On UN Bribery Case, ICP Asked of Guterres Use of CEFC Funds, Kutesa Travel, UN Half-Answers

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video , ICP in Hong King, here

UNITED NATIONS, November 24 – On November 20, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued an indictment against former Senegal foreign minister Cheikh Gadio as well as against the head of the China Energy Fund Committee Patrick Ho, who is accused of bribing former UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa, now as then the foreign minister of Uganda. Contrary to the indictment which says Kutesa stepped down as Foreign Minister during his year as UN PGA, Inner City Press asked him on September 14, 2015 and Kutesa said, "I am still foreign minister." Scoop here, video here. 

While the UN of Secretary General Antonio Guterres, even after the indictment and Inner City Press' public questions went forward on November 21 with CEFC's money, see below, in Kampala members of Parliament are calling for Kutesa to resign as foreign minister. On November 24, Inner City Press asked three of Guterres' spokespeople questions, including: "in light of the indictment announced Nov 20 involving Patrick Ho of CEFC, Cheikh Gadio and alleging acts by former UN PGA Sam Kutesa and others, please provide a list of all funds received by the UN or any of its funds, programs or agencies from CEFC or its affiliates, the use of those funds and how much remains, and all information regarding selection processes for disbursement of the funds. Please provide dates and details of CEFC's sponsorship of events in the UN, and interactions with ECOSOC, for the past five years. Also please state the status of Cheikh Gadio's entry into the UN, whether via the OIC or otherwise. Regarding the year in which Sam Kutesa was UN PGA, please provide a list of all UN funds used for his travel, including but not limited to China or Uganda, the composition of his delegation(s) and any and all Special Advisers to the PGA that he named. There will be more questions." 

There certainly will be. Because this is the entirety of the UN's response to the above: "On the CEFC, we have the following information: The decision to grant consultative status lies with Member States and is exercised through the Economic and Social Council and its Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations. Under the resolution, consultative status may be established with organizations a) concerned with matters falling within the competence of ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies; b) whose aims and purposes are in conformity with the spirit, purpose and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and c) that can contribute to the work of the UN in accordance with their own aims and purposes and the nature and scope of their competence and activities. Special consultative status is conferred to organizations that have a special competence in or are concerned with a limited number of fields of activity covered by the Council and its subsidiary bodies. Regarding questions concerning Sam Kutesa, please address those to the Government of Uganda, for which he was working, including during his time as President of the General Assembly." 

That is, there is no explanation of Guterres' DESA using CEFC's funds after the indictment, no information about UN spending on Kutesa's trip(s) to China. A total cover-up.

 Meanwhile the UN, implicated, canceled Guterres' photo op involving the CEFC money but went forward and used it, while the event remained on the schedule of Guterres' Deputy SG Amina J. Mohammed, embroiled in a scandal involving the signing of 4,000 certificates for rosewoodillegal logged in Cameroon and Nigeria and already in China. Ironically, she will be delivering the "Nelson Mandela" address. We'll have more on this.   On Thanksgiving eve November 22 at 4 pm in an otherwise empty courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, bail was sought for Gadio, so he could spend Thanksgiving in Maryland. Federal Defender - assigned counsel - Sabrina Shroff lambasted the prosecutors for delaying. She said that unlike Ng Lap Seng, the billionaire Macau-based businessman now still under house arrest despite six guilty verdicts in connection with UN bribery, her client is not a billionaire. Notably, he has said he is financially unable to retain counsel. Judge Marrero did not set him free on bail, setting the matter over for Monday after Thanksgiving. On the elevator down the prosecution was accused of "white man-splaining;" reference was made to Daniel Richenthal, prosecutor in the Ng Lap Seng trial as well, and to the UN International School. We'll have more on this - and another of Gadio's roles that brought him to the UN Press Briefing Room in October 2015, as "Special Envoy of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for the Central African Republic." The UN, increasingly, is corrupt. It is alleged that Chadian president Deby took bribes for oil concessions in Chad, and that 2014-15 UN President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa took bribes for oil concessions in Uganda. Kutesa's predecessor John Ashe died under indictment; the depths of the UN's corruption extend into 2017 with the signing of dubious rosewood export certificates in Nigeria by Secretary General Antonio Guterres' Deputy Amina J. Mohammed and set-aside UN employment for the German Ambassador's wife, via Guterres' chief of staff. At noon on November 21 Inner City Press asked Guterres spokesman Farhan Haq about the indictment and CEFC and its $5 million grant program with UN DESA, transcript here and below. Guterres had a 5:45 pm photo op with the "Winners of the Annual Award of the UN Grant on Sustainable Energy" - which seems to have been funded by China Energy Fund Committee, under the heading "Powering the Future We Want."  He "canceled," photos here, but his Deputy Amina J. Mohammed was still listed giving remarks for / at the event at 1 pm, though at 5:30 pm those remarks were not on her website unlike later 2:30 pm remarks. On November 22 Inner City Press asked their spokesman Farhan Haq, who argued that the indictment is only of "Doctor Patrick Ho" personally, so it was fine to keep and go forward with CEFC's money. (He said Amina J. Mohammed did not speak.) But Ho founded and chairs CEFC, here is a photograph of Ho with UN DESA's former chief. Apparently things are more and more lax under Guterres: even Ng Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip Foundation's money was returned. (Kutesa was also in the Ng Lap Seng case). Is the UN more hard up? The corruption is not past but current. From the UN's November 21 noon briefing transcript: Inner City Press: there was an indictment yesterday by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York that's very… I would say… call it UN related.  A company called China Energy Fund Committee was… as alleged, funnelled $500,000 bribes to Sam Kutesa, former President of the General Assembly.  The indictment describes the meetings taking place not… on this very floor, on the second floor, setting up these bribes.  And so I have a couple of questions.  One is… and these were… these… mentioned in the indictment is the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, who is… as you know, is a mediator on the Burundi file.  So, I wanted to know, number one, after this indictment, what is the UN's office of OIOS [Office of Internal Oversight Services] doing to look at the… the… the UN persons that may… that… implicated in it?  Two, is China Energy Fund Committee still affil… accredited by ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council]?  And they seem to have a project with DESA [Department of Economic and Social Affairs], a $5 million project with DESA.  And, three, what does this mean for… for the… Mr. [Michel] Kafando's and the Secretary-General's view of the Museveni role in the Burundi mediation? Spokesman:  Well, regarding the question of Burundi mediation, obviously, he has a role separate and apart from the work of our envoy, Michel Kafando.  You just heard a briefing from Mr. Kafando yesterday about what his work is on that.  Regarding Mr. Kutesa, we don't have anything particular to say about his dealings as the Foreign Minister of Uganda.  Obviously, he has served as a General Assembly President, and we want to make sure that all officials of the UN, including the General Assembly President, abide strictly by norms avoiding corruption and bribery.  Obviously, how that is enforced is an issue for the specific Member States, so we would refer you, in this case, to the Member State of Uganda, which is responsible for Mr. Kutesa.  And regarding the CEFC that you just mentioned, yes, they have accreditation at ECOSOC.  We're checking with our colleagues in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs about the nature of their projects and what the status of that is. Inner City Press: There's a $5 million project that's online, which I guess… what I'm saying is, coming after the Ng Lap Seng/John Ashe case, it seems some sort of consonant with it.  Basically, you have a big NGO [non-governmental organization] using UN access to purchase a… if the allegations are true, a PGA [President of the General Assembly].  And so, I guess I'm wondering, from the UN side, beyond referring to the Ugandan mission or whatever else, are there any reflections, number one, on how this process… what due diligence did DESA do before… before linking up with this NGO that's clearly a subsidiary of a Chinese oil company that was paying bribes in Chad, as well? Spokesman:  "Well, the information about them paying bribes is something that's come out today.  The ECOSOC accreditation came out sometime prior to all of this.  So, that's a separate issue.  Regarding the sort of probity we expect from officials, including General Assembly presidents, of course, we know that they belong to Member States, but we want them to uphold the high standards.  This is something we made clear during John Ashe's time.  This is something we're making clear now.  And, of course, I believe my colleague Brenden will have more to say about the presidency of the General Assembly regarding this.  But, again, these are issues that the Member States themselves will need to take responsibility for.  These are officials of Member States.  These are not staff of the United Nations. " The Kutesa scam began in long meetings in the UN PGA's office on the UN's second floor - where the UN now requires investigative Inner City Press to have a minder, unlike other correspondents - between Kutesa and China-based NGO China Energy Fund Committee led by Patrick C.P. Ho. The scheme involved Kutesa naming Ho a "Special Adviser to the PGA," and hosting an NGO meeting in the UN in April 2015. Kutesa traveled as PGA to China as part of the scheme. Ho's approach was through Kutesa's chief of staff Arthur Kafeero, whom as Inner City Press exclusively reported in August 2015 Kutesa tried to plant in the UN's Department of Political Affairs. See Inner City Press scoop here; note that the UN evicted Inner City Press for its corruption coverage in early 2016 and has kept it restricted since, even as UN corruption continues, even grows. And what do the member states do? On November 20 Inner City Press asked UK Permanent Representative Matthew Rycroft about the scandal and he said, "I'll look into that and get back to you." Video here. Update (no comment, cite to SDGs, here). From the US Attorney: "HO caused a $500,000 bribe to be paid, via wires transmitted through New York, New York, to an account designated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda, who had recently completed his term as the President of the UN General Assembly (the “Ugandan Foreign Minister”).  HO also provided the Ugandan Foreign Minister, as well as the President of Uganda, with gifts and promises of future benefits, including offering to share the profits of a potential joint venture in Uganda involving the Energy Company and businesses owned by the families of the Ugandan Foreign Minister and the President of Uganda.  These payments and promises were made in exchange for assistance from the Ugandan Foreign Minister in obtaining business advantages for the Energy Company, including the potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank." We'll have more on this. Sam Kutesa had offshore accounts in the Seychelles, to receive funds from Enhas, a company of which despite the UN denying it to Inner City Press is listed as doing business with the UN's mission in the Congo, MONUSCO. The accounts, but not the UN / MONUSCO connection, have been revealed the leaked Appleby / Paradise Papers. Inner City Press on November 7 asked the spokesman for the President of the General Assembly about it, yielding only an answer that the current PGA is striving to make public his disclosure form but will not speak to former (or clearly, past) PGAs. Video here. But how then can the UN be said to have cleaned up after PGA John Ashe, RIP, was indicted for bribery? We'll have more on this. For now, this: it is telling that the new pro-UN book "A Worldly Affair," though copyrighted 2017, does not even mention the 2016 UN bribery scandal of former President of the General Assembly John Ashe, much less now convicted briber Ng Lap Seng. It does however praise Antonio Guterres, who came in as Secretary General in 2017, and acknowledge Maher Nasser, who moderated an event promoting the book, and shouting down the Press which asked about Ashe and Ng. Haiti is mentioned in connection with Brooklyn - diplomats living there, and "Albanians in The Bronx." It is an essentially elitist book, with a sidebar o the UN's mansion at 3 Sutton Place, bought in 1972 for Kurt Waldheim and renovated at a cost of $4.5 million for Ban Ki-moon. It derides the cheap construction of Uganda House, and laughs at the penthouse in Libya House shown by Ali "Treiki." For weeks the UN promoted its book event featuring author Pamela Hanlon. 

But when Inner City Press went and asked about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and paid nothing, and whether Haitians in Brooklyn had been able to get any accountability from the UN, there was no answer. 

A heckler in the audience said loudly that the question was not appropriate. Video here. So Inner City Press followed up on Ms. Hanlon's statement that the land under the UN is still US territory. If so, what of John Ashe selling diplomatic posts from inside his UN General Assembly President's office, and Inner City Press for covering the scandal being thrown out onto First Avenue by eight UN Security officers? Audio here. (NYPD told Inner City Press it has no jurisdiction to take criminal complaints, even for assault, for anything east of the First Avenue curb.) 

That question wasn't answered, either, including by Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Office for International Affairs. 

Instead Maher Nasser, in charge of the UN Department of Public Information for months this year said “it's always about you” and ended the event, encouraging those present to buy books for signing. Then on October 20, Nasser brought about a Kafka-esque threeat to Inner City Press' accreditation. And so it goes at the UN.

Inner City Press Asks UN DESA About UN Rapes, Statistics for Disparate Lending to Women, US Home Mortgage Disclosure Act

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 20 -- When the UN held a press conference on its statistical report on the status of women on October 20, Inner City Press asked how the issue of (disparate) lending to women, for small businesses and housing, was measured by the UN -- apparently it isn't -- and if UN Peacekeeping's immunity for sexual abuse doesn't contribute to the issue of victims not reporting what happens to them. Video here.

   UN DESA's Lenni Montiel gave a passionate response on sexual abuse, saying that as a Resident Representative he informed staff of all UN agencies, funds and programs that such conduct is unacceptable. In the hallway afterward, he made clear he was talking about UN civilians personnel, saying that peacekeeping is another matter. Indeed it is -- see here, where UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous on September 11, 2015 linking rapes to “R&R.”

   The lending question was construed as about inheritance and property rights -- it is distinct -- and was put under the rubric “Poverty.” Inner City Press cited, for the first time at the UN, the US Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. We'll have more on this.

On women, peace and security, does the UN live up to the mandates of UN Security Council resolution 1325? On October 13, Inner City Press asked visiting speakers from Syria and Libya if two UN envoys, Lakhdar Brahimi and Tarek Mitri, lived up to Resolution 1325. The answer was “No.” Video here.

   Mouna Ghanem of the Syrian Women's Forum for Peace said Brahimi didn't; she said that women shouldn't be used as window-dressing.  Amal Bugaighis of the Libyan Human Rights Association confirmed what Inner City Press had earlier reported, that UN envoy Tarek Mitri had been dismissive of CEDAW, the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. 

  The promotion for the press conference, at least as sent by the dubious UN Correspondents Association -- which took money from “brothel magnate” Ng Lap Seng, here -- said there would be a presentation from or about Yemen. But there was not, so it was impossible to ask about that UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. We'll have more on this.

Back on October 12, one month after UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous linked peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic to"distraction" and R&R, here, Inner City Press asked Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director, and Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, former UN official and lead author of a new Global Study about what Ladsous said, sitting where they were, about rapes and R&R.”

  Both said they hadn't seen Ladsous' comments, so Inner City Presstweeted the YouTube link to @phumzileunwomen and @UN_Women asking for their comments, even as they answered. After Coomaraswamy responded generally about linking rape to recreation, Inner City began to say, Sent you the link -- but was cut off by the UN Women moderator, who said “Let others ask questions.” But there was only one more question.

  Then, Inner City Press showed Coomarswamy the beginning of Ladsous' comments on a laptop. But the UN Correspondents Association sidekick cut in, “Excuse ME,” to ask yet another UN official to come to a $90 fundraiser. This is the same UNCA which took money from South South News then both gave it an award and produced Ban Ki-moon for a photo op with SSN's controller, the now jailed David Ng. This is UN, this is the UN. But what will  Mlambo-Ngcuka and Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy now do about Ladsous' comments? Watch this site.   

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Exclusive: Crimea Data Included With Russia By UN DESA, Sources Tell Inner City Press

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, June 10 -- Amid controversies about the UN continuing to place Crimea in Ukraine, from its agencies in Vienna to commissions in Bangkok, Inner City Press is informed that the economic data of Crimea is being included with that of the Russian Federation by the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

   The reason given is that DESA bases its economic studies on statistics provided to it by governments, and Ukraine is no longer able to report data for Crimea, while Russia is. 

 But it is striking: while the Reuters agency breathlesslyclaims an exclusive for being told by diplomats that Russia tried to include Crimea -- or Sevastopol as Reuters puts it -- within its territory in the annual report of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency -- while in New York as reported here DESA is already including Crimea in Russia.

   The International Monetary Fund, more attuned to these politics, almost certainly does not follow DESA in this. But when Inner City Press asked the IMF four times whether it includes Western Sahara, to which the UN has long promised a referendum with independence as an option, in the data of Morocco, the IMF run by Christine Lagarde has simply refused to answer that question. 

 (The IMF does answer other Press questions, including for example on Yemen, Nepal and Burundi).

   DESA too declines to answer certain questions, at least on-camera. But its quiet shift in the reporting of data from Crimea might yet make noise. Watch this site.

   Back on April 29 when Ukraine's foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin held a UN press conference, Inner City Press asked him about the status of the country's talks with its creditors and the International Monetary Fund, and of the investigations into the killings of Oleg Kalashnikov and Oles Buzyna.

  Klimkin said that the financial talks are going well; the killing he said were meant to destaiblize the country and would be investigated. He said that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should not go to Moscow on May 9 in commemoration of World War Two.

 Back on September 22, 2014 when Ukraine's  Klimkin held a press conference at the UN, Inner City Press asked him about battalions in the East like Azov and Aidar, accused by Amnesty International of abuses.

  Klimkin said that all battalions are part of the army or national guard; the government had checked the Amnesty report.

  Inner City Press also asked if Ukraine will be speaking with the International Monetary Fund to modify its program. Klimkin said the program had not taken into account developments in Donetsk and Lugansk and should, now.

  He said that President Petro Poroshenko may not be the one to speak for Ukraine in the UN General Assembly, as he may need to "be on the ground." He said the soccer or football teams in Donetsky and Lugansk should remain in the Ukrainian League. (This question, he initially laughed at).

  Back on September 12, when Ukraine'sAmbassador Yuriy Sergeyev took questions Inner City Press also asked him about Amnesty International's damning report about the pro-Kyiv Aidar Battalion, and about Point 11 of the Protocol, "Economic Reconstruction of Eastern Ukraine."

  On Aidar, Sergeyev replied that the separatists had been dressing up in the pro-government militia's uniforms. Is that something that Amnesty would have entirely missed? Their report is online here.

  On economic reconstruction, Sergeyev distinguished between regions that were never with the "terrorists," those that had been liberated, and... others, presumably Donetsk and Luhansk. 

 On a second around, Inner City Press asked Sergeyev about reports Ukraine is getting sophisticated weapons from a "non-NATO" country. He said there are negotiations that he couldn't get into the details of, since the counter-parties might pull out.

   In past Sergeyev briefings, for example on September 4, the first question has been claimed by UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance. On September 12, there was no UNCA representative present -- an insider briefing elsewhere about which the scribes are not supposed to report. Sergeyev was thanked by the new Free UN Coalition for Access for showing up and answering questions on-the-record, as it should be.

 In that spirit, Inner City Press put online each of the five pages of Sergeyev's opening statement, here, here, here,here and here.

   Back on September 4, Inner City Press asked Sergeyev about challenges from the right to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, for example from Right Sector, AVOZ, and militia commanders like Dmytro Linko and Semen Semenchenko, who has spoken of the need “to establish our own internal command.”

  Sergeyev replied that “naturally, some generals want to be stronger.”

  So are these are generals? Despite talk in Minsk of a ceasefire, Sergeyev insisted that the “law enforcement action” would continue.

  Sergeyev began on September 4 by offering thanks to USg Jeffrey Feltman and to Valerie Amos -- but not John Ging.

  Back on August 24 when Amos visited Eastern Ukraine, her and Ging's agency OCHA put out a press releasesaying that

Amos visited an internally displacement persons' center in Krasnyi Lyman and “met women who had fled the fighting with their families.” The UN OCHA statement on Sunday said that “since March this year, around 200,000 people have fled their homes in search of safety within Ukraine and tens of thousands have fled to neighboring countries.”

  What does "tens of thousands" mean -- and why is it so different from what OCHA official John Ging told the UN Security Council on August 5? In that Council session, Ging said

“since the start of the year 168,677 Ukrainians are registered as having crossed into Russia, with nearly 60,000 of these having applied for refugee status and a further 115,952 having applied for other forms of legal stay.”
  
    Ging on August 5 acknowledged that “this is not the full picture as many Ukrainians that have fled their homes do not register with Ukrainian authorities or officially apply for assistance. The Russian authorities and UNHCR are reporting that 740,000 people have crossed the border since the start of the year.”

  While technically both 740,000 and 168,677 are made up of "tens of thousands," there is a striking disparity between what Ging told the Security Council on August 5, and the OCHA's August 24 press release on Amos' visit to Krasnyi Lyman.  What explains it?

   Back on August 24 just as an emergency but closed-door meeting of the Security Council about Ukraine began, and after the US, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued this statement:

The Secretary-General follows with deep concern reports that a Russian aid convoy has crossed the border into Ukraine without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities. While recognising the deteriorating humanitarian situation, any unilateral action has the potential of exacerbating an already dangerous situation in eastern Ukraine.

Once again, the Secretary-General urges all sides, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation, to continue to work together, in coordination with the international community, to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the most affected areas. He reiterates that all sides should continue to exercise maximum restraint and avoid escalation.

In this regard, he is encouraged by the announcement from President Petro Poroshenko that Ukraine will do everything possible to prevent more serious consequences as a result of the convoy moving into Ukrainian territory.

 How was this statement formulated? By whom? Inner City Press asked: What is the position of the UN's humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, who has elsewhere called for cross-border aid?

   At the Churkin presser, Inner City Press asked about the draft press statement Russia proposed on August 21.

 Churkin said that the “indefatigable” Lithuanian delegation “sent in amendments” that dropped references to Russia and included references to the European Union and dropped the reference to a ceasefire. Then, Churkin said, the US delegations send in amendments dropping the ceasefire and blaming the separatists.

  Inner City Press also asked about a report by CNN from Eastern Ukraine in which correspondent Diana Magney asked why Russia was sending salt if there are salt mines in Eastern Ukraine.

  Churkin said, "You can mine salt if you are not shelled.  If you are hiding in your cellars, mining salt is problematic."

   Later the Voice of America's correspondent asked about accusations that the convoy was only to support the rebels.

  "With baby food?" Churkin asked.

   "Rebels have babies too," the Voice of America correspondent said. The implication seemed to be that starving children based on the positions taken by their parents would be okay. We'll have more on this - for now, click here.

   Back on July 30 when Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Yuriy Sergeyev held a UN press conference on July 30, Inner City Press asked him about the Human Right Watch report his government is using Grad rockets, killing at least 16 civilians between July 12 and 21 near Donetsk.

  Sergeyev responded first about the UN's (or Ivan Simonovic's) report, then emphasized that Russian media is saying Ukraine is using ballistic missiles.

  Inner City Press repeated the question, emphasizing it concerns Human Rights Watch's report, not the UN's, and not Russian media.  Sergeyev provided essentially the same answer.

  Here is the HRW report, online.

  Inner City Press also asked about the status of the International Monetary Fund program, after the downing of MH17. Sergeyev said Ukraine has met with the IMF's Christine Lagarde and "will" get the next tranche of the program in late August.  But won't there be an Executive Board meeting?

After Russian foreign minister and US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone on July 27, the US State Department issued two read-outs, or a readout in two stages.

  The second, an "additional point" by a Senior State Department Official, was that Kerry "underlined our support for a mutual cease fire verified by the OSCE and reaffirmed our strong support for the international investigation to show the facts of MH17."

  Inner City Press on July 30 asked Sergeyev for Ukraine's position on this. Sergeyev cited as "pre-conditions" the closing of the border with Russia, and the release of all hostages.

  Procedurally, Ukraine set aside the first question at its press conference saying, "Pamela, traditionally you open our session." Using this UN Correspondents Association set-aside, Pam Falk of CBS asked about rebels mining the MH17 site. Her UNCA sidekick asked about "Russian propaganda." 

   And so it went until, fifth, the new Free UN Coalition for Access asked about HRW's report. This is how it's working, with the UN's Censorship Alliance. In this context, the Free UN Coalition for Access is against the automatic setting-aside of questions. 

   

On the Trans Pacific Partnership, Inner City Press Asks UN's Pingfan Hong, He Calls TPP & T-TIP “Discriminatory, A Step Backward”

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- Just as US Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech in Washington State promoting the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, Inner City Press in New York asked UN official Pingfan Hong for the UN's view of the TPP.

  Pingfan Hong said that TPP would be a step backward from the multilateral process, and that it would be discriminatory against countries in the developing world. Video here. 

  It was a rare "stand up to the US" moment in today's UN.  Earlier this month, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press, when Kerry told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not to try to hold a Yemen talks in Geneva including the Houthis, Ban immediately acquiesced. But Pingfan Hong spoke his mind, here

  We have transcribed it:

Inner City Press: On trade policy, the big one right now is TPP, John Kerry is giving a speech about it, what is DESA's view, impact on US economy and world economy, should it be modified or disclosed?

UN's Pingfan Hong: About the TPP, from a UN or a DESA point of view, we don’t consider that as a single issue. We analyze that issue from the perspective of the multilateral treaty system. That is, compare that with the WTO. From that point of view, it’s kind of at best, TPP, it’s paradoxical. For example, if you see those 20 areas covered, in this TPP, from e-commerce to other services, intellectual property rights, labor standards, environmental standards, indeed TPP sets a much higher standard than WTO negotiations.

From that you’ll probably say it’s a little bit forward looking, or it’s more advanced. On the other hand you see, from a developing country’s point of view, both this Trans Pacific Partnership as well as this trans Atlantic, they are US and EU centric. So it's a set back actually, the progress made in multilateral trading system after World War Two it's backward from that point of view, means that your developing countries, they don’t have much voice or bargaining power in this two, major, developed economy driven, this regional trade, the largest two trade agreements.

From UN point of view we are still in favor of the multilateral trading system of WTO, because any regional trade agreement, including these two biggest ones, definitely they do, they are discriminatory for a large number of non member countries. And to a large extent they are also undermining this multilateral treaty system in terms of they’re working, not only trade, from other regions, but also divert the political efforts for many countries to work on this WTO trade negotiations, Doha round. 

 Trade is just a means. It’s a means for development. So from a development point of view, we should focus on whether treaty negotiation can contribute to the development or not. Not just how much trade it would generate. So in that sense it’s more complicated than just look at the single... I mean, we don’t want to pay too much attention to the political debate, like now it’s still ongoing, in the US on this issue. 

 Meanwhile in Renton, Washington Kerry praised TPP with no acknowledgement of flaws such as the globalization of censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, example here.

  That example, ironically, is by Reuters - a news wire one might think would oppose censorship.

 Back on January 15, 2014 on Capitol Hill, Fast Track for the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership was promoted in the guise of a twenty-year review of NAFTA. 

  The US Chamber of Commerce, Carla Hills and former Congressman David Dreier were among the pro Fast Track for TPP witnesses before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. 

  As Chairman Salman's introduction put it, "NAFTA has been the impetus for the regional bilateral trade agreements reached since then, and has provided important lessons as the U.S. seeks to build closer ties to trade and investment partners through the much anticipated Trans Pacific Partnership."

  After some perfunctory praise of NAFTA, and some unanswered questions about free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea, things quickly turned to promotion of the TPP. The bill was introduced in Congress on January 9; it has been protested including in Harlem on January 4, 2014, here. 

  The Senate Finance Committee press release is here, the bill is here, their summary here. It would globalize schemes like the pro-corporate Digital Millennium Copyright Act, misused by Reuters UN bureau chief to get a leaked document banned from Google's search.

   While free press protections are in some ways advanced in the United States, as the Free UN Coalition for Access has begun highlighting, theUS Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be and has been used as an end-run attack on freedom of the press.

   Leaked documents used in an investigative story can be blocked, as the Reuters' complaint to Google blocked from Google's search its bureau chief's e-mail to the UN seeking to get Inner City Press thrown out. This is a perversion of the concept of copyright (as well as a contradictory argument for Reuters or anyone in journalism to be making, that such documents should be taken down or blocked.)

   In Chile, for example, any such take-down requires the requester to get a court order. But DMCA provides, and Google allowed, blocking based on a non-reviewed, bad faith complaint.

  As the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry told Inner City Press about the case:

"Unfortunately, it is all too easy for a copyright holder (assuming that the person that sent this notice actually held copyright in the email) to abuse the DMCA to take down content and stifle legitimate speech. As countries outside the US consider adopting DMCA-like procedures, they must make sure they include strong protections for free speech, such as significant penalties for takedown abuse."

  Along with other pro-corporate provisions, TPP would internationalize this abuse of copyright to undermine freedom of the press.  

 If this remains precedent, what else could come down?

  Why not an email from Iran, for example, to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency? Why not a sanctions filing by a country? Here is Reuters logic, accepted if only automatically by Google:

The copyrighted material is a private email I wrote in April 2012 and for which I never gave permission to be published. It has been published on a blog and appears in on the first page of search results for my name and the firm I work for, Reuters. It can be seen here: http://www.innercitypress.com/reutersLC3unmalu.pdf

  But this is true of ANY leaked document: it can be said that the entity or person exposed "never gave permission [for it] to be published." Does that mean Google can or should block search access to it?

  Can a complaint to a Media Accreditation official against a competitor legitimately be considered "private"? In any event, the DMCA is not about protecting privacy.

  Iran or North Korea could say a filing or status report they make with the IAEA is "private" and was not intended to be published. Would Google, receiving a DMCA filing, block access to the information on, say, Reuters.com?

  The logic of Reuters' August 14, 2013 filing with Google, put online via the ChillingEffects.org project, is profoundly anti free press.

  The fact that Google accepts or didn't check, to remain in the DMCA Safe Harbor, the filing makes it even worse. The request to take-down wasn't made to InnerCityPress.com or its server -- it would have been rejected. But banning a page from Search has the same censoring effect.

  The US has a regime to protect freedom of the press, and against prior restraint. But this is a loophole, exploited cynically by Reuters. What if a media conducted a long investigation of a mayor, fueled by a leaked email. When the story was published, could the Mayor make a Reuters-like filing with Google and get it blocked?

  Here is the text of Reuters' communication to the UN's top Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit official Stephane Dujarric and MALU's manager, to which it claimed "copyright" and for now has banned from Google's Search:

Hi Isabelle and Stephane,

I just wanted to pass on for the record that I was just confronted by Matt Lee in the DHL auditorium in very hostile fashion a short while ago (there were several witnesses, including Giampaolo). He's obviously gotten wind that there's a movement afoot to expel him from the UNCA executive committee, though he doesn't know the details yet. But he was going out of his way to be as intimidating and aggressive as possible towards me, told me I "disgust" him, etc.

In all my 20+ years of reporting I've never been approached like that by a follow journalist in any press corps, no matter how stressful things got. He's become someone who's making it very hard for me and others in the UN press to do our jobs. His harassment of fellow reporters is reaching a new fever pitch.

I just thought you should know this.

Cheers,

Lou
Louis Charbonneau
Bureau Chief. United Nations
Reuters News Thomson Reuters reuters. com

This email was sent to you by Thomson Reuters, the global news and information company.

"UNCA" in the for-now banned e-mail is the United Nations Correspondents Association. The story developed here, as to Sri Lanka;here is a sample pick-up this past weekend in Italian, to which we link and give full credit, translated into English (NOT for now by Google) --

The fool of Reuters to the UN

by Mahesh - 12/27/2013 -calls for the removal of a letter from the head of his bureau at the United Nations, pursuing a copyright infringement on the part of the competition
Try to make out a small competitor from the UN press room and then, when these publish proof of intrigue, invokes the copyright to release a letter from compromising the network.

MOLESTA-AGENCY  Inner City Press is a small non-profit agency covering the work of the United Nations for years, with an original cut, which become distasteful to many. Unlike other matching its founder master sent never tires of asking account of inconsistencies and contradictions and often refers to unpleasant situations involving colleagues and their reportage, too often twisted to obvious political contingencies.

THE LAST CAVITY – In this case the clutch is born when Matthew Lee, Inner City Press ever since he founded and made famous in the 90 's, challenged the screening of "Lies Agreed Upon" in the auditorium of the United Nations, a filmaccio of propaganda in which the Sri Lankan regime tries to deny the now tested massacres (and destroyed by International Crisis Group). In the piece, in which denounced the incident, Lee also announced that the screening was organized by the President of the United Nations Correspondents (UNCA), Italian Giampaolo Pioli, skipping the normal consultation procedure for this kind of events. Pioli then, was also accused of being in a conflict of interest, given that he rented an apartment in New York an apartment to the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Sri Lanka, named Palitha Kohona and is suspected of war crimes.

TRY WITH THE COPYRIGHT- So he comes to the letter with which Louis Charbonneau, Reuters bureau chief at the United Nations, wrote to the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU) calling for the ouster of Lee, which the UN being there for years as his colleagues, but we see that this was not done. Lee, however, comes into possession of the letter and publish it, and then writes to Google millantando Charbonneau the copyright on the letter and asking for removal pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That is a bit like if a company request the removal of a compromising document from a journalistic investigation, in the name of copyright, a claim clearly absurd and disingenuous.

HARASSMENT AND THREATS- In the letter published, Charbonneau complained about the aggressive behavior of Lee and cited among the witnesses to cases where Lee had been "aggressive" towards him even Pioli. Lee with that piece has gained throughout a hail of protests from Sri Lanka and an investigation by the UNCA, along with death threats and other well-known amenities the refugees away from the clutches of the regime, but it is still there. Behold then the brilliant idea of Charbonneau, improperly used copyright law to censor the objectionable publications to a colleague and competitor. Pity that Lee has already resisted successfully in similar cases, in 2008 was the same Google to remove your site from being indexed in the news in its search engines, it is unclear what impetus behind, only to regret it soon after that even Fox News had cried scandal.