ICP Asks UN Why Only Uses UNpaid Interns Again, Favoring Rich, UN Cites Using Interns Outside NY and Geneva, Has No Data

ICP Asks UN Why Only Uses UNpaid Interns Again, Favoring Rich, No Data

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- Amid mounting questions about the UN using only unpaid intern, favoring the most affluent, Inner City Press on September 4 again asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: I have been meaning to just follow up on this.  The letter that was written to the Secretary-General by unpaid UN interns in New York and Geneva, seemed like it was responded to by USG [Under-Secretary-General Yukio] Takasu.  It's not clear — I guess I wanted to ask you.  Is the Secretariat saying that it's an administrative instruction some time back that precludes them from paying interns from the developing world, so that the pool can become more diverse?  Or are they really saying that the GA has definitively made it impossible?  Is there any consideration in asking the GA to address the issue?

Spokesperson Dujarric:  It's a valid of question.  I haven't seen the letter.  I need to take a look at it.  Nobody has shared it with me.  Nobody tells me anything here.  You know, I think on the issue of interns, it is also — I think it's also important to remember that the UN has a global presence, not in every country in the world, but almost every country in the world, and we do take interns locally, so I think there's also… obviously there's a greater mass of interns at our Headquarters station, but we do take interns… most UN offices take interns in different places, which doesn't include the need to travel.  Let me look in the letter and I'll get back to you.

Inner City Press:  Can you get data on that?

Spokesman:  Probably not, because I don't think it exists.  

  Really.

Back on August 11, Inner City Press asked Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I'm sure you've seen this story about the New Zealand intern at the UN in Geneva living in a tent.  I want to ask sort of a more fundamental question, which is that what would the UN say to those who say that by having so many entirely unpaid internship, it basically, it… it limits this possible career step of learning to only the most affluent people…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think it's a very valid point.  The debate around the payment of interns is one that's been going on for some time.  We are not in a position to pay our interns.  It's too bad in a way, because I think it does limit the opportunity to those who are able to pay their own way and house themselves.  Unless the General Assembly changes those rules, there is no change in sight.  What's important is that any internship be used as a learning opportunity for the intern and not be used as, you know, as free labour or as a substitute for work done by staff.

Inner City Press:  Okay. Is that something that the Secretary-General has ever raised to the GA [General Assembly] or…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I'm not aware of that.

    Back in May 2013 an internship in the UN was auctioned off, ultimately for $26,000, in a processextensively covered and questioned by Inner City Press. The UN said it was embarrassed by the auction or the "optics," and resisted Inner City Press' questions about the sale.

After Inner City Press asked several times about it, the description of the internship being auctioned was"amended," as the UN spokesman put it, to read:

"Take advantage of this exclusive opportunity for a 6-week internship in NYC working for Bruce Knotts, Chair of the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights. You will gain inside knowledge of just how the UN really operates and have tremendous opportunities to make invaluable connections. This truly is the ultimate internship opportunity for any college or graduate student looking to get their foot in the door!"

The auction, on CharityBuzz.com, said it was to benefit the RFK Young Leaders. Press inquiries to that entity and its parent, the RFK Center, did not yield any answers. But today, at least, we have a detailed answers about how such internships or grounds-passes work, from the Director of the UN Department of Public Information's Outreach Division, Maher Nasser.

  Inner City Press, along with another DPI question to which it is still awaiting the answer -- why was UNTV shut off while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was giving a speech on Monday morning -- asked Nasser, "I heard when you told DPI-NGO orientation that it makes the UN look bad, and that the UN is not obligated to let the person ('m. alam') who purchased the internship into the building. Is that the case? And you could keep me informed on this, when the purchased internship is to begin and what the UN / DPI does?"

  To his credit, Nasser provided Inner City Press with the most detailed UN response to date on the auctioned internship:

Subject: Question re the auctioned internship, thanks
From: Maher Nasser [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:38 PM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com

Hi Matthew, On the internship issue, as you know from the relevant website, this was for an internship with an NGO, not an internship at the UN. The optics of it and use of the UN's image implied otherwise, which is why I flagged it in the orientation with newly associated NGOs as something that hurts the UN and is not acceptable.

Every NGO associated with DPI is entitled to only six yearly passes, two of which are for youth representatives. The names to whom the passes are issued are provided by the president/head of each NGO. By providing the names, the NGO certifies that these names represent the NGO concerned. Up till now, we have had no reason not to grant a pass to people designated as representing an NGO. An old system of temporary passes issued throughout the year was discontinued by DPI several years ago.

With reference to the six names provided, and as I said above, this has not happened in the past, if we find out that someone had to pay or buy a slot on that list, we would take it up with the concerned NGO and depending on the feedback, not endorse that name for a pass.

In view of the case of the auctioned internship, we are preparing language to be added to the forms to be completed by DPI associated NGOs to avoid such possibilities in the future.

  So at a minimum, the "m. alam" on whose behalf $26,000 was bid for this internship might not be endorsed for a pass to actually enter the UN. Would they get a refund? And what do the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights and the RFK Center have to say? Watch this site.

Footnote: While we await another division of DPI's promised answer to the Free UN Coalition for Accessabout how and why UNTV shut off during Saeb Erakat's speech, we note complaints received about the press corpsmove-back to the Secretariat building, particularly among broadcasters about special charges, special deals, special inquiries. The DPI official in question is aware of several of these complaints; watch this site.

Inner City Press Asks UN Why Only Uses UNpaid Interns, Favoring Rich, General Assembly Blamed - But Has Ban Ki-moon Ever Raised It?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- Amid mounting questions about the UN using only unpaid intern, favoring the most affluent, Inner City Press on August 11 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I'm sure you've seen this story about the New Zealand intern at the UN in Geneva living in a tent.  I want to ask sort of a more fundamental question, which is that what would the UN say to those who say that by having so many entirely unpaid internship, it basically, it… it limits this possible career step of learning to only the most affluent people…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think it's a very valid point.  The debate around the payment of interns is one that's been going on for some time.  We are not in a position to pay our interns.  It's too bad in a way, because I think it does limit the opportunity to those who are able to pay their own way and house themselves.  Unless the General Assembly changes those rules, there is no change in sight.  What's important is that any internship be used as a learning opportunity for the intern and not be used as, you know, as free labour or as a substitute for work done by staff.

Inner City Press:  Okay. Is that something that the Secretary-General has ever raised to the GA [General Assembly] or…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I'm not aware of that.

    Back in May 2013 an internship in the UN was auctioned off, ultimately for $26,000, in a processextensively covered and questioned by Inner City Press. The UN said it was embarrassed by the auction or the "optics," and resisted Inner City Press' questions about the sale.

After Inner City Press asked several times about it, the description of the internship being auctioned was"amended," as the UN spokesman put it, to read:

"Take advantage of this exclusive opportunity for a 6-week internship in NYC working for Bruce Knotts, Chair of the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights. You will gain inside knowledge of just how the UN really operates and have tremendous opportunities to make invaluable connections. This truly is the ultimate internship opportunity for any college or graduate student looking to get their foot in the door!"

The auction, on CharityBuzz.com, said it was to benefit the RFK Young Leaders. Press inquiries to that entity and its parent, the RFK Center, did not yield any answers. But today, at least, we have a detailed answers about how such internships or grounds-passes work, from the Director of the UN Department of Public Information's Outreach Division, Maher Nasser.

  Inner City Press, along with another DPI question to which it is still awaiting the answer -- why was UNTV shut off while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was giving a speech on Monday morning -- asked Nasser, "I heard when you told DPI-NGO orientation that it makes the UN look bad, and that the UN is not obligated to let the person ('m. alam') who purchased the internship into the building. Is that the case? And you could keep me informed on this, when the purchased internship is to begin and what the UN / DPI does?"

  To his credit, Nasser provided Inner City Press with the most detailed UN response to date on the auctioned internship:

Subject: Question re the auctioned internship, thanks
From: Maher Nasser [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:38 PM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com

Hi Matthew, On the internship issue, as you know from the relevant website, this was for an internship with an NGO, not an internship at the UN. The optics of it and use of the UN's image implied otherwise, which is why I flagged it in the orientation with newly associated NGOs as something that hurts the UN and is not acceptable.

Every NGO associated with DPI is entitled to only six yearly passes, two of which are for youth representatives. The names to whom the passes are issued are provided by the president/head of each NGO. By providing the names, the NGO certifies that these names represent the NGO concerned. Up till now, we have had no reason not to grant a pass to people designated as representing an NGO. An old system of temporary passes issued throughout the year was discontinued by DPI several years ago.

With reference to the six names provided, and as I said above, this has not happened in the past, if we find out that someone had to pay or buy a slot on that list, we would take it up with the concerned NGO and depending on the feedback, not endorse that name for a pass.

In view of the case of the auctioned internship, we are preparing language to be added to the forms to be completed by DPI associated NGOs to avoid such possibilities in the future.

  So at a minimum, the "m. alam" on whose behalf $26,000 was bid for this internship might not be endorsed for a pass to actually enter the UN. Would they get a refund? And what do the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights and the RFK Center have to say? Watch this site.

Footnote: While we await another division of DPI's promised answer to the Free UN Coalition for Accessabout how and why UNTV shut off during Saeb Erakat's speech, we note complaints received about the press corps move-back to the Secretariat building, particularly among broadcasters about special charges, special deals, special inquiries. The DPI official in question is aware of several of these complaints; watch this site.

At UN, Sucking Up and Trying to Censor, CBS Pamela Falk Takes UNCA Lower, Then Just Uses It

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 10 -- For years the UN has used its creaky UN Correspondents Association to do some of its dirty work: to request that some reporters be relieved of their office space, to try to silence certain reporters.

   In 2012 it hit a new low, with UNCA first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters leaking internal UNCA documents to the UN's Stephane Dujarric with the goal of getting Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Click here for that.

  With that exposed, including through Inner City Press requests under the US Freedom of Information Act to Voice of America (subject to FOIA since it is a US government agency), the UN and its UN Censorship Alliance had to try a new tack.

  And so instead of an Italian journalist, a seemingly more active America was sought to accept the 2013 presidency of UNCA: Pamela Falk of CBS News. Until 2013, she was infrequently at the UN, often as a sort of pro-UN tour guide for students from Hunter College. But this was to be the capstone of her UN-covering career.

  But she did not reform UNCA, quite the opposite. Under her "leadership," UNCA Executive Committee members like Charbonneau and Tim Witcher of AFP tore down fliers of the new Free UN Coalition for Access. 

  Falk tried to re-assert the monopoly of UNCA, for example directly a former Reuters henchwoman to demand the first question from Bolivia's Evo Morales in February. But Morales said no, and a fiasco ensued.

  Soon Dujarric, to whom Charbonneau had leaked, convened a meeting between UNCA and FUNCA. Even Falk said that the meeting was on the record. But when Inner City Press reported on it, Dujarric sent Inner City Press a threat letter, trying to kill FUNCA off as an interlocutor.

  But as media access continue to decline, at the Security Council stakeout where UNCA pushed for a rule banning work space for reporters, to theGeneral Assembly with the media confined to booths with no tables and no interpretation, FUNCA continued its work.

  Under Falk, some on the UNCA Executive Committee and affiliated moved into anonymous social media trolling, against FUNCA and Inner City Press. Dujarric and those above him were aware of this but either did nothing, or nothing effective -- because it continued, even on August 10.

  Falk got intern "Press" passes, making a mockery of the rule that only journalists were allowed into the press briefing room and into the stakeout. She devoted the Focus Booth, which was supposed to be for working journalists to call UN peacekeeping missions into the field, to UNCA intern use.

While some might say Falk did this things to try to defend or rehabilitate UNCA, in the end Falk started using UNCA for her self, to promote inane suck-up stories about Western missions to the UN and the chefs who cook for them. It's a sad end, all around. Watch this site.

   

For-Pay Syria Session Called "UN Briefing," UNCA Breaks Rules, Anonymous Trolls

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 27 -- The Alliance between this UN and the United Nations Correspondents Association is not only one of censorship but also now of fraud.

  On July 26 at noon Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's outgoing deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey a simple question: was the upcoming presentation by Syrian opposition figures in UN Room S-310, given by the UN to UNCA, a "UN Briefing" or not?

  UNCA only e-mailed its notice to those who pay it money;throughout July 26 not only UN accredited correspondents who choose not to join the discredited UNCA but also some member states criticized the Syria opposition session.

  Del Buey said he would answer this simple question, but more than a day later: no answer. Instead, after Inner City Press in its name and that of the new Free UN Coalition for Access asked the question, the UNCA Executive Committee related trolls re-started their anonymous social media campaign: UN Cowardice Association.

  Meanwhile, after UNCA inappropriately asked the UN to stream its private for-pay briefing over UNTV, it put it online in piece, labeling it "Special UN Briefing."

  At the beginning, UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk claimed this was a briefing for the "UN press corps" -- but it was not, it was only publicized to those who pay money to UNCA. This is fraud.

  The UN's Department of Public Information participates in this fraud. DPI insists that only journalists can go into the UN press briefing room, and that only journalists with eight clips can get a "P" Press pass to the UN.

  But as Inner City Press has reported, shown on film and now had informally re-confirmed, DPI has given at least one non-journalist UNCA intern a Press pass, and entry into the briefing room and stakeout area. 

  The non-journalist intern set up shop in the locked "UNCA" Room 310, and in a so-called focus booth that was supposed to have UN phone service to the Peacekeeping missions.

Actual journalists have been told to leave these focus booths, and even had their UN entry pass de-activated after being found working there. But the UNCA intern is there.

  UNCA has an employee, also given a "P" Press pass, of whom it is not clear there are eight clips. This is the organization which tries to get thrown out of the UN journalist who actually ask questions and publish articles. 

  The mockery of DPI's purported rules occurs as DPI cites a rule it passed with UNCA, Banning signs, to threaten Inner City Press with suspension or withdrawal of accreditation for hanging a FUNCA sign on the door of its shared office. (This door was blocked on Friday by the backwash of UNCA's dubious "Special UN Briefing.") UN Censorship Alliance.

  It is that the Executive Committee of UNCA has show disdain for freedom of the press, asking in 2012 that articles and photographs about Sri Lanka and French officials be taken off the Internet then seeking ouster from the UN for resistance to censorship.

  UNCA First Vice President Louis Charbonneau of Reuters has been shown to have given an internal anti-Press UNCA document to UN accreditation official Stephane Dujarric three minutes after stating this would not be done. (Audio here.) 

  This is called spying for the UN: this UNCA is a fraud, particularly when it comes to any claim of supporting freedom of the press or defending the rights including due process rights of journalists.

  The UN's room S-310, it was said before the move-back, would be open to all UN accredited correspondents, not locked, or key with the UN Spokesperson's Office. But UNCA keeps it locked, or its "Press" Passed intern inside, when not in the "focus booth" taken from other journalists.

  The UN has been formally asked to explain the July 26 briefing and claims made since; it has yet to respond on that or on how it violated its own stated rules about who gets a "Press" pass and entry into briefings. This is the UN Censorship Alliance. Watch this site.

Footnote: now comes word, not from any e-mail from UNCA, that while the UN Spokesperson's Office still can't or hasn't explained the status of these sessions publicized only to those who pay money, the next "newsmakers" on tap at the UNCA private club are the "Club des Chefs des Chefs" -- those who cook for heads of state. UN Culinary (or Corruption?) Alliance.

   

UN Blacks Out Security Council, With Broken Wi-Fi, No Table, No Phones So UNCA Intern With Press Pass

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 24 -- Not only does the UN refuse to answer or now often even take questions: it is making it harder for the press to cover the Security Council and General Assembly.

  Complaints have been mounting for weeks, of UN Television being unintelligible, playing "English Only" though this is the UN, even blacking out speakers, from Palestine's Saeb Erekat and the UN's Hilde Johnson. 

  Wednesday after these complaints, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's outgoing Deputy Spokesman Eduardo Del Buey what FUNCA has raised for day to the UN, video here from Minute 11:35.

 The UN wireless Internet in front of the Security Council often does not work. Inner City Press including this in a story (on Burundi) on July 22, and FUNCA has been following up ever since.

  Journalists cannot hear what happens in open meeting while also waiting to ask questions. That seems to some to be the goal. While the Security Council stakeout before and during the relocation had a media work table in front of it, now by decision of the Department of Public Information it does not.

  Ironically DPI's new UNTV contractor TeamPeople does have a table, and even plugs in to their electrical outlet in such a way that reporters cannot go to the other end of the stakeout to speak to diplomats. The lack of a table was justified on aesthetic grounds, misplaced; but these do not seem to apply to DPI's own contractors.

After FUNCA advocated on these issues and turned in a petition with signatures from resident correspondents on several continents, DPI's response was to threaten to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' accreditation, forhanging a sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access on the door of its shared office, photo here.
 
  This comes as Inner City Press and FUNCA have shown that the United Nations Correspondents Association's first vice president Lou Charbonneau immediately leaked to DPI an internal UNCA anti Press document. Click here for story,here for document. Neither the UN nor its UNCA have taken any action on this.

  Meanwhile DPI allows its partner UNCA, increasingly the UN Censorship Alliance, to have two signs, a big meeting room, a locked pantry for its wine glasses and its own office. But there's more -- DPI has also given UNCA intern(s) "P" (Press) entry passes, and allowed them into the UN briefing room and stakeout.

  DPI tells even diplomats, at least those from some countries, they can't come into the briefing room. But a non-journalist intern of UNCA (the UN Censorship Alliance) is allowed in, repeatedly. Why? See e.g., video here, at Minute 0:44.

  But there's more! DPI promised correspondents that they would be UN telephones, to for example call people in the UN Missions in the Congo, Sudan, Somalia and Haiti, in the so-called focus booths. Then FUNCA was told this is not possible, the focus booth are being given to journalists.

  Well, the focus booth closest to Inner City Press' (and FUNCA's) shared office has had the UNCA intern in it. Long time journalists weren't allowed to use this space, had their passes changed due to lack of a space.

  But the non journalist, introduced to Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson by UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS as "one of our interns," was working in there with a "P" Press pass.  That's why there's no phone service to the UN Peacekeeping missions?  Watch this site.