Human Rights Watch Goes Soft on UN, Doesn't Cover December 17 Peacekeepers Rapes Report, Who Watches the Watchers?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 27 -- Today Human Rights Watch released its 2016 report with much fanfare, purporting to cover full-year 2015. But for example on the issue of UN Peacekeepers involved in sexual abuse, HRW's January 26 report says the UN's  “panel was due to release its report on December 17.”  

   The December report, which HRW did not cover, slams two UN officials who already left as well as UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous. See Jan 26 coverage here. At the UN, Ladsous on camera linked the rapes to “R&R,” video here -- something HRW never said anything at all about.

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is mentioned seven times in HRW's 659 page 2016 report, mostly praising him for canned statements issued during a trip to Central Asia. For example:

"During a June visit to Tashkent, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Uzbek government... During his June visit to Turkmenistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a forceful speech" -- really? 

   This is typical of HRW: it wants to show its access to the UN and so goes soft on any criticism of it. When HRW comes to the UN, they often go behind closed doors with those who do not question them, to whom they dole out their own canned quotes and embargoed statements and reports. As set forth below, HRW refuses to even disclose what issues it raises to Ban Ki-moon. 

  Who watches the Watchers?

Back on March 5, 2013, ten days after Haiti cholera claims were deemed “not receivable” by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Human Rights Watch boss Ken Roth met with Ban.

  One might think HRW would issue some summary or read-out, at least of the issues it raised to Ban. But one would be wrong.

  Immediately after the scheduled meeting, Inner City Press wrote to Roth, his press office and UN lobbyist asking to be informed of the topics

raised to Ban Ki-moon at the meeting listed from 4:40 pm to 5:15 pm, including but not limited to:

did HRW/Roth raise the issue of Ban's dismissal of claims the UN brought cholera to Haiti?

did HRW/Roth raise any needed safeguards for the UN's use of drones?

did HRW/Roth raise the issue of Ban Ki-moon praising post-war steps taken by Sri Lanka?

did HRW/Roth raise the UN's “Human Rights Due Diligence Policy” including how it relates to Mali and/or the 126 FARDC rapes at Minova in the DRC?

Awaiting your response, on deadline.

  The last question, on the Democratic Republic of Congo, is meant to assess whether Roth and his HRW only raise the issue of the M23 rebels, or for example the 126 rapes committed by the Congolese army which is supported by the UN, which now seeks to use drones.

 On Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon as exclusively exposed by Inner City Press on February 22 accepted a whitewash report from Japan and others, then praised it in Geneva on March 1. Did Roth use his Ban face time to raise the issue? Many would like to know.

  But there has been no response from HRW. The seemingly automated Twitter feed of Ken Roth has been churning out messages unrelated to the meeting or UN, one an hour, on Pakistan and Azerbaijan and urging the EU to press Burma / Myanmar.

  But what did HRW “press” Ban about? What about Pressing HRW to disclose at least this? Previously in May 2011, its UN lobbyist Philippe Bolopion replied to Inner City Press' request for a read-out of Roth's meeting with Ban Ki-moon thusly:

Date: May 28, 2011 at 10:04 AM
From: Philippe Bolopion [at] hrw.org
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Cc: Ken Roth [at] hrw.org
Subject: Re: Press request for read-out of Ken Roth's meeting with Ban Ki-moon, incl re Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Sudan / Haroun, or explanation

Hi Matthew: To preserve our ability to have frank discussions with UN officials and advance our advocacy goals, we don't typically communicate on the content of discussions we have with them.

Very best

Philippe Bolopion, UN Director
Human Rights Watch

  And now? Is this acceptable? Watch this site.

Footnote: Perhaps just as HRW tells its big donors what it is raising, it tells some journalists (its UN lobbyist used to be a UN correspondent). But the UN Correspondents Association, increasingly known as the UN's Censorship Alliance, chose on the day Ban's Haiti cholera dismissal was announced at the UN noon briefing to demand the first question -- only to ask about an unrelated letter it had sent to the UN Department of Public Information about the floor plan of the renovated Security Council. This is an issue on which UNCA fell asleep in 2012 as it sought to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

  On the Minova rapes, for example, no reporting from the UNCA “leaders” - rather, hallways “exclusives” from UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, click here to view. This and HRW's secrecy are two reasons the UN has become what it is.

UN's Ban Ki-moon in Uzbekistan Praises Karimov on Rule of Law, Abused Human Rights Defender Elena Urlaeva UNmentioned

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 12 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, embroiled in a scandal of his UN covering up alleged child rapes by French peacekeeping soldiers in the Central African Republic, continues his long trip through Central Asia then for murky talks on Yemen in Geneva on June 14, his statement in Uzbekistan on June 12 did not mention the case of Elena Urlaeva.

  In fact, Ban lavished praises on Islam Karimov, just as his spokesman did on Azerbaijan and its Baku 2015 European Games, for which UNICEF is the "Official Child Rights Organization. (See that Inner City Press story here.)

  On June 12 in Tashkent, Ban Ki-moon said:

"This is my second visit to Uzbekistan as Secretary-General.  I thank again His Excellency President Islam Karimov and the Government and people of Uzbekistan for their hospitality... Uzbekistan has initiated a number of good laws.  President Karimov has emphasized the importance of the rule of law. But laws on the books should be made real in the lives of people. Uzbekistan has made important progress in eliminating child labour in the cotton sector.  Now more must be done to address the mobilization of teachers, doctors and others in cotton harvesting, and prevent the maltreatment of prisoners...I am pleased to be in Uzbekistan to underscore the commitment of the United Nations to work with you to advance peace, development and human rights for all.”

Really. 

   Back on June 4, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, transcript here: and below, about the case of Elena Urlaeva in Uzbekistan. Dujarric said "We're looking into it" - but has not answered on it in the five days since.

  Ban, for whom answering press questions at UN headquarters is more and more rare, did an "interview" with his own UN News Center about this trip, before he left. The Free UN Coalition for Access finds this a dubious practice.

Here's from the UN's June 4 transcript:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about Uzbekistan.  In light of the Secretary-General's trip, and just generally, there's been a pretty high-profile arrest and abuse of a human rights defender, Elena Urlaeva, who is known to document forced labor in cotton fields there.  She was arrested, subject to cavity searches, X-rays.  A number of human rights groups have spoken against it.  And I wonder, one, is the Secretary-General aware of it?  And, two, is this the type of issue…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  We've seen the reports.  The Secretary-General will very much bring up the issue of human rights on his… on every stop in the region.  You know, the human rights record in the region is mixed.  That's evident.  We obviously welcome the engagement of these countries with the UN human rights machinery.  The Secretary-General will tell his… reiterate to his interlocutors the importance of working with that machinery, offering the UN's help in working to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council.  I think by the end of 2016, all the countries will have gone through the Universal Periodic Review.  We also have a human rights centre in Dushanbe, which is there to help, as well.  And he will also make the point of the importance of civil society, of a free civil society that can operate, so the human rights issues will be raised.

Inner City Press:  But, on this particularly kind of pretty high-profile case, does he have a view of the arrest and some would say torture of this activist?

Spokesman:  Obviously, we're… we're… we're looking into it but it's clear that civil society groups in every country need to be able to operate freely.

   We'll continue to watch how Ban addresses these issues during his travel - and after.


Inner City Press also asked about the Rohingya:

Inner City Press:  Rohingya question?  The Asian Centre for Human Rights put out a report blaming not just the Government of Bangladesh but the UN/UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] for failure to register up to 2,000 Rohingya within the country, which it says makes them much more susceptible to trafficking because they don't have the stature… they haven't been registered by the UN system.  So, I wonder, is there some reason that UNHCR or the UN system to the level of Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar and the people working on it…

Spokesman:  Let me look into that specific report.

   Ten hours later, there had been no response. Watch this site.
   

As Ban Ki-moon Nears Uzbekistan, Inner City Press' Urlaeva Question UNanswered, Ban's UN Self-Interview

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 9 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, embroiled in a scandal of his UN covering up alleged child rapes by French peacekeeping soldiers in the Central African Republic, on a long trip through Central Asia then for murky talks on Yemen in Geneva on June 14, the question remains whether he will raise human rights issues in the countries he visits.

   Back on June 4, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here, transcript here: and below, about the case of Elena Urlaeva in Uzbekistan. Dujarric said "We're looking into it" - but has not answered on it in the five days since.

  Ban, for whom answering press questions at UN headquarters is more and more rare, did an "interview" with his own UN News Center about this trip, before he left. The Free UN Coalition for Access finds this a dubious practice.

Here's from the UN's June 4 transcript:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about Uzbekistan.  In light of the Secretary-General's trip, and just generally, there's been a pretty high-profile arrest and abuse of a human rights defender, Elena Urlaeva, who is known to document forced labor in cotton fields there.  She was arrested, subject to cavity searches, X-rays.  A number of human rights groups have spoken against it.  And I wonder, one, is the Secretary-General aware of it?  And, two, is this the type of issue…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  We've seen the reports.  The Secretary-General will very much bring up the issue of human rights on his… on every stop in the region.  You know, the human rights record in the region is mixed.  That's evident.  We obviously welcome the engagement of these countries with the UN human rights machinery.  The Secretary-General will tell his… reiterate to his interlocutors the importance of working with that machinery, offering the UN's help in working to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council.  I think by the end of 2016, all the countries will have gone through the Universal Periodic Review.  We also have a human rights centre in Dushanbe, which is there to help, as well.  And he will also make the point of the importance of civil society, of a free civil society that can operate, so the human rights issues will be raised.

Inner City Press:  But, on this particularly kind of pretty high-profile case, does he have a view of the arrest and some would say torture of this activist?

Spokesman:  Obviously, we're… we're… we're looking into it but it's clear that civil society groups in every country need to be able to operate freely.

   We'll continue to watch how Ban addresses these issues during his travel - and after.


Inner City Press also asked about the Rohingya:

Inner City Press:  Rohingya question?  The Asian Centre for Human Rights put out a report blaming not just the Government of Bangladesh but the UN/UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] for failure to register up to 2,000 Rohingya within the country, which it says makes them much more susceptible to trafficking because they don't have the stature… they haven't been registered by the UN system.  So, I wonder, is there some reason that UNHCR or the UN system to the level of Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar and the people working on it…

Spokesman:  Let me look into that specific report.

   Ten hours later, there had been no response. Watch this site.
   

As Ban Ki-moon Hits the Road, Inner City Press Asks UN About Uzbekistan Treatment of Elena Urlaeva, Criticism of UN on UNregistered Rohingya

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, embroiled in a scandal of his UN covering up alleged child rapes by French peacekeeping soldiers in the Central African Republic, sets sail on a long trip away from New York, the question arises whether he will raise human rights issues in the countries he visits.

   On June 4, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric,video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about Uzbekistan.  In light of the Secretary-General's trip, and just generally, there's been a pretty high-profile arrest and abuse of a human rights defender, Elena Urlaeva, who is known to document forced labor in cotton fields there.  She was arrested, subject to cavity searches, X-rays.  A number of human rights groups have spoken against it.  And I wonder, one, is the Secretary-General aware of it?  And, two, is this the type of issue…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  We've seen the reports.  The Secretary-General will very much bring up the issue of human rights on his… on every stop in the region.  You know, the human rights record in the region is mixed.  That's evident.  We obviously welcome the engagement of these countries with the UN human rights machinery.  The Secretary-General will tell his… reiterate to his interlocutors the importance of working with that machinery, offering the UN's help in working to implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Council.  I think by the end of 2016, all the countries will have gone through the Universal Periodic Review.  We also have a human rights centre in Dushanbe, which is there to help, as well.  And he will also make the point of the importance of civil society, of a free civil society that can operate, so the human rights issues will be raised.

Inner City Press:  But, on this particularly kind of pretty high-profile case, does he have a view of the arrest and some would say torture of this activist?

Spokesman:  Obviously, we're… we're… we're looking into it but it's clear that civil society groups in every country need to be able to operate freely.

   We'll see how Ban addresses these issues during his travel.


Inner City Press also asked about the Rohingya:

Inner City Press:  Rohingya question?  The Asian Centre for Human Rights put out a report blaming not just the Government of Bangladesh but the UN/UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] for failure to register up to 2,000 Rohingya within the country, which it says makes them much more susceptible to trafficking because they don't have the stature… they haven't been registered by the UN system.  So, I wonder, is there some reason that UNHCR or the UN system to the level of Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar and the people working on it…

Spokesman:  Let me look into that specific report.

   Ten hours later, there had been no response. Watch this site.
   

US CRomnibus Scrutinizes Lebanon, Yemen, Ethiopia, Bahrain & Sri Lanka - But Why Haiti?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- A provision of the US Continuing Resolution / Omnibus or CRomnibus set for adoption this week in Congress is a list of countries any payment to which requires prior notification of the House of Representative's Appropriations Committee. From page 1179 of the CRomnibus, online here:

"(f) None of the funds appropriated under titles III through VI of this Act shall be obligated or expended for assistance for Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe except as provided through the regular notification procedures of the Committees on Appropriations."

  Sri Lanka is on the list -- yesterday, this reporter highlighted what the US was told about Sri Lanka by the UN Special Adviser on Genocide, here.

  The inclusion of Lebanon and Yemen seems triggered by the fluxuating roles in each country of Hezbollah and the Houthis, respectively.

  Of the "Latin list," some seem to come from the past, and some more current.  Bahrain barred, at least initially, the US State Department's Tom Malinowski; Ethiopia is on, and Eritrea not even mentioned.

  But why is Haiti on the list? And why is the US arguing in court for the UN to have total immunity -- that is, impunity -- for having brought cholera to the island which has killed over 8000 people and counting? Where's that, in the CRomnibus? Watch this site. 

  For the $2.1 billion for UN Peacekeeping, the Appropriations Committee must be told that the

"United Nations has in place measures to prevent United Nations employees, contractor personnel, and peacekeeping troops serving in the mission from trafficking in persons, exploiting victims of trafficking, or committing acts of illegal sexual exploitation or other violations of human rights, and to bring to justice individuals who engage in such acts while participating in the peacekeeping mission, including prosecution in their home countries of such individuals in connection with such acts, and to make information about such cases publicly available in the country where an alleged crime occurs and on the United Nations’ Web site."

  But as Inner City Press established as recently as November 20, the UN refuses to say if peacekeepers it sends home or repatriates are in fact prosecuted. This information is not provided even in response to Press questions, must less put on the UN's website.

  So will the $2.1 billion be withheld? Particularly as the head of UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, continues to cover up alleged mass rapes in Tabit in Darfur, and refuses to answer Press questions about it? 

  Tales from the Cromnibus will continue.

On November 20 amid unanswered questions in Darfur about UN Peacekeeping's investigation of and reporting on attacks on civilians, including 200 alleged rapes in Taabit,  UN Police Adviser Stefan Feller and UNAMID Police chief Hester Panera took question from the Press.

 Inner City Press asked Panera about her Mission's (in) action on Thabit, including issuing a November 9 press release claiming the residents get along well with Sudanese security, without mentioning that the interviews were conducted with these security officials present.

  Panera told Inner City Press, "We have to realize we are working in a sitution with very strong spoilers... There were statements by the Secretary General in this regard. We are going to follow up further, we are sending teams to try and get more information." Video here.

   So is the allegation that those reporting rape are "spoilers"? Or the UNAMID whistleblower? And how can it be said UNAMID is sending teams, when the government has blocked access for a second time?

  One year (or 364 days) ago, Inner City Press asked Feller about accountability, specifically, a UN Police officer who after being charged with sexual abuse and exploitation in Haiti fled by plane to Canada. Inner City Press first asked about this in April 2013 and was told "DPKO says that the case is still under investigation by the Canadian authorities."

  Feller on last year did follow through, like his Police Adviser predecessor Marie Orler, and provide a response to Inner City Press' question. Feller is significantly more responsive that the overall boss of UN Peacekeeping, video compilation here, Vine here. But the lack of accountability is pervasive.

   A year ago, the answer, through Police Division Communications Officer Zoe Mentel, was: "Regarding the case you asked the Police Adviser about this morning, we did check into this matter and it is currently under investigation with the police-contributing country."

  And on November 20, 2014, Feller gave a "generic" answer but did not provide any specific information about this case, whether the defendant who fled was cleaned or disciplined. Is it any wonder people doubt "zero tolerance" at the UN?

   That's seven months after Inner City Press was given in essence the same answer. UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous allowed the Congolese Army to go a full year on the 135 rapes in Minova by the 41st and 391st Battalions, to which the UN still provides support.

  Is his Department's cover up in Darfur, including on the rape allegations in Thabit, really any surprise? What will the Ramos Horta review panel do about this?

  Some might wonder if the hope isn't just that the Canadian case goes away. But that is not accountability; it is not transparency or the rule of law. Given the wider UN's attempt to evade substantial charges of bringing cholera to Haiti, MINUSTAH's reputation is already in question in the country. The questions will continue.

  Watch this site.

Footnote: While the moderator, the Ladsous spokesman who in September tried to block Inner City Press' filming from the General Assembly stakeout, called first on UNCA then AFP, he did as third question call on Inner City Press, or rather, as he said, "Foonca," theFree UN Coalition for Access, which is fine. And the question asked was of the type that, when put to Ladsous, Ladsous has said "I do not respond to you Mister." But the questions will continue to be asked, and should be answered. We'll see.

   

As NPT PrepCom Fizzles Out, Glass Half Full, Mexico on Nuclear Double Standards, Access to Info Controlled

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 -- The closing session of the Preparatory Commission for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference was mostly a session of self-affirmation: nothing was agreed to, but just talking was a success.

  This was the position taken by the chair Enrique Roman-Morey. The UN described him as “Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations,” but at the press conference afterward he said he represents Peru in Portugal; in the wrap up session he said he was heading to lovely Lisbon.

  Inner City Press asked Roman-Morey about the closing statement of Mexico, which cited double standards. Roman-Morey jumped in to say that he has short circuited the critique because the final document, not by consensus, was his and his alone. Inner City Press jokes about the water glass in front of him being more than half full -- whereupon he took a long drink for it.

  Of the signing ceremony for a protocol for a nuclear weapons free zone in Central Asia that Inner City Presscovered mid-week, Roman-Morey said he was involved in that from the first meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

   Inner City Press asked if reservations such as that expressed by the UK are positive or the norm. Roman-Morey said in the Latin America and Caribbean treaty there are comments from the 1960s, for example from a Central American country saying it might use “peaceful” nuclear weapons to build a canal like the Panama canal.

  Roman-Morey has a wealth of experience; he answered a rising Egyptian TV journalist in Arabic. But what was accomplished in New York these past two weeks. The US has publicly said some upbeat things, mostly about the Central Asian signing which even Roman-Morey admitted was really a side event with little relation to the NPT PrepCom. Hope springs eternal. Watch this site.

Footnote: Even though the first question was, correctly, not automatically handed to the UN Correspondents Assocation, the day's UNCA representative insisted on it. Becauseexecutive committee members of UNCA not only tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for its coverage of Sri Lanka, UN official Herve Ladsous and French Ambassador Gerard Araud, but have since engaged inoutright censorship with Google (here) and UNTV (here), Inner City Press on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access counter-thanked Roman-Morey. 

 These events shouldn't be branded, particularly by censors; there should be no automatically given first questions, particularly to censors. Watch this site.

   

At UN For Nuclear Free Central Asia, P5 Pose & Sign, UK Takes Reservation

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- As rhetoric on Ukraine and Syria heats up, recently at the US State Department's daily press briefing reporters have increasingly asked if the US and Russia, or the wider "P5" with China, can work together on anything.

  Often the answer given is Syria chemical weapon, drawing scorn from reporters. On May 6 in a windowless UN conference room, representatives of each of the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council posed for photographs then sat in a row signing a protocol for a nuclear free zone in Central Asia.

Each representative gave a speech in his native language -- it was all men -- and Russia and the UK back to back cited the Treaties of Tlatelolco, Rarotonga and Pelindaba. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said "China supports the efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to establish a nuclear free zone."

Russia's Vitaly Churkin said, "It remains only to ratify the document. We look forward to doing it as swiftly as possible."

Tom Countryman of the US said he was pleased to be able to sign here in New York during the Preparatory Committee meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The UK added that it "has issued a declaration that sets out our legal interpretation of certain elements within the Protocol and Treaty.... in order that there is no doubt about the conditions under which the UK would not consider itself bound by Article I of this Protocol: notably, if any of the Parties to that Treaty allowed nuclear weapons to be stationed in their territory."

Some might find an echo into protests raised in South America to UK vessels with nuclear weapons visiting the Falkland / Malvinas Islands.

The last speaker was Ambassador Muzaffar Madrakhimov of Uzbekistan, who said "the initiatve to create the Central Asian Nuclear Free Weapons Zone was first announced by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov at the 48th session of the General Assembly in 1993."

Now if only the region's water wars could be solved... Watch this site.

   

As UN Global Compact Member Sonera Linked to Uzbek Probe, UN Defers & Spins, Blue-Washing

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 14 -- Company join the UN Global Compact, but when they are charged with corrution and money laundering, what happens?

This week, Inner City Press put this question to new / old UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric:

Now that UN Global Compact member Telia Sonera has been linked to the Uzbek bribery and money laundering probe, what is the UN or its Global Compact's response? To assist you answering:http://yle.fi/uutiset/sonera_linked_to_uzbek_bribery_probe/7134014 News 

Sonera linked to Uzbek bribery probe One of Finland’s largest telecom operators has been indirectly tied to a money laundering investigation into the flamboyant daughter of Uzbekistan's president

and

http://www.teliasonera.com/en/newsroom/news/2013/teliasonera-becomes-a-member-of-the-un-global-compact/

TeliaSonera becomes a member of the UN Global Compact 21 February 2013 The UN Global Compact, with over 10,000 corporate members and other stakeholders across 130 countries, is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world. It is a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable corporate policies and practices. In February, TeliaSonera became a signatory and a member of the UN Global Compact.

  The first day, Dujarric just ignored the question as if it had not been asked. Inner City Press published a story, one in a series. On March 14, the following came in, which we publish the same day:

Subject: Your question on the Global Compact
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 1:54 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Cc: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.org

Regarding your recent question on the Global Compact, the Global Compact Office has the following information:

The UN Global Compact is a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue, exchange of good practices and collaborative solutions in the business arena. It is neither the UN Global Compact’s mandate nor its intention to monitor or judge participants’ performance, and participation in the initiative does not constitute a seal of approval.

Nevertheless, the UN Global Compact has in place Integrity Measures to promote continuous improvement and assist participants in aligning their actions with their commitment to the Global Compact principles. When it receives information suggesting that a participant company is not committed to continuous improvement, the UN Global Compact will endeavor to encourage dialogue (Dialogue Facilitation) between the company concerned and those who have raised the concerns. The UN Global Compact will make enquiries of its Nordic and Netherlands Local Networks about this matter. It will also forward the matter to the company itself asking for their reply.

  To which one UN observer opines, "That lame response dodges the main point: that shabby companies like this sign up for the UN Global Compact because they think it will make them smell better. The UN demands payola from these companies (for the blue-washing) and they get to use the UN's name on their websites and stationery as a sort of Good Housekeeping seal of approval. And when a story like this comes in, the UN paternalistically say that they will start asking questions to the company in question."

  Sounds like the UN... Watch this site.

   

UN Spokesperson Ignores Questions on Nigeria, Free Press, South Sudan, Roed Larsen, Corruption: Dujarric Day 4

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 13 -- New / old UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric again refused before noon to answer, or this time even respond to,  any single one of a set of four simple questions e-mailed to him at 8 in the morning on March 13.

  Nor at the even-shorting noon briefing, ending at 12:16 pm, did he answer any of the questions submitted four hours previously. 

  These were the questions asked by Inner City Press at 8 am on March 13:

-On Nigeria, what is the UN Secretary General's or Secretariat's response to the the Nigerian group WON saying the UN should refund the $30 million given it by the Nigerian government for reconstruction of its building that was bombed by Boko Haram? To help you answer:

Emmanuel Ogebe of WON said: “We are asking that the UN should refund the N 4billion because we believe that an international organization of that class should have the resources to fix the building. The fact of the matter is that Nigeria should not foot the bill of an international organization funded by all countries of the world and then, poor people who have nothing will loose their houses, churches and the Nigerian government will not provide for them. It is only obligatory that Nigeria pays its dues, and we have even gone far to provide peace keeping troops. We have paid our dues even with the lives of some officers, and now we have an atrocity like this, instead of the UN to take care of the building and allow us have resources to take care of ourselves... We ask the UN Secretary General to refund the $30 million into a Victim Compensation Fund that would assist victims of the insurgent.”

This is not (yet?) litigation: what is the UN Secretariat's response?

Second:

-While still requesting response with regard to Mr. Roed-Larsen, Mr. Joseph V. Reed et al, here is a more systematic question:

Has the SG yet prepared the guidelines required by Resolution 67/255? Following the GA's decision on $1/year contracts in April 2013, how many individuals currently have $1/year contracts, and who are they?

To assist your answer:

A/RES/67/255, 73rd plenary meeting 12 April 2013 e, excerpt

...63. Stresses that one-dollar-a-year contracts should be granted only under exceptional circumstances and be limited to high-level appointments, and requests the Secretary-General to prepare guidelines regarding the use of these contracts, along the same lines of those established for when-actually-employed appointments, and to report thereon, in the context of his next overview report, to the General Assembly at the main part of its sixty-ninth session;

Third: What is the UN's (or UNMISS') response to South Sudan's information minister Michael Makuei saying “When you go and interview a rebel who ran away from here and you come and play that interview on government territory, and you know that man is not friendly -- this is not the meaning of journalism. You interview him outside and publish it, whatever you do, outside, but when you come and disseminate this poisonous information inside South Sudan, it is an offense.”

What is UNMISS' (or the UN's) response to that, and to Wau University students petition for the UN to leave Bahr al Ghazal. To assist your answering:

“Winnie Babihuga, the world body’s representative in Western Bahr el Ghazal state welcomed the student’s petition and promised to forward it to its headquarters in New York.”

Has the petition yet arrived? This is an ongoing request to be informed if and when it does.

4th and for now last:

-Now that UN Global Compact member Telia Sonera has been linked to the Uzbek bribery and money laundering probe, what is the UN or its Global Compact's response?

To assist you answering:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/sonera_linked_to_uzbek_bribery_probe/7134014 News 12.3.2014 21:07

| updated 12.3.2014 21:16

Sonera linked to Uzbek bribery probe One of Finland’s largest telecom operators has been indirectly tied to a money laundering investigation into the flamboyant daughter of Uzbekistan's president

and

http://www.teliasonera.com/en/newsroom/news/2013/teliasonera-becomes-a-member-of-the-un-global-compact/

TeliaSonera becomes a member of the UN Global Compact 21 February 2013 The UN Global Compact, with over 10,000 corporate members and other stakeholders across 130 countries, is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world. It is a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable corporate policies and practices. In February, TeliaSonera became a signatory and a member of the UN Global Compact.

  At the March 13 noon briefing, Dujarric told the first questioner on Ukraine, that is a legitimate question. Does this mean, to Dujarric, that corruption and freedom of the press questions are NOT legitimate?  

On March 12, Inner City Press asked Dujarric:

-On South Sudan, what is the UN's response to NGO Rally for Peace and Democracy critique of worsening conditions in UNMISS camps, specifically that "most of IDPs reported that their food security situation in the camps is deteriorating further and that their repeated complaints are falling on deaf ears... Domestic flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches infest the camp dwellings as the rainy season almost approaching. This has driven fear for reason of high morbidity and fatality caseloads of bacterial diseases – bloody and watery diarrhea (dysentery), malaria, typhoid, pneumonia and warm infestations."

-As requested in person at the March 10 noon briefing, please confirm or deny that Haiti cholera court papers were taped to the door of the Secretary General's residence on or around January 20; please state not only the title (inserted into the transcript) but the current terms of reference, mandate and pay scale of Mr. Iqbal Riza, and confirm that Augustine Mahiga has been paid as a USG since June 2013. What lessons has he conveyed to Nicholas Kay? Has Margaret Vogt conveyed lessons to Babacar Gaye?

Relatedly, please state the current terms of reference, mandate and pay scale of Mr. Joseph V. Reed, and state how many days Terje Roed Larsen has worked on his mandate, where (Bahrain?) and at what level of compensation.

- on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, asking why the Secretary General's photo op with NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio, in his daily scheduled, has not been listed in the UN Media Alert.

-Please state why the Secretariat has declined to recognize (or give work-release to) those who garnered the most votes in the December election, and state who the Secretariat recognizes as the Staff Union at this time.

Please email answers as soon as they become available, as requested, before noon (several of these questions were asked on March 10). Thank you.

 Tellingly, even when responses came, they did not MENTION Mahiga or Margaret Vogt, much less Joseph V. Reed or Terje Roed Larsen; because Ban's meeting was canceled, why it was not listed in the day's UN Media Alert, a longstanding request to Dujarric by theFree UN Coalition for Access, was not answered. Here's what Dujarric's office sent:

Subject: Your emailed questions

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply un.org
Date: Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 3:42 PM

To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Cc: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.org

Regarding your emailed questions, the Spokesperson read the following on the conditions at an UNMISS camp at today's noon briefing:

"Moving on South to South Sudan, as we told you on Monday, heavy rains in Juba have damaged tents at the Tomping compound.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that it has exacerbated already difficult living conditions. Aid agencies responded with measures to improve drainage and shelters in the site, and will assist people to move to plots in the UN House base later this week.

The UN Mission also says that it is finding ways to improve conditions by trying to extend current sites and is building new ones. Our humanitarian colleagues further says that displaced communities and the aid agencies supporting them expect to face similar challenges in several sites once the rainy season starts in earnest in April."

On your question on Haiti, the Spokesperson has repeatedly said that we would not be able to comment on claims against the Organisation, as per standard legal practice.

On your question on different special advisers, the Spokesperson provided an answer at the noon briefing two days ago. In addition to what was said then, we can add that Iqbal Riza is a Special Adviser, who has advised the Secretary-General on the Alliance of Civilizations, among other topics.

The meeting with Mayor di Blasio was postponed, following the building collapse in Manhattan today.

We have no comment on the question on staff representation in New York.

  Confirming that legal papers were taped to the door of Ban Ki-moon's residence is not commenting on a legal case. In fact, refusing to discuss the service of papers is another way for Ban's UN to try to dodge the cases, and its responsibility.

  The answer on March 10 on Mahiga called nine months of pay a short time; of the written questions, Vogt, Reed and Roed Larsen are not mentioned. This is a complete lack of transparency about high UN officials - and about money. This is the UN.
 
   Dujarric began on March 10 with questions raised two weeks ago (and before) about censorship and his replacement atop the News & Media Division and UN Accreditation UNanswered.

  Tellingly, some in the press briefing room applauded before Dujarric even said a word. He read a statement for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about "The Ukraine."

  In the question and answer session, four of the first five questioners Dujarric called on were among the 15 executive committee members of theUnited Nations Correspondents Association, with which Dujarric has some history.

  Inner City Press asked if Ban Ki-moon had the Haiti cholera court papers taped to his residence door on January 20 -- no answer -- and for UN response to Channel 4's new video showing abuse by the military of Sri Lanka, from which the UN accepts peacekeepers and even Shavendra Silva as an adviser. (Dujarric said he hasn't seen the video; it is online here: warning, graphic).

  On the case against the UN for bringing cholera to Haiti, Inner City Press asked Dujarric to confirm that the court papers were taped to the door of Ban's residence on January. Dujarric declined to confirm - or deny - this.Video on Haiti (and Sri Lanka) here.

  As it did days ago, Inner City Press asked for the status of selecting Dujarric's replacement as head of the News and Media Division, in charge of UN media accreditation. No answer has been given about this status. This is of concern.

 A flier the Free UN Coalition for Access posted on this topic, on the "non-UNCA" bulletin board it advocated for, was torn down on March 7. At a second briefing, by the CTBTO, on March 10 Dujarric called first on UNCA, then on others. 

  When Inner City Press thanked CTBTO's Zerbo on behalf of FUNCA - the point is, there cannot be only one organization given UNCA's track record of attempted censorship and even more now with Dujarric's history with them -- Dujarric tried to move on (back to UNCA) before the related question on France's nuclear tests in the Pacific was answered. 

  It is a new era, requiring a new approach.

  Two years ago Dujarric was re-introduced to UN journalist as the chief of the News & Media Division, in a reception in what the UN called "UNCA Square." And then the censorship attempts began.

  A journalist for Iranian TV, found to have a rubber gun which was a prop in an independent film he was working on, had his UN accreditation revoked, permanently. Dujarric was in charge of Media Accreditation, and Inner City Press asked him for a justification of this "one strike and you're out policy." No answer was ever provided by Dujarric.

  Also in his Media Accreditation role, Dujarric chastised Inner City Press for daring to go stand outside and try to cover a meeting of Ban's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations, which included controversial Sri Lankan military figure Shavendra Silva. After the Sri Lankan government directed a complaint letter to the aforementioned UNCA, Inner City Press was told it could not cover the meetings.

Inner City Press, then on the board of UNCA, was not notified when the organization's then president agreed to screen a Sri Lankan government film denying war crimes. After it published an article noting that the UNCA president had in the past rented one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN, demands were made that Inner City Press remove the article from the Internet.

UNCA took to sending copies of correspondence to Dujarric, about articles Inner City Press had written about officials and diplomats of Dujarric's native France. Finally, UNCA first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters sent a complaint against Inner City Press to Dujarric, calling it "for the record."

More recently, Charbonneau has gotten one of his complaints to Dujarric banned from Google's Search, using a filing under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- straight up censorship. What does Dujarric say?

In fact, Dujarric solicited complaints against Inner City Press from otherbig-media UNCA board members, through a private, including through non-UN email address. Freedom of Information Act responses show thatUNCA board members met with "the UN" to request that Inner City Press be thrown out. Once Inner City Press published some of these, Dujarric on June 29, 2012 asked to meet Inner City Press.

  Dujarric told Inner City Press not to refer to Ban Ki-moon as "Wan Ki-moon" and not to refer to Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop UN Peacekeeping, as The Drone despite Ladsous proposing the UN's first use of drones and refusing to answer Press questions about it. 

  This and a specious criticism for having signed Nobel Peace Prize Winner Tawakul Karman of Yemen into the UN, where she dared speak on the UN microphone after a Security Council meeting on Yemen, were linked by Dujarric to re-accreditation he controlled.

  Criticism of stories, coverage and even tweets is fine -- but when done by an official in charge of accreditation, and even tied to accreditation, we call it what it is: censorship.

Disgusted, Inner City Press and another long time correspondent from Brazil founded the Free UN Coalition for Access as an alternative to the insider UNCA, which did not for example offer any defense to the cameraman thrown out for the rubber gun. (Reuters' Charbonneau, in fact, wrote a story playing up the Iranian angle.)

  But Dujarric became the interlocutor for FUNCA. He said only UNCA was needed. After convening a meeting between FUNCA and UNCA, at which Inner City Press openly said "this is on the record" and UNCA president Pamela Falk of CBS said, "He's going to write about this," Dujarric sent Inner City Press a letter which claimed the meeting was off the record and said FUNCA was not a DPI interlocutor for reform.

  There have been no reforms since, quite the opposite. Dujarric, who earlier refused a New York Civil Liberties Union request that the UN provide due process to journalists, continued the Kafka-esque atmosphere in March 2013 when Reuters and Agence France-Presse filed stealth complaints leading with how Inner City Press asked a question to Herve Ladsous. 

  When Dujarric's Accreditation Unit led a raid on Inner City Press' office, photos from which quickly appeared on BuzzFeed, Dujarric denied any role in giving out the photos. But the published photos are identical to the ones his unit took that day.

  Since the letter with the false "off the record" claim, the raid and photos and attempt to censor tweets, there has been very little contact (though there was an attempt to essentially ban FUNCA, another limitation on freedom of association, speech and press). FUNCA has continued, working with UN-focused journalists not only in New York but as far afield as Somaliland and Colombia.

  Now Stephane "The Censor" Dujarric is the spokesperson. Can he use this position to pursue the censorship he's sought for the past two years? FUNCA opposes it, and says these questions must be answered. Watch this site.