On
Ebola, UN
Tells ICP It
Would
"Voluntarily"
Comply, Of Blair
& Rapes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 27 --
After the UN
criticized but
said it would
comply with US
states' Ebola
quarantine
laws, on
October 27
Inner City
Press asked UN
spokesman Stephane
Dujarric if,
unlike on
Haiti cholera,
the UN is not
citing
immunity, video here:
Inner
City Press: on
this question
of Ebola and
quarantine, I
know the UN
argues that
it's immune in
many other
instances,
including, for
example, on
Haiti and
cholera.
Is the UN
voluntarily
going to
comply with
local
quarantine
restrictions
or is this a
legal
requirement on
UN personnel?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
It’s something
the UN is
voluntarily
doing.
Whether or not
it's a legal
requirement is
one that I'm
not equipped
educationally,
intellectually
to say.
But what I am
telling you is
that the UN
staff members
will comply
[with]
regulations
put in place,
whether it's
by the Federal
Government, by
the State of
New York, the
State of New
Jersey or the
State of
Connecticut,
whatever other
local entities
put
regulations in
place.
However, I
think as the
Secretary-General
clearly said,
we are very
concerned by
these policies
and we think
it sends the
wrong signal
to health
workers who
are putting
themselves on
the
line.
And clearly
the Ebola
response won't
be met without
an influx of
aid workers
and of
health-care
workers, and
we need them.
Inner City
Press:
Is there any
answer yet to
the national
versus
international
staff, how
they are
treated in
terms of their
rights of
evacuation?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
We are working
to put in
place
procedures to
support our
staff both in
terms of
in-country
treatment;
there are a
number of
countries that
are supplying
field
hospitals,
that will
treat
health-care
workers, and
also on the
issue of
evacuation for
health-care
workers if
needed.
As far as…
once all these
things are put
in place
formally, I
will get back
to you.
Tellingly,
even on this
opposition to
quarantine,
longer former
UN Secretary
General Kofi
Annan has been
more vocal,
and more
reported, than
his successor
Ban Ki-moon.
Might dodging
legal papers
and
accountability
for Haiti
cholera, and
Sri Lanka war
crimes, be one
of the
reasons?
US Ambassador
to the UN
Samantha Power
has moved,
with scribes,
from Guinea to
Sierra Leone.
In Guinea, it
is unclear if
impunity for
the more than
100 rapes in
the Conakry
stadium by the
military five
years ago: the
wires, at
least Reuters,
didn't mention
this. Instead,
Reuters cited
Tony Blair's
company as an
expert on
Ebola hospital
beds.
On October 26
New York State
government
Andrew Cuomo,
under fire for
his and his
New Jersey
counterpart
Chris Christie
announced a
mandatory 21
day
quarantine,
held a press
conference
past 8 pm on
Sunday,
October 26.
Flanked by NYC
Mayor Bill de
Blasio, Cuomo
clarified that
the quarantine
can be at
home. He said
if health care
workers'
employers
don't
compensate
them, "we"
will pay,
analogizing it
to military
service.
Inner City
Press has
previously reported on
the
Service-members'
Civil Relief
Act which
lowers the
interest rate
creditors may
charge to
military
service-members
on active
duty.
Inner City
Press and Fair
Finance Watch
ask: will
Obama move to
extend those
Federal
protection to
health care
workers who go
to serve in
West
Africa?
Watch this
site.
While the UN
struggles on
Ebola to be
relevant and
not entirely
overshadowed
by the United
States, as on
so many issues
under UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, on
October 25 US
Ambassador to
the UN
Samantha Power
took off for
the Ebola hot
zone, scribes
in tow.
Ban
Ki-moon, by
contrast,
canceled plans
to visit the
same
countries; his
spokesman was
quoted
that "a trip
to the
impacted
countries was
indeed
envisaged but
no final
decision was
ever made to
go ahead. It's
important to
balance the
benefits of
these types of
travels
against the
disruption
that may be
caused to both
the U.N. team
on the ground
and the
national
governments,
who already
have their
hands full, by
a visit of the
secretary-general."
So is
a visit by a
US cabinet
member LESS
disruptive?
As
with New York
City Mayor
Bill De Blasio
on October 25
eating in the
Meatball Shop
in Manhattan's
West Village,
where now
Ebola-sticken
doctor Craig
Spencer ate on
October 21,
Power's visit
sends a
message
against
over-reaction.
President
Barack
Obama's hug of
nurse Nina
Pham was along
the same line
-- but the
decision to
limit it to a
photo op and
exclude even
the print
pooler has
been
criticized
even by Andrea
Mitchell. (The
White House
press corps is
notably less
deferential to
Obama than the
UN scribes are
to Ban
Ki-moon, to
whom they
PROVIDE photo
ops, to
which the new
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
objects.)
De
Blasio as New
York City
Mayor has said
that New York
State governor
Andrew Cuomo
provided no
notice of his
and his New
Jersey
counterpart
Chris
Christie's
decision to
quarantine
anyone
returning from
Ebola hot zone
who has had
contact with
Ebola
patients.
Without
asking
how this may
apply to the
US Mission
trip -- which
left from
Washington --
Inner City
Press has a
more
UN-specific
question: does
it apply to UN
personnel,
with their
blue laissez
passe
passports and
immunity?
That is, while
the US
is defending
the UN's
immunity for
bringing
cholera to
Haiti,
would UN
personnel use
that same
immunity to
work-around
the New York
and New Jersey
restrictions?
Watch this
site.
Back
on September
25 after a
Senior US
State
Department
Official said
that the US'
PEPFAR funding
had strengthen
health systems
allowing prior
Ebola
outbreaks in
East Africa
and the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo to be
rapidly
contained,
Inner City
Press asked
the official
what the US
and PEPFAR had
been doing in
Liberia,
Sierra Leone
and Guinea.
Transcript
here and
below.
PEPFAR is the
U.S.
President’s
Emergency Plan
for AIDS
Relief.
The US
official said
ruefully,
“PEPFAR does
not have
resources in
those three
countries.
They had very
low HIV
prevalence
from the
beginning and
were not a
significant
investment
country. Over
the last
several years
we have have
been investing
$500,000 a
year in Sierra
Leone to
support their
TB laboratory
diagnosis. But
we've had very
limited
support of
those
countries.”
And
that may be
one of the
problems. Click
here to view
map.
Looking
forward,
the UN says
4000 of its
staff applied
by a September
24 to be
deployed to
the new UNMEER
Ebola response
mission, to be
headquartered
in Accra,
Ghana. Inner
City Press
asked a Senior
State
Department
Official -- a
different one
-- how the US'
4000 people
will interface
with the UN
mission. (Click
here for
Inner City
Press' story
on what this
other US
official said
about South
Sudan.)
The US
official
replied, “we
are working
closely with
UN, we have to
coordinate.
The UN will
put its
headquarters
in Accra.
USAID will
have some
people working
closely with,
embedded with
them in
Accra.”
Now
that US has in
essence
adopted
Liberia,
sending 4000
people to
respond to
Ebola, with
the UK similar
adopting its
former colony
Sierra Leone,
and France its
former colony
Guinea, the
question
arises or
remains how
these
countries were
left so
under-developed.
Watch this
site.
From
the US
transcript:
MODERATOR:
Okay. So, open
up for
questions.
Name and
outlet,
please.
INNER
CITY PRESS:
Sure. I’m
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Inner City
Press... With
all the talk
of the medical
infrastructure
in Liberia,
Sierra Leone,
and Guinea
being so weak
that it’s
collapsed,
what were the
programs
there? Was
there – are
these – I
mean, do these
countries
stand out as
having very
weak systems?
Or is this
(inaudible)?
SENIOR
STATE
DEPARTMENT
OFFICIAL:
Yeah, thank
you for those
questions.
PEPFAR does
not have
resources in
those three
countries you
just
mentioned.
They had very
low HIV
prevalence
from the
beginning and
were not a
significant
investment
country. Over
the last
several years,
we’ve been
investing
about $500,000
a year in
Sierra Leone
to support
their TB
laboratory
diagnosis, but
we’ve had very
limited
support in
those three
countries.
I
wanted to call
your attention
– this gives
me a great
opportunity to
call your
attention to
our website at
PEPFAR.gov.
INNER
CITY PRESS:
Okay, thanks.
MODERATOR:
Other
questions? No?
All right.
Well, thank
you very much.
, 
