ICP
Asks UN &
Malcorra About
Kompass, Qs
From &
Spin To Senate
in DC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
8 -- How low
has the UN
fallen, in
terms of
corruption,
not stopping
rapes, and
retaliating
against the
Press that
asks the
questions? April 16 eviction here and here.
May
14 New York
Times here.
On
June 7, when
Ban Ki-moon
was criticized
for not fully
and publicly
addressing the
rapes, Inner
City Press
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
about the
resignation of
whistleblower
Anders Kompass
citing
impunity,
video here, UN transcript
here
and below.
All Ban's
spokesman
would say was,
"We wish him
well." Right.
Later on June
7, Inner City
Press asked
Ban's former
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra who
is seeking to
succeed him
about Kompass'
resignation.
Periscope
video here.
She
argued that
Kompass, by
"moving
forward" with
a file she
acknowledged
had gotten
lost in
Geneva, had
put children
at risk. More
than the
rapists?
Down in
Washington,
Senator Bob
Corker has
issued a
statement:
U.S. Senator
Bob Corker
(R-Tenn.),
chairman of
the Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee,
today released
the following
statement
after top
United Nations
(U.N.)
whistleblower
Anders Kompass resigned in protest over the U.N.’s
failure to
hold senior
officials
accountable
for
allegations of
sexual
exploitation
and abuse
(SEA) by
peacekeeping
forces and
efforts to
silence those
who revealed
them.
“This
resignation
appears to be
a damning
indictment of
the leadership
at the United
Nations that
has failed to
end the
horrific
sexual
exploitation
and abuse by
peacekeepers
and protect
those who
report
wrongdoing,”
Corker said.
“The so-called
'zero-tolerance'
policy has
provided cover
for a culture
of impunity
where
allegations
are swept
under the rug
and
whistleblowers
are
intimidated to
stop them from
revealing the
truth. The
U.S. must use
its influence
as the largest
contributor to
peacekeeping
to restore
accountability
and oversight
of missions
that are
supposed to be
about
protecting
vulnerable
populations
and restoring
stability
during
conflict.”
Kompass’s
former deputy,
Miranda Brown, testified before the Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee at a hearing on April 13 in which Corker expressed
disgust over
continued
reports ofSEA and the failure of the
U.N. to
provide
accountability.
“If
I heard right
now that a
U.N.
peacekeeping
mission was
going to North
Chattanooga
today, which
is where my
wife is, I
would be on
the first
plane out of
here to go
home and
protect her,”
Corker said at
the April 13 hearing. “I am disgusted by
the actions of
U.N.
peacekeepers
that American
taxpayers are
paying for,
and I hope
that somehow
we’ll figure
out a way to
reel this in.”
At
an earlier hearing on December 9, 2015, Corker
questioned
U.S.
Ambassador
Samantha Power
about the U.N.
strategy to
effectively
address and
prevent SEA. The
2017 State
Department
authorization bill passed by the Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee in
April included provisions to encourage U.S. leadership
at the U.N. to
end SEA and
protect
whistleblowers.
It was
to the Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee that
the UN sent
this "Aide
Memoire"
purportedly
justifying the
UN's ouster
and eviction
of Inner City
Press.
This
Aide Memoire
says there was
nothing in
writing that
the underlying
meeting Inner
City Press
sought to
cover as part
of the UN
bribery
scandal was
"closed."
The
Security
Handbook it
cites is not
on the
Internet, not
on the UN's
iSeek Internet
and the UN
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit has no
copy. Inner
City Press
asked for that
- and has
asked to have
its Resident
Correspondent
accreditation
and long time
shared office
restored.
No
response from
the UN, except
to refer
everything
back to Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, who
threw Inner
City Press out
in the first
place, without
once speaking
to it, other
than to
referring
Inner City
Press'
questions
about her role
in the Ng Lap
Seng bribery
scandal to
Ban's
spokesman.
This is
today's UN:
coming to a
head.
, 
