After UN Moves to Censor, Ban Ki-moon's Outgoing Spokesperson Calls Press Input Into UN Selection Process or Even Criteria "Not A Serious Question"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 20 -- Yesterday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced as his new spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, who currently oversees the UN's News and Media Division and, among other things, the accreditation of journalists to enter and cover the UN.

  Today Inner City Press asked outgoing spokesperson Nesirky if there had been a formal recruitment to replace him, and if journalists would have any input into at least the criteria for selecting a new chief of UN News and Accreditation.

  Tellingly, Nesirky called the request for any journalists' input into the criteria to choose the head of division which ostensibly "liaises" with them as "not a serious question." Video here (at Minute 1:30) and embedded below.

  This stands in contrast, for example, to even the US Federal Reserve Board, which in selecting a new head of its Division of Consumer and Community Affairs is formally seeking input from the constituencies that Division deals with. 

 So today's UN is more closed in on itself that the Fed, a financial regulator.

  Inner City Press asked what it wrote about yesterday: the issues raised by the head of media accreditation, in charge of choosing who can come in and ask questions, becoming the spokesperson who then faces and one hopes answers the questions.

  Beyond yesterday's initial report, the reason for the questions is that while he was atop Media Accreditation, not only did Dujarric receive and withhold (and, it seems, solicit and now censor) anti-Press complaints -- he also several times told Inner City Press how to cover and write about Ban Ki-moon and his head of peacekeeping Herve Ladsous, to the point of demanding an "urgent" explanation by Inner City Press of a single tweet mentioning World War Two, Germany and Dujarric's native France.

  The issue of censorship was and is raised, when an individual in charge of granting or denying accreditation to the UN tells the journalist how to cover the UN and some of its officials. We will have more on all this, including a claim Dujarric made that a meeting had been "off the record" when not only did Inner City Press say "this is on the record," but theother side (which Dujarric favored and favors) acknowledged the meeting would be written about -- Dujarric turned this into his own complaint letter.

  For now, while Nesirky said the idea that journalists should have input into the selection process and criteria for selecting the UN official who interfaces with and accredits (or doesn't) the media is "not a serious question," the Free UN Coalition for Access, formed after some of the stealth complaints and the censorship issues sketched above considers it a serious question and will pursue it. Watch this site.

Footnote: on the response that no recruitment process is needed, Ban can simply directly appoint both the spokesperson and the deputy spokesperson, it seems that previous Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey went through a formal recruitment process. Some also question the "intra-P3" switch in nationality of UN spokesperson from the UK to France. We'll have more on this as well.

   

May Day at UN Has Protest of Ban's "Forced Relocations," Free Speech Asserted

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- On May Day as workers worldwide rally and in some case strike, at UN Headquarters' entrance traffic circle a march will be held at 1:30 pm to protest Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "broken promises" including on "forced relocations" of staff into a "substandard building."

  UN Translation staff have filed for and won a suspension of action blocking Ban's Secretariat from relocating them. Inner City Press has obtained the UN Dispute Tribunal order and puts it online, here. 

  By May 2, Ban's Secretariat has been directed to "address,inter alia, the following issues:

a. When were the Applicants notified for the first time of the proposed move? (Respondent is to include any supporting documentation.)

b. What is the legal status of the Capital Master Plan Guidelines, referred to in the applications? (Respondent is to provide the Tribunal with a copy of the Guidelines.)

c. What is the effective date of the proposed move to the Albano building? (Respondent is to include any supporting documentation.)

d. What are the official documents regulating the size of offices an cubicles in the United Nations? (Respondent is to provide the Tribunal with these documents.)"

  The protest organizers have said, and we agree, that there is, even at the UN, a "right to exercise free speech... At 13:30, we will proceed to the fountain that is located in the circle in front of the Secretariat Building to peacefully voice our disagreements with management on anything related to the Albano building, from the broken promises that brought us here in the first place to this ill-conceived move that has put staff of the different services in a situation where they have to confront each other for the privilege of working in a substandard building. 

"You are all encouraged to bring signs of the type that role up to voice your grievances. However, if they're attached to wooden holders being brought through the gates, that might be a problem. It's our right to exercise free speech."

  Free speech at the UN is much in dispute. Recently the supervisor of UN Media Accreditation Stephane Dujarric contacted Inner City Press "urgently" about a single tweet, saying he was giving Inner City Press a chance. A chance for what?

  The tweet concerned how high officials of the UN are selected, and its relation to the veto powers in the Security Council (including for selecting the Secretary General) of those who won World War II. Could this topic be taboo?

  The UN press corps, too, is being primed for a move back to the Secretariat Building on May 10. Why it was delayed was never sufficiently explained. The Free UN Coalition for Access asked for a written explanation but not was given. 

  Rather the reply involved a non-consensual raid on Inner City Press' office on March 18 by the Department of Public Information, which rifled through papers and took photographs, later leaked to BuzzFeed.com, including of Inner City Press' desk and bookshelf.

  The president of the old UN Correspondents Association, Pamela Falk of CBS, was present and took photographs; when Inner City Press wrote about that, she issued from her CBSNews.com e-mail account a legal threat to "cease and desist." Free speech indeed. We will cover the protest(s). Watch this site.

On Syria, UN Defends Ban Ki-moon's Questionless Encounter, After $2B Renovation, Still No Wi-Fi

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon refused to take any questions on his Syria chemical weapons probe, after much promotion of his “press encounter” on the topic, media dissatisfaction was widespread.

  Inner City Press, after uploading video of the question-less encounter and some of the disorganization which preceded it(haphazard screening of print journalists, elevators up to the 38 floor and then down again, stakeout in a UN lobby location without wi-fi), conferred and for the Free UN Coalition for Access submitted a letter of complaint to the Department of Public Information.

  FUNCA primarily complained that Ban should take questions from the media; that is the purpose of a “press encounter.” By contrast, Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari has scheduled a press conference for April 30 at 10:30 am at which it seems sure he will take questions. Why doesn't Ban?

  DPI has been sitting on specific requests submitted by FUNCA on April 18 and before, including a dozen proposed reforms to its archaic Media Accreditation rules and Access Guidelines (to which the old UN Correspondents' Association is a party, or collaborator).

  But this time DPI sent back a response quickly, albeit not from its chief but rather the head of UNTV, and main UNCA partner, Stephane Dujarric.

  On Ban's questionless press encounter or “fakeout at the stakeout,” Dujarric wrote:

From: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 4:17 PM
Subject: Fw: FUNCA response to S-G's press "encounter" this morning, outstanding questions, thanks
To: funca [at] funca [dot] info
Cc: Isabelle Broyer [at] un.org

Thank you for the email you addressed to DPI this morning regarding issues you had with the Secretary-General's appearance before the press.

I'm truly sorry that you felt the event was not organized properly and wasted your time. I would ask you to show some flexibility. Due to the large number of journalists present, a decision was made to change the location of the event to one that would be more comfortable all those involved, including the Secretary-General. Sometimes things change at the last minute and we just all have to go with the flow.

As for the event itself, you complain that the Secretary-General took no questions and that it should not have been called a “press encounter.” I frankly don’t know what to call an event when the Secretary-General encounters the press but a “press encounter.” There are clearly different types of press encounters and sometimes questions are taken and sometimes they are not depending on the circumstances.

No one wants to waste your time but please understand that your presence is not mandatory and that you are free to attend or not to attend any event at the UN. I have no way of guaranteeing that press events at the UN will not be a waste of your time. In planning these events we can only hope that you will find them useful.

There is currently no wi-fi in the north end of the Secretariat lobby but I do very much hope that wi-fi coverage will be extended through out the building as soon as practicable.

  The response largely speaks for itself. But just on the last point: no wi-fi after a $2 billion renovation?

  Would the UN call Ban speaking to UNTV (run by Dujarric) a "press encounter"?

 And will Ban hold another "encounter" after Syria's press conference on April 30? Or will a Western power's ambassador do it?

Footnote: We said Dujarric is UNCA's main supporter (and even an opponent of anything more than a one party system) and here are just a few reasons. Dujarric complained when Inner City Press published audio of UNCA president Pamela Falk screaming in an on the record meeting, audio here and here.

This month, Dujarric threatened Inner City Press about a single tweet that mentioned World War Two and UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous who owes his JOB to France's veto power won in WW2.

  Dujarric has refused to explain how photos taken during a non-consensual raid of Inner City Press' office on March 18 were leaked to BuzzFeed on March 21, right after that publication contacted Ban's spokesman with questions about the raid. We will continue to push on all this. Watch this site.

Prodi Sought Italian Job Despite Sahel Conflict of Interest, Ban Ki-moon's UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 20 -- This UN rarely gets to the bottom of the conflicts of interest of its officials. Take, most recently, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's ostensibly full time envoy on the Sahel, Romano Prodi, and his role in the race for the Italian presidency.

 

On April 18, Inner City Press wrote it and asked:

 

Inner City Press: Mr. Romano Prodi is obviously the Envoy on the Sahel. But it was reported at least that he was part of a primary in Italy in terms of the run-up to the election for the next President of the Five Star Movement, he was listed as a candidate. So I wanted to know, is there any potential for a kind of a conflict of interest? Can you be a UN official and run for office, or did he not consent to be part of that primary? Is the UN aware of him being part of that primary? What do they think of it?

 

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: I’ll see what we have on that, Matthew; I am not familiar with that, okay? 

 

  But Prodi's role was reported not only all over the Italian press, but on English language wire services. And Prodi was openly campaigning. 

  Was he allowed to do this by the UN, but the UN never said it? Or is this UN just there for the using, a comfortable and comfortably paid resting place until an official runs for office again?

So can he remain as the UN's Sahel envoy? (There is another exclusive Inner City Press published on April 3 that is not unrelated to this - click here.)

  Some use the UN on a more ongoing basis. Tony Blair has his Quartet position and perks, while for example getting paid $11 million by Kazakhstan. Inner City Press asked the UN about this; it's been told to ask Tony Blair's Office. Right.

  Then there's Terje Roed-Larsen, Ban's envoy on Resolution 1551, and also the boss of the International Peace Institute, opening an office in Bahrain with Bahraini money. This seems a direct conflict of interest. But where is Ban Ki-moon? Some continue to wonder: could he too be angling to run for office, eventually? 

 

Footnote: particularly with regard to the last line, a reader jokes, watch out, they'll raid your office again. It remains amazing that Ban's UN has not responded about how photographs taken during the non-consensual raid were leaked to BuzzFeed immediately after that publication contacted Ban's spokesperson about the raid.

  Or maybe Ban's Department of Public Information will take umbrage at any tweet about this, as it did to the mention of World War Two in connection with the new Police Adviser to DPKO's Herve Ladsous, who obviously holds that post at the pleasure of France through the UN Security Council veto it “won” in... the Second World War. Where is this UN, or this part of it, going? Watch this site.

At UN, Ban Ki-moon Switches From Woman to German Man as Police Adviser to Ladsous, of Gender, Veto Power & WW2 Echoes

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 -- When the UN announced on the afternoon of April 18 that it was replacing as Herve Ladsous' Police Adviser in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations the Swedish Marie Orler with a Germany man, Stefan Feller, there was little time to put the switch in context.

  But it is noteworthy that just as Ban Ki-moon replaced a female Deputy Secretary General, Asha Rose Migiro, with a Swedish man, Jan Eliasson, now he has replaced a woman, not by coincidence Swedish, with another man. 

   That Feller is German is not the main point -- but that he is European, like Ladsous the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping (and like Eliasson) is significant.

  Why has France been allowed to name the last four DPKO chiefs? Because it has a veto on the Security Council, including over selection and re-appointment of UN Secretaries General. And why does France have that veto power? Because it ostensibly was a victor in World War II.

  Now, over 70% of the UN's and DPKO's work is in Africa. What does it say that both the head of DPKO, Ladsous, and his top Police Adviser, Feller, are European?

  Inner City Press raised this issue when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named out of work Italian politician Romano Prodi as his envoy to the Sahel in Africa. For that, there was push back from the UN Secretariat. 

  (And on March 18, the UN Department of Public Information conducted a non-consensual raid on Inner City Press' office, rifled through papers and took photographs, which were leaked on March 21 to BuzzFeed right after that publication contacted Ban's spokesman for comment on the raid.)

  Perhaps not surprisingly, on the evening on April 18, UN DPI official Stephane Dujarric contacted Inner City Press “urgently” about its tweet -- yes, a 140 character message -- about Feller's appointment. Durjarric has previously criticized Inner CIty Press' tweet about Ban himself. This time, Dujarric demanded an explanation of the tweet. Well here it is:

  It reflects UN decay that Ban Ki-moon's top Peacekeeper and top Police Adviser are both European men, given the percentage of their work that is in Africa. It smacks, yes, of colonialism. And of the UN being lost, in top appointments, in the legacy of World War 2. 

  And what of Ban's speeches about women in top positions in the UN? Here, an outgoing official, one of the UN's top women, is replaced by a man, just as Ban replaced Asha Rose Migiro with a man.

  (Orler, as Inner City Press reported, was at least responsive to questions, unlike Ladsous, who on camera refused questions about 126 rapes in Minova by the Congolese Army, his partners, on November 27, December 7 andDecember 18. 

  On February 1, Orler's office sent answers to questions Inner City Press asked Orler in her final briefing. And how will Feller be? The UN, including DPI and Dujarric, done nothing publicly or substantively about Ladsous' outrageous refusal to answer question.)

  But where is Asha Rose Migiro now? Ban named her his envoy on HIV / AIDS in Africa. And?

  Back on December 27, 2012, Inner City Press asked Ban's top three spokespeople about the process to replace Orler (and whether France or another European country would get the post). They responded:

From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Thu, Dec 27, 2012 at 5:08 PM
Subject: Question
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

On the Police Adviser: DPKO advises that the post of Police Adviser is a rotational post that is filled by active-duty officers on secondment from national service, normally for a limited period. The current Police Adviser has been in service since 2009 and a note verbale has been circulated to seek nominations from member states to the post. The selection process is in progress.

  Then it still took more than three and a half months, and then was announced not in a noon briefing but in an afternoon e-mail. But Dujarric was there, with his hawk-eye on even the tweets of the media he acccredits to enter the UN. Or is it ALL media, he watches? We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

UN Official Dujarric Questions Inner City Press About Tweet Mentioning WW2, Won't Says How Photos of Raid on Press Office Leaked: Censorship?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 18, updated -- One month after the UN raided Inner City Press' office, rifled through papers and took photographs, leaked three days later to BuzzFeed.com, UN Department of Public Information official Stephane Dujarric asked Inner City Press to call him, urgently.

  Would Dujarric finally answer how photographs taken while DPI was inside and in control of Inner City Press' office were leaked, just after BuzzFeed contacted Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky to ask about the raid?

  No. The urgent matter about which Dujarric asked to be called, even as Inner City Press waited to cover the forthcoming UN Security Council press elements on Syria, was a single tweet from earlier in the day.

  Alongside dozens of tweets about the day's Security Council meeting on Syria, about the UN and cholera in Haiti,Western Sahara and the Rwanda genocide, as well as thebeating in The Bronx of a man from Bangladesh “for” the Boston bombings, and Reuters' pre-released obituary of George Soros, Inner City Press had in 140 characters summarized a UN personnel announcement.

  The announcement, e-mailed to the press at 3:27 pm, began: “Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Mr. Stefan Feller of Germany as the new United Nations Police Adviser in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.”

  Half an hour later, seeing the announcement during a lull in Security Council negotiations, Inner City Press tweeted: “For #UN Police Adviser under #Ladsous, switch is from #Sweden to #Germany, Mr Feller. #WW2. Can you say, #LADSOUS2013?”

  At 6:20 pm, the UN's Dujarric wrote to Inner City Press and to the Free UN Coalition for Access which it co-founded, “Please call me as soon as you can. I'm in the office. It's rather urgent.”

  Inner City Press stopped working and called -- thinking it might finally be an answer as to how the photos taken during DPI's raid of Inner City Press' office were leaked to BuzzFeed. But no.

  Dujarric demanded to know what Inner City Press meant by “#WW2.” He said it offended millions of people, to mention “World War Two” in connection with a German UN official. And see below.

  He did not mention “#LADSOUS2013,” though he has in other meetings. 

  Herve Ladsous is the head of UN Peacekeeping who, after being asked by Inner City Press for example about his speeches (and now memo) at the UN during the Rwanda genocide in 1994, has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions, for example about 126 rapes at Minovo by the Congolese Army.

  On December 18, 2012, Ladsous directed his spokesman to seize the microphone of UN Television, run by Dujarric, to try to avoid an Inner City Press question about the Minova rapes. Video here.

  When FUNCA complained to Dujarric's supervisor, the response weeks later was the Dujarric has spoken, individually and quietly, to Ladsous' spokesman. Since then, other abuses of journalists' rights at the stakeout have occurred.

  Inner City Press asked Dujarric, who had previously blocked Inner City Press from his own Twitter account, if he “polices” other journalists tweets. He claimed that he does. We can have more on this.

  FUNCA and Inner City Press believe it is inappropriate for the UN official in charge of accrediting journalists to be able to enter the UN to simultaneously critique what they write. Dujarric has tried it in the past. But this time, it seems ever more pre-textual.

  When Inner City Press asked him again to explain how the photographs taken while DPI was in control of Inner City Press' office were leaked to BuzzFeed, through an e-mail addressed called “Concerned UN Reporter,” Dujarric accused Inner City Press of trying to change the topic.

  But Inner City Press has been asking this question, without satisfaction, since late March. It is clear: DPI is responsible, the photographs were taken while it was in control of the office.

  DPI will not say who it let in -- the president of the UN Correspondents Association, Pamela Falk of CBS, was seen taking photographs, but has issued a legal threat against Inner City Press even questioning it -- nor with whom it shared the photographs its staff took.

  We can state: we know that DPI staff shared photographs taken inside Inner City Press' office with other Dujarric-accreditated correspondents. That was inappropriate, and now it is time to answer.

  Or to censor? Watch this site.

Update: Dujarric subsequently sent this:

From: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.org
Date: Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 6:57 PM
Subject: Your recent tweet
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com

Dear Matthew, 

You have the right to publish or post what ever you want but I must take issue with your recent posting on Twitter. 

Your  tweet this afternoon (see screen shot below)  regarding the appointment of Stefan Feller of Germany as the new UN police advisor is beyond the pale.

For #UN Police Adviser under #Ladsous, switch is from #Sweden to #Germany, Mr Feller.#WW2. Can you say, #LADSOUS2013?

— InnerCityPress (@innercitypress) April 18, 2013

Putting a World War II hashtag next the name of someone just because he is German is plainly deeply offensive. I would hope that in the future you pause before you tweet. 

I would appreciate it if you could post my email in full on Inner City Press.   

best 

Steph 
  
_____________________________ 
Stephane Dujarric (Mr.)
Director
News & Media Division | Department of Public Information
United Nations Headquarters |  Room: S-1056 
New York, NY, 10017