By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 21 --
Amid Canada's
crackdown on
Elsipogtog
First Nation
protesters of
shale gas
fracking,
Inner City
Press at the
UN asked first
the
spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
October 18,
then UN
indigenous
rights
rapporteur
James Anaya on
October 21.
Ban's
spokesperson
said he was
aware of the
"reports" of
the crackdown,
but had no
comment. In a
subsequent
addition to
the October 18
UN transcript,
Ban praised
natural gas. (Story and
full quote
here.)
On
October 21
when Anaya
held a press
conference, he
answered Inner
City Press
that he had
just been in
Canada, and
cited a
"crisis"
there. He also
praised some
steps by the
country, as he
did of
Nicaragua and,
when asked by
Inner City
Press about
South Dakota,
the US. This
is diplomacy.
Inner
City Press
asked, what
can Elsipogtog
First Nation
do to put
their
treatment by
the Canadian
government on
the radar of
the UN? Anaya
said he gets
correspondence
and looks into
it, writes
back and forth
with
governments.
On the
South Dakota
case, the
the-proposed
sale of sacred
land,
ultimately the
indigenous
were able to
raise money to
buy the land
themselves.
Buy, Anaya
said, it is
symptomatic of
land issues in
the US not
being
resolved.
"Ask
the US about
that," Anaya
told Inner
City Press.
Well, Inner
City Press has
other
questions
already
pending with
the US
Mission, about
the UN support
Congolese Army
rape units,
and US
delaying of a
visa to a
diplomat from
the State of
Palestine.
Anaya
was thanked by
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access @FUNCA_info, which in pursuing
greater
transparency
by the UN
system urges
that
hyperlinks be
inserted in
the type of
reports that
Anaya was
citing on
Monday. Anaya
at least has a
Twitter
account or
presence.
FUNCA suggests
that all
special
rapporteurs
(and Special
Representatives
of the
Secretary
General) do
the same, and
be responsive
and transparent..
Watch this
site.
, 
