UNITED
NATIONS, June
25 -- As the
UN agency
UNPAN began
promoting this
week's “good
governance”
event in
Bahrain, the Free UN Coalition
for Access
repeatedly
asked
it and then
the UN in
Brussels
if there
had been any
consideration
or UN comment
on human
rights in
Bahrain
before
inviting 700
people there.
There was no
answer.
So
Tuesday at the
UN in New
York, Inner
City Press put
the question
to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press:
This has to do
with this
conference in
Bahrain, held
by
UNPAS about
e-governance.
In the past
year, there
have been a
number
of concerns
about the
human rights
situation in
Bahrain, it’s
reported there
that
unregistered
organizations,
it is still
illegal
to join them
and you can be
sent to jail
for joining
them. So I
have
been looking
pretty closely
at what they
put out, was
there any kind
of
consideration
of the human
rights /
rights to
association
issues
in Bahrain
before holding
it there, or
is there
anything being
said
at the
conference to
sort of note
that, or have
the UN holding
it
there be in
some way a
positive
thing, or is
it just was
not
considered?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, the
conference is
something that
is
held in
different
parts of the
world; this
year, it
happened to be
in
that part of
the world and
it was
Bahrain.
Awards are not
given to
Member States
and do not
imply
endorsement of
Governments’
agendas. They
are there to
recognize
specific
public
institutions
for their
technical
achievements
in service
delivery. The
e-government
authority of
the Kingdom of
Bahrain has
been
spearheading
innovative
initiatives
utilizing ICT
[information
and
communications
technology],
and its
ranking in
terms of
e-government
development is
among the top
in the Arab
region,
according to
the UN
e-Government
Survey. The
winning
institutions
are selected
through the
Committee
of Experts on
Public
Administration,
an advisory
body to ECOSOC
[Economic and
Social
Council].
Now
you are well
aware that
since the
beginning of
2011, the
United
Nations has
called on the
Government of
Bahrain to
defuse
tensions
and allow
peaceful
protests, to
conduct
dialogue and
implement
reforms, as
well as to act
in accordance
with its
international
human
rights and
other
obligations.
Inner
City Press:
just one
follow up, the
Secretary-General’s
Envoy on
[resolution]
1559 (2004),
Mr. [Terje]
Roed-Larsen,
is also at the
same time the
head of the
International
Peace
Institute and
it’s
been reported
and not denied
that they
opened an
office in
Bahrain,
it is funded
by the
Government. So
I wanted to
know not just
what
are the UN
rules of sort
of part-time
SRSGs [Special
Representatives
of
the
Secretary-General],
but what, in
this case, ia
particular
Member State
has funded an
office of the
organization
run by a
part-time
SRSG, does the
UN think there
is any
possible
conflict of
interest, and
did Mr.
Roed-Larsen
play any role
whatsoever in
the
siting of this
conference in
Bahrain?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
We will have
to find out
for you,
Matthew, I
don’t
have that
information.
Nine
hours later,
no information
had been
provided.
Watch this
site.
, 
