At
UN,
FIDH Funded by
France
Declines to
Answer on W.
Sahara, Haidar
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 24 --
When the
International
Federation for
Human
Rights (FIDH)
held a press
conference at
the UN on
Monday, they
said
it was
sponsored by
the French
Mission to the
UN.
Inner
City Press
asked the five
person FIDH
panel, then,
about France's
opposition to
including any
human rights
mandate in the
UN
peacekeeping
mission in
Western
Sahara,
MINURSO, and
about the
mistreatment
of prominent
human rights
defender
Aminatou
Haidar. Video
here,
from Minute
42:54.
The
five person
panel had
nothing to say
on this. Only
panelist
Gerald
Staberock even
reacted to the
question, and
then only to
say, "on the
question
of Western
Sahara, on the
question on
Security
Council
membership, we
would like
member states
to take a look
at our
report."
But
notably Ms.
Haidar, and
for example
Sidi Ahmed
Lamjeid who is
imprisoned in
Sale
and not
allowed to be
visited, do
not appear to
be mentioned
in the
report.
Mr.
Staberock went
on to tell
Inner City
Press that
while you
mention
"Morocco as
an example, I
think in the
last election
cycle" there
is also
Kyrgyzstan.
Video here,
from Minute
46:11. But
Kyrgystan
lost, to
Pakistan,
while Morocco
won and will
now be on the
Security
Council.
Most
notably,
there was no
response at
all on the
question about
France using
its
Permanent veto
wielding seat
on the Council
to block any
human rights
mandate for
MINURSO, the
peacekeeping
mission.
Now
Herve Ladsous
is the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to hold
the top post
in UN
Peacekeeping.
He was given
the post
despite most
recently serving
as
chief of staff
to French
foreign
minister
Michele
Aliot-Marie
when
she flew on
the private
plane of
cronies of
Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali. The
panelists
spoke about
Tunisia, but
not the French
connection.
From
the audience,
the second
question went
to Agence
France Presse,
which gets 41%
of
its income
from
subscriptions
from the
French foreign
ministry,
as is being
investigated
by the EU.
The
question was
in context an
open-ended
softball for
any other
"blatant
examples" the
panels, who
had already
spoken for
40 minutes,
wanted to
give. The
answer to that
was, again not
surprisingly,
about Algeria.
Panel
at UN on Oct
24, response
on W. Sahara
& Haidar
not shown (c)
MRLee
There
were
mentions of
human rights
defenders in
Belarus and
Democratic
Republic
of Congo;
there is
certainly work
being done.
But the
failure to
even
attempt to
answer the
question about
France and its
opposition to
a
human rights
monitoring
mandate in
Western Sahara
was a "blatant
example,"
particularly
given the
FIDH lists
France as a
supporter,
with a link
that leads to
the French
foreign
ministry's
website where
no financing
disclosure is
made. We
hope to have
more on this.
Footnotes:
On the
critique of
human rights
defender
Tawakkul
Karman of the
Security
Council's
passage
October 21 of
a resolution
"on the basis
of" the Gulf
Cooperation
Council's
immunity deal
with Yemen
strongman Ali
Saleh, the
same Agence
France Presse
correspondent's
report did not
even mention
France.
Meanwhile FIDH
issued
invitations
for a
reception
Monday night
at the "Bubble
Lounge" in
New York
City's TriBeCa
- Inner City
Press RSVP-ed
but did not
attend: you
have to answer
questions
first. Watch
this site.
, 
