Q&A with Audio: In #MeTooUN Case in India Code Blue Calls Out Guterres Gender Parity Dodges As He Bans Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR, filing, audio

UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 16 – While the UN's (mis) use of its legal immunity spreads under Secretary General Antonio Guterres from UN peacekeepers' deadly negligence and sexual abuse to sexual harassment from UNAIDS through the IAEA to UNESCO and Ravi Karkara at UN WOMEN, the ghoulish self-investigation of UNFPA's Diego Palacios was highlighted in a press call on August 16, at 6 am New York time. Audio of Q&A on Patreon here. 

Prashanti Tiwari, on whose case Inner City Press has previously repeatedly asked the UN and reported, spoke from India; it emerged she has written a letter to Guterres. Paula Donovan and Sharanya Kanikkannan, both of AIDS-Free World’s Code Blue Campaign (the latter by phone from Mali) answered Inner City Press' question about Guterres' expansion of impunity by pointing out that the full extend is notknown, as the UN has no Freedom of Information Act. Paula Donovan recounted meeting with UNFPA chief Natalia Kanem when Kanen knocked on wood and she said hoped to never have cases like those in UNAIDS under Michel Sidibe - whom Guterres has defended - while she is at UNFPA. Kanem said this when she but not yet Code Blue knew of the Diego Palacios harassment case. We'll have more on this - including on the letter, given our recent experience after being roughed up by UN Security while covering the UN Budget Committee on July 3 and banned for 44 days and counting since, of Guterres' SGcentral e-mail portal refusing to acknowledge receipt of a formal complaint regarding the roles of USG Alison Smale and Spokesman Stephane Dujarric. What will be Guterres' response to Tiwari's troubling case and letter? Inner City Press would like to ask in person at the UN noon briefing, as it was able under Ban Ki-moon (except for three days) and until July 5. But now Guterres has banned it, for a Kafkaesque review that is a classic case of blame the victim (of UN Security brutality). This is a pattern.There is a need for more groups like AIDS-Free World, willing to take the UN to task rather than content to meet and raise money off Antonio "Impunity" Guterres. Donovan ended with a strong point that Guterres claim that gender parity (after he took the Secretary General post) will solve this issues is bunk, as shown by Natalia Kanem's cover up of Diego Palacio's harassment, and actions, some already complained off to Guterres, of Alison Smale. Guterres on May 14 in Vienna, before in July he had Inner City Press roughed up and now banned from the UN for 44 days and counting (Fox News story here, GAP blogs I and II; UK Independent here), told UN staff that sexual exploitation and abuse is not relevant, only sexual harassment is.

This statement was made amid allegations of physical sexual abuse by UNAIDS' Luiz Loures, and the purchase of sex by a D1 UNofficial in Somalia. Are those cases of harassment? One that is, which the UN system keeps trying to cover up, is the case ofPrashanti Tiwari at UNFPA in India. As Inner City Press reported in July, already banned from the UN by Guterres, Tiwaridiscovered that a UN Department of Safety and Security officer named has tried to interfere in her case. She informed UNFPA - more on this soon - and the Indian government, as obtained by Inner City Press: I am writing to you in a state of utter shock and disbelief and want you to look into my complaint seriously. There has been serious flaws and misleads by UNFPA on my complaint against Diego Palacios and Ena Singh on charges of sexual abuse, exploitation, harassment, criminal conspiracy and intimidation. I am afraid if MEA does not act with sternness now, it will be too late and justice will never be given to an Indian citizen, whom our Honourable Minister calls "Bharat ki Beti".
Please note 1. A security officer from UN by the name of Mr Dayanand has been approaching and contacting the Bihar Police Investigation Officer in my F.I.R against Diego Palacios and Ena Singh. Sir why are they contacting the IO.
2. When Bihar police was acting swiftly, MEA asked the Bihar police to approach UN officials through MEA, and I have seen your letter to that effect. If that is the process, how come UN can contact the Bihar Police and that too the Investigation officer directly? Just because they are UN can they do anything against me and
that too in my own country? They are simply influencing the witnesses and evidences and you need to stop this.
3. This security officer was misleading the Bihar Police by saying that the letter (giving permission to interview the UNFPA staff,where only one name is mentioned out of three) is from MEA, Whereas the letter was on the letter head of UNFPA and had the logo of UNFPA. So why was he misleading and misguiding the Bihar
Police? This conversation is recorded.
They have not given permission to interrogate the accused than what is the point in the investigation. Arent they impeding the criminal investigation as well by not giving police the access to the accused. Even the permission given to interview the witness is so protective and controlled that it will not result in fair and an honest disposition. How can MEA be silent on this gross abuse of judicial processes.
4. The letter mentions that the internal investigation is over on 9 May 2018. So where is the report? Why was the UN security officer approaching the IO of Bihar Police directly?
5. I requested the UNFPA investigators to share the statement of the accused with me to offer my counter. UNFPA replied that it is not in their policy to share the statement of the accused with the complainant. I asked them to share the relevant policy. They shared UNFPA Disciplinary Framework where there was no mention of such a clause. I checked with the UNFPA and they replied that yes it is not in their policy but is a practice. Sir, these contradictions and flip flops are alldocumented.
6. The entire approach of UNFPA and the UN system is to witch hunt the complainant and bury the case under the carpet. I have met with so many women who
have faced this trauma in UN and no justice is ever going to come from them as is also evident from their flip flop statements, misinformation and attempts to influence criminal investigation as well.
7. Till date MEA has been unable to support me or stand with me despite the assurances by our Minister. I only went to their internal investigation because my government (MEA) has asked me to that. ...I do not have any trust in UNFPA and I hope after reading this your faith on them will also be shaken. Please act. Thanks
Prashanti Tiwari."

Now on July 31, Code Blue has written an open letter to UNFPA, including that "The only way to rectify this situation is to immediately and without reservation: Order UNFPA personnel to desist from making any further determinations relating to immunity and taking actions that are outside the stated policies and practices of the United Nations.
Request the Secretary-General exercise his right and duty to make a determination of whether immunity applies for the accused and witnesses in this case and ask that he lift their immunities without delay for the purpose of cooperation with the justice process.
Commit to full cooperation with Indian police investigators under conditions of confidentiality and impartiality as required by law, lifting all restrictions on interviews by Indian authorities.
Promptly investigate and sanction every member of your staff who has taken part in the multiple bad-faith and coercive acts that we have listed above." We'll have more on this - and on the obvious need for immunity to be lift in connection with the roughing up a journalist inside the UN, twice, seemingly with the greenlight by the very person controlling the lifting of immunity, or his spokesman.

Previously, Inner City Press asked the UN to explain, below - and then was informed by sources in Vienna that the #MeTooUN problem there is wider than heretofor reported. An abrupt resignation at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, of Tero Varjoranta, was by some like Reuters linked to Trump's pull out from the Iran JPCOA deal. But Inner City Press is exclusively informed it is more tied to an incident witnessed by many, and inquired into by press pursuing the impunity in the UN system for sexual harassament and abuse. Inner City Press' source, understandably afraid of retaliation in Guterres' UN (which continues to restrict Inner City Press) says, "at a senior management retreat at the start of the year, the Deputy Director General  was seen to publicly 'kiss a female subordinate long and hard' and then was seen retiring to the bed chamber with the female person. Nonetheless, Amano approved a contract extension for the DDG subsequently. An investigative journalist from [a] magazine pursuing the #MeToo syndrome in the UN system visited Vienna and was made aware of this incident along with other previous incidents involving safeguards staff and female subordinates. Why the DG asked for the resignation now remains a mystery. In my view the DG also should resign for his cover up - but he is laying the ground for a fourth term citing DPRK denuclearization." If the Director General urged the exit in order to cover up, is he little more than another Michel Sidebe, the UNAIDS director whose resignation is being sought? And what does Guterres support of Sidibe, and oblivious or worse junket through this UN killing field say about him? On May 17, Inner City Press asked Guerres' deputy spokesman, UN transcript here, Inner City Press: Earlier this year, I asked a number of questions about UNFPA in India and the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against a Diego Palacios there and there's just been a large press conference of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in India, both saying that the…  asking that the Secretary-General remove immunity from Mr. Diego Palacios and also tying it into the situation at UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme against HIV/AIDS) with Michel Sidibé, but I wanted to know an update from you.  They seem to say at this press conference that Mr. Palacios hasn't really even been interviewed, that there's not…  that the UN hasn't acted in any way on this detailed allegation of sexual harassment.  Are you aware of what UNFPA has done, if the Secretary-General is aware of and may act on this request that immunity be removed, particularly given the inaction by the UNFPA?

Deputy Spokesman:  As far as I'm aware at this stage, it remains in the hands of the UN Population Fund, and they're the ones who are looking into this, and we'll leave it in their hands.

Inner City Press:  Recently, there was an abrupt resignation of a Deputy Director General of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in Geneva, Tero Varjoranta, and we've been hearing various reasons for it, and since the Secretary-General was just in Vienna, is he aware of any quote "#MeToo issues” at IAEA, and if so, what did he do while he's there?

Deputy Spokesman:  I don't really have any comment to share on this.  As far as I'm aware, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that he had stepped down for personal reasons, and so that is the information we have on that." After that exchange, UNFPA in India said its investigation is over; the victim learned of this by reading the newspaper. On May 18 Inner City Press asked the UN's Haq, video here, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: on sexual harassment, I wanted to ask you this.  I had asked you yesterday about the case at UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) in India and since then there's been a development that I was not aware of at the time.  The case of Prashanti Tiwari and what she said and Diego Palacios, who's the UN official, and since your answer yesterday, it's reported that the UNFPA office in India says that the probe is over and the findings are awaited, and so the complainant had been told that she would be told and finds…  and is pretty surprised by that, given how little she's been spoken to.  So I wanted to know, one, is it true?  Is it your understanding that the probe is over?  Two, is the probe only by UNFPA or by OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services)?  And two, how is this a kind of victim-centred approach if the victim reads about it in a newspaper?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, first of all, as I had mentioned yesterday, the matter is in the hands of the UN Population Fund.  We'll await and inform you of any information that we get from them about this, but the matter is in their hands and it will be up to them to inform you about what stage they are at in this.

Inner City Press: Is there some minimum standard for what victim-centred means?  I'm asking because the Secretary-General has made a big deal about this saying how he's talking to all of his heads of agencies so here's an agency that announced to a newspaper that the probe is over.  Is this consistent with his approach?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, my UNFPA colleagues have assured me they were looking into this and they've been doing this for some time now." Really. Guterres' statement was made at a staff Town Hall meeting for which he was 45 minutes late. After he said it, a staff member complained that her application to set up a #MeToo club had been denied and would Guterres help? He did not say yes. So on May 15 in New York, Inner City Press asked Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner City Press: At yesterday's town-hall meeting in Vienna, one of the questions from the floor was from a self-described victim of sexual harassment within the UN system, and she asked Secretary-General whether he supported the idea of a "me too" club, I guess, within the UN in Vienna.  He didn't seem to say yes.  He seemed to say, well, if I understand it better.  She said, do you support it, and they just moved on.  Can you say now does the Secretary-General support the idea?  She was apparently rejected by the UN in Vienna to set up this, such a club.  Does he support that idea, and will he follow up with the staff member who asked him this explicitly in the town-hall meeting?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, first, we are trying to get input from all staff about what needs to happen in order to deal more effectively with sexual harassment, including through a survey of staff, and so we will try to evaluate what staff broadly say and see what steps need to be taken." Oh. 

On UN Rapes, Inner City Press Asks Code Blue of Burundi, Sri Lanka, Ladsous & DC Hearing

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- Amid the latest in a series of allegations of child rapes against UN and French peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, the UN General Assembly convened a meeting on April 5 in the UN's Trusteeship Council Chamber. But due to UN retaliation, Inner City Press was not able to cover it, at least not without a UN minder, see below.

 Now the US House of Representatives will hold a hearing on the topic on April 13, entitled "Peacekeepers: Allegations of Abuse and Absence of Accountability at the United Nations." Apparently as balance to three who will call for justice, there will be Jordie Hannum, Senior Director, Better World Campaign, saying that the UN's response is adequate.

But IS the UN's response adequate?

  In an April 11 online press conference with Code Blue's Paula Donovan, and Yasmin Sooka of the UN panels of rapes and before that on Sri Lanka, held by the African Press Organization, Donovan slammed the UN for "grilling" the accusers. Sooka said French investigators went around CAR like "bulls in a china shop."

   Inner City Press submitted questions about UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladous linking rapes to R&R, and light punishment for Canadian police after sexual exploitation in Haiti. Then Inner City Press asked about Burundian troops, and Sri Lankan troops, and the upcoming April 13 House hearing. The way the questions were "managed" left a lot to be desired. Here's some of what Inner City Press asked:

To Paula Donovan: What do you think of Burundi, when troops repatriated from CAR for abuse, sending them out to AMISOM in Somalia?

What do you think of Canadian UN Police, after sexual exploitation in Haiti, suspended for only nine days?  Of DPKO chief Ladsous linking rapes to R&R? https://youtu.be/AcBkKcGYcI8?t=1m31s

To Yasmin Sooka: knowing what you do about Sri Lankan army, do you think they should be deployed by the UN as “peacekeepers”? Or would that be further UN negligence?

Watch this site.

On April 8, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric,video here

 UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about sexual abuse.  The report that came out that mentioned a peacekeeper in Haiti, who had fathered children in a condition of sexual exploitation, was suspended for nine days.  And now there's reports in Canada that are more specific, that say this was a Montreal police officer.  There were actually two of them.  One was only suspended for five days.  And there are calls in the Haitian community in Montreal that this is an outrage in terms of the lack of punishment.  I asked at the time, Mr. [Atul] Khare, I think it was, was nine days enough?  What does the UN think?  Given it was in the UN's report as one of the few cases in which a home country actually took action, is nine days enough?  And what is the UN going to do in terms of Canada's dealing with sexual exploitation in Haiti when the people come home?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Obviously, I think each… Member States are responsible for the prosecution of people who may have committed crimes.  We hope that those people are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  I'm not aware of the details of the case, and I… it's hard for me to say what is sufficient or not sufficient.

Inner City Press:  Should they pay child support?

Spokesman:  Obviously, people who father children have responsibilities.

Inner City Press:  But, does the UN… there was no criminal anything…

Spokesman:  No, and I also think, you know, there is… be this Trust Fund for support for the victims, but I have no more details on the case.  

  Well, the case is in the newspapers in Montreal, and should the UN be paying the child support of Canadian policemen?

Before the April 5 session, Inner City Press for two days asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson how, with its accreditation capriciously reduced, it could stakeout and cover the meeting without a UN minder. Amazingly, this proved to be impossible. But Inner City Press still covered it.

  First, Inner City Press was told by the guard at the turnstile at which Inner City Press' pass no longer work to “Go get MALU,” the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit. But MALU, when they came, said they were understaffed and did not even have the time to be Inner City Press' minder. So Inner City Press missed more than 15 minutes of the diplomats entering the meeting about rapes.

   (Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric had previously said that if Inner City Press couldn't get through the turnstile, “Don't tweet about it, go talk to MALU.” Inner City Press this time followed the advice - but MALU would not get it through the turnstile. So Inner City Press did then tweet about it.)

   Then MALU said they had time to be the minder of Inner City Press. This was done, at least for part of the time, along with a board member of the UN Correspondents Association. But even under this sinister watch, Inner City Press managed to speak to at least some Permanent Representatives, while others respectfully declined to speak, citing the minder.

   One said they weren't much impressed by Jane Holl Lute's excuse that the response had been slow because the site of the rapes was remote and dangerous. 

Another said a major P5 country's “intervention” had been ill-informed and unprepared. But most with whom Inner City Press spoke said it was good the session happened, that if the UN doesn't “man up” as one Permanent Representative put it to Inner City Press, its reputation will be hurt for decades.

  Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Edmond Mulet, who spoke in the meeting, left and at least smiled at Inner City Press. He has received letters to give to Ban, from Burundi and elsewhere.

  Several diplomats, including one who for this reasons wouldn't not comment to Inner City Press about the meeting, commented that the requirement of a minder for the Press was absurd, wasteful and "beneath the UN." Another said, "But she's nice," referring to the minder. Inner City Press does not disagree, and is trying to be agreeable. But the restriction is not sustainable, is unjustified and must be reversed, shared office and Resident Correspondent accreditation restored.

   While Inner City Press spoke with a Permanent Representative it has long known, an UNCA board member - we are being diplomatic here - came up from behind and moved the Perm Rep's scart (it was a cold day), then hugged him.

   The Permanent Representative turned and asked, “Who are you?”

  This individual walked freely without minder, apparently not covering the meeting on UN rapes. We'll have more on this.

Footnote: while staking out the UN rapes meeting regarding which some Perm Reps wouldn't speak to the Press because of the minder, Inner City Press also covered as a bonus the election to some ECOSOC bodies. People emerged, some with swag bags, some saying they hadn't accepted the bag to not "be on Inner City Press."

On April 5 the Narcotics Board was completed; on April 6 it will continue on the indigenous and three other ECOSOC bodies. Watch this site - unless Inner City Press remains Banned from covering this.

UN's Peacekeeper Rape Response Inadequate, From Ladsous' R and R Link to Code Blue

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- Amid a litany of rape charges against UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, Inner City Press exclusively obtained and on February 12 published UN emails showing another round of sexual abuse of minors in Ouaka prefecture in the Central African Republic by UN Peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Click here to view.

 On March 4 at 11 am Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's report on "Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse" came out from under embargo and Inner City Press immediately published its review. And now Code Blue has chimed in, with data, below.

Ban's response is inadequate; tellingly, it is not the boss of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, who has on camera linked the rapes to R&R, who was presenting or pitching the response, but lower profile Atul Khare.

  On March 8, AIDS Free World's project Code Blue issued this critique, and Inner City Press then asked Ban's spokesman about it (below)
The United Nations’ damage control team must be celebrating its close call last week: headlines about the UN’s peacekeeper sex abuse crisis were bad, but they could have been much, much worse. The tried-and-true tactic of waiting until midday Friday, New York time, to release the Secretary-General’s annual progress report on “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse by UN personnel worked again. As predicted, most journalists only had time to skim the report before filing, and they relied heavily on the UN’s press release. That heat-and-serve lede went out nearly verbatim: “Total allegations rose to 69 in 2015 from 52 the year before.”

In fact, that was last year’s news. We looked at the more expansive UN data that is now posted online and found the devil in this year’s details. During January and February of 2016 alone, there have been 25 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation. If that rate keeps up, last year’s allegations against peacekeeping personnel will more than double, to an annual total of 150 allegations in 2016.

Even that is a lowball estimate, since an “allegation” is a unique UN unit of measurement that doesn’t represent one perpetrator or one victim. The UN groups as many as ten sex crimes together and counts them as a single “allegation”—a statistical maneuver described in a New York press briefing by a top peacekeeping official last month as a "science and art.”  

In straightforward language, the 25 allegations recorded in January and February of this year alone actually represent a minimum of 31 victims and 47 perpetrators. At this rate, 2016 will end with some 256 peacekeeping personnel accused of sexual offenses by at least 186 women and children; 18 women and girls will have been impregnated.

Another stunner in the newly released data went unnoticed. Last year, after the Code Bluecampaign exposed the UN’s callous mishandling and subsequent cover-up of peacekeeper rapes in the Central African Republic, the Secretary-General took an unprecedented step: he called for the resignation of that country’s top UN official, on whose 11-month watch a total of 16 UN peacekeepers had been accused of sexual offenses against 16 victims. A new Special Representative of the Secretary-General was appointed. In the half-year since he took over last September, the numbers have skyrocketed: 46 perpetrators reported by 34 victims. No further resignations have been demanded. The Secretary-General’s “zero tolerance” for any leader who isn’t up to the job was short-lived.

You can’t end violence against women and girls with empty promises. On this International Women’s Day, the world’s women deserve more.

  Here, here. When Inner City Press, about the links above to the UN's own data, Dujarric repeated that the UN stands behind Khare's data; he did not respond on Ladsous. Vine here. From the UN's transcript:

Inner City Press: Code Blue, a group I'm sure you know, their critique of the report at least officially launched here on Friday by Atul Khare was that it radically understates the level of sexual abuse.  They say that… that, in the first two months of this year, given that there have been 25 allegations, if you annualize that, the number would be 150, which would be a massive increase over 2015.  And I just wonder… they also critique the UN's kind of spin of that report of withholding it, putting it out on a Friday, not… I'm going to add this.  I'll say not having Mr. Ladsous here.  So, what… I would assume you've seen this, and you've previously responded to Code Blue.  What do you think of what they're saying?

Spokesman Dujarric:  Look, you know, Code Blue, I think, does a very important advocacy work in fighting against sexual abuse.  We are going by the numbers that we have, that are reported.  It is important that people feel… that victims feel safe enough to report the crimes and the abuse.  We have, as the Secretary-General has said, increased our outreach through local… local NGOs.  We obviously stand by… stand by the numbers.

Inner City Press:  They're going by the numbers actually on the website.  They're saying that the numbers that were presented by Mr. Khare didn't take into account new numbers that the UN has…

Spokesman Dujarric:  We're going by the numbers that were provided by peacekeeping.

  At the 11:15 am March 4 press conference -- tellingly, the UN Correspondents Association wasn't present - Inner City Press asked Khare why it wasn't Ladsous presenting, why Ban Ki-moon noted without criticism a mere nine day suspension for sexual exploitation, why sexual abuse of a 14 year old was classified by the UN as "transactional"?

 Khare did not explain Ladsous' absence, nor answer if Ladsous was the unnamed UN official who pre-spun Reuters and a few others.

He did not directly say that Reuters broke the embargo - he said to ask DPI about that , which is funny in that DPI threw Inner City Press out of the UN for trying to cover an event in this same UN Press Briefing Room, while collaborating with Reuters - but added he was surprised to see the advance story. Video here.

There is no accountability at the top - or in the field. The March 4 report in Paragraph 20 presents as legitimate a nine day suspension for sexual exploitation, and undefined "administrative sanctions" for sexual exploitation that led to a "Peacekeeper baby." This is shameful.

  Zeid firing whistleblower Kompass was asking about by France 24 - but not Ladsous.

 As to the Central African Republic, where the UN covered up French Sangaris troops child rapes and then fired the whistleblower -- not mentioned in the report -- the UN blamed the victims, saying the country is poor, women and girls are for sale: a more diplomatic entree into what Ladsous came out and said on September 11, 2015, linking rapes to R&R.

 Combine this with an Inner City Press question Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric refused to answer - how could the UN log in sexual abuse of a 14 year old, statutory rape, as "transactional" sex -- and the scam of Ban's response becomes clear.

 Perhaps because the product is so worthless, the attempt to sell and spin it was extensive.

  Since December Inner City Press has asked at noon briefings when Ban Ki-moon's response to the Deschamps report would be released, including asking about member state dissatisfaction with the response, and Ladsous.  "March," Ban's two spokesman said.

 On Wednesday Inner City Press learned that not the official responsible for the rapes, Herve Ladsous, but lower profile Atul Khare had shot a UN TV "interview" about the response. Now, in similar propaganda fashion, an UNnamed UN official has poured the spin on Reuters and the old "small group of reporters" -- that is, those who never reported that Ladsous, on camera, linked the rapes to R&R. This is the UN Corruption Association.

  Inner City Press on March 3 asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, video here, UN transcript here.

  But, even as to the report which the UN insisted was under embargo until 11 am on March 4, when Reuters nevertheless published a weak story about it on March 3, with no mention of Ladsous, the UN did nothing.

  Given the UN's no due process move to on February 19 expel Inner City Press from the UN for merely trying to cover an event in the UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, petition here, Inner City Press strictly complied with the embargo although obtaining the report through other channels was easy.

 Reuters doesn't have to worry about the UN throwing it out - it does (some in) the UN's dirty work. We'll have more on this as well.

  Even from within DPKO there is disgust at the response, as dodging or not implement many of the recommendations. More on that when the UN belatedly comes out from behind its self-pleasuring curtain of its own media, and insider scribes. One final note: the Reuters bureau chief at the March 1 press conference by Angola on its Program of work loudly cut off another reporter - not this one -- as if owning the UN.
  After Inner City Press on February 15 asked about the email its had published - and Reuters' UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau, notably,tried to dismiss and then stole the story - on February 16 UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq in the noon briefing read out a statement confirming nearly all of the email Inner City Press had published: that there were four new victims, minors, troops from DR Congo.

 But Haq did not say that two of the victims had children from the statutory rape. So Inner City Press asked Haq to confirm that, and asked who would pay: the UN or the DRC soldiers? Haq said there are meetings in Ban's office to respond to just such issues, after December's Deschamps report. Video here.

 And then Reuters, even while its editor Dan Grebler said the first theft was being looked into, just retyped and stole it again, this time by its UN correspondent Michelle Nichols, here.

  It was this same Nichols who, at the UN Security Council stakeout on February 18 while Inner City Press was live-streaming after asking about a draft statement on Palestine, cut in loudly with "I see you Periscoping!"  And? So what? UN missions and the UN itself are broadcasting inside the UN on Periscope. Why would one media try to censor others?

  On February 15, Reuters first tried to claim these were "old" rapes, here -- then when shown otherwise, simply stole the story with no credit.This is apparently policy.

  So Inner City Press raised the issue of theft of exclusives (and lack of objectivity, at least at the UN) to Reuters itself. For now, we've received this, cc-ed also not only to the (repeat) offender but also to Reuters' genial seeming Brian Moss and Clive McKeef:

"Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. The appropriate Reuters staff will look into it and get back to you as soon as feasible.

Regards,
Dan Grebler
Desk Editor, Americas Desk"

  But but February 18, still no response. It's not that complicated.  Or was the Reuters correspondent's "intervention" the response? We'll have more on this too.

 The underlying emails, dated February 11, 2016, describe at least four underage victims, two of whom were impregnated by the rapist UN peacekeepers -- "in the locality Ngakobo in the Ouaka prefecture."

  On February 15, after emailing questions for two days to UN spokespeople in CAR and New York, Inner City Press at the UN's noon briefing asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq about the rapes, and the email it published on February 12. Haq answered, dodging on part of the email but not denying it. Video here.

 Then Associated Press asked, what about these new allegations? Video here. Haq answered - and from that, AP wrote its own derivative and belated story -- without credit, and without any mention of the critique of the UN in the emails. This is how it works, or doesn't.

 This too - Reuters UN "bureau chief" on Monday evening first reflexively came to the UN's defense saying that "Alleged Central African Republic rapes UN spox talked about today are same ones UN CAR said Feb 4 it was probing," citing (what else) a Reuters story of February 4 -- about a Human Rights Watch report about rapes in Bambari. But read the February 11 emails Inner City Press exclusively published, here:

“Herewith sharing with you a report I have just received from UNICEF indicating four minor girls aged between 16 and 17 years were victims of sexual exploitation and abuse allegedly committed by members of the DRC battalion in the locality Ngakobo in the Ouaka prefecture.”

  Up the email chain, Mercedes Gervilla in UN headquarters writes that “it would seem that many among the troops concerned, including Commanding officers were well aware of the abuse to which these children were being subjected. I also regret to inform you that in addition to these new 4 cases, there will likely be two more...”.  [We'll have more on this.]

  This is called... spinning for the UN. This is a trend at Reuters, even last week, here.



And there is a history: this same Reuters UN Bureau Chief Lou Charbonneau, when challenged, wrote to Stephane Dujarric, UN Spokesman, trying to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, here.

  When this was exposed, Charbonneau cited Reuters to get his email to the UN taken out of Google's search, saying he never meant for it to be public and it was somehow copyrighted. (See his filing here, made public by EFF's ChillingEffects.org). That's censorship... by Reuters.

  This this case, after being shown this reflexive defense of the UN was wrong, Reuters simply re-wrote the story and stole it, with no credit.

 And now we must go back: Charbonneau announced a policy of not crediting Inner City Press, see here.

 This was raised at the time to Reuters, including to Stephen J. Adler. What kind of company is this?

  (Inner City Press previously asked the decaying UN Correspondents Association, while it tried to censor Press coverage of its boss, to promulgate a best practice for media at the UN to credit others' exclusives; it never happened. AP at the UN speaks for this UNCA, and apparently it for AP.)

  In the email chain Inner City Press exclusively published, middle management at the UN noted that the majority of sexual abuse in CAR has been committed by the battalions from the DRC and the Republic of Congo. And so Inner City Press posed these questions to UN spokespeople in both New York and the CAR:

"This is a request for your comment on, and any update on, the sexual abuse and exploitation cases in the Feb 11, 2016 emails now here

Also, what will be done with the Republic of Congo and DR Congo contingents? We are interested in if the UN and DPKO can, as currently be configured, be reformed.What is the status of the sexual abuse and exploitation cases that have been listed, including in the UN Press Briefing Room?"

  The response received by Inner City Press on Saturday afternoon in New York was from Bangui-based MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro:

"Regarding your questions on DRC and Congo, here is Minusca's position:

"On DRC contingent, a decision to repatriate them has already been taken. It will be completed without delay by the end of the month. It is just a matter of planning it properly.

"On the 120 troops from Congo, they have been cantoned in Berberati to permit investigations by national investigators before their repatriation to their country  which will occur on 20 February 2016. For further details on this matter please contact HQ."

  But of course Inner City Press has already contacted "HQ" or UN Headquarters, including for example Ismini Palla of Ladsous' DPKO, who gave Agence France Presse the response to questions Inner City Press has publicly posed to UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, to the DPKO spokesman Nick Birnback, also cc-ed.

  So where ARE the updates on the cases the UN's Diane Corner listed in the UN Briefing Room? Why was it reported in early January that the DRC contingent had "been dismissed" when, in mid February, they are still in place? What is the status of the Burundian contingent in CAR? Follow up questions have been submitted to UN officials and spokespeople in CAR and headquarters in New York.

  Well placed sources tell Inner City Press these two countries' soldiers have been in the UN MINUSCA mission nearly entirely due to Ladsous and, more outrageously, the / his French government due to its political relations with the Republic of Congo and DRC.

  Ladsous, as Inner City Press has reported, told Burundi's Vice President that he is "pragmatic" about human rights; even on camera, Ladsous linked the rapes to "R&R," click here for video.

  While Ladsous' DPKO and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson announced that the DRC contingent would be pulled out of Bambari and CAR in late Janaury, Inner City Press is informed this never happened: they are still there.

  Ladsous' DPKO, and now the UN Spokesperson's Office, are engaged in misleading the press and public, and doling out what information they provide to only the friendliest media.

 For recent example, Inner City Press for week has reported on and asked about the repatriation from CAR of Burundian troops charged with abuse during the crackdown on opponents of Pierre Nkurunziza's third term. Even after Inner City Press obtained and published on February 9 proof of three repatriations, all UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Inner City Press is that he would seek an update.

  Simarily, Ladsous' lead spokesman Nick Birnback told Inner City Press DPKO would have something to say about the particular Burundian officers in CAR Inner City Press asked him about.

  Then Ladsous' spokespeople including Ismini Palla gave their limited confirmations to Reuters and Agence France Presse, who published it without credit or context. (Neither media reported on Ladsous linking rape to R&R - nor did AP.)

 In a February email by UN official Anthony Banbury, soon to leave the UN after some heartfelt tears of outrage at peacekeepers' rapes, it is said:

"We have a pack of predatory criminals and rapists, preying on young girls,
under the banner of the United Nations. How can we stand by? In my view that battalion should be ordered to cease operations today, same with the RoC battalion, and be confined to camp and guarded full time so they cannot continue to abuse children. While we would pay a short-term price in terms of operations, we would gain so much in terms of the integrity and reputation of the UN, in the CAR and internationally, and we would almost certainly prevent more rapes of minor girls. We simply cannot sustain the argument that the benefit these troops are bringing to the UN and PoC is greater than the harm they are doing."

  What will the UN do? What will France, with new foreign minister Jean Marc Ayrault, do? How long can Ladsous - and the Congolese contingents - remain in place?

Exclusive: UN Emails Show New Rapes in CAR, Ladsous' Contingents by Matthew Russell Lee

Having been told by sources of more rapes by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, Inner City Press on January 26 reported them and on January 27 asked the UN's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric to confirm them - but he wouldn't. UN transcript here. Video here.




  So what is the protocol of UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous, who linked the rapes to "R&R," here? How many more do they know about?

The UN report on rapes in the Central African Republic, released on December 17, found that UN Peacekeeping's Under Secretary General Herve Ladsous “illustrate[s] the UN's failure to respond to allegations of serious human rights violations in the meaningful way.”

 Ladsous has yet to take any questions about the report...

  When the Panel's three members held their December press conference, Inner City Press asked about Ladsous' failure to vet and his linking of rapes to “R&R.” Video here.  Marie Deschamps said pointedly she wouldn't comment on Ladsous' remarks; Yasmin Sooka said these are crimes for punishment, not recreation.

  As the last question, Inner City Press asked what it had wanted to ask Ban, and tried to ask Dujarric: what does this say about Ban's management? Video of Q&A here. Didn't Ban's chief of staff Malcorra, criticized in the report, do it for Ban? Didn't the “senior official” who ostensibly let the rape information die on the vine in the 38th floor work in an atmosphere created by Ban's nine years? We will pursue this.

  In December 2015, Ban allowed those who cover him, at least the UN Correspondents Association, to sell seats with him for $6,000. And it is these same who have airbrushed out Ladsous and others. We'll have more on this.