At UN, Food Workers Face Layoff Four Days Before Christmas, Amid UN Corruption Scandals, Inner City Press Has Seen CulinArt Memo

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- At the UN amid glitz and corruption scandals, and just before Christmas, the food workers of the Delegates Dining Room faced "temporary layoff" into February.

  The letter to the workers to be temporarily laid off, which they provided to Inner City Press, says "Due to the closure of the Delegates Dining Room, you will be placed on temporary lay off... starting Monday, December 21, 2015."  That is, four days before Christmas. Thanks, UN.

The UN's caterer, CulinArt, publicized its service to Pope Francis -- while at the UN telling its food workers to for that day not eat in the cafeteria and mix with delegates, as Inner City Press reported. We'll have more on this.

  Amid a UN scandal of Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng having bought the UN through former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and South South News honcho Frank Lorenzo, there is some talk of reforming the ways in which campaigning to replace Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General can be done. 

 But campaigning for Security Council seats remains entirely unreformed.

 With the collusion of the UN Correspondents Association, which after taking money from Lorenzo's South South News gave Ng a photo op with Ban at Cipriani, the Italy Mission which is running against Sweden and the Netherlands for a Council seat not only handed out free food on December for in the clubhouse the UN gives to UNCA: it posted its Security Council campaign banner inside UNCA, facing out. Photo here.

  Italy's “in” was that not only is one Giampaolo Pioli, without any term limits, still head of UNCA: he now has his former protege, now with ANSA, as a Vice President. 

 This is the same Pioli who not only tried to get the investigative Press thrown out for reporting on his favor to the Sri Lankan ambassador who rented one of Pioli's apartments but also made campaign contributions in a race he was ostensibly covering for his media in Italy, Quotiadiano Nazionale.

   Should journalists give money to politicians they are “covering”? Should a group of correspondents given a room by the UN use it for their country's campaign for a Security Council seat? This is today's UN, and its UN Corruption Association.

  They say there's no free lunch. In today's UN there is Italian food given to scribes to promote a week of for-pay lunches, consonant with Italy's run for a Security Council seat against Sweden and the Netherlands.

  The hosts, the UN Corruption Association UNCA -- now selling seats with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for $6000, see below -- just anointed two Italian journalists among its top five officials, including hold-over president Giampaolo Pioli who has tried to censor and eject the investigative Press, here.

 Absurdly, Pioli's derivative invitation to those who pay UNCA money calls it an “exclusive aperitivo.” Pioli's tenure is marked not only with censorship but also bread and circuses, and events having little to do with the UN, such as the launch of a kid's book by a hedge fund executive. (This on top of screening war crimes denial films for the Sri Lankan ambassador, to whom Pioli rented one of his Manhattan apartments, here.)

  But why would Italy, or separately the three chefs Sonia Balacchi, Filippo La Mantia and Michele Biagiola, think it benefits them to go behind closed doors with a group that has engaged in censorship, and is now selling access to Ban Ki-moon?  Such an event could easily be held in the mission, the UN's Ex-Press Bar, or any number of other locations. It's a (bad) choice, or as some say, an Italian thing. We'll have more on this.

  With the UN embroiled in scandals including the indictments of former President of the General Assembly and Macau businessman Ng Lap Seng and Frank Lorenzo and their South South News, one would expect the UN press corps, even the entity the UN itself chooses to set aside first questions for, to be pursuing rather than be involved in the scandals.

  But with the UN Correspondents Association, this year more than ever, that is not the case. UNCA's just completed"elections" had no competition at all for the officer seats, now doled out to AFP, France 24, the US Broadcasting Board of Governors and ANSA fromholdover president Giampaolo Pioli's native Italy.

  This UNCA "leadership" represents Italy and France, and old media -- tellingly, those new media which chose to run (Inner City Press quit UNCA after its censorship bid) for lesser UNCA seats were not selected. Also tellingly, the UN Spokesperson's office promoted the scam election, using its loudspeaker to try to get out the vote (for candidates who had no opponents.)

 The ringmaster, Giampaolo Pioli, came through the UN Security Council stakeout not to ask any question or even listen to answers on South Sudan or Syria; he glad handed his unopposed slate and then headed to the UN bar. He has arranged more Italian toasting, seeingly part of Italy's actually-opposed campaign for a Security Council seat (more on this in future dispatches).

  It's become the UN's Censorship Alliance - having tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN - and the UN Corruption Association, selling photo ops and seats with Ban Ki-moon.  Call them Ban Ki-moon shots.

  While calling for an audit of sale of UN access under John Ashe, should Ban openly allow access to him to be sold? He appears intent on doing so, or operating by inertia, on automatic pilot. Inner City Press now learns that Ban's twice delayed report on the cover up of peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic will be pushed further back, after the sell-out, buried. We'll have more on this.

 UNCA's awards, such as they gave to South South Newsfor money, include awards and payments to entities who've served on their own Board.

  In 2011 under then (and now) president Giampaolo Pioli, UNCA took money from the South South News of now-indicted Ng Lap Seng, then gave South South News an UNCA award and gave Ng Lap Seng a photo op with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

  Now in November 2015, Pioli has solicited $6000 from UN Ambassadors for seats at the “VIP” table at the UNCA “Ball” on Wall Street: to sit with Ban Ki-moon. Here is UNCA's pitch:

"Dear Ambassador,

The United Nations Correspondents Association is honored to invite you to participate and contribute to the 20th annual UNCA Awards event with guest of honor U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, recipient of the 2015 Global Advocate of the Year Award for climate change.  Exclusive raffle prizes include business class airline tickets around the world with hotel accommodations and a grand prize FIAT 500X car. As your esteemed presence will ensure the success of this event, we are pleased to send you the below opportunities to attend the gala dinner:

Mission Table Special Price / $6000 (half-table) 5 seats at VIP table at the gala event
                                      
Special Ambassador Contribution / $2,000 -1 VIP ticket for Ambassador with premium seating to dinner + 1 complimentary VIP ticket for spouse or guest -Special acknowledgement of the Ambassador and the Mission in the UNCA Awards Journal of the evening -Additional tickets for UN Diplomats of the Mission can be purchased at the special price of $750 each

Giampaolo Pioli, UNCA President
Please make all checks payable to 'UNCA Awards Committee'
Contributions to the UNCA Awards Committee are tax deductible.
The UNCA Awards Committee is a 501-c(3)"

 This is precisely the type of sale of access involved in the indictments of Ng, Sheri Yan and Frank Lorenzo.

  While others are announcing audits and freezing such contacts, UNCA under Pioli is bulling forward, charging ever more money, getting ever further from journalistic purposes.

  On November 20, Pioli's UNCA circulated a list of candidates with no competition for any of the six officer positions. It also pre-announced its awards, including to Reuters (on its Board) and others. We'll have more on this.

    For the three running unopposed for five president slots, two were already on the UNCA board during the relevant time period; the other is Pioli's former protege at Quotidiano Nazionale. It's an Italian thing.

   Running for Treasurer? It's Agence France Presse, whose previous correspondent tried to use a position on the UNCA board to censor Press coverage of Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping.

  Reuters is in the mix, too, and another which joined Pioli in trying to censor coverage of Pioli unilaterally approving a Sri Lankan government war crimes denial film for a “UN” screening, after Pioli rented one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN. This is UN. But amid the new scandals at the UN, this is something new: watch this site.



Footnote: Inner City Press after Pioli's and others censorship bid, and attempt to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN (uncovered along with documents still to be published by a Freedom of Information Act request, here, and questioned by the New York Civil Liberties Union), quit the UNCA board and co-founded, with another who'd quit UNCA as corrupt, the Free UN Coalition for Access.

 FUNCA does not seek any automatic first questions, butopposes the UN setting aside first questions for an entity which, as now shown, is enmeshed in the very UN scandals that must be asked about. Watch this site.

Abyei Attack Also Wounded a Peacekeeper, Resettlement Postponed, Kiir to Uganda for Pope

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- In Abyei a peacekeeper and a young girl were killed, days after the UN Security Council meet about its UNISFA mission there. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a short statement. Inner City Press exclusively publishes a more detailed summary circulated inside the UN system there:

"It happened  at 09:30 pm.  We heard the shelling and then the small arms fires. It was coming from the northern side of the UN Camp.  According to people in the scene, the seven shelling  originated from north-west of Abyei town, of which, five landed near the vicinity of the Dinka Paramount Chief accommodation  and one  landed inside the compound.  The 7th landed in a primary school. Apart from unfortunate fatality of one of the TCC (Ethiopian) members and one injury , a  12 year  girl was also killed and other three young girls were injured. All wounded civilians are currently treated at Abyei hospital, while the wounded TCC member has been under treatment at the Level II Hospital."

 Ban Ki-moon' (or DPKO's Herve Ladsous') statement did not mention any wounded peacekeeper. Inner City Press has submitted a DPKO South Sudan question to the UN on November 27 in lieu of a noon media briefing. Meanwhile it here reports its sources say Salva Kiir may try to meet Pope Francis in Uganda; we'll have more on this.

 The Abyei incident has resulted in the cancellation of a planned tour of the area intended to assist in the resettlement of those displaced. The UN has written:

we will organize an inter-agency assessment mission to the potential villages of return on MONDAY, 30 NOVEMBER. Reports indicate that many people have already returned to Low, Tejalei and other villages. We will leave ABYEI TOWN AT 09:00 HOURS; RRC ABYEI IS THE MEETING POINT. The plan is to visit Midol, Low, Tejalei, Dungop and Noong villages, and return back to Abyei town before 16:00 hours.... Mr. Ogwal Benson Stanley of UNICEF is preparing one security clearance for all UN staff planning to participation in the assessment."

  But after the "incident" in Abyei, the same UN author wrote:

"Because of last night's security incident, we may postpone the assessment mission for a suitable date / time. Please kindly convey this message to Mr. Deng Juac Dau, the new Director of RRC who is currently in Agok and not reachable to phone. I shall discuss the possible dates with UNISFA and UN security and will inform the partner organizations on the revised plan accordingly."

  On November 24 after the UN Security Council met behind closed doors about Sudan and South Sudan and its UNISFA mission, Inner City Press asked the Council's President for November Matthew Rycroft if Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile were discussed. (None of the other selected questions were about Sudan or South Sudan, much less Abyei.) As transcribed the UK Mission:

Inner City Press: Did the issue of the Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan regions and their humanitarian situation come up in the consultations?

Amb. Rycroft: We had a good discussion about the whole range of issues that relate to Sudan and South Sudan, including the two areas. And we did hear very full briefings both from Haile Menkerios in Addis by video conference and from Herve Ladsous in the room. And on the humanitarian issues, we underlined the importance of humanitarian access, so we urged all of the parties to step up and do more to ensure that the people in these desperately deprived areas [re]ceived the humanitarian assistance that they so badly need.

 Ladsous rushed past the stakeout without taking questions; he has linked rapes to "R&R," video here. Rycroft also read out these press elements:

"This is to give you a readout of the consultations which the Security Council has just concluded on Sudan and South Sudan and UNISFA. We agreed the following elements:

- First of all, we expressed our support for President Mbeki, for the African Union through its high-level Implementation Panel and its Peace and Security Committee and its Special Envoy Menkerios for their work.

- We welcomed the discussion between the parties in Addis, but are disappointed that those have concluded without agreement, in particular without agreement on a cessation of hostilities.

- We urged the parties to avoid further acts of violence. We urged them to agree a cessation of hostilities, to return to talks in the very near future and to allow the facilitation of humanitarian assistance.

- We also urged the parties to agree a way forward, for an inclusive and comprehensive national dialogue.

- And finally, we welcomed the agreements reached by the government of Sudan and South Sudan on the border arrangement between their two countries and urged them to build on those agreements and to implement them."

 On October 29 when UN aid official John Ging held a press conference about Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, Inner City Press asked him about Blue Nile, Somaliland and then also about the flooding in the Tindouf camp. Video here.

  On Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, Inner City Press asked what the reported commitment by the UN not to give aid to “rebels” really means. Ging said it means that the UN doesn't hand over aid to rebel groups and let them decide who needs it.

  Since Ging has spoken of “state formation” in Somalia, Inner City Press asked him if this includes Puntland and, more to the point, Somaliland. Ging replied that the UN maintains a single coordinator “for the whole country.” Video here.

  The floods in the Tindouf camp seem nearly off the radar, so Inner City Press asked Ging what the UN is going. He said more is expected - and we hope to have more on this.

 Since the Nepal earthquake, Inner City Press has been asking the International Monetary Fund if it would move to relieve the country's debt burden. See below.

  On July 8, Inner City Press asked UN humanitarian official John Ging about the IMF saying that post earthquake Nepal is NOT eligible for its Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, and about reporting that the UN had "substandard" food in Nepal. Video here.

  Ging said the IMF issues is a real one, but that OCHA has no direct input with the IMF. If the IMF truly is a part of the UN system, shouldn't it?

 On the food issue, Ging said any such food was in a warehouse, not to be distributed. Inner City Press asked if he believed the government accepts this position (he does) - meanwhile a reader chimed in with this.

  On Nepal's debt, Inner City Press resubmitted the question for the IMF's embargoed June 25 briefing, and during it, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice read out the question and answered it. Transcript here; video here from 47:50.

  Inner City Press' question: "On Nepal, in the run up to the June 25 International Conference of Nepal’s Reconstruction, and with the World Bank announcing $500 million, is the IMF intending to do anything beyond the $50 million (one year) and $124 million (overall) in its response in the last briefing? Through the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust?"

  Rice said the IMF is represented at the conference in Katmandu -- contrary to some reports, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is NOT there -- and could be the request for the $50 M / $124 M to the Board in July. He emphasized this would be zero interest under the RCF but said Nepal is NOT eligible for the CCRT, GDP damage is not enough. 

  Inner City Press would ask, should that threshold be lowered?

  On Jordan, Inner City Press asked: "On Jordan, having seen the IMF's announcement about the end of July, has there been any movement on the criticism by the head of UNHCR and others that the IMF and World Bank in treating Jordan (and Lebanon, etc) as “middle income” can't or don't do enough to provide support given the volume of refugees they have received?"

  Rice said, in essence, that the IMF has been flexible and has given fiscal space to deal with the refugee issues (we'll add the transcript later).  

  Back on June 11 Rice said that Nepal had made a request to the IMF under the Rapid Credit Facility, and that the IMF will send a mission to the country coinciding with the donors' conference on June 25. He said Nepal could be eligible for $50 million annually, for a total of $124 million. We'll see.

   Rice also answer questions Inner City Press submitted on Ghana's Eurobond and about Jamaica. (He said these questions, “from the UN in New York,” remind of other things in the IMF briefing room other than Greece and Ukraine).

  On Ghana, Rice said that the Eurobond was “envisioned” in the recently agreed program. But what is the status of any talks about it? Inner City Press asked, “Ghana's Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, says the government intends to issue a $1 billion 10-year Eurobond in 2015. What are the status of talks with the IMF in this regard?”

  On Jamaica, Inner City Press asked, “On Jamaica, please comment on criticism that the percentage of people in under the poverty line has grown alongside the IMF's program and that 'last year, Jamaica paid the IMF over $136 million more than it received.'”

   Rice acknowledged that in 2014-15 there was a negative flow out of the country to the IMF, of $163 million. But he said with the new program that has reversed, to in-flow into Jamaica of $127 million in 2015-16, projected to rise to $176 million in 2017-18. Rice acknowledge the rise in the poverty rate from 9.9% in 2007 to 20% in 2012, but said this had to do with the global financial crisis and is the reason for the IMF's program. We'll see.

   Inner City Press had also asked for updates if any on Yemen and Burundi -- apparently there are no updates -- and one on a quote from Romania's National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu saying the IMF's “communication has sometimes been problematic.” Still, three answers are appreciated.

  On Greece, for the record, Rice said there are major difference between us, with little to no progress made in narrowin them. On Ukraine, he said the IMF can lend to a country that has arrears to private creditors provided other conditions are met. Ukraine certainly has Western political support.

After Pope Francis Speaks on Usury in UNGA, Inner City Press Asks New UNPGA Mogens Lykketoft of Debt, "Not Within UN Walls," He Predicts: Really?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 -- After Pope Francis in his General Assembly speech denounced "usury, especially where developing countries are concerned," Inner City Press later on September 25 asked new General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft about the comment and the process in the GA, at least in the last session, on sovereign debt restructuring. Video here.

  Lykketoft said that he didn't think the issue would be dealt with within the UN's walls -- strange, given that resolutions sponsored by Argentina, Bolivia and the Group of 77 and China on just his have passed by substantial majorities. Perhaps Inner City Press will have the opportunity to ask Lykketoft about this again: getting a question in to him is proving less straight forward that it should be, but we remain optimistic. Watch this site.

 The issue of sovereign debt restructuring was taken up at the UN on December 5, 2014 with a resolution on modalities for negotiation sponsored by Bolivia for the Group of 77 and China put to a vote in the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly.

  The US spoke against the resolution and in favor of dealing with it through the International Monetary Fund -- note that the US is blocking IMF reform -- and was one of 16 countries to vote "no."  34 countries abstained and fully 128 countries voted yes.
 
  Afterward Bolovia's Permanent Representative Sacha Llorenti and his counterpart from Argentina Maria Cristina Perceval held a press conference in the UN Press Briefing Room.

  Inner City Press thanked the duo for the Free UN Coalition for Access-- tellingly, the old UN Correspondents Association wasn't there, though the UN Secretariat insists on setting aside question for what's become its UN Censorship Alliance -- and asked about the IMF, and a growing investors in Argentina's debt.

  Llorenti emphasized the greater legitimacy of the UN General Assembly -- one country, one vote -- over the pay to play environment of the IMF. He contrasted the 16 "no" voting countries as a percentage of those in the GA, versus their power in the IMF.

  Perceval joined and expanded in this comments, and declined to comment on the company Inner City Press had asked about, Highland Capital. She said this is not about Argentina's problem but the multilateral process. She said that Argentina took a lead on the issue of the disappeared, though it was too late to help Argentina. 

  While understandable, there's nothing wrong with a particular country's problems being an engine for raising an issue of wider import. This is how things get changed, if they do, says the Free UN Coalition for Access. We'll have more on this.

On October 6 with the dispute between Argentina and hedge or vulture funds more and more discussed, the International Monetary Fund on released a paper and held an embargoed press call on the topic of "Strengthening the Contractual Framework to Address Collective Action Problems in Sovereign Debt Restructuring."

  Inner City Press asked the IMF's Sean Hagan, General Counsel and Director of the IMF's Legal Department, how his "market based" approach relates to the vote take last month in the UN General Assembly and to respond to the critique that the lack of quota reform at the IMF undermines the legitimacy of its approach.

   Hagan said the UNGA's approach is "treaty based," and that

"There was insufficient support in our members to support that approach, there has been in no change in the attitude of our members when we discussed this last year.”

  But in essence the membership of the IMF is the same as the UN General Assembly -- it's just that in the IMF votes are weighed to wealth, measured in the past. The UN is controlled by five permanently veto-wielding Security Council members. At the IMF for now there is one veto: the US.

  Hagan made much of Kazakhstan including some of the IMF supported language in its most recent bond issuance. He mentioned copycat litigation, already pending in Grenada. He said it seems the issue will be discussed at the upcoming IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in a session involving "civil society organizations." We'll have more on this.

 For now, the IMF on October 6 said "Directors acknowledged that the recent New York court decisions with respect to Argentina may exacerbate collective action problems, although most felt that the extent of their impact on the restructuring process is still unclear. Directors welcomed the recent modification of pari passu clauses in certain sovereign bond issuances to explicitly exclude the obligation to effect ratable payments."

 So beyond the cited Kakastan, how prevalent is this?

 The IMF also on October 6 discussed "the inclusion of an enhanced collective action clause (CAC) that includes a more robust 'aggregation' feature to address collective action problems more effectively."

  Back on September 11, two days after 124 nations in the UN General Assembly voted to start a process on sovereign debt restructuring, Inner City Press asked the International Monetary Fund, "What is the IMF's comment on the “sovereign debt restructuring” resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 9? The resolution cites the IMF's work on the issues, in 2003."

  At the IMF's embargoed briefing that day, IMF spokesperson William Murray provided a long answer, including that the IMF is working on a "market based" solution, particularly on debt contractual terms to prevent "hold out" problems. He mentioned, as he had to, Argentina, which has had it own contentious relation with the IMF.

  Clearly, Argentina -- and Bolivia as chair of the Group of 77 -- were aware of these IMF efforts when they pursued the issue in the UN General Assembly. But it's a power game.

When Argentina's foreign minister Héctor Timerman held a press conference at the UN at 5:30 pm on September 9, he was flanked not only by Argentina's ambassador to the UN Maria Cristina Perceval but also the chair of the Group of 77, Sacha Llorenti of Bolivia. 

  They spoke of 11 countries opposing their resolution on sovereign debt and vultures funds, or sovereign debt restructuring, including the United States. Timerman took the high road, saying that Argentina would present a project with the G77 and speak with all opponents. 

  He asked how the UN General Assembly, which he called the most democratic forum, could be involved in so many fields but not this one. Why indeed.

   Back in June, Inner City Press thanked Timerman and his finance minister Axel Kicillof on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, then asked if Elliott Management and Aurelius Capital hold stakes in other G77 members, and if the case shows the need for reform, that countries should have at least the same debt restructuring rights as corporations.

  Kicillof added, states and the people (pueblos) they represented. He said that in the G77 meeting, Peru had spoken. An attentive Inner City Press reader chimed in with a question about Ecuador, which sold bonds just this week.

  But in that case, new language tried to avoid the Argentina decision of the US Supreme Court, just as Belize and Armenia have also done on their debt. Watch this site. 

    

During Pope's UN Visit, Access Denied, Food Workers Hidden, Live Blog Here Including Pope's (Non) Vanity Plate

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 -- With the Pope in the UN for a few hours on September 25, workers in the UN Cafeteria right next to the Pope's podium were told they cannot as before eat in the regular cafeteria but must go to a side room. 

 “It's discrimination,” an outraged food worker exclusively told Inner City Press. But it is the type of hypocrisy for which today's UN increasingly known, from equating peacekeepers' rapes with “R&R” to irregularities and a lack of transparency in who is let into his the Pope's first event in the UN. Here is the Inner City Press - and Free UN Coalition for Access - live blog: (and video, here)

10:42 am: Pope still going, cited plight of civilians in Ukraine, Syria, Great Lakes (Burundi?) and South Sudan...  Here is Pope's speech as prepared for delivery, here

10:05 am: In the GA Hall, Pope Francis says usury to developing countries should be avoided. Echoes to Argentina. (Inner City Press asked GA President Lykketoft about this, who said the issue will probably NOT be dealt with in the UN halls - but that another story, the next one.)

As of 9:37 am, long after Pope's speech to UN staff, there has been no "pool" coverage by the scribes murkily picked for space in the staff meeting. Turns out "pool" reports on entry into building, and 38th floor, were sent only to those who pay money to the UN Censorship Alliance: now selling the Pope at the UN while food workers are told to eat in a separate room. This is today's UN.

(Update: only at 10:43 am, two hours after the event, was the Staff Meeting "pool report" sent out. We'll have more on this.)

The Pope's Fiat has, it seems, a (non?) vanity plate: SCV 1 (ICP photo here)

The Pope arrived in a Fiat and Ban Ki-moon greeted him: ICP photo here

The Vatican flag was flying outside the UN for the first time: ICP photo here.

There was no entrance through the lobby, only the basement where turnstiles failed: On InnerCityPress Snapchat story

A range of senior UN officials poured in: Inner City Press spoke with Jeffrey Sachs, African officials, OCHA and some Peacekeeping - but NOT Ladsous.

There was none of the promised "pool" coverage from the scribed handpicked (by whom?); a FUNCA member left the lobby in disgust, headed to GA Hall.

  At the UN, transparency and access are in decline, due to collusion. Despite talk of the upcoming Papal visit and UN General Assembly week having Facebook and Instagram, virtual reality (photo here) and even Ban Ki-moon on Snapchat, things threaten to get worse. Inner City Press asked the UN whopicked the scribes allowed into the Pope's meeting with UN staff without being in the lottery, including the UN-friendly CBS and FP, and the UN Spokesman said he doesn't know. The immaculate selection? 

  Neither saw fit to explain how they wrangled their insider's spot, and so we are compelled to report: the CBS correspondent, when she asks questions at the UN, says things like “What are we” - conflating herself WITH the UN -- about such and such a problem. 

  FP is less blatant, but became the UN's go-to guy to present its defense of the indefensible, for example after the UN covered up the killing, by Afghan forces, of UN security officer Louis Maxwell. Neither has ever reported, for example, on UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, no only when he openly refused to answer Press questions, but more recently when he linked UN rapes to “R&R.” Is THIS why they got the insiders' spots? We waited to hear, we asked and there was no answer. We'll have more on this.

Video here.

   For the Pope's visit to the UN on September 25, as everywhere else, there is more demand than there is space, so the UN purported to hold a lottery for journalists. The Free UN Coalition for Access went to observe the lottery, and was appreciative for that -- but found that the old UN Correspondents Association had already grabbed six spots.  Then it grabbed more.

  With no transparency, UNCA (now the UN's Censorship Alliance) president Giampaolo Pioli of Quotidiano Nazionale informed only those who pay UNCA money that six places at the Pope's first meeting in the UN, with UN staff, would be doled out to, among others, his predecessor from CBS, and the ex-Washington Post, now Foreign Policy correspondent. Who decided this?  On what authority? Perhaps these individuals, with their long pedigrees, will explain publicly, as they should.

 Then during the (faux) lottery, which Inner City Press for FUNCA on less than an hour's notice was invited to observe, Pioli's colleague Valeria Robecco, formerly of Quotidiano Nazionale and now ANSA, first said Inner City Press, when its name was drawn, was not really a photographer. Inner City Press said, take a vote. But it was called a decision that needed consensus, and Robecco broke it.

  But when minutes later there was no winner for the final staff meeting slot, it was proposed that Robecco be given it. Inner City Press walked out - volare - so clearly there was no consensus. But hours later, hers was the first name announced by the UN as attending the Pope's meeting with staff. The UN's announcements never named CBS or Foreign Policy, much less the correspondents' names: a total lack of transparency, a faux lottery, a fix. 

 And so on September 24 Inner City Press from FUNCA asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric how picked these people, and how. Video here. He said he has no idea. UNtransparent: the immaculate selection?  Or not so immaculate: one of them is already bragging online that they'll be there. But how? Though what process?

 There was another UNCA board member with more than one entry, but they still "won" a spot. Meanwhile others not liked or known by the two UNCA observers were bounced on various pretexts. FUNCA stood up for one less than tech-savvy applicant.

 UNCA Executive Committee member Robecco told multi-media Inner City Press, You are not a photographer and said it shouldn't get a spot to cover the Pope's meeting with UN staff - then took a spot for herself. 

   This bogus UN Censorship Alliance being allowed to opine who is a photographer or journalist is laughable, given for example that it past and current president rented out one of his apartments to a UN official turned diplomat, mentioned in the UN's own Sri Lanka war crimes report. He thentried to order coverage of this removed from the Internet: it's the UN's Censorship Alliance.  

  This is today's UN - but Inner City Press will nevertheless have Papal coverage on September 25, no thanks to UNCA. Maybe even, like Ban Ki-moon, on Snapchat (InnerCityPress), certainly Periscope.

   Later on September 22, there was an again-appreciated media walk-through (Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access Periscoped some of it, for wider benefit, while trying to not portray either the speaker or listeners, never easy). Among the upshots is that the General Assembly UNTV stakeout is being set up in a location of the third floor that few speakers would or even could find and go to. Media access, FUNCA says, is in decline: due to collusion. We'll have more on this.

Up to September 11, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has not held a Q&A press conference at the UN since December 17, 2014 -- more than eight months ago, after at least a monthly press conference was promised.

  Instead, Ban and his team dole out quotes to favored media, apparently conditioned on positive or at least not negative coverage. Ban's UN partners with the old UN Correspondents Association, UNCA, whose leadership is focused on getting privileged access for itself, and effectively censoring others.

  On September 11, Inner City Press for the new Free UN Coalition for Access -- yes, FUNCA -- challenged the UN's attempt to Ban smartphone broadcasting in the upcoming UN General Assembly, and sought confirmation that no country to expel journalists it doesn't like from the UN Press Briefing Room, as France did last year.

  UNCA's past and current head then asked, if country do so, could the (closed) briefing be broadcast out? Of course, one couldn't then ask questions. But this UNCA leadership is not about the right to ask questions - if did nothing, for example, when UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous began picking which media he would respond answers, saying "I don't respond to you Mister," and the UN Spokesperson's Office colluded in this.

 The main point of UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance, was for it to be able to send a pooler / scribe to photo-ops. FUNCA said it has no objection, as long as the supposed "pool" is shared with all journalists, not just those who pay UNCA money and prop up censorship. Let the UN / MALU run it. We'll see.

  Prospectively, FUNCA asked the UN to set up a web page to upload answers about access, where people can go, so it can be shown to Security in real time, on phones.

 For the upcoming UNGA Week, the Free UN Coalition for Access to be pushing the envelope, seeing more information, more access, more accountability. Watch this site.

On September 9 Ban's Spokesperson's Office sent out a photo of Ban with New York 1, talking about the Pope's visit. Ban's deputy told a rarely seen Italian journalist, the landlord president of the old UN Correspondents Association (now known at the UN's Censorship Alliance), that the Nobel Peace Prize should go to... the Italian Navy. There were and are things to be reported, but they are not. Yet.

  On September 10, Inner City Press for the Free UN Coalition for Access asked Ban's Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press:  I’ve noticed in recent days that the Secretary-General has done a series of interviews, with the Guardian, ITV, maybe New York 1.  So one thing I wanted to know is, I went to the web page, and I looked at press conferences, and at least… Q&A press conferences in this room.  And the last one that I find is from December 2014.  So is that the case?  Is that… is there something…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Well, I mean, since you are in this room every time there’s an event, I think you probably have a pretty good record…

Inner City Press:  How would you explain this, eight months, when it was said that he would do it every month?

Spokesman:  I… I think the Secretary-General, whenever he travels, has had press engagements.  I mean, he is the Secretary-General of the United Nations.  So he does engage with the press globally wherever he goes.  We also organize one-on-one interviews throughout the year.  He also does press stakeouts when we feel there’s a need and when he feels there is a need to do a stakeout.  There was one not too long ago.  And he does press conferences.  There are an army of tools in our toolbox in order for the Secretary-General to engage in the press.  A press conference in this room is just one of many.

Inner City Press:  And this is the… kind of procedural question is other… you know, I’m thinking of John Kerry, but I’m sure this is true in other countries as well.  One, they do globally and in their headquarters.  But they also… the spokespeople office for these people put out… they’ll say, this interview took place and will air then.  Sometimes they’ll put out transcripts.  How are we to know what was said?

Spokesman:  You could also spend more days at the State Department.  We all work differently.

Inner City Press:  Right.  No, but what’s your reasoning for doing it — given there’s a whole world interested in what Ban Ki-moon says, why not make it more available?

Spokesman:  I think the Secretary-General is extremely available to the press.

Inner City Press / FUNCA:  I disagree respectfully.

Spokesman Dujarric:  There you go.  I disagree respectfully as well.

  The UN props up as its "adversary" a group it buys off with faux access.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access takes a different approach: UN officials like Peacekeeping Chief Herve Ladsous should take questions from the media which cover peacekeeping. He should have to answer about the peacekeeper rape scandal. 

In late June Ban's security detail ejected the Press from an open meeting in which Ban spoke to UN Peacekeeping force commanders. That ejection was at the demand of Ladsous, who now rather than speaking at the UNTV stakeout like his predecessors summons a few friendly journalists to whom to deliver or deposit "news." The new Free UN Coalition for Access challenged this; the old UN Correspondents Association says nothing, as its past and current leadership takes advantage of, or doesn't care about, the lack of access.

  Given these trends, discontent within UNCA rank and file led to the release of these [annotated] minutes of a July 13 meeting of UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance:

"Giampaolo Pioli (Chair), more proxies than present

"Giampaolo announced dinner at Cipriani Wall Street, "special discount price of $100." Site was selected because of SG’s schedule and space availability. Honorees include Prince Albert of Monaco and most likely Leonardo DiCaprio whose final confirmation is expected in August. UNCA members were encouraged to apply for the media awards [No conflict there, of course].  

Security arrangements for the upcoming UNGA:  Green Ps will not have to wait in the same line as those seeking accreditation... High speed internet issues: a possible solution is having a separate access code for media center reporters in the NLB. [UNCA seems most concerned with obtained more privileges than other journalists.]

 UNSC stakeout: No access to the council when meetings are not being held, but reporters can move there before meetings once UN TV sets up. [UNCA "leaders" have tried to limit other journalists like this before: FUNCA resists it.]

 Reporters will be able to pay for high speed internet and access to other Time Warner channels for a fee. Anyone who wants to subscribe to TW needs to inform Melanie by email in order to provide a list to the installers. [So UNCA is a middleman, purportedly for all journalists, for corporate Time Warner?]

 Review of procedures for holding UNCA press conferences: It was decided that UNCA will be more selective in hosting press conferences and will focus on subjects and speakers that are a big draw. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm. It was followed by a wine and cheese reception."

  UNCA "press conferences" have degenerated into Italian book club events; previously, Pioli hosted his former tenant Palitha Kohona to screen a video denying war crimes in Sri Lanka, then used the organization to demand a Press article about it be removed from the Internet. This is the UN Censorship Alliance.

The invitation, which even most UNCA members ignored, said "At the end of the meeting, we will have a glass of wine to wish everyone a good summer vacation."

  Whether the Hamptons or the Amalfi coast, when UN press access is in decline, it time to share a glass of wine.

 2015 opened with Ladsous openly refused to answer Press questions, video here.

  "Leadership" of the UN Correspondents Association, far from questioning this, took advantage by grabbing two qeustions, just as UNCA demands and most often wastes side-aside first questions at UN press conferences.

  The following day, January 23, there was a UN Security Council meeting about human rights and UN Peacekeeping missions, including MONUSCO. But the meeting was closed to the public and press. Inner City Press for theFree UN Coalition for Access asked and asks, Why? The old United Nations Correspondents Association, on the other hand, not only doesn't protest such closures - it scheduled its only "faux fighters" meeting for exactly the same time.

  This decayed UN Correspondents Association, run by president Giampaolo Pioli who has himself demanded censorship, held its annual meeting on January 23, and even by its own account, not a work about access problems or lack of information.

Here was the agenda, annotated, now with "minutes" as provided by disgruntled members who say the UN "makes" them pay UNCA, added in italics:

Space, "including journalists on the waiting list for office space" -- on January 23, UNCA's "leadership" said that "that after meeting with DPI working space on the 4th floor will become available to 6-8 journalists beginning in February."

  Even or especially if this representation is true, there is a problem: UNCA is essentially selling or trying to sell these UN spaces. UNCA tells correspondents that if they pay money to join it, they will be helped in getting office space from the UN. Is this proper?

Less than a quarter of those UNCA took $66,485 from attended this meeting; numerous Executive Committee members did not attend. Pioli bragged of "a larger number of sponsors," but the minutes did not list them. There'll be more on this.

  Meanwhile, UNCA leadership is proposal to downgrade some with "white" UN passed to "green," requiring them to go through a separate entrance and metal detectors. UNCA is responsible for Banning many from entry into the UN.

"UNCA room activities, press conferences and events for 2015" -- Pioli in his last tenure granted the Ambassador of Sri Lanka Palitha Kohona, a former tenant of Pioli in one of his Manhattan apartments, the use of UNCA to screen inside the UN a film denying Rajapaksa government war crimes. It was reporting about this that Pioli ordered Inner City Press to remove from the Internet. There have been no reforms since. 

  Now UNCA brags that HRW will use or be used by its space. This is shameful - and we'll have more on it. Pioli sat in on the January 26 noon briefing, apparently to see if any of these outrages would be aired, typically asking no questions at all. 

"Social media" - despite Ban's UN purporting to use UNCA to reach all journalists at the UN, the Press is blocked from UNCA's moribund social media presence. Is this attributable to all 15 Executive Committee members? Just Pioli?

 On January 23, Pioli said that the Reuters correspondent who grabbed two questions after Ladsous said "I don't respond to your questions Mister" is in charge of UNCA tweets. 

"UNCA soccer" - this involved providing a craven photo op for, yes, Ban Ki-moon

"UNCA Awards 2015" - in December 2014, UNCA gave out an award about Haiti with no mention of the UN bringing cholera there, or UN peacekeepers shooting at democracy demonstrators. Ban Ki-moon was in attendance and they had him take pictures with another of their awardees, which was mischaracterized as  UN award. As with office space, it seems that UNCA sells the UN.

   Similar to the claim that UN labor issues are handed in happy one-way meeting with staff during country visits, it is with this that it seems the UN will partner to say it has listened on media access issues.

  After the September 2014 General Assembly week UNCA "minutes" and partial list of grievances were provided to FUNCA by one of UNCA's many disgruntled members. They are laughable. The ejection of non-French journalists from the UN Briefing Room was not mentioned, nor the physical blocking of filming.

  Instead, UNCA complains that there is too much news during the General Assembly -- they want fewer side events -- and apparently too many journalists at the UN: they want a private wi-fi password leaving the current open wi-fi only for "guests and others."

  Tellingly, one of the UNCA proposals is for a booklet co-signed by Ban Ki-moon and UNCA.

  With this bogus list and presumably seeking that booklet, they say that the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit proposes to meet only with their Executive Committee. This is akin to a fake wrestling match, in which the two sides pretend to fight, for an audience.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access has told MALU, but repeats: if they even aspire to legitimacy, the UN must reach out to all journalists, at the UN and ideally beyond, and not that subset which pay UNCA money. That is a decidedly partial subset: a fake wrestling match. 

 The UN while throwing out media from workspace gives its UN Censorship Alliance a large room, which it then limits to those that pay it money in dues. Here's how it works: a new media at the UN is told, from the pinnacle of the UN's Censorship Alliance, to pay UNCA $90 and UNCA will get the UN to give the media UN office space. 

     Today's UN Censorship Alliance is unlikely to get any meaningful media access problem addressed -- members its Executive Committee have, in fact, caused or colluded in many of the decreases in access. They drafted a rule with MALU to eliminate journalist workspace at the Security Council stakeout; they withheld audio tapes and transcripts of a Ban "interview" with them, even from their own members.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access targeted these censorship practices in aSeptember 29 flier, online, in the UN including on the "open" bulletin board it got the UN to install (the flier was torn down, one can only imagine by whom, but has gone back up.)

   The French-only briefing was described on HuffPost Live, here.)

Footnote: as noted the old UN Correspondents Association, which is given privileged status and set-aside first questions nearly always used for softballs, has done nothing in recent years to improve or even defend press access. In fact, members of UNCA's Executive Committee have tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN, and there have been no reforms since. It's become the UN's Censorship Alliance. They provide Ban Ki-moon with photo ops playing soccer with them. This is today's UN - and FUNCA is fighting to hold the UN to its stated principles.