandly that “generally” the UN “supports the right to free assembly and protest.”

But it is now reported that the UN system has funded secret detention centers to which “undesirable” including alleged drug addicts have been taken, without charge, to be beaten, raped and even killed.

These violent anti-drugs centers have been raised to Ban Ki-moon, both by the UN's own Special Rapporteur on Health and, twice, by Inner City Press.

But it appears Ban has not raised the center on any of this stops, in Vietnam or Cambodia. Watch this site.

Footnote: while Ban himself had nothing to say, Nesirky made much of statements by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. In other circumstances, the Secretariat argues that the High Commissioner's Office is independent. But while these statements are duly noted, Ban's own silence speaks volumes.

UN Genocide Adviser Francis Deng Refuses to Answer on Sudan, Defers to Khartoum PR

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- When the UN's Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide hosts an event about “Dangerous Speech on the Road to Genocide,” it seems fair to ask about Sudan, the only country subject to an indictment for genocide by the International Criminal Court -- especially with the Adviser is from Sudan, and the UN helps produce and sell his books about Sudan.

But when Inner City Press asked Francis Deng and his co-presenter Dr. Susan Benesch for this opinions of genocide and Sudan, and the place of media strategies in this, the UN's Deng refused to comment, and instead deferred to the Ambassador of Sudan, Dafaala Al Haj Ali Osman, who ridiculed the ICC's genocide charge by only partially quoting the definition of genocide.

Neither Deng nor Dr. Benesch offered any response to Sudan, including the misquoting of the Genocide Convention.

After Inner City Press asked its question, Dr. Benesch said, “Mr. Lee asked Dr. Deng about Sudan and about Sri Lanka and since he's far more expert over those topics, I would defer to him to answer.”

But Deng in turn deferred, to the representative of the very government accused of genocide. Deng said, “I think we should restrict our questions and comments on the subject of today's lecture.” Video here, from Minute 57:08.

Since the event was about genocide and media, a question about genocide and the Sudanese media seemed well within the subject. Inner City Press emphasized this, so that Deng couldn't use fairness as a basis for not answering noting the presence of Sudan's Ambassador in the room.

“So ask him,” Deng said. Video here, from Minute 57:08.

Sudan's Dafaala Al Haj Ali Osman took the floor, and made a presentation he later admonished Inner City Press to “reflect.” He began by saluting “my fellow citizen” Francis Deng, then launched into Inner City Press, video here from Minute 58:

“Despite the fact that Professor Susan has answered you [that] this is out of the context of this workshop or lecture, I will try to give you a few glimpses, how this is related to Sudan. I think you have read this pamphlet it talks about a definition of genocide, 'the deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic, racial, religious or national group.'

[Note: the full quote, relegated by the UN to the inside of its pamphlet, is the “intent to destroy, in whole OR IN PART, a national ethnical, racial or religious group.']

Deng (2d from right) on a UN Panel, answers on Sudan and books not shown

Sudan's Ambassador, using the half-quote of the Genocide Convention, continued:

“If we want to apply it to Darfur we find a rebellion against central authority... they killed Army people and Police... I think any student of law would know that the central authority or the President is obliged by the constitution of the land to react to put an end to a military operation, to establish peace and security.. To share some information not unveiled for one reason nor another, the Prosecutor General of ICC in his accusation that the President has committed genocide mentions three tribes. For your information 45 individuals or more of those three tribes are members of the National Parliament in Sudan and more than that number are Parliament members in the 25 parliaments in the regional states of Sudan. The federal Minister of Justice in Sud belongs to one of these tribes. I really don't follow you, if it really a genocide, how would the President spare all these people, and not exterminate them?”

Apparently, the survival (for now) of 45 people disproves genocide. One would have expected Ban Ki-moon's Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide to have spoken up against such an interpretation. But he did not. As Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky on October 27, it is unclear when Deng is working and speaking for the UN, and when he is not. From the transcript:

Inner City Press: This is also on Sudan, but it’s sort of on the UN. There was an event yesterday held by DPI [Department of Public Information] in the North Lawn Building called Event, New Vision, it was about Sudan and it had Mr. [Francis] Deng speaking at some length about books that he has written. It had books for sale outside the room and had the host, the Ambassador of Sudan. But what had led me to wonder is, I know Mr. Deng is the Special [Adviser] on prevention of genocide, but it seems… I’ve heard from people that these books are written on UN time; that this is actually one of the things that he does in his UN office. And so, I just, I am unclear of what to make of the book, of the books that he produces. If they are created on UN time and with UN money, are they UN views or is there some, what are topics is his office working on in terms of…?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Did you attend it yesterday?

Inner City Press: I did attend it.

Spokesperson: And you asked him?

Inner City Press: And I asked him afterwards what other countries he is working on prevention of genocide; he said, “We don’t like to be country-specific.” But it seems like it’s hard to prevent genocide unless you name countries.

Spokesperson: Well, this is obviously something that Mr. Deng can comment on. I don’t have anything on that.

Inner City Press: What are rules, I guess I am saying, for UN, if a UN official spends his time in the UN building while on UN time writing books? Does the UN own the copyright?

Spokesperson: That’s what you are saying. Or you said, “Some people say”. That is not an established fact, Matthew. You shouldn’t then turn it into an established fact. You said, “Some people say”.

Inner City Press: Okay. If you can look into it and find that no staff member’s time is entirely…

Spokesperson: As I said, it sounds like you had the chance to ask Mr. Deng yesterday.

Inner City Press: But also, was, is the book being sold…

Spokesperson: Any other questions? Yes, Khaled?

A Permanent Five member of the Security Council told Inner City Press on the morning of October 28 that these “Deng book questions” were good. So while Deng as Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide may have refused to answer the question genocide and Sudan, maybe these questions about Deng and the UN will be answered. Watch this site.

On Bed Bugs in UN, Focus Expands to New North Lawn, DC-2 & UN Credit Union

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28, updated -- The UN's incremental spin of its bed bug problem grew wider and more surreal on Thursday.

Inner City Press, which was the first to break the story of UN bed bugs, in a 46th Street building in September 2009 and May 2010 and on October 25 in the Capital Master Plan office in the UN headquarters, now asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky to make full disclosure of all UN locations in which bed bugs have been found.

Nesirky began listing further locations, the 1st, 2nd, 15th 19th and 20th floors of UN Headquarters and some outside of UN Headquarters, including the 11th and 25th floors of the UN DC-2 building across First Avenue, four floors of the UN Federal Credit Union building in Queens and, as Inner City Press had predicted and then reported, under the UN's new North Lawn building.

But when Pressed, Nesirky said that these were locations which had been tested by bed bug testing dogs. This seemed incorrect, as least as to UN Headquarters.

On October 27, Inner City Press directly reached and asked Andrew Nye of the UN Facilities Management Service, who said that bed bugs had been found in Headquarters on the the 1st, 2nd and 15th floors, beyond those admitted to that time by Nesirky.

So Inner City Press asked Nesirky to confirm that bed bugs had been found in the locations he'd listed -- if it were only testing, why test only the 1st and 3rd floors of the UN Library building, and not the 2nd floor where the Press is?

Update: on the afternoon of October 28, the request was made.

Nesirky replied that tests are made “on request,” and then depending on resources.

But some of the Headquarters locations he listed are empty, the staff already removed. Who then made the request? Inner City Press asked if the UN would be making full disclosure of its findings. Even to this, the answer wasn't clear. Watch this site.

At UN, Turkish Cypriot Community Has Rare Diplomatic Status, Non State Envy

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 28 -- The UN is best described as a club of nation states. There are, however, exceptions: non-state actors which are treated for some purposes as states. This is the case of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Back on September 25 when Dervis Eroglu of the TRNC took questions from the Press after a photo op / meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Inner City Press asked on camera about UN special part time envoy Alexander Downer, and off camera about what type of UN identification pass the TRNC diplomats were using.

On October 27 the question was answered. Among with meeting the Ambassador or Permanent Representative of the TRNC, Inner City Press spoke with the TRNC's Sertac Guven, whose business card listed him as “Third Secretary” with an address on the 9th floor of 821 UN Plaza, home of the UN Mission of Turkey. Both had “D” or diplomatic passes to the UN - in the name of “Turkish Cypriot Community.”

Inner City Press asked what other non-state actors have this special status. Guven said there was at least one other, but he couldn't remember the name. (The Polisario Front of Western Sahara comes to mind.)

As to the TRNC, Inner City Press is told that its special UN status dates back to 1968, and that Pakistan and Bangladesh, proponents of partition, briefly expressed the intention to recognized the TRNC around 1973, before US pressure made them retract the intention to recognize. A Turkish diplomat tells Inner City Press Turkey did not favor the recognitions, as it would indicate a point of no return, the end of negotiations -- and of leverage?

While the TRNC cannot speak in the General Assembly or Security Council, because of the UN's involvement in their talks with the Greek Cypriots, it's said that two parties are treated as equals while on UN land. So it's a social club of sovereign states - with at least two exceptions.

This might explain, for example, the reluctance of Colombia to allow the UN, even such offices as that on Children and Armed Conflict, to speak with rebels like the FARC.

And so more and more questions. Why not Somaliland? Until last year, why not Tamil Eelam? The questions could go on and on. And they are questions we'll pursue -- watch this site.

Footnote: this week the UN was asked about widespread reports that staff of part time envoy Alexander Downer was the source of the leak of UN Department of Political Affairs documents about Cyprus. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said he had never heard of the controversy, leaving both Turkish and Greek journalists shaking their heads. We'll have more on this.

As Darfur Arrestees Named, UN Has No Comment, Gambari On Vacation in NY

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- Following the UN Security Council's visit to Darfur on October 8, the UN has been asked to verify the arrests by Sudan of at least two people who were present in the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people.

On October 27, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm a report that the arrestees are Abdullah Ishaq Abdel Razek, the supervisor of the nutrition program of the IDP camp’s schools, and Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Al-Haj, who gave a speech to Council members on October 8. Video here.

Nesirky replied that if top UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy had been asked to look into the situation, he would. But previously, Le Roy was asked to obtain and provide a “full understanding of the facts” underlying the deadly violence this year in the Kalma IDP camp, without doing so.

In the opacity that the UN allowed after the Kalma violence, Sudan had demanded that the UN turn over five sheikhs of the Kalma camp. As exposed by Inner City Press with leaked documents, the head of the UN - African Union mission UNAMID Ibrahim Gambari was close to an agreement with Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti to turn the five sheikhs over, in exchange for a promise not to execute by Omar al-Bashir, indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

On October 27, Inner City Press approached and asked ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo outside the UN Security Council for his view of UN turn overs to Omar al Bashir. I have nothing to do with that, Ocampo said. He said that Inner City Press' previous questions to the Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak were well placed. But what about the ICC?

While Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Nesirky for Gambari's or the UN's view of Nowak's statement that to turn the sheikhs over to Bashir would violate customary international law, no response has been provided. On October 27, Nesirky belatedly told Inner City Press that Gambari is “on leave.”

Since according to Nigerian Mission sources Gambari had been in New York since Friday, October 22 -- but didn't appear at the UN Security Council for its October 25 session on UNAMID -- questions are mounting about the appropriateness of taking a vacation in the midst of Darfur's problems, and not even pausing the vacation to attend a nearby Security Council meeting about UNAMID. Watch this site.

At UN, Bed Bug Finds Are More Extensive, From 1st, 2nd & 15th floors to 2d Basement

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- The UN's bed bug problem is more extensive than thus far admitted by the UN Spokesperson's Office, Inner City Press learned late Wednesday afternoon.

Acting on a second tip from well place UN staff, Inner City Press asked Andrew Nye of the UN's Facility Management Service to confirm that bed bugs were found not only in the Capital Master Plan office (exclusively reported by Inner City Press on October 25) and furniture from the 19th and 20th floors, but also in the Office of Information and Communications Technology facility in the basement.

Mr. Nye immediately acknowledged that bed bugs were found in the OICT “second basement level.” Since this went beyond Spokesperson Martin Nesirky's incremental admissions of October 26 and 27, Inner City Press asked Nye if there had in fact been other finds, contrary to Nesirky's earlier statement that beyond the CMP, there were no other bed bug incidents to report. Video here.

Mr. Nye then said that bed bugs had been found in the “first, second and fifteen floors,” and that the UN will be meeting with the vice president of its anti bed bug contractor on October 28 to reconsider its strategy in light of the expanding problem.

Earlier, after Nesirky had said there were no more bed bug incidents to report, Inner City Press asked him about the OICT find. It is unclear why Nesirky was given at the October 27 noon briefing a two paragraph statement acknowledging only the CMP and 19 - 20th floor find, but not the OICT or first, second and 15th floor finds which were already known.

What else has yet to be disclosed? Watch this site.

With UN Ban in Cambodia, Eviction Protests Banned, Rights Are Internal Matter?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- After leaving Thailand where political gatherings were banned during his stay, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is now in Cambodia, where people facing mass eviction for the political elite were banned from protesting along Ban's route.

Inner City Press for the second time asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban will meet with those threatened with eviction, or just take a letter as he did in Thailand.

Nesirky said that “if there is some kind of written communication these people who are protesting would like to hand over, I'm sure that would be possible.”

But the written petition was already delivered, and Ban was aware of it, without impact. It was reported that “Aimee Brown, a spokeswoman for the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Phnom Penh, said Ban knew of the requests, but said his office had not yet decided on whether he would meet them. 'He's definitely aware that there are protestors, and he is aware of the petitions that have been received,' Brown said.” So what's the answer?

It's already reported that Cambodian “Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered [Ban] to remove the head of the local UN human rights office, accusing him of acting as a 'spokesman' for opposition groups. During a meeting with Ban at his offices in Phnom Penh this morning, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the premier had 'proposed' that Christophe Peschoux, head of the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resign his post.”

Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Peschoux will keep his post. “That's an internal personnel matter,” Nesirky replied. He added that Ban stands behind the office and, by implication, it's staff. Video here from Minute 5:04.

It does not appear that Ban raised the issue of violent anti-drug programs, highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. And Ban's human rights tour goes on.

At UN on Bed Bugs, Spin Supersedes Solutions, After 1 Year, North Lawn Next?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- With bed bugs having been found and then confirmed in the UN's Capital Master Plan office in its headquarters building on 42nd Street, as first reported by Inner City Press on October 25, two days later the UN issued a statement trying to minimize the problem.

Spin, it seems, takes precedence at the UN over solutions.

After Inner City Press' exclusive October 25 report, at the October 26 UN noon briefing it asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky what the UN was doing. Later that afternoon Nesirky's office read a short statement over the UN's “squawk box” system.

Inner City Press request to be e-mailed a copy of Nesirky's responses to its questions itself went unresponded to.

On October 27, Inner City Press asked Nesirky what had happened after the UN found bed bugs in its 46th Street Albano Building in September 2009, another outbreak exclusively reported by Inner City Press.

Nesirky first said that had been “clover mites,” then acknowledged that characterization applied to a test done in May 2010, not the September 2009 incident Inner City Press was asking about.

After the October 27 noon briefing, the UN issued the following written statement:

In September 2009, a bed bug sniffing dog confirmed infestation on most floors of the Albano building. The whole building was fumigated on 19 September 2009 and repeated 2 weeks later. As is standard practice, 6 months later on 6 May 2010 the dog returned and indicated the presence of bed bugs. However, the dog is not able to distinguish between alive and dead bed bugs. As a precautionary measure the whole building was fumigated the weekend of 8, 9 May 2010. On 10 May 2010 a staff member reported the presence of a bed bug in the office. The contractor examined the bug and identified it to be a “clover mite”, which is not harmful to building, furniture, or humans. Since the fumigation in September and October last year, one staff member advised of a suspected bed bug bite, but the expert advised this was from some other insect. In conclusion there has been no confirmed bed bug activity in the Albano building since the fumigations last year.

Since that time, as reported recently in the media, bed bug infestations have been found in many public and commercial buildings throughout New York City indicating a worsening problem. On 15 October 2010, bed bugs have also been found in furniture which came from the 19th and 20th floors of the Secretariat Building and on 22 October 2010 in furniture in the 1B area of the Library Building. This furniture has been moved to a part of the building not occupied by staff to facilitate fumigation. Two important factors are noted, firstly that the dogs are not able to distinguish between bed bugs that are alive and active or dead and secondly that no staff or building occupants have reported being bitten. We continue to follow the expert advice of our exterminator specialist making further tests with the bed bug sniffing dog to more fully assess and manage the problem.

New York, 27 Oct. 10

UN Sudan Debate Degenerates to Book Sales, In Empire of Deng, Genocide Forgotten

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 27 -- When the UN holds an event entitled “Sudan, a Vision for the Future” six weeks before the referendum on secession is slated to be held, it seems worth going to.

There were piles of books for sale by the event's entrance in the UN's North Lawn building. UN official Francis Deng, charged with preventing genocide but rarely seen these days, was speaking about his writings, including “New Sudan in the Making” published, strangely, by Third World Book of Trenton, New Jersey and Asmara, Eritrea.

The event was moderated by Kiyotaka Akasaka of the UN Department of Public Information, who intervened to cut short the response by Sudanese Ambassador Dafaala El Haj Ali Osman so that questions could be asked the audience, including those online.

Inner City Press asked about the religious differences between South Sudan and the North, about how external debt might be divided, and the implications of a planned new oil pipeline to run south through Kenya. Only one of these questions was answered, and even then only by saying that debt is being negotiated in Addis Ababa, under the rubric of Liabilities.

Afterward, Inner City Press asked Mr. Deng what other countries he and his UN Prevention of Genocide are working on, including what he might think of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel of experts on accountability in Sri Lanka, which has not even asked to visit that country.

Deng said “we don't like to single out countries” then said he was distracted due to an upcoming appointment. He was courteous as always and patrician -- of Abyei aristocracy -- but one wonders what is being accomplished.

Sources say that under Deng, the UN Prevention of Genocide office is largely devoted to producing and promoting Deng's writings, including the time of other staff members of the Office.

“Nice work if you can get it,” one insider commented, while noting that a less distracted person might be better for the UN's Prevention of Genocide post, unless it is by UN design a no-show job.

If Deng's writings are being produced on UN time and with UN money, then shouldn't they be attributable to the UN? His “New Sudan in the Making” volume has a chapter by “Eltigani Seisi M. Ateem” -- the former UN staff member at the Economic Commission on Africa who was drafted, including by joint UN - African Union mediator Bassole, to lead the Darfur “Astroturf rebel” group the Liberation and Justice Movement. (Astroturf, the artificial surface in the now demolished Houston Astrodome, means fake grassroots.)

Also appearing on the panel was UN peacekeeping's Team Leader of the Sudan Operational Team Jack Christofides, who afterward briefed a Permanent Five Security Council diplomat about the “logistics” of the Security Council's recent trip to Sudan.

What is the UN accomplishing with all this book publishing and self- and Deng-promotion? As Deng concludes New Sudan in the Making?, “the question mark... is therefore pertinent.” Watch this site.

Footnote: as to UN DPI and Mr. Akasaka, having debates with Q&A is generally a good thing. But it was alleged by a panelist after Tuesday's session that the purpose was to promote sales of a UN official's book. This should be clarified. Mr. Akasaka at the end mentioned possible future sessions on Haiti or Pakistan -- perhaps Jean Maurice Ripert could lead that session, since he is still being paid despite being relieved of his Pakistan envoy position. Could there be a book deal in the works?

UN Torture Expert Urges UN Not to Handover to Sudan, Gambari & Rice Absent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- In Darfur, moves by the UN to hand over to the government five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid al-Nur were criticized Tuesday by the UN's own Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak.

Inner City Press, which first exposed the UN's draft agreement between Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti and Ibrahim Gambari of the Darfur mission UNAMID, asked Nowak if such a turn over would violate the law. Video here, from Minute 30:40.

Nowak replied that objectively, “there is no question that torture is widely practices in Sudan.” Are the five sheikhs, political opponents targeted by the government of Omar al-Bashir, for some reason exempt from torture?

Gambari's draft agreement with Karti, leaked to and published by Inner City Press, sought only to preclude execution, with a promise from al-Bashir. Even this promise has been disavowed -- Sudan's Ambassador to the UN Dafaala Al Haj Ali Osman on October 25 told Inner City Press such a commitment has not been and could not be made, that at most Gambari must have been referring to the idea that “blood relatives” might offer forgiveness (for money). Video here.

Gambari was in New York on October 25, according to Nigerian mission sources, but did not come to the UN Security Council's meeting about Darfur and UNAMID. Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the spokesman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, where Gambari is.

On October 26, Inner City Press asked Nesirky for Gambari's or the UN's response to Nowak's statement urging the UN not to turn the five over to Sudan. Nesirky replied that “special rapporteurs have independent status.” Video here, from Minute 32:07.

On October 25, chief UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy told the Security Council “we have made clear we cannot hand over the sheikhs in the absence of a clear commitment the death penalty, if issued, would not be carried out, alongside other assurances.”

But Nowak, when asked by Inner City Press, said that “diplomatic assurances with respect to torture are not worth the paper they are written on.”

While Gambari has asked Inner City Press, in a containing in the UNAMID Super Camp, what he can do except negotiate to turn the five sheikhs over to Sudanese authorities, now the UN system's two top experts on torture have said this would violate the law, including customary international law.

How as the UN so badly lost its way? And who will be held accountable?

The issue was raised to Western Permanent Five ambassadors of the Security Council before their Sudan trip. But the UK's Mark Lyall Grant twice said it wasn't among the trip's “terms of reference.”

The US' Susan Rice has indicated she asked about the issue while in Sudan, but has declined to disclose what she or Gambari said. It was impossible to ask her these questions at the Security Council's October 25 meetings on Darfur and South Sudan, because she was not present and therefore no US official took questions at the stakeout, unlike Sudan's Ambassador.

What is the US position on torture? Watch this site.

On Darfur, UN Won't Confirm Village Burning, Pledges Action on Sudan Data Block

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- While on Darfur the UN continues to say it is unable to confirm its own report of attacks on six villages in East Jebel Marra, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos on Tuesday told Inner City Press she has “asked someone to go down to Sudan from here in Headquarters” to see how to improve UN reporting of malnutrition and other data. Video here, from Minute 9:38.

Back on September 15, Inner City Press first asked Ms. Amos about the UN's discontinuation of reporting global malnutrition data for Darfur. Ms. Amos said that the UN was trying to do “joint assessments” with Sudan's government.

But later, UNICEF's Sudan Representative Nils Kastberg said that the Sudanese government has been blocking collection and release of such information. Inner City Press raised this on October 21 to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier de Schutter, who said he would look into it as a violation if he receives a formal complaint (which he now has.)

On October 26, Inner City Press asked Ms. Amos the question again, and she said “I have discussed [it] with the team... there is an issue of capacity.” Someone - it is not clear who - has been dispatched from New York to Sudan to see how to improve the reporting.

Depending on what is done, the UN could end its own violations of the right to food -- but the Sudanese government, it seems ever more clear, has been in violation.

Inner City Press also asked Ms. Amos about the statement, in the OCHA Darfur Weekly handed to the Press by the UN's Humanitarian Coordinators for Sudan Georg Charpentier about “intense ground fighting and aerial attacks in Eastern Jebel Marra over the past week, with several villages heavily affected, including Sora [Soro], which was completely burned down.”

Ms. Amos responded by reading out a weeks old statement handed to her by the spokesman UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Martin Nesirky, saying that the information -- in an OCHA report -- is “sketchy” due to lack of access.

Since UN Humanitarian Coordinator Charpentier has recently praised the Sudanese government for allowing access to Jebel Marra. So which is it?

“Sudan is a large country,” Ms. Amos said, noting that the government could provide access in some places and not others. But why then Charpentier's fulsome praise? Ms. Amos said the UN will now do everything it can to confirm. We'll see - watch this site.

With UN Ban in Bangkok, Political Gatherings Banned, Myanmar Voting on Giri Back Burner?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- The Asian tour of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began in Thailand, with all political gatherings banned. Ban gave a speech saying that Thai problems are for Thais to solve, reported then as “internal affairs.”

When Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky for Ban's view the right to assemble for the redress of grievances, Nesirky replied that Ban had received a letter of protest, from the Red Shirt movement. But does that replace the right to assemble? Ban's spokesman wouldn't answer. Video here from Minute 29:12.

In Nesirky's read out of Ban's time in Thailand, he did not mention the critique by the UN's special rapporteur on the right to health Anand Grover of violent anti-drug programs in the region. (When Inner City Press asked Anand, he said he would raise it with Ban Ki-moon or the Secretariat, video here.)

Myanmar was raised by Ban Ki-moon, but it is not clear how. In New York, the Good Office on Myanmar team, created by the General Assembly, have been reassigned to do other work under the Department of Political Affairs Tamrat Samuel.

The shift, without GA approval, is not mentioned in the Secretariat's “Special Political Missions” submission to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.

Inner City Press asked the UN's humanitarian chief Valerie Amos about media reports that the UN's officer to help Myanmar with Cyclone Giri were rebuffed.

She said that “joint assessments” -- the same term used by the UN in Sudan -- have begun and indicate that the damage may be much larger than first thought, up to 400,000 people.

Can a free, fair and transparent election be held among the impacted people, Inner City Press asked Ms. Amos, in Arakan State and elsewhere? She said this couldn't be known until the joint assessment is completed. The election is slated for November 7. Ban Ki-moon's next stops are Vietnam and Cambodia, where violent anti-drug programs are most extreme. Watch this site.

From the UN transcript of October 25, 2010 --

Inner City Press: I want to ask about the Secretary-General’s impending trip to Asia. There is a report to the Third Committee by the Special Rapporteur on the right to health about, among other things, what he sees as the violated practices in anti-drug programmes in many of the countries that Ban Ki-moon is going to be visiting — Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand — and he calls very strongly for the UN to move against people who are incarcerated. This is all according to his report. I just wonder: of the many issues obviously on the Secretary-General’s agenda as he visits these countries, is he aware of that? And there is a separate issue in Cambodia, where people has said that they are going to try and rally in front of Ban Ki-moon about evictions, forced evictions, in Cambodia. Are these… Can you sort of… Can we get a run-down of what issues he is planning to raise, and I just wonder whether these two are among them?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Sure. And again, I seem to recall that Farhan gave you a bit of a run-down on the trip last week, sitting here. As the trip progresses, we will be giving details. The Secretary-General and his delegation are en route at the moment to Thailand where, as you know, the visit starts. They then move to Cambodia and on to Viet Nam for this UN-ASEAN [Association of South-East Asian Nations] meeting and then to China, where, as you know, the Secretary-General will be visiting Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing. On the question of health, the very specific point that you raised, we can find out and probably tell you as the visit progresses. The same goes for the second part that you mentioned.

At UN, Taylor Swift's “Launch” Quietly Canceled After Questions, UN Leaves Door Open

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 25, updated -- More than a month ago, following reports that musician Taylor Swift would “launch her album 'Speak Now' at the UN on October 25,” Inner City Press asked the UN how and why its premises were being used to promote a commercial venture.

Was Ms. Swift being named a Goodwill Ambassador or pledging proceeds to some peacekeeping mission?

The UN responded the next day that “In response to a question asked on Thursday about the singer Taylor Swift, the Spokesperson said that Ms. Swift's album launch has been booked at the Delegates Dining Room as an external event. There is no UN office involved in this event. The Delegates Dining Room is a commercial space managed by Aramark and available for bookings.”

Inner City Press covered the issue on October 1 and again on October 18, asking how the UN could retain no right to review to whom Aramark rents the UN's building, and what claims can be made.

Now on October 25, Inner City Press has been informed that the Taylor Swift event in the UN Delegates' Dining Room has been canceled. Several DDR sources told Inner City Press that it was canceled since you wrote about it, Aramark is angry at all the money it is losing.

More than one UN official has approached Inner City Press saying congratulations for questioning the use of UN space and name for profit.

But more formally the UN has maintained that it has no role in Aramark's renting out of the space. And another UN source says that VH-1 “didn't like how the UN Delegates' Dining Room looked” and canceled, that it has nothing to do with the UN having scruples. In fact, some reports have Taylor Swift still launching the album "on the steps of the UN" (unclear which steps). We'll see - watch this site.

Update - hours after deadline, and two hours after the event was supposed to begin, this was received:

Subject: Your question on Taylor Swift
From: UN Spokesperson Do Not Reply
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Date: Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 9:08 PM

We can confirm that Taylor Swift had at one point reserved the Delegates Dining Room for a record launch event, but that she later cancelled that booking and decided to use a venue outside the UN for that launch. For further details, please contact Aramark.