UN's Censorship and Press Punishment Slammed by Staff Union, From Google to Photos of the Dead
By Matthew Russell Lee
March 13, 2008
The Inner City Press 
Original Source: http://www.innercitypress.com/un2freepress031308.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 13 -- As UN attacks on freedom of the press have spread this year from UN Headquarters to the highlands of Nepal, the UN Staff Council on Thursday http://www.innercitypress.com/RES4249.pdf called on officials of the UN system including funds and programs like the http://www.innercitypress.com/unfpa012607.html UN Population Fund and the http://www.innercitypress.com/undp1algiers011508.html UN Development Program to cease from http://www.innercitypress.com/un1google021408.html censorship, http://www.innercitypress.com/un3death021908.html harassment, http://www.innercitypress.com/un1freepress022108.html intimidation or punishment, or the threat or implication thereof. 
  The injunction on threats of punishment is a direct reference to statements last month to Inner City Press by Assistant Secretary-General http://www.innercitypress.com/un2cmp030608.html Michael Adlerstein about coverage with which he disagreed, How should you be punished? Click http://www.innercitypress.com/un1freepress022108.html here for transcript. The reference to http://www.innercitypress.com/un1google021408.html censorship echoes the http://www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm?press_id=1310 critique of the UN Development Program or its U.S. Committee for UNDP levied by the Washington-based Government Accountability Project. 

Press stakeout at UN,  http://www.innercitypress.com/un1google021408.html censorship, http://www.innercitypress.com/un3death021908.html harassment, http://www.innercitypress.com/un1freepress022108.html intimidation and punishment not shown
 The http://www.innercitypress.com/RES4249.pdf resolution, pending for three weeks, also refers to the incident in Nepal ten days ago in which UN personnel http://www.innercitypress.com/un5nepal030708.html seized the video footage shot of the remains of the downed UN helicopter contracted from Russia-basedhttp://www.innercitypress.com/un6nepal031008.html  Vertical T. While the UN has belatedly http://www.innercitypress.com/un5nepal030708.html apologized for the last of these limitations of journalistic freedom, claiming it was only to prevent the http://www.innercitypress.com/un3death021908.html filming of dead bodies, it is not clear what safeguards have been instituted to prevent future attempts at http://www.innercitypress.com/un1google021408.html censorship, http://www.innercitypress.com/unblog072907.html exclusion or http://www.innercitypress.com/un1freepress022108.html punishment. An http://districteventfeed.blogspot.com/2008/03/reminder-united-nations-and-freedom-of.html event is upcoming in Washington DC on the UN and free press. Interest is growing on Capitol Hill, as these acts contrary to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are carried out with U.S. taxpayers' funds. Inner City Press weeks ago asked UNDP to disclose payments it has made to influence coverage of UNDP's performance; UNDP has yet to respond. Watch this site.