As
2 S Sudanese Disappear in Kenya, &
ICP Asks Why
Ban's Son in
Law Silent,
More Qs
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 19 – As the UN
discussed enforced
disappearances with restricting
the Press' ability to cover
them, Inner City Press
on February 17 asked UN deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq why the
UN's Resident Coordinator in
Kenya Siddharth Chatterjee,
Ban Ki-moon's son in law
promoted by him without
recusal, was silent on at
least two cases. UN
Transcript here and
below.
Siddharth Chatterjee has two
days later reached out to seek
an agreement, in advance, to
publish whatever he chooses to
send in. Inner City Press in turn
requested, as it did in person
in New York in September, an
on camera interview which it
would publish live and in its
entirety.
Along with
the above, and what Chatterjee
was doing recently in Addis
Ababa lobbying in connection
with the race for top African
Union post, Inner City Press
has conveyed in advance
questions ranging from whether
or not Chatterjee previously
got an article about one of
his promotions taken off the
Internet after making an
illegal offer of a job in his
father in law's Secretariat to
his role in the Jaffna
Hospital Massacre and other
specific war crimes in Sri
Lanka. We hope to get answers
to these questions and to
publish them. Watch this site.
From the UN's February 17
transcript:
Inner City Press:
it's the tenth anniversary of
this Convention on enforced
disappearances. So, I'd
asked you, I think, on Monday
about this… these case of two
South Sudanese who have
disappeared in Kenya.
You said you're aware of the
reports so, two things.
One, I'm wondering, who in the
UN system is engaging with the
Kenyan Government or the South
Sudan Government about
that? Why hasn't the
Resident Coordinator in Kenya?
I mean the Nigeria one is
speaking about when Boko Haram
will be done. Has
anything been said by the UN
in-country about these people
that have been disappeared
presumably by the Government
and returned to South Sudan?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
first of all, I believe that
there are Special Rapporteurs
dealing with this particular
situation. There's… one
of our human rights
instruments deals with the
question of
disappearances. And so
they're looking into this
matter, and we'll try to get
information from them first
and foremost. And then
other parts of the system can
work on that as needed.
Inner
City Press:
Sure. And then can I,
there's a high-profile
case in France of a
22-year-old person that was
arrested on video and has said
to have been raped or
sodomized during the
arrest. His name is
Theo. And there have
been riots in France for
several days on it. I've
checked at least everything
that's been sent out by the
Office of the High
Commissioner for Human
Rights. I haven't seen
anything. Is the UN
aware of this case? And
what do they think of… of both
police treatment of people in
France and of how the protests
are being dealt with?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
regarding protests, of course,
we want to make sure that the
freedom of expression and the
freedom of peaceful assembly
are upheld. Beyond that,
this is a case that,
ultimately, the judicial
system would need to look
into, and we'll have to see
where they go with that.
Back on
January 25 with at least these
two South Sudanese threatened
with deportation by Kenya,
Inner City Press asked UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
for the UN's response. From
the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
extradition questions, not
South Korea extradition but
are you aware of the impending
extradition of South Sudanese
human rights lawyer Samuel
Luak, who defended Pagan
Amum? Basically, a
number of highly respected
groups are saying that, if
he’s deported, he will face
unjust treatment. So I’m
wondering, has the UN…
Spokesman Dujarric: I, I
have, don’t have an update
here, but, again, you can
check locally with the
mission.
Inner City Press: So
that would be the resident
coordinator? I’m talking
about in Kenya.
Spokesman: In Kenya, you
can check with the UN
Information Centre in Nairobi.
Dujarric
was until December 31 the
spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, who
before he left the UN promoted
his own son in law Siddharth
Chatterjee to the top UN post
in Kenya, as Resident
Coordinator.
In
December as Kenya detained
journalist
Jerome Starkey,
Ban Ki-moon's
son in law
Chatterjee was
entirely
silent. Like
his father in
law has proved
to be with the
Press in New
York, he
is at heart a
censor. But it
makes a
mockery of Ban
Ki-moon's post
Sri Lanka
claims of
"Rights Up
Front," even
as Ban
angles to run
for President
on South
Korea.
In
fact, in Sri Lanka Ban's son in
law is implicated
in presumptive war crimes,
the Jaffna Hospital massacre and
the crushing of civilians with
tanks. And it's from him that
Ban took his advice on Sri
Lanka, where Ban oversaw the
killing of more than 40,000
civilians.
Ban
is allowing those scribes
who ignore this and praise him
to sell access to him on
December 16 for $1200 on Wall
Street. We'll have more on
this.
Tellingly,
as the UN's Resident Coordinator
in Kenya, Ban's son in law
Chatterjee has remained silent
not only on the targeting of
South Sudanese, but on the
protests profiled in a study
released by Article 19, here.
Ban's
son in law ignores Ban's
supposed “Rights Up Front,”
given his action in Sri Lanka
(see below) and because he is
entirely unaccountable: he could
only be fired by Ban Ki-moon,
his father in law. Nepotism is
harmful.
On
December 3 Inner City Press
reported the ever-increasingly
likelihood that Ban Ki-moon's
son in law Chatterjee was
involved in crimes of war in Sri
Lanka, which neither Ban's
spokesman Stephane Dujarric nor
Chatterjee himself when asked
in the UN lobby was
willing to answer.
For some time Inner City Press
has heard that Chatterjee, as
part of the Indian Peace Keeping
Force in Sri Lanka, was a war
criminal. Inner City Press asked
Ban's spokesman Dujarric if
Chatterjee was involved in the
Jaffna University raid, or the
Jaffna hospital massacre,
without answer.
In the UN lobby, Chatterjee said
he would
answer at an “opportune time.”
He has not answered.
Chatterjee had his commander, Dalvir
Singh, write a defense on
Huffington Post and
elsewhere, identifying himself
as the commander of Chatterjee
and of the 10th Para commandos.
And
that's the problem. More here
and here.
***
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