At UN, Will Ban Ki-moon Blithely Bless the Censorship Alliance, After Its Pro-Sri Lanka Trolling?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 30 -- Each December like clockwork UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had read out canned remarks praising the leadership of the United Nations Correspondents Association. 

   But what makes this year different?

   For one, it is public record that UNCA leaders tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN. The documents emerged from a Freedom of Information Act request to Voice of America, a US government agency. FOIA inquiries continue.

   Voice of America asked the UN to "review" Inner City Press' UN accreditation; it said it had the support of Agence France Presse (which came to the defense of Ban's or France's head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous),Bloomberg and Reuters, which also said it would sue Inner City Press.

  This all started when Inner City Press reported on war crimes in Sri Lanka, and UNCA's president screening a genocide denial film for the ambassador he had accepted rent money from. Ban's record on Sri Lanka has been, according to the UN's own report, a "failure." (In fairness, click here for his "Rights Up Front" plan.) So UNCA became the UN Censorship Alliance.

   To defend the right of all journalists to report on issues like the UN's inaction in Sri Lanka, the Free UN Coalition for Access was formed. Another difference is it like Inner City Press is on the record, not anonymous trolling like UNCA "leaders" have in 2013.

  In 2013 under Pamela Falk of CBS, the UNCA "leaders" have gone stealth, starting counterfeit FUNCA and Inner City Press accounts on Twitter, and posting anonymous comment for example on the site of the UK New Statesman. 

  Falk and her outgoing first vice president Lou Charbonneau of Reuters were on notice, and in at least one of the two cases actively involved, in the trolling back in February 2013:on the record audio here, and here, and here (Reuters, saying "the problem is your website" - Censorship Alliance.) The UNCA trolls were back at it on November 27, the day before US Thanksgiving.

  Should the UN be using and partnering, exclusively, with a group like this one has become? What does it say about this UN's commitment to freedom of the press?

    So what does Ban say, then, on December 4 when returning from UNIDO in Peru he is scheduled to prop up the UNCA trolls' legitimacy by speaking at an event in the clubhouse he gave them on the UN's third floor, in which UNCA in July held a faux "UN briefing" with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel Ahmad al Jarba, who Ban also met in his UN-provided residence in September?

  Four pm, coupe de champagne? Why not? And who cares if the Security Council is meeting about carnage in a former French colonies, as it was last Monday on Central African Republic when UNCA scheduled a competing event? 

  This time, France might in deference solicitously cancel any briefing about the carnage. They took all of August off. What's two hours in the afternoon for champagne with the censors?

  What can be said about those follow-overs like Falk, and even more of wannabe UNCA-ites for 2014, with this censorship and trolling public record? There will be faux elections, and then Ban is to speak again for $250 a plate at Cipriani's on 42nd Street. Is this the UN, with a Censorship Alliance? Watch this site.

   

Exclusive: UN's Internal Sri Lanka Report, Here, Cites Syria & Rwanda, Claims Accountability Despite Hait Cholera, Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Must Credit

UNITED NATIONS, October 11 -- Since August Inner City Press has asked the UN to release its internal report on its failure in Sri Lanka in 2009 as 40,000 civilians were killed.

  First Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said that Ban would have something to say on it in September. This was a brief reference in his General Assembly speech.

  Then yesterday Inner City Press asked Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq, who said "we will have, I think, more to say in, I believe, the days and weeks to come."Story here video here.

  Since a lesson supposedly learned by the UN from its inaction was to have the courage to speak, withholding the report seemed and seems contradictory.

  Today Inner City Press exclusively publishes here the UN's "Follow-up to the report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on UN Action in Sri Lanka," dated July 9, 2013 and marked on each of its mere six pages, "Internal."

The introduction says

"In 2009 the Sri Lanka crisis was a test. We failed it. It was - as characterized by the Internal Review Panel report that I commissioned - a 'systemic failure.' The challenges that plagued us in Sri Lanka were not new: they have been with us for many years and in diverse situations. They include failure to communicate evidence of impending crisis and lack of strategies to address serious violations drawing upon the full range of our diplomatic, legal and operational capacities. We do not always deploy and empower colleagues swiftly to address often rapidly changing circumstances, and back them up when they take risks. Lack of clear leadership at headquarters has resulted in mixed messages, reduced operational clarity and lost opportunities. Above all, we have not always been effective at getting Member States to reach agreement on concerted action."

  Even while admitting "systemic failure," this underplays the degree to which the UN was complicit in what happened: it pulled out of Kilinochchi, an envoy was sent who was perceived (we'll leave it at that) to just want the LTTE Tamil Tigers wiped out, so much that a ceasefire was never even called for.

  Since the slaughter, the UN has accepted one of the most involved military figures, Shavendra Silva, on the UN Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations; this month, Silva's putative boss Palitha Kohona, also involved, took over the chair of the UN General Assembly's Sixth (Legal) Committee.

  So what was learned from the cited 1999 Independent Inquiry on UN Action in Rwanda and the 1999 review on the fall of Srebrenica?

  Syria is cited in, and explains, this "Plan of Action to strengthen the UN’s role in protecting people in crises." The report says: "Today we are witnessing the agony of the Syrian people. That conflict is a test - not just of Member States’ will to fulfil their responsibilities, but of the UN’s ability to use all the tools at its disposal to make sure that people are protected."

  This may explain the report: while the Western P3 members of the Security Council, the US, France and UK, did not much or at all push Ban Ki-moon to "do something" about the slaughter in Sri Lanka -- the UK is holding its Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting there -- they are pushing, and hard, on the issue of Syria and ousting Bashar al Assad. 

  So, now a UN report and plan for "Rights Up Front."

  The plan claims that Ban's UN "will also adopt an ‘Article 99 attitude’, and tell Member States what they need to hear (action 2). We must assert the UN’s moral authority and put Member States in front of their responsibilities." But Ban so often takes his cue from the Western P3.

  What will be the next text of the UN needed to act without prodding from the US, France or UK?

The plan says the UN will "hold accountable staff, particularly at senior levels." But if the UN can't even admit and apologize for bringing cholera to Haiti, what does accountability mean?

  If Ban's UN allows its head of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous to openly refuse to answer Press questions about mass rape by his partners in the Congolese Army, where is the accountability? Now that farce has been reported this week in the UK New Statesman, here.

 This comes after the UN's Censorship Alliance tried to oust Inner City Press for its Sri Lanka reporting, then spied against it to the UN, click here for that; it is the new Free UN Coalition for Access, despite threats from the UN, now working to further open the UN.

  The report says "when situations of serious violations are not on the Security Council’s agenda, the Deputy Secretary-General to brief Member States."

  While DSG Jan Eliasson brings more credibility, why wouldn't Ban Ki-moon himself do such a briefing, as he does on chemical weapons? 

  And what does Eliasson think, for example, of the refusal by Herve Ladsous given his history to answer questions on mass rape by his partners? Or is UN Peacekeeping so much run by France -- sixteen years and four USGs in a row -- that no one can or does say anything? We'll see. Watch this site.

   

As France Calls "Vague" UN "Moral Responsibility" for Cholera in Haiti, PM Lamothe Tweets ICP, No Screening of Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 10 -- The day after the UN was sued for bringing cholera to Haiti, Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud about the case, and how the UN should respond since it is "pretty clear the UN brought cholera to Haiti." Video here, from Minute 9:04.

Araud replied, "that's your judgment, that the UN brought cholera, that's your assessment, you can make it."

But even those who wrote the UN's first cover-up report have recanted it and admitted that a strain identical to that from Nepal where the UN brought peacekeepers from caused cholera in Haiti.

  On the class action lawsuit, a copy of which Inner City Press put online yesterday morning here, Araud said "that for UN to answer, the UN has made an answer, the assessment of the Secretariat" -- apparently referring to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's pre-lawsuit ruling that the claims were "not receivable."

  Araud continued, about the "state of law," that "it will be to the court to decide... I'm sure that the UN will accept the decision."

  Actually, even in the UN's dubious in-house legal system,Ban Ki-moon appeals nearly every decision against him, including for lack promised of whistleblower protection.

  Inner City Press then asked Araud about what Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said in the General Debate last month, that the UN has a "moral responsibility" for cholera in Haiti.

Araud scoffed and said, "moral responsibility is a very vague term." Video here, from Minute 10:22.

Inner City Press tweeted this, and minutes later Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe wrote to Inner City Press by Twitter: "@innercitypress do you have a question? #haiti #cholera #UN #UNSC #UNSG"

Yes, Inner City Press had and has questions, and has now sent three to Lamothe's office, including about testimony yesterday on Capitol Hill about Haiti. Watch this site.

Footnote: Yesterday Ban Ki-moon's Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq answered Inner City Press that UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous now screened peacekeepers for cholera, he thought: "I believe that part of our lessons learned from this has been to screen peacekeepers for cholera." Inner City Press asked him to check, saying "I haven't heard that they are."

  Having no response 24 hours later, Inner City Press asked Haq at Thursday's noon briefing and he said -- only when asked a second time -- that Ladsous' DPKO does NOT screen for cholera. When was that answer going to be provided?

   Inner City Press asked Ladsous a simple question in front of the Security Council on Thursday, which he refused to answer. This "farce" was reported earlier this week in the UK New Statesman, here. We will pursue all of this. Watch this site.

   

On Haiti Cholera Class Action Lawsuit, ICP Asks UN of Its "Strong" Finances & Any Screening Reforms, Ladsous Won't Answer

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 9 -- Last night Inner City Press reported that a class action lawsuit would be filed this morning in the Southern District of New York -- and today it was.

  But the UN's response has been even more lame than might have been expected.

  Inner City Press asked UN Controller Yukio Takasu, who had just finished saying that the financial position of the UN is strong, how that related with the UN's decision to dismiss all claims for the death of 8,300 people and country from cholera it brought to Haiti.

  Takasu replied that the Secretary General can't spend a penny without approval of the General Assembly. One might then thing: take a vote. But it is Ban's and his then top lawyer Patricia O'Brien, and the head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, who are responsible for the decision.

  Also, Ban in a letter to week to the Security Council about chemical weapons in Syria says that he is funding the operation from a slush fund for unexpected events. This fund exists -- does to not even consider using it mean that cholera deaths in Haiti WERE expected?

  Since Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq refused to comment on the claims (while saying the UN has commented a lot in recent months -- in reality, by saying "we have nothing further to say"), Inner City Press asked about UN Peacekeeping's statements that the peacekeepers had been screened (which the lawsuit calls "false"), and if UN Peacekeeping under Ladsous now screens those it deploys, at least from cholera hotspot countries.

  Haq said he thinks they do screen. Inner City Press asked him to get a statement from DPKO -- because Ladsous has repeatedly refused to answer this question and others from the Press, a "farce" which was covered yesterday in the UK's New Statesman, here.

For now, we are putting the lawsuit online, here. Watch this site.

   

As UN Spin in DR Congo Resumes, UNSC in Addis Ababa Downplays ICC At End of French-Led Trip

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 -- Now the UN Security Council's trip through Africa is over, with the Ambassadors and the French-picked scribes flying back to New York from their last stop, Addis Ababa.

As at each previous stop on the tour, the UN itself provided little to no information, and from diplomats there were two or more versions.

In Addis, some played up how much more businesslike the meet was than two years ago, when the African Union was "fiery because of Libya." (This quote is from a tweet by UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who at least sent some replies during the trip. Some other Permanent Representative either only tweeted one-way, like Australia, or didn't tweet at all, like US Ambassador Samantha Power -- despite the NYT doing a profile of her based largely on tweets.)

  But if Libya and regime change were the fire last time, this time the elephant in the room was the International Criminal Court. And although even Lyall Grant did not (yet?) acknowledge it, it was raised by AU Commission chair Dlamini-Zuma. Expect more on October 18.

  Back in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Council longest stayed, MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler had gone or reverted into full propaganda mode, gushing from Bukavu while saying nothing about the two DRC Army officials implicated in human abuse who escaped, clearly with assistance, from the jail there.

  We're open to this turning around, but for now it seems that while Kobler was under the Department of Political Affairs he showed some accountability, now under French UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous, he has taken on the bad habit of refusing to answer questions, and taking sides. 

  Ladsous, it is noted, argued for the escape of genocidairesinto Eastern Congo. France was allowed to alone pick the media that could go on this trip in a UN, not French-paid, plane. It is an outrage - and a farce.

(On that, click here for a New Statesman (UK) story today by Martin Plaut which calls Ladsous' refusing to answer Inner City Press questions "farcical" and links to this video compilation.)

At the UN's noon briefing in New York on Monday, Inner City Press asked:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about the trip, there seems to have been a briefing by a MONUSCO (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) staffer, Dee Brillenburg Wurth, in which she is quoted as saying that the [Democratic Republic of the Congo], doesn’t recruit children, child soldiers any more. This is contrary to the Group of Experts report, which says in at least two paragraphs that they do. It was "said to reporters," is it possible to get a transcript or some audio file of what was said? And what would you say to a seeming total disparity between what MONUSCO told reporters, if not the Council, and what UN reports actually say about the recruitment of child soldiers by [the Democratic Republic of the Congo]?

Spokesperson: Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say anything at this point until I check into it myself, Matthew.

Question: Okay, if you don’t mind, one more on the trip. I wanted to get an answer from you from the Secretariat side. It seems, on one hand in Syria you are calling that [Bashar al-]Assad should meet with any and all opposition, that this is the way to have a meeting. And, meanwhile the Council, with the Secretariat and MONUSCO accompaniment, attend a national dialogue in Kinshasa which the legally-elected opposition chose to boycott, and therefore legitimated or gave its blessing to an extremely limited dialogue. And so, how would you square these two? How can the UN, on the one hand, be calling for a broad dialogue in Syria, and in the Congobe giving its blessing to an extremely narrow one boycotted by the opposition?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, as you will be aware, there is a framework for peace and reconciliation in the Great Lakes region, and specifically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that is a broad-based framework that includes the need for national reconciliation. And the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on this, Mary Robinson, has been working very closely to ensure that that framework in its entirety is properly implemented. And, I think it is in that context that the Security Council members were there. So, I think you’d have to ask the Council members themselves why they went to certain events. That is not for me to speak on their behalf, but simply to put the bigger picture there, that there is an overall framework, and that it was in that context that they were visiting the region. This will be last question, okay?

   And past 11 am the next day, still no answer on the first (transcript) question, including from Kobler who's been asked. Yes, we'll have more on all this. Watch this site.