UNITED
NATIONS, June
12 -- How
could the UN
accept and pay
a listed child
soldier
recruiter as
part of its
peacekeeping
mission in
Mali?
On
June 12, Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
representative
on the issue
Leila
Zerrougui
about Chad,
and the
"grace
period"
proposed by UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
for its
service in the
UN's MINUSMA
mission in
Mali starting
July 1.
"For
sure it will
be a grace
period," Leila
Zerrougui
said. Video
here, in
Minute 28.
Zerrougui
said
more than
that,
including on
Myanmar and
three other
countries
Inner City
Press asked
about which
have been
critical in
different
ways of her
mandate:
India,
Colombia and
Pakistan.
But
the move by
Ladsous to
accept Chad,
while still
listed by the
UN as a child
soldier
recruiter,
into the Mali
mission may
more seriously
undermine
the UN's
Children and
Armed Conflict
mandate.
Zerrougui
said
it is an
opportunity,
that a road
map has been
proposed with
five short
term goals and
five long
term. The
short term
goal are
beginning to
be
implemented,
she said. But
others point
out that
there has been
an Action Plan
in place for
two years, and
still
dozens of
child soldiers
were recruited
in 2012.
Shouldn't
an
Action Plan be
complied with?
Inner City
Press asked
that also
with respect
to Myanmar.
Questions on video
here, from
Minute 24 and
42:57.
Zerrougui
said that
country will
be visited by
the Working
Group on
Children and
Armed Conflict
in October.
Fine. In the
interim, would
Ladsous accept
Burmese
soldiers into
his
peacekeeping
missions?
On
the specifics
of how Ladsous
proposes a
grace period
to work, Ban's
spokespeople
have
repeatedly
said that the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
will answer.
But they have
yet to provide
the update on
Ladsous' rape
grace period
-- or "three
strikes and
maybe you're
out" -- as
applied to the
135
rapes by the
Congolese Army
in
Minova
that Inner
City Press
requested from
Ladsous on May
29.
Then,
Ladsous said,
"You know I do
not respond to
you." Video
here.
Inner City
Press re-asked
the question
to Ban's
spokesperson's
office on May
30, but still
no answer. Is
Ladsous in his
own grace
period?
On
the use of a
listed child
soldier
recruiter in
the mission in
Mali,
there is a
deadline: July
1. Zerrougui
said this is
up to DPKO,
and
that DPKO will
discuss it
with the
Security
Council. This
is the UK's
month. Watch
this site.
, 
