UN Proposes Discouraging Ruling & Royal Goodwill Ambassadors After Dodging Inner City Press' Aicha Gaddafi Expose

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 -- That Libya's Colonel Moammar Gaddafi's daughter Aicha Gaddafi was a UN "Goodwill Ambassador," when first reported by Inner City Press in February 2011, was an issue the UN did not want to address. 

  First Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office left the question unanswered after Inner City Press asked at the February 20, 2011 noon briefing. Three days later, former UN Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown told Inner City Press he hoped it wasn't true -- but it was.

  Now UN sources have exclusively provided Inner City Press with a draft proposal that, if implemented, might avoid for the UN some such embarrassments and outrages in the future. The proposal, from UNDP, is that the UN system discourage naming as Goodwill Ambassadors "immediate family members of individuals holding or running for political office, as well as members of Royal Households."

   Ironically, UNDP even as it makes this proposal has as a Goodwill Ambassador Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway. But it would apply to many other current UN system Goodwill Ambassadors, such as the First Ladies of Cameroon and the Dominican Republic, and Royal family members of Jordan, the UAE, Morocco, Norway, Denmark, Monaco, Bhutan and Thailand.

  Here exclusively are two proposed paragraphs, then how they would apply to current UN practice, and a comment -- appreciated and included for fairness -- from the UN's Outreach Division chief, Maher Nasser, that updates are needed. 

  Some might call them reforms:

Messenger of Peace/Goodwill Ambassador draft guidelines & meeting minutes

Dear All, With our apologies, please find a revised version of the draft guidelines. We neglected to add language that UNDP had proposed.

FN3: "immediate family members" replaces "spouses"

The designation of immediate family members of individuals holding or running for political office, as well as members of Royal Households, is discouraged to avoid the appearance of vested interest.

PARA18: the following text has been added

5. Appointment letters should specify the beginning and end dates of the term of the appointment. If a decision is made to terminate or not renew a partnership with a Goodwill Ambassador or Messenger of Peace, an official letter shall be sent expressing appreciation for his/her services and clearly indicating the date on which the partnership comes to an end. Language should also be included specifying that as of that date, the individual should no longer use the title of Goodwill Ambassador or Messenger of Peace, and that his/her biographical data, websites and other promotional materials should be modified accordingly.

We understand that some of you have shared the previous version with your legal departments, and very much regret this inconvenience.

As always, we look forward to your feedback.

Please review the guidelines and convey your agency's approval of this version by 31 January.

Best regards,

Chief, NGO Relations, Advocacy & Special Events
NGO Relations
Creative Community Outreach Initiative
Messenger of Peace Programme

   Aicha Gaddafi was, clearly, an immediate family member of a person holding office. But currently, for example, the UN system has the following as Goodwill Ambassadors, many of them " members of Royal Households" --

Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan, spouse of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai

FAO: Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak al Ketbi (United Arab Emirates)

Margarita Cedeño de Fernández (Dominican Republic) First Lady

UNAIDS: HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit (Norway)

Her Serene Princess Stephanie (Monaco)

UNICEF: HM Queen Rania (Jordan)

UNESCO: Chantal Biya (Cameroon) First Lady of Cameroon

H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover (Principality of Monaco)

H.R.H. Princess Firyal of Jordan

Bahia Hariri (Lebanon) Parliamentarian

H. R. H. Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco

UNWOMEN: HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol (Thailand) Granddaughter of the Thai King

HRH Princess Basma bint Talal

UNDP: Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway

UNFPA: Princess Basma Bint Talal of Jordan

Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck (Bhutan) Queen Mother of Bhutan

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

WFP: HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (Thailand)

Inner City Press sought comment from the UN's Outreach Division; its director Maher Nasser quickly replied: 

"On the Goodwill Ambassadors, the existing guidelines are several years old and in need of an update.  We have been working with the focal points in the UN System on Goodwill Ambassadors to update them for quite a while now. Until these are approved by all, this is still work in progress, so I cannot comment on the specific language until it is final.

"The revised draft aims to ensure consistency in the selection criteria of GWA across the UN system and that we are able to best harness the potential created by a celebrity's association with a UN organization and/or a certain cause."  We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

   

As Ireland Takes Back UN Lawyer O'Brien, Who Refused Press Questions, Successor More Open?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 16 -- During Patricia O'Brien's tenure as the UN's chief lawyer, she has repeatedly refused to answer questions ranging from the UN's introduction of cholera into Haiti through the detention of UN staff by Sri Lanka to the right of the Palestinians to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

  The most recent times Inner City Press has ask that Ms. O'Brien even take if not answer questions, it has been told "that will not happen." Her silence has been complete, unlike her predecessor as UN chief counsel, Nicolas Michel.

  Michel used to hold sit down press conference, for example about the Hariri Tribunal in Lebanon; he granted interviews even on the topic of his receipt of a housing subsidy from the Swiss government.

  O'Brien by contrast refused to explain her ruling effectively killing off the Security Council reforms proposed by the so-called Small Five. 

  After a formal claim was filed about the UN's introduction of cholera into Haiti, UN officials started refusing to answer even about safeguards for the future, referring all questions to O'Brien's Office of Legal Affairs. But O'Brien never answered.

  In 2009, when she came for a press conference about treaties, Inner City Press asked her about the legal dimension of two UN system staff members who remained incarcerated in Sri Lanka after what they say was government torture. Video here, from Minute 42:01.

 The Treaty Event booklet distributed at the event listed the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN and the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel. Sri Lanka has acceded to both of them, during the General Assembly meetings in 2003. But are they being complied with and enforced?

 "I am not here to speak about enforcement" of the Conventions, Ms. O'Brien said. She referred to the UN's ironically titled "depository" role, and that she also advised the Secretary General on the "application of treaties."

 But where do these interpretations go? In Sri Lanka, the country head for the UN made belated statements about the disappeared staff that many thought ignored the government's responsibility under the Conventions. Amin Awad did not assert that the staffers were immune, at least within the scope of their work for the UN, but only that the government should inform the UN of the detention.

 "We are not going to get into interpreting specific provisions," Ms. O'Brien said.

  There were and are also questions about the UN's involvement in the Cambodia genocide tribunal, Somalia piracy enforcement, policing the (further) abuse of the UN's name, including for commercial gain, and of the UN's and OLA's commitment to freedom of speech and of the press.

  But Patricia O'Brien refused to answer any of them.

  And so it is good news for the UN, at least for its transparency, that on January 16 it was announced that "Patricia O’Brien, who now serves as legal counsel and under-secretary general at the United Nations secretariat in New York, has been nominated as Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva."

  (Inner City Press tries to be charitable as officials leave the UN. But it difficult, from a media perspective, for a stonewalling official.)

  Now if only this type of removal from the UN by re-assignment by home country would occur from another UN Under Secretary General who refuses to answer questions, Herve Ladsous of France.

  While censoring and decaying UNCA never did anything about the refusal of O'Brien to hold a press conference, or Ladsous to take questions without discrimination, the new Free UN Coalition for Access is focused on these and related issues.

  Incoming USGs, for Legal Affairs and any other post, should be required to commit to hold press conferences and answer questions, FUNCA proposes. They are paid with public money. Watch this site.

At UN, French Obama Diss Report Led to Lebanese Press Ban, Collective Punishment Alleged, Ongoing Blacklist Denied

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 5 -- In September a newspaper in Lebanon ran a quote from a “Western diplomat” saying that even US President Barack Obama couldn't stop the Special Tribunal on Lebanon investigating the bombing that killed Rafiq Hariri, under a quote by French ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud.

This set off a diplomatic chain reaction that resulted in the French Mission to the UN banning the Lebanese press from briefings and, at least some sources say, in the firing of the journalist.

According to multiple sources, and as partially confirmed by French Mission spokesman Stephane Crouzat, when the Assafir newspaper in Lebanon published without byline a reference to Obama not being able to stop the STL, the French Mission immediately traced it to journalist Khaled Dawoud, then employed by Al Jazeera but also reporting for Assafir (sometimes spelled As Safir).

Two results are not in dispute: Mr. Dawoud, and also other Lebanese reporters, were barred from subsequently briefings by Ambassador Araud. Additionally, Mr. Dawoud's employment with Al Jazeera ended. At least three sources affirm that the French diplomatic corps reached out to Al Jazeera. Others say it was based on complaints and a power struggle with Al Jazeera's Washington bureau chief.

Incontrovertibly the reporter Khalid Dawoud was told by Al Jazeera that his services were no longer needed. The upshot, the sources say, is that a country which claims to be for freedom of the press acted such that a UN correspondent lost his job.

The French Mission, when asked by Inner City Press to comment for this story, provided the following statement by spokesman Stephane Crouzat:

“Dear Matthew, In response to your questions: A Lebanese journalist writing under a pseudonym did not respect the off the record rules. France did not receive any complaint from the USA. French diplomats did not call any news media in this regard. The French mission will continue to work with all journalists who abide by the rules.”

But numerous sources have told Inner City Press that other Lebanese reporters beyond Mr. Daoud have been barred from French mission briefings; the sources liken this to collective punishment. Some Lebanese reporters, and this one, have been told they are not on any ongoing blacklist. We'll see. Watch this site.

Footnotes: Ambassador Gerard Araud, as evidenced most recently by his on the record Q&A with the press after the Security Council's November 5 session about the STL, is among the more articulate and self depreciating diplomats at the UN.

But press access issues at the French Mission to the UN predate Araud's arrival, back at least to a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy during which a “French passport only” briefing was held in the UN press room.

While there are rumors of Araud soon leaving New York and the UN, one hopes the over-controlling and de facto blacklists, the use of access for leverage, can stop.

In UN Council, Hariri Tribunal Friday, Pascoe's Views & Video Choi, Darfur Deference

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 1, updated Nov. 5 -- Preventive diplomacy under another name and the Hariri Tribunal on Lebanon will be be addressed by the UN Security Council in this first week of the UK's presidency, Inner City Press learned Monday afternoon.

The UN has been very quiet about when United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission prosecutor Daniel Bellemare will be in New York, with UN spokesman Martin Nesirky shirking off questions at Monday's noon briefing. By late afternoon from a Council member Inner City Press learned that the briefing is Friday, November 5 under “Any Other Business.”

[Update: while it was supposed to be Bellamare, he canceled a trip to Boston, New York and Washington because of the attack on Tribunal staff -- this was first reported by Al Nahar -- so it is UN lawyer Patricia O'Brien.]

Also contentious is the concept of preventative diplomacy. The UK has wanted to hear more from the UN Department of Political Affairs, and proposed a wide ranging presentation by DPA chief Lynn Pascoe for November 4 under the heading “preventive diplomacy.”

Some other Security Council members, wary of the Council's mission creep and of that heading, pointed out that it is not on the Council's agenda. Thus it will simply be called “Briefing by Mr. Pascoe,” and seemingly will be confined to a closed door session. One hopes that Pascoe's grab of the time of the General Assembly created Good Offices on Myanmar staff will be raised.

On November 3, Cote d'Ivoire envoy Choi will brief the Council by video link up. Even that gave rise to protests, from some members who do not want the precedent of envoys no longer coming to New York to make their presentations.

They should be aware: UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari was in New York last Monday October 25 while they met about Sudan, but did not come to the meeting. “On leave,” Inner City Press has been told.

An issue that remains unresolved by the Council but should be early in the UK presidency is that of those in Abu Shouk IDP camp who have been arrested and harassed since the Council's visit in early October. Now two have been named, while another Council member says the list that should be looked at is longer. What will the UK do? Watch this site.

Footnote: Also on Darfur, when Inner City Press asked the UN's Special Rapporteur on Racism and Xenophobia Githu Muigai to comment on Sudan, accused of genocide, he declined to, saying the International Criminal Court is considering it. So does being indicted have its benefits?

UN's Top Lawyer Patricia O'Brien Refuses Questions on Cambodia Tribunal, Ignores UN Logo Misuse

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ola1cambodia030309.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 -- The UN's new top lawyer, asking Tuesday about the funding and corruption crisis at the UN-affiliated genocide tribunal in Cambodia, refused to answer any questions about it.

At a press conference at UN headquarters in New York, Patricia O'Brien purported to respond to twenty minutes of questions about the so-called Hariri Tribunal, concerning the deaths of some two dozen people in Lebanon. The Cambodia tribunal, already plagued by allegations that local Cambodian staff paid bribes to get their jobs, is threatened with closure according to its top judge due to a lack of funds.

As Inner City Press asked what the UN is going to do, Ms. O'Brien said she would not answer any questions on that or any other non-Hariri Tribunal topic. Inner City Press followed up, will there be another opportunity to ask these questions? I am not undertaking any further commitment of availability, Ms. O'Brien said.

Several comparisons came to mind. The Cambodia tribunal deals with more than a million deaths, while the Hariri Tribunal deals with two dozen. On the latter, however, the UN has good news, or thinks it does. Its corruption-plagued tribunal, the UN would apparently prefer just went away.


Of this UN-assisted tribunal, "a report surfaced last week on the German legislature's Web site alleging that a top U.N. tribunal official had acknowledged the kickbacks and accused a senior Cambodian administrator of corruption. The head of public affairs for the tribunal refused to comment on the report."

Ms. O'Brien's predecessor Nicolas Michel, while more focused on Lebanon than Cambodia, nevertheless answered questions about Cambodia. Ms. O'Brien, since being awarded the UN's top legal job, has rarely if ever been available to the media. She came to one press conference and left before taking any questions.

Two weeks ago, Inner City Press approached Ms. O'Brien in the hallway of the UN, after a ceremony in which she and two dozen other Under Secretaries-General signed "accountability" compacts with Ban Ki-moon. Inner City Press told Ms. O'Brien of recent instances of corporations publicly using and misusing the UN logo and name to promote their business. Previously, when Inner City Press had raised such cases to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, which Ms. O'Brien now heads, some actions had been taken. Ms. O'Brien instructed Inner City Press to proceed as it had in the past.

Inner City Press e-mailed to Ms. O'Brien, at her UN-listed address, a half-dozen examples of corporate use of the UN logo. Having no response, Inner City Press sent the examples again, on the eve of Tuesday's press conference. Still no response, until the terse statement that only Hariri Tribunal questions about be entertained, and no other Q&A opportunity was envisioned.

The UN is ostensibly a public organization; in any event, Ms. O'Brien's salary is paid by taxpayers all over the world. While Ban's UN talks about accountability and transparency, even its top lawyer appears to resist or oppose both. We will have more on this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ola1cambodia030309.html

UN's Ban Prepares for a "No" from Obama, Dialogue Except in Sri Lanka

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban2obama021009.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 10 -- When Ban Ki-moon returned to New York from Gaza earlier this year, he said he'd lost his voice. This month when he came back from travels he briefed the Security Council and then the press. Fourteen media questions were allowed. Gaza and the prospective indictment of Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir came up again and again, while Congo and Somalia, for example, were not asked about. (Inner City Press asked about Ban's failure to call for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.)

Only once did Ban veer from the questions to unilaterally clarify something, and this concerned his reported invitation for Barack Obama to visit the UN on climate change in March. Ban said he would understand if Obama is busy, he is "just settling in," Ban said. To many, it sounded defensive and craven, as if saying in advance, "if I get dissed, it is no loss of face."

The press conference's first question was about Obama and Iran: has Ban told Obama to start peace dialogue now? Apparently not. Ban was seen Monday night at Iran's celebration in the UN's Delegates' Dining Room of the 30th Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Tuesday he said that all problems should be resolved by dialogue and not military force -- a principle he did not apply, however, to Sri Lanka.

Next Ban was asked if the foreseen rightward shift after Israel's elections will make peace more difficult. A supporter of Hezbollah, interviewed by Inner City Press at the Iranian celebration, said he hoped "Bibi or the further right wing guy wins," apparently in order to bring the Apocalypse on more quickly.

Ban was asked about the Gaza crossing, then about Myanmar. A UN staffer who works on the issue later told Inner City Press that Ban's envoy Ibrahim Gambari's recent visit was a success, even though Senior General Than Shwe didn't deign to meet with him. "Where is the leverage?" the staffer asked.

Ban had called his meeting with Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe a success. He was pressed on this, and said that Mugabe is happy to work with UNICEF and the World Health Organization, and that the UN's Catherine Bragg will soon visit the country.

The sixth question concerned the so-called Hariri tribunal, investigating the assassination five years ago. The timeline calls into question what the new Bhutto panel can do. Ban said he will be sending his top lawyer, Patricia O'Brien, to The Hague for the formal opening of the tribunal.

Ban was asked if he listens to Obama's speeches, and in response he read out the statement reducing expectations for his mini-climate summit in March. He was asked, in French, about Libya and the financial crisis. Ban's answer, also in French and leading to applause, contained references to "son leadership" and "mon leadership."

Al Arabiya asked about the Hariri tribunal, can justice be expected. Would Ban meet with Sudan's al-Bashir if he gets indicted? The question was not answered; Ban would seek Ms. O'Brien's advice. But clearly the scenario's been thought through. So what is the answer?

Ban was asked about Pakistan and about Kashmir, in response to which he said all problems should be solved by dialogue and not military force. Then Inner City Press asked why this doesn't apply to Sri Lanka. "Because Sri Lanka is not on the Security Council's agenda," Ban replied. This interpretation of the UN Charter was openly rejected, later in the day, by the president of the Security Council, Japan's Yukio Takasu. Video here.

Ban was asked about the Gaza inquiry, and whether Israel should pay for damage to UNRWA. The final question was whether Ban would support suspending the International Criminal Court's process against al-Bashir. Ban appeared to say, if Sudan implements the type of legal proceedings the ICC requires. But would a country put its own sitting head of state on trial?

For the record, the Somalia question if allowed would have been that last week the UN's top envoy for Somalia, Amedou Ould Abdallah said that the press should not have reported on an incident in which African Union troops fired into a crowd in Mogadishu, killing between 25 (according to Bloomberg News) and 39 (according to local sources). He said there should be a moratorium on reporting from Somalia, and compared those who did report to the Mille Colline radio station which stoked genocide in Rwanda. The UN Secretariat has been asked to respond to the comments, but so far there's been no change or retraction. What is your position?

This question was put to the Committee to Protect Journalists' Joel Simon earlier on Tuesday by Inner City Press, and he expressed concern, mostly at the Rwanda analogy. Video here. But what about the UN calling for censorship?

Footnote: The US Mission to the UN, moving en masse to a meeting of the so-called Friends of Georgia on the UN's second floor, could or would not yet speak for Obama. Surprise was expressed that Hillary Clinton didn't immediately appoint her personal spokesman to the same job for the State Department. The talk is of the new Mission spokeman, Mark Kornblau, now set to begin on February 23. And when, as seemed to be Ban's focus on Tuesday, will Obama decide when he's coming to the UN? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban2obama021009.html