by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
UN GATE, Sept 20 – With UN General Assembly week approaching, a former president, a former UN Deputy Secretary General and a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke on a panel across First Avenue, at the International Peace Institute, on September 12. Inner City Press was there and tweeted, here and here.
It began with new President of the General Assembly Dennis Francis reading a speech - this as he and his spokesperson Monica Grayley have refused for two days to answer the Press why they have not complied with the minimal reform the UN committed to after PGA John Ashe was indicted in SDNY court for bribe taking.
On September 20 amid UNGA, another event; Inner City Press attended and live tweeted here:
OK - now at event in UN bubble (which despite the rhetoric closes its eyes to those it takes money to help but often injures, like Haitians killed by UN cholera, sex victims of UN peacekeepers, while banning the Press that asks - event includes Ireland Tánaiste
Slovenia FM Tanja Fajon points out that of 74 UN_PGAs (so far, as the UN become more and more outmoded, ready to go the way of the League of Nations) only 4 have been women. But what about faux feminist Antonio
Guterres taking / wasting 2 terms, Dennis Francis? and what about the ever-growing number of rapes of women and girls by UN Peacekeepers, cynically data dumped on the UN website with none of the correspondents MelissaFleming lets in even asking about it, & Inner City Press & Qs banned?
Swiss PR Pascale Baeriswyl says one solution, as a UN Security Council member, is "do more stakeouts." But often none of the somnolent correspondents they let in go to the stakeout or ask anything; Inner City Press which used to put Qs to every speaker is banned
Next is Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute of Women of Mexico, whose President AMLO didn't even bother to come to this UN General Assembly (while having Russian soldiers in his march), sending longtime UN-er Barcena: Next up is the 1st UN official speaking, Sarah Hendriks, Deputy "a.i." for Policy of UN Women. She makes the UN move - excusing the absence of her boss who she brags will testify to the UNSC about "AfGAHNistan," pronounced in a way with nothing to do with Pashto
Former Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf mentioned AI, as did current Costa Rica Ambassador Maritza Chan, citing a meeting about autonomous weapons held in Trinidad and Tobago, the homeland of PGA Dennis Francis.
There are other connections between IPI and the SDNY court, where Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted at trial and her partner / IPI donor would have been - but it is not our purpose here to go there.
In fact, going to IPI from a full day of court coverage wasn't easy, but IPI is to be commended for at least not simply falling in line with the thin-skinned censorship regime of UNSG Antonio Guterres.
But shouldn't they, and their CEO with human rights credentials, do more? Watch this site.
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