At
UN,
Child Soldier
Post Mulled
for Fisher,
Sooka, Sabliere
or Jahangir,
Haiti Cholera
& HRW
Echoes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 9 -- With
Children and
Armed Conflict
the closed
door
topic of the
UN Security
Council on
Monday, talk
turned to who
will
replace outgoing
CAAC envoy
Radhika
Coomaraswamy.
Monday's
meeting
included a
report drafted
by the
so-called
father of the
agenda item,
France's
Jean-Marc de
la Sabliere.
He is
mentioned as
possibly
returning to
the UN to
replace
Coomaraswamy,
though
travel's said
to
be a problem.
Also
mentioned
is Yasmin
Sooka, who
most recently
for the UN
served on Ban
Ki-moon's
Group of
Experts on Sri
Lanka, a
report that
Ban never
embraced as
his own.
Popular
with NGOs is
Asma Jahangir,
particularly
given recent
threats
against her.
Less
popular with
NGOs, but
being pushed
hard by Canada
is Nigel
Fisher.
His many
dismissive
responses
about the UN
falling short
in Haiti,
denying the
introduction
of cholera by
MINUSTAH
peacekeepers
and the
shameless lack
of
accountability
for sexual
abuse, can't
help the
Fisher case.
Last
week
on this Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
Deputy
spokesman:
Inner
City
Press: Some
time ago, I
asked about
this long
article in the
Christian
Science
Monitor called
“Will the UN
legacy in
Haiti be
all about
scandal?” and
it was said
that you don’t
comment on
articles. But
there’s now
been a letter
by Mariano
Fernandez, the
SRSG of
MINUSTAH, and
a lot of
people are
concerned that
he said, on
the issue of
sexual abuse:
“I will not
evade the
cases of
sexual
exploitation
and abuse.
They are
outrageous and
totally
unacceptable
and they are
severely
punished.” But
what people
don’t
understand is
it seems that
the only
punishment
they can find
is of a
single
one-year
sentence to a
Pakistani
peacekeeper,
nothing else
for
all the
various cases
raised. And
the question
is, is that
what he
is referring
to? And does
the UN
consider one
year for rape
of a
minor to be
the severe
punishment to
which he’s
referring?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I would
invite you to
ask the
gentleman to
explain what
he was saying.
Our position
on sexual
violence is
that
there is a
zero-tolerance
policy on
sexual
violence. Now,
as you
know, it is
not up the
United Nations
itself to
judge the
cases of
what happens.
It’s up to the
troop-contributing
States. They
apply justice
and it’s up to
them to make
sure that
justice is
served.
However, in
the cases that
I’ve seen
recently,
people have
been
identified,
they have been
removed from
their posts
and they
have been
subjected to
national
jurisprudence.
In that sense,
that
is what has to
be done.
Question:
Yes, I
understand
that. It’s
really this
use of the
idea of the
“severely
punished”. If
he said, “we
do what we can
as the UN
and send them
back to the
country”, then
that’s the
reality. But
he seemed to
be claiming
that this was
a sufficient
punishment.
I’m
just asking
you, is that
the UN’s
position?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I
haven’t seen
the reported
letter myself,
so
I’ll have to
check in with
DPKO to see
what they have
to say on it.
And
in
the four days
since, there's
been nothing
from Herve
Ladsous' DPKO
on this.
Ladsous' first
public refusal
to answer any
Inner City
Press question,
due to
critical
coverage, came
in response to
questions on
Ban Ki-moon
and he taking
advice from
alleged war
criminal Sri
Lanka general
Shavendra
Silva, and
about DPKO's
role in
cholera in
Haiti. And
so it goes at
the UN.
Footnote:
present in
Monday's
"Arria
formula" was
the UN
representative
of Human
Rights Watch.
As twice
noted
recently,
incoming
Security
Council member
Rwanda has a
strong and
unrebutted
critique of
HRW.
Rwanda's
Permanent
Representative
said to Inner
City Press
last week this
is the "count
down on Ken
Roth." Will
2013 Arria
Formula
meetings be
different? Did
it make sense
to devote more
energy to
responding to
the spokesman
of a P-5
member of the
Security
Council than
the Foreign
Minister of an
incoming
elected
Council member,
even to the
point of calling
her an
"ambassador"
and not
correcting it?
We'll see.
, 
