At UN Indigenous Forum, Of Hawaii Telescope & West Papua, Vanuatu

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- When a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues related press conference was held on April 22, Inner City Press asked Ghazali Ohorella about opposition to a telescope on sacred land in Hawaii, and about Western Papua, mentioned in the Forum the day before.

  Oherella named the sponsors, including from Canada and Japan, adding the construction was postponed when indigenous people occupied the mountain.

 On West Papua, Forum member Valmarine Toki said the story is sad, but the inclusion on the UN Fourth Committee's list of French Polynesia should be celebrated. Ambassador Odo Tevi of Vanuatu, praised the day before, apologized their was only so much he could say. 

 On the evening of April 21, Inner City Press covered the Forum's cultural event in the UN lobby, photo here, Vine here.

  When the Forum started up on April 20, Inner City Press asked about the World Bank's “Climate Fund,” and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's closing down aboriginal communities and what he called the “lifestyle choice” they represent.

   The new chair of the Permanent Forum, Professor Megan Davis, said that Abbott's comments had not gone down well in Australia, and not only about aboriginal people. She asked if farming, heavily subsidized, is not lifestyle choice. Some surmise it's hydrocarbons under the land that explains the closing of the communities.

  And now Abbott is going to New Zealand - where he faces further protests of his remarks and actions.

   Joan Carling, also on the UN panel on April 20, told Inner City Press that the Climate Fund, REDD and similar project involve reducing the forests to the carbon issue and to payments.

Footnote: While the April 20 press conference was in the UN Press Briefing Room, there was no UN transcript or even summary made. Worse, the UN collaborated with itsUN Censorship Alliance (some of whose board members have tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN) in shifting the Chagos Refugees Group's Olivier Bancoult into an almost empty session in UNCA's private club, not on UNTV, not reported. 

(Inner City Press previously asked about the Chagossians, here to outgoing UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who seemingly against character turned censor-inward in farewell.) Inner City Press based on similar collusion by UNCA quit the group and co-founded the Free UN Coalition for Access which is covering the Forum and how the UN treats it. Watch this site.

   

UNreal: At UN, Kingdom of Atooi Claims "Seat 25" and Pitches New Currency, Follow this Money?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- Puerto Rico is debated at the UN as a case of decolonization, but Hawai'i is not. Still on Monday the King or Ali'i Nui of of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi appeared at a UN press conference to launch a new currency and encourage people to buy it.

Inner City Press asked three questions: is the King trying to get Atooi inscribed on the list of non self governing territories, as happened May 17 with French Polynesia? The answer was unclear. The king, Aleka Aipoalani, said Atooi already has a seat -- "number twenty five" in the General Assembly, he said.

  What are the benefits of minting your own currency? Will the coins just be worth the weight of the precious metals they're make of, or will there be some sort of sovereignty premium? 

   Here the King deferred to his expert, a man citing "Sovereign Economics" and displaying slides of the coins. Everyone will have their own reasons for buying, he said.

  Finally Inner City Press asked, who is sponsoring this press conference? It's said that only if sponsored by a country or a UN entity is a press conference allowed and televised. (Others come in through the backdoor of UNCA, but these are not on UN Television.) The answer, after a pause, was that the press conference was sponsored by the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

  Only an hour and a half earlier, Inner City Press covered then wrote about a press conference of the PFII, with representative from Kenya, Fiji, Canada and Alaska. This currency press conference felt different. Like we said, follow the money. Watch this site.

Footnote: all this takes place in a UN that wouldn't even distribute the letter of Somaliland, and is purported to "give" its airspace by the Somalia. We'll have more on this.

On Budget, US Puts a Ham-Hand on Scale, Oman Rejects, Jane Holl Lute in Hall

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 21 -- With US President Obama flying to Hawaii as the fiscal cliff approaches, at the UN in New York US representative Joe Torsella is described by multiple sources as playing ham-handed fiscal hardball with Oman on the UN's scales of assessment.

  Much earlier today Inner City Press reported on "some attempts by the United States to split the Group of 77 irritated the Group of 77 and made progress stop."

  Now we can report more. A finely tuned proposal was on the table, balancing a 7.5% discount in the peacekeeping scales of assessment and the change of category of Oman (like the change of Bahrain two years ago)/ Oman agreed to forgo a one-time windfall, and the deal seemed ready to seal.

  But then US ambassador for management Torsella, the sources say, gave a so called "non paper" to Oman's representative. This document argued clumsily that the coordinator of the proposal Singapore would be making Oman pay more. This was shown to countries including Singapore, not a source for this, and was rejected by Oman.

  Then Torsella compounded matters by demanding to know why Oman had shared his "non-paper." It's called transparency, Joe, said one close observer.

  Another well placed Fifth Committee source told Inner City Press that Torsella's "attempt with Oman threw things off and [angered] both EU and Oman. Oman got so angry it almost made G77 take its proposal off the table, and EU then made effort to finalize quick before things spiralled out of control." The genial chairman had no comment. Ah, diplomacy.

  As noted, Torsella was at Morocco's End of Security Council Presidency reception in the UN Tent Thursday night, just behind the North Lawn building where the talks are talking place. Man's got to eat. But how will re-costing play out? 

  The General Assembly hall was been booked for 10 am on Monday, Christmas Eve. Still time for seven fishes? (Click here for that story from last year). We jibe because he can more than take it.

   Thinner skinned, on Lockheed Martin, spotted at the UN on Friday by Inner City Press sources was Jane Holl Lute, previously an Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping and now a top official in the US Department of Homeland Security. 

  Why was she at the UN? 

   Sources exclusively tell Inner City Press it is in connection with the Under Secretary General for Safety and Security position being vacated by fellow American Gregg Starr. Click here for Inner City Press' exit Q&A with Starr.

 On the upside, if she looked beyond DSS, Holl Lute could do more to make the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy credible after the 126 FARDC raped in Minova than has USG Ladsous, click here for that.

Footnote: Inner City Press also report that on a $8.7 million budget proposal to "implement Rio+20," on Thursday the European Union and Japan proposed to cut that budget to zero. This gave rise to howls among the Group of 77 and China, and accusations that the EU and Japan are hypocrites on sustainable development and the environment.

Inner City Press went to Friday's noon briefing and asked, "given how important sustainable development is to the Secretary-General and his statements, it’s been proposed by Japan and the European Union to cut funding for the implementation of Rio+20 to zero. This was a proposal made by the two, by Japan and the EU, yesterday and it seems to me… what is… does the Secretariat think about no implementation of Rio+20?"

Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey: Well, Matthew, I am not going to get into a budget discussion until we find out what the General Assembly decides.

Inner City Press: But can you say that there will be a Secretariat statement on the budget when it comes up?

Deputy Spokesperson: If the Secretariat believes that the… that a statement is warranted, one may be issued, but I can’t promise you anything on that.

  Now we can report that they also proposed that, not to be "absorbed" like Rio+20, the budget should including $40,000 for a consultant on the arms trade treaty. More screams of hypocrisy. And so it goes at the UN.