SDNY COURT/UN GATE, Sept 8 – At the UN a
new President of the General Assembly took over on
September 8: Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh, citing his
forty years in and around the UN.
Inner City Press applied
on July 25, 2026 to the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison
Unit to enter and cover this UNGA, inaugurated today
September 8. Unlike for thousands of others who report
much less - and much less independently - on the UN, there
has been no substantive response by MALU to the
application.
So Inner City Press has formally
written to PGA Rahman and his team below:
I write to you as the 81st session of the
General Assembly opens today, and as you begin a
Presidency you said, on your election, would restore trust
in this Organization's ability to deliver on its promises.
On July 25, 2026, more than a month
before this session began, I applied to the UN's Media
Accreditation and Liaison Unit for restoration of my
accreditation as a journalist, eight years after being
physically removed from UN Headquarters while covering the
Fifth (Budget) Committee, with no hearing and no appeal
since. Here is a copy of my application, which
I am asking that you ensure is rapidly approved to cover
your UNGA session, here.
MALU's complete response, received the same
day, was this: "This is to confirm the United Nations
Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU) has received
your request for accreditation. This is not a confirmation
of approval." That is the entirety of the UN's
engagement with the matter, more than six weeks later and
on the very day this session opens.
You told the Assembly, on your election,
that you would be "the President of all of you," and that
your Presidency would be conducted "in accordance with"
the Charter, "unfailingly." You spoke of opening "space
for good faith negotiations that will lead to outcomes for
all that are owned by all."
A press accreditation process with no
hearing, no stated reason, and no appeal, sustained for
eight years against a working journalist, is not an
outcome owned by anyone but the office that has declined,
so far, to explain it. I ask that your Office raise
this application directly with MALU and the
Secretary-General's office, and request its prompt,
substantive resolution — not as a favor, but as consistent
with the trust-restoring Presidency you promised on the
day of your election.
I have previously covered PGAs from
John Ashe (RIP) and Sam Kutesa through Vuk Jeremic and
since - and now, you. I would be glad to provide any
further information your Office may find useful, and will
report on whatever response, if any, this request
receives, from this day forward.
The team (so far) as PGA Rahman at
his session opening spoke of diversity - and access:
Chef de Cabinet and Deputy Chef de Cabinet
Dr. Djibril Diallo Chef de Cabinet Senegal
Mr. Abdul Alim Deputy Chef de Cabinet Bangladesh
Mr. Nabil El Eid Special Adviser Germany
Ms. Sharifah Sofia Syed Mokhtar Shah Special Assistant to
the President Malaysia
Mr. Peter Stone Senior Adviser (Administration) Australia
Ms. Claire Ivett Andrade Piro Executive Assistant
Venezuela
Ms. Marie Resolus Staff Support Haiti
Ms. Yuan Cheng Staff Support China
Mr. Moazzem Hossain Staff Assistant Bangladesh
Ms. Zaima Rahman Legal Officer Bangladesh
Political Affairs, Peace and Security:
Mr. Lu Jingchun Senior Adviser China
Ms. Thandekile Tshabalala Adviser South Africa
Ms. Ibtihal Masoud Altalhi Adviser Saudi Arabia
Ms. Eda Sari Senior Adviser Türkiye
Ms. Takako Ishizaki Senior Adviser Japan
Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs:
Ms. Anne Havn Senior Adviser Norway
Ms. Maisa Al-Ruqaishi Senior Adviser Oman
Ms. Caoimhe O’Dwyer Adviser Ireland
Ms. Estefania Acuna Lacarieri Adviser US
Digital Innovation and Artificial Intelligence
Mr. Tatsuhiko Furumoto Senior Adviser Japan
Mr. Mafizul Islam Senior Adviser Bangladesh
Mr. Stanislav Suprunenko Senior Adviser Russian Federation
Sustainable Development and Climate Change
Ms. Kereeta Whyte Senior Adviser Barbados
Mr. Ali Muhammed Senior Adviser Iraq
Mr. Eustace Theodore Wallace Jr. Senior Adviser Saint
Kitts and Nevis
Ms. Khairee Shahdila Binti Aman Shah Senior Adviser
Malaysia
Ms. Maria del Mar Angaron Bolea Senior Adviser Spain
Countries in Special Needs
Ms. Bokani Sesinyi-Supang Senior Adviser Botswana
Mr. Md Rafiqul Alam Molla Senior Adviser Bangladesh
Ms. Carla Maria Carlson Serrano Senior Adviser Dominican
Republic
Reform Ms. Imane Benziane Senior Adviser Morocco
Mr. Daniel Ardiles M. Simanjuntak Senior Adviser Indonesia
Biography ↓ DD Ms. Devikara Prim Devakula Adviser Thailand
Speechwriting, Communication and Media
Mr. Carl Mercer Speechwriter Canada
Ms. Katherina Stephan Speechwriter United States
Ms. Julia Foxen Adviser United States
Mr. Emirhan Dalci Adviser, social media Germany
Ms. Melissa Summers Spokesperson US Biography ↓
Melissa Summers is a communications specialist with 20
years of experience in the United Nations system. She has
held roles in content development, media outreach,
strategic communications and insights reporting across the
UN Secretariat, UNICEF and the UN Environment Programme,
and has reported extensively on the General Assembly and
the Security Council. She holds an advanced degree in
journalism. Her areas of interest include the rapidly
changing media landscape.
Watch this site.
