On Female Genital Mutilation, Inner City Press at UN About Ethiopia, Indonesia, Egypt, (Southern) Mali, FARC in Colombia

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- On the International  Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, at least as marked at the UN, Inner City Press asked Nafissatou J. Diop, Senior Adviser & Coordinator of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation Cutting what if anything the UN is doing on the issue in Indonesia, as well as Ethiopia and Egypt, listed as the top three. Video here.

  Inner City Press asked Malian singer and FGM survivor Inna Modja if the UN's MINUSMA mission does anything on the topic. It emerged that FGM is “only” in the south of Mali - not what's called the Islamist part in the north, Azawad. Go figure.

  Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access thanked the panelist, especially victims. The old UN Corresponnets Association wasn't present - too busy throwing the Press out of the Press Briefing Room, thensending spam.

   Finally, in Spanish, Inner City Press asked Patricia Tobon, FGM Survivor, Representative from the Embera community, Colombia, if a peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC would help on the issues. Her answer is at the end of the video.

Previously:  “Women's relative invisibility in traditional news media has crossed over into digital news delivery platforms,” a UN Women press conference diagnosed on November 23. Inner City Press asked the panelists how they measured this, with Twitter; one wondered if they considered Snapchat, for example, as a digital news delivery platform, given how people watched the US presidential debates over it.

  The underlying study was by, in part, WACC, which turns out in the footnotes to stand for World Association for Christian Communication. Inner City Press asked if that doesn't present a problem in some parts of the work, for example the Middle East. The panel, included  Nanette Braun and Karin Achtelstetter, answered that their polling showed it doesn't. Perhaps one hears what one wants to hear.

  The conclusion on new media being like the old, however, resonates. How different is the coverage of US foreign policy by the celebrated, or corporate, new media platforms?

 How could the UN and its Security Council be better covered and informed by social media? Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft this question on Septembe 23, not in the UN but a dozen blocks away at a Digital Diplomacy / “Soft Power” event by Facebook and Portland Communications. #Periscope video here.

   Rycroft told Inner City Press that the best Security Council meetings he's been in have allowed in outside voices; he noted it is still not the custom to tweet from inside consultations, though perhaps it should be.

  Inner City Press asked the US State Department's Moira Whelan about US Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones quitting Twitter back in March, after one of her tweets about bombing of the Tawerga was attacked. Whelan said the State Department wants to support its diplomats when they come under fire; Rycroft said if a diplomat's intentions were good and well-considered, they should be supported even if things go wrong.

   Facebook's Katie Harbath mentioned that India Prime Minister Modi would be meeting with Mark Zuckerberg; an hour later at the Indian delegation's press conference in the Waldorf Astoria's huge Empire room, there was confirmation of this and other tech meetings for Modi. (Inner City Press asked about UN Peacekeeping, whose chief Herve Ladsous recently linked UN rapes to “R&R” on video, here.)

  There was talk of the UN and social media; from Inner City Press' and the new Free UN Coalition for Access' perspective, the UN itself far too infrequently responds and engages, and much of the corporate press corps resents new media coverage of the UN, for example with the old UN Correspondents Association's Valeria Robecco saying multimedia is NOT a photographer to block coverage of the Pope's visit, click here for that. But we will continue: watch this site.

IMF Tells ICP of Lagarde on SDGs, Q of Financial Inclusion, Indonesia, Nepal, Grenada

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 3 -- When the International Monetary Fund resumed its biweekly embargoed media briefings on September 3, Inner City Press submitted four questions. Inner City Press asked:

"Who from the IMF is coming to the UN General Assembly (and SDGs, etc) week in late September, and what is their program? What meeting will they participate in? What do they hope to accomplish?"

IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray answered, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

“Matthew, and others, the Managing Director is scheduled to attend the UNGA particularly the SDGs segment in late September. There was a previous meeting in Addis Ababa we participated in at a high level that dealt with the SDGs... The IMF's Executive Board recently endorsed a 50% increase in access to all the funds concessional lending facilities and to maintain a 0% rate for low income countries that struggle with disasters and conflict. The Executive Board of the Fund has endorsed IMF's engagement in sustainable inclusive growth, on which we'll be elaborating in the weeks and months to come.”

  One focus should be financial inclusion, on which we'll have more during UNGA week.

 In the meanwhile, Murray also said Managing Director Christine Lagarde is about to arrive in Ukraine for "opportunistic" meetings with the authorities, and an IMF mission team will go there on September 22.

  On September 3, Inner City Press also submitted questions about Nepal and Grenada, as well as this:

"In Indonesia the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Taufik Kurniawan recently said, 'We do not ask for IMF support in crisis;' at the UN in NY on Sept 2, the Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Indonesia H. Fadli Zon told Inner City Press much the same thing. What is the IMF's response to these criticisms or resistance to the IMF, from elected representatives of the country where the IMF now plans its 2018 Annual Meetings?"

  We hope to receive answers.

  Back on July 8 when the International Monetary Fund released reviews and papers about the United States, complete with support of the Dodd Frank Act and mentions of anti money laundering protection Inner City Press asked about the proposal to raise the definition of Systemically Important Financial Institution from $50 billion up to $500 billion and if tight AML strictures are to blame for cutting off remittances to Somalia.

  Aditya Narain, IMF mission chief for the Financial Sector Assessment Program and deputy director, Monetary and Capital Markets department, told Inner City Press that the IMF believes such definition should give predictability, but should be based on risk and not necessarily only asset size.

  Narain told Inner City Press, "On the first one, our general belief is that supervisory approaches should be risk based, and therefore the materiality and proportionality of institutions should be taken into account for to develop supervisory frameworks. At the same time, we also recognize that it’s important to have some clear rules, regarding a unit, in this case size of institutions, because not only does it set a baseline of expectations, but it also provides a useful framework for people to anchor their expectations on. So that’s why, in a sense we would agree that it’s important to make these approaches risk based and therefore not dependent on size alone. I should add also, that our only political ideology is financial stability, for the purpose of this exercise.

  But will this be used FOR the Senator Richard Shelby draft bill?

  On remittances, Aditya Narain said it is an important question but one that the IMF is dealing with in other venues; it apparently wasn't raised to the US during this process. Why not?

 Narain told Inner City Press, "On the regulatory question, this is an issue which is being discussed in several forums where the IMF has been participating, and this is an issue not just for the US, although it has been most discussed in the context of the US, but the effects of the AML on remittances and the result, the stringent adherence to standards has led to a concern more globally that might be affecting the flow of remittances to those jurisdictions... where such remittances and the channels through which they flow are more important. We have not discussed this... there is work ongoing in the Fund, including in collaboration with other institutions like the World Bank... and we expect to be able to have more information on this in a few months time."

   In the embargoed media conference call, two questions in a row went to the Financial Times, which opined that the IMF report takes the side of the Democratic Party. The IMF disagreed. The IMF said, in writing, “As the epicenter of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States passed a major law in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, to reform its financial system. Officials need to complete the rulemaking under the law, while parts of reform agenda face legislative proposals to water them down.”

   Central Banking asked two questions and Reuters one, on federal insurance regulation.  Watch this site.

Barclays Celebrated at UN Despite Coal Mining, Cutting Remittances; Statoil in Myanmar

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 23 -- Alongside the UN's Climate Summit on September 23, corporations came through the UN Press Briefing Room promoting themselves and their good deeds.

  Inner City Press asked Barclays' vice chair Jeremy Wilson about his firm cutting off remittances to Somalia, and directly on climate, funding mountain-top removal coal mining and Bumi Resources in Indonesia, displacing many people.

  Wilson did not directly respond to these issues, except to say that things "move more quickly" on some areas.  Did he mean, geographic areas? 

  Inner City Press asked a panel on the UN Private Sector Forum, including Statoil, about that firm's exploration off Myanmar, and impact on Mozambique. The answer came from another panelist, that one should or can look at a company's trajectory and not where it is at the moment. 

  The point, though, is whether the UN should be praising and "blue-washing" corporations without asking about coal, remittances, displacement. What are the standards?

   The night before the People's Climate March, the UN buildings on First Avenue will be lit up with photos and footage of trees and fish and, it seems, written messages. It is called "illUmiNations."

   Inner City Press late on September 19, after covering the Ukraine, Iraq, Ebola and Iran nuclear meetings inside the UN, went out and found a sort of trial run for the screeningtaking place on First Avenue, already lined with NYPD cement blocks. Photo here.

   Looking back at the UN's press release for the upcoming "VIP Press Screening" -- hard to know how they could exclude non-VIPs from it, or why they would want to -- there were laudatory quotes about UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and: 

Obscura Digital has staged similar large-scale architectural mapping projection events on the Sydney Opera House, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. For examples of previous work, please visit the following linkhttp://wdrv.it/1tx7Emd.

 In that video compilation, well worth watching, there are also corporate projects for Coca-Cola and YouTube owned by Google, with history at the UN. 

  A message Inner City Press photographed on September 19, here,  was "In nature's economy, the currency is not money but life." Is this true of Coca-Cola?

   There are questions about the UN's UNcritical approach to corporations and corporate "partnerships."

   In the run up to the UN's September 23 Climate Summit, the UN put out a media advisory promoting the participation of 14 corporations ranging from Saudi Aramco through Cargill, McDonald's and Walmart to Bank of America and Credit Agricole. 

  Inner City Press on September 16 asked Summit promoter Robert Orr how these 14 were selected for listing in the media advisory, and if the UN had reviewed their wider record. For example, the recent court decision involving Cargill and child slavery in Cote d'Ivoire, orSaudi Aramco not allowing employees in Saudi Arabia to protest.

   Orr mentioned a luncheon during the summit about carbon pricing and the UN Global Compact, a branch of the UN which repeatedly says it does not enforce substantive standards, only encourages reporting and dialogue.  Well, Saudi Aramco did not respond to the complaint about “employees allegedly dismissed after being detained for participation in civil rights protests in Saudi Arabia.”

   And what of the environment? Bank of America has been the number one funder of mountain-top removal coal mining, but Ban Ki-moon made it chairman the chief of his Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

  On behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, Inner City Press asked that those making commitments, like the 14 corporations named, hold question and answer sessions during the summit. We'll see.

   

For UN Security Council Spain, Turkey & New Zealand Face Off For Two Seats, Of Smart Phone Apps & Future Races in 2016 and 2018

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 12, more here -- New Zealand, Spain and Turkey are facing off at the UN for two seats on the Security Council. Which one will be left out? 

  Two years ago it was Finland, whose Permanent Representative gave Inner City Press an inflated vote count of 165 on the eve of the election. This has become urban legend and now no one makes predictions. But there is spin.

   New Zealand is a small country, but one which can relate to outsiders like Eritrea. The last time they were on the Council, they spoke up for Rwanda. They fought a war with Turkey, which has led to a bond. Still, the Kiwis were surprised when Turkey jumped into what would have been a “clean slate” with Spain.

  There should have been no surprise: Turkey feels itself a rising power, they paid for and branded the area outside the Security Council, previously open to the press, into a “Turkish Lounge.” But how will their crackdowns inside Turkey, and now reticence to join up with Obama's coalition against ISIS play?

  For the European Union, could the live with both Western European and Other Group seats going to non-EU members? Then again, it is pointed out, the EU spans three UN regional groups: WEOG, Eastern Europe and even the Asia Pacific Group, through Cyprus. So how could the UN tell its members how to vote? The election's set for October 16.

  In the next contested WEOG race in 2016 it's slated to be Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy; in 2018 it'll be Belgium, Israel and Germany. Inner City Press -- and as regards press freedom issues, the Free UN Coalition for Access -- will be covering these and other races: Fiji and Malaysia this time; in 2016, Kenya versus Seychelles, Thailand versus Kazakhstan. In 2017, Kuwait and Yemen face off; in 2018, Maldives and Indonesia. Watch this site, and this one.

Footnote: At least since 1961, New Zealand has produced a UN Handbook. Its new one was unveiled on September 12 at the country's UN mission on Third Avenue, in hardcopy and a smart phone app. There was Chardonnay and schmoozing, a handbook-themed chocolate bar (hopefully not bad karma, after Finland's Martti bar); and previously copies of the handbook. The 1961 edition listed the UN General Assembly's “Committee for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea, UNCURK.” Plus ca change.

   

At UN, Of Indian Raga, Ukraine & Ban Ki-moon Politics, Concert Where Sri Lanka War Crimes Were Spun

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- The UN hosts many cultural events, but few as moving as the concert of Sarod master Amjad Ali Khan and two of his sons on March 24. It was sponsored by India's Mission to the UN and was followed by a reception at the Mission which included the musicians.

  UN officials ranging from former Indian Permanent Representative Vijay Nambiar to Department of Field Support Ameerah Haq were in attendance, along with current Permanent Representative from such countries as Turkey, Angola, Fiji, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil and the European Union.

  Hardly anyone left the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium during the more than one hour concert. There were ragas and a song by Tagore; there was drumming and call and response. And afterward, there was conversation.

  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon having met in Ukraine, intentionally or not, the head of the Svoboda party was commented on. More than one attendee called it a new low; there was a prediction, again, that Ban will leave the UN to run for president of South Korea. 

   In this scenario, would there immediately be an election for a new, five or ten year SG, from Eastern Europe? Not necessarily: Deputy Jan Eliasson could fill in, or someone like Helen Clark be appointed "ad interim." Such was the discussion.

  On the substance of Ukraine and Crimea, some scoffed at the "Western hype," pointing out the South Sudan, Timor Leste and Kosovo all broke away. Others called the "land grab" a major precedent, with some blaming it on perceived Western weakness. In either view, Russia was not as "isolated" in the UN as it is being made out in Western capitals.

  But back to the inside-UN story: at the end of the concert, Ambassador Sinclair now the deputy chief of staff of General Assembly President John Ashe was called forward, as was a tireless UN events coordinator. The destruction or busting of the UN staff union under Ban Ki-moon was commented on.

Footnote: The concert took place, Inner City Press notes, in the same Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium where the scribes of the old United Nations Correspondents Association not only screened a propaganda film of the Sri Lankan government denying war crimes, but then tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for writing about the background, click here for that. 

  Now the Free UN Coalition for Access opposes all that, defending the right of free press in the UN and beyond. And of free music, with Amjad Ali Khan as a role model. Watch this site.

   

UN's Post Sri Lanka Failure "Rights Up Front" Plan Goes Behind Closed Doors, Morality Test Cited

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 17 -- Following the UN's self-described "systemic failure" in Sri Lanka in 2009, in stages it is announcing an action plan it calls "Rights Up Front."

Inner City Press obtained and published the RUF Plan on October 1; after that, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky refused to confirm the documents, telling Inner City Press it "may or may not exist."

  Since then a number of member states asked Inner City Press for information about the plan. On Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson held a closed door briefing to member states about the RUF plan.

Hours before at Tuesday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Eliasson's briefing would at least be web-cast. Nesirky said to "Ask the President of the General Assembly's office." So Inner City Press did, and received this back at 3:02 pm: "The briefing is being webcast."

The webcast cut off after Eliasson's statement (which we expect to receive and post) and replies by Jordan and Bulgaria. Inner City Press spoke with diplomats outside the meeting, held in Conference Room 3, and was told that while "only Indonesia raised questions," a number of states did not speak.

A Latin American diplomat told Inner City Press that "more bureaucracy can't guarantee morality." An African diplomat, shaking his head, said that it was the Western P3 on the Security Council who by demanding in Syria from the beginning the ouster of Assad had guaranteed three years of carnage.

As Inner City Press has reported, the Western P3 never even tried to get a formal Security Council meeting on Sri Lanka in 2009. They seemed in favor of the elimination of the Tamil Tigers, then afterward feigned surprise at how many civilians had been killed.

An Asian diplomat told Inner City Press it is all double standards, "they criticize smaller countries for execution but said nothing when Saddam was killed, or about the drones."

Several diplomats said that the statement of Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan, in favor of the RUF plan, "set the tone." The bottom line is whether this UN actually implements it. Watch this site.

   

UN Mercenary Panel Asks of DPKO Use in Valencia & Congo, Somalia Still Murky

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- When the UN's Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries held a panel discussion Wednesday morning, listing forty minutes of questions and answers, it was assumed that for example the UN's use of armed guards in Somalia, so far left murky, could be clarified.

  But the Q&A was devoted only to member states, mostly for speeches. From the podium, it was claimed that all of the UN's uses of armed guards must comply with international law. Why then won't the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous answer if the Geneva Conventions apply to its impending offensive in the Eastern Congo?

  Rick Cottom of various UN staff unions said that in his experience, UN Security would rather be the one in the field, not paid outsiders.

  Lou Pingeot of Global Policy Forum asked why the UN Peacekeeping location in Valencia, Spain (the lawless establishment before its General Assembly approval Inner City Press covered at the time) uses outside armed security, and noted UN Peacekeeping's use of Saracen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  Saracen is now repackaged as "Sterling," as noted in the most recently Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group report. In Somalia, as Inner City Press reported, David Bax of the UN Mine Action Service is said to provide information to US intelligence through the shadowy PMSC Bancroft Global. Bax has been photographed tooling around Mogadishu with armed guards.

The UN's Nicholas Kay acknowledged to Inner City Press that "some of our guards are armed." How many? From which company? Denel? Where is the transparency? We will pursue this.

But Wednesday morning the interventions were all from member states. Indonesia spoke of being part of the Syria observer mission killed off by Herve Ladsous. The Free UN Coalition for Access believes minimal transparency requires disclosing who can ask questions, raised here. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Arms Trade Treaty Passes With 22 Abstentions and the 3 No's, Woolcott Tells ICP of Speakers List

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 2 -- When the Arms Trade Treaty was blocked on March 28 under the rules of consensus, the headlines read that only three countries were against it: Syria, North Korea and Iran.

But even then, in speeches like Sudan's and Belarus', one could hear abstentions coming.

And Tuesday in the UN General Assembly there were 23 abstentions, including the two most populous countries on Earth, China and India, and the most populous predominantly Muslim country, Indonesia.

Afterward, Inner City Press asked ATT president Peter Woolcott, after thanking him on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, about criticism of his allowing, before a promised ruling, Mexico and others to make an argument against the UN meaning of consensus. 

  He replied that there was a speakers list that he followed. He said he personally does not favor negotiating under the rule of consensus. Other might say: it showed.

 Inner City Press asked Mexico's Luis Alfonso de Alba, who gave a thoughtful answer about "no vetoes," that may resonate in the UN Budget Committee.

   It was announced that Angola did not abstain, but voted Yes (hence, 22 abstentions, still quite populous.)
In speeches before Tuesday's vote, as Syria's Bashar Ja'afari spoke, US Ambassador Susan Rice was walking out. After that, a full hour into the speeches, Qatar's delegation rolled in. They ended up abstaining. Qatar supports rebels in Syria.

Sudan on the other hand said it was abstaining, citing the failure to address the arming of “mutinous” groups, like the SPLM-North and rebels in Darfur.

Russia, which by a point of order Thursday night put an end to the Mexico-launched attempt to redefine consensus, on Tuesday morning zeroed in on what knowledge of genocide might mean, in Article 6.3. Its Ambassador Churkin said Russia would not have broken consensus on March 28, but would now abstain, as did China. It's hard to call this consensus. Watch this site.

At UN, French Polynesia Wants on Decolonization List As France Bombs in Mali

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 25 – Even as France intervenes in its former colony Mali, its current colony French Polynesia is pushing forward at the UN for self-determination.

Amid news that French Polynesia is pushing to be put on the list of the UN Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization, Inner City Press spoke Monday to a number of Pacific island Permanent Representatives.

Some are formally in support of French Polynesia's request. Another pointed out that at the Non Aligned Movement meeting in Tehran, self determination was referred to, but not the C-24 list. “This puts us in a delicate position,” the Permanent Representative told Inner City Press, openly wonder about Indonesia and Chile, for example.

More cynically or analytically he told Inner City Press, “this is a drama for Oscar Temaru, for the upcoming election or for his legacy.” But isn't decolonization the trend? Shouldn't it be?

Later on Monday a large country's Deputy Permanent Representative mused to Inner City Press that self-determination and sovereignty are “two different things, just look at the Falklands or Malvinas.” Look indeed.

But France and its colonies are not an issue not only in the Security Council, but in the UN's North Lawn building. Watch this site.

After Sandy, Diplomats Work from UN Not Dark Missions, Chinese Generator, Windex Underground

By Matthew Russell Lee

 

UNITED NATIONS, November 2 -- Hurricane Sandy's impact on the UN, downplayed in a "rosy" November 1 press conference by UN officials, was not limited to the UN Secretariat's downed e-mail and website and corridors in its "3B" third sub basement "like the movie Titanic" -- countries' missions were also impacted.

  Among the Permanent Five members of the Security Council, only China had its Mission's power cut off. It is located on 35th Street, four blocks into the blackout zone.

  Inner City Press has been told that a generator turned on and stayed on, unlike at nearly NYU and Bellevue Hospitals. But with Con Ed still off, some UN thinkers are looking at the Host Country Agreement.

  Despite lack of electricity and even running water in Chinatown where he lives, a worker at the Vienna Cafe has remained upbeat, even as the volume of coffee cups and left over sushi and pastries as risen with increased use of the Cafe.

   Another sample Security Council member, South Africa, still has the power in its 38th Street Mission off. Permanent Representative Baso Sangqu and his political coordinator took off Thursday evening leading a Council mini trip to Timor Leste.

  But its other diplomats remained working in New York, visible in the UN's Vienna Cafe, having a wide range of meetings. The same could be said of Indonesia, with its building on the same 38th Street block as South Africa's mission.

  Just as neither rain nor snow nor "gloom of night" were said to stop deliverers of mail, countries' diplomacy continues, even when the UN Secretariat leaves its web site down for days.

  Another country's Permanent Representative told how his wife took visitors to Union Square and found "food being handed out, no power... like a war zone."

   Diplomats in and beyond the Security Council complained to Inner City Press on Friday about the UN's response to Hurricane Sandy, and about public statements since that some call "misleading."

  For its part, despite a statement November 1 at 2 pm that the UN's website would be "back up" that day, Inner City Press noted this was not the case at 5 pm that day, see Twitter photo here. At 5 pm on November 2, the UN website was still "unavailable... undergoing urgent maintenance."

   A long-time Permanent Representative told Inner City Press the UN Secretariat "asked for money to be Number One in preparedness and business continuity, but look at this -- email down, member states weren't kept informed." We will have more on this on Monday, if not before.

   Staff members complained to Inner City Press they are being "forced" back to work in the nether regions of the UN, given "only Windex and a dust mask." One asked, "Will they even have an OSHA certified inspection? Is it safe?"

    Inner City Press at Friday's noon briefing, the first in a week, asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey about the inspection, and safety. He said he would look into any inspection. We'll see. Watch this site.