Monday, 22 September 2014

Why was I blocked by OSCE_RFoM?

Open letter to Gunnar Vrag about why a whole bunch of us "Pro-Ukrainians" were blocked recently by the OSCE_RFoM (https://twitter.com/OSCE_RFoM) account

Feel free to reproduce,share,etc. RT: https://twitter.com/cbrulak/status/514127928201076736

Email: gunnar.vrang@osce.org


Gunnar Vrang
Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

Dear Gunnar, 

I am writing to you to inquire about the OSCE twitter account "OSCE_RFoM" (https://twitter.com/OSCE_RFoM). To my understand this account is maintained by Ms. Dunja Mijatovic, whom I can not find any further contact details for. 

I am sure you are well aware of the norms and guidelines around twitter so I shall not repeat them here, except to say that blocking another user is usually due to some unwanted messaging or disagreeable content. 

I was surprised to learn today that myself and several other users were recently blocked by Ms. Mijatovic's account and I 
am inquiring as to why the above account might have blocked me as I do not know which content might have been inappropriate. For your information, this is the most recent message to Ms. Mijatovic's account: 

(https://twitter.com/cbrulak/status/513711302775406592 as well a number of retweets and replies to myself about this topic).


Any feedback or discussion in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your efforts. 

Sincerely, 

Open Letter to John Baird: Canada needs to scrutinize Russian Passports

Open letter to Honourable John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Feel free to use it/edit as needed. If you do use it, please Retweet this tweet: https://twitter.com/cbrulak/status/514076366447607810


email: bairdj@parl.gc.ca
twitter: https://twitter.com/honjohnbaird

letter:

John Baird, Member of Parliament, Ottawa West - Nepean
2249 Carling Ave
Suite 418
Ottawa, Ontario

K2B 7E9


22 September 2014


Dear Honourable John Baird,

I am writing to you to express my concern about the security and integrity of Russian Passports. 

I am sure you are aware of recent reports from the Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine regarding Russian and "Pro-Russian" forces disbursing Russian passports to the local population. We saw numerous social and mainstream media reports of this behaviour in Crimea before the annexation. There are also reports of similar events in Georgia prior to the Russian invasion in that country in 2008.

I appreciate that Canada is applying economic pressure to Russia as well as providing non-kinetic aid to Ukraine but I am concerned about the security and integrity of an document as important as a passport when it can be given out so freely. Is there anything Canada can do either at our border control points and internationally to give greater scrutiny to these documents as Russian citizens enter and transit our country.

Thank you again for your efforts and support on Ukraine. The government's leadership on this very important issue.