As
Colombia
Pushes Back at
UN on Child
Soldiers, Its
FM Seeks UN
Post from
Craven Ban
Ki-moon?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 3, updated
-- While
Colombia
pushes back
against the UN
on
child soldiers
and other
issues, its
foreign
minister Maria
Angela
Holguin is
said by Inner
City Press
sources to be
seeking a
senior UN
post, as early
as June.
On
April 3 at the
UN, Inner City
Press asked a
panel from the
Watchlist on
Child and
Armed Conflict
about
Colombia's
record. The
answers ranged
from the
government's
pressure on
and against
the UN
mechanism to
its
opposition to
inquiries by
the
International
Criminal
Court, in
which
outgoing ICC
prosecutor
Luis Moreno
Ocampo
concurred.
As
Inner City
Press reported
from the
Security
Council, in
connection
with the last
briefing by
also outgoing
Special
Representative
on Children
and
Armed Conflict
Radhika
Coomaraswamy,
Colombia
accused
Coomaraswamy
of
mission creep,
saying that
the UN should
stay out of
the issue. The
argument, made
more recently,
is that this
is merely
crime, and not
technically
armed
conflict.
While
pushing back
on the UN,
Holguin is
said to be
seeking a UN
job. There are
only four
open Under
Secretary
General
positions in
New York
available:
Public
Information,
Economic and
Social
Affairs, Field
Support
and Conference
Services.
Some wonder
how Ban
Ki-moon's five
year rule
applies for
example to
Alicia Barcena
at ECLAC, when
her
counterpart in
Africa
has recently
been replaced.
How
craven, some
wonder, can
Ban Ki-moon
become? He has
ceded UN
Peacekeeping
to
France, and
Political
Affairs to the
US. But, the
question goes,
to
give a USG
post to a
country and
official which
pushes back at
the
UN?
The
Watchlist in
responding to
Inner City
Press noted
child soldiers
in Myanmar as
well. Ban
Ki-moon has
said he may go
there this
month. But
would he
raise child
soldiers?
From
Tuesday's UN
noon briefing,
on the topic
of DPA and
Inner City
Press' scoop
on
Jeffrey
Feltman:
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
The
recruitment
process for
these
positions —
and I am
talking in
particular
about the ones
that were
recently
advertised,
unusually so,
as you know, —
but that’s a
recruitment
process
that is under
way. And when
it is
completed, we
will make the
appropriate
announcements.
I don’t have
anything at
the moment. I
think you can
also rest
assured that
our colleagues
in the various
departments
are perfectly
able to keep
things moving
along quite
smoothly. Yes,
Matthew?
Inner
City
Press: One
follow-up on
that. Some
people say
that, DPI,
DGACM,
DESA — these
were all
advertised in
The Economist
and there is a
whole process,
where as DPA
wasn’t. So, some
people
interpret this
to mean this
is designated
for the United
States, maybe
for Jeffrey
Feltman.
And I just
wonder, what
is the
rationale for
advertising
some empty USG
posts and not
others — other
than the
explanation
that I have
just offered
you?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, it
sounds like
you are doing
my job for me.
So, I am
not sure I
need to answer
that. I think
put simply,
there is a
transparent
process under
way to appoint
senior
officials, and
when
we have
announcements
to make on
these
appointments
we will do so.
I
don’t have
anything else
at the moment.
Watch
this
site.
, 
