UNITED
NATIONS, April
16 -- Of all
the things
Vuk Jeremic
said at his
hour
long press
conference
about last
week's debate
on the “Role
of
International
Criminal
Justice in
Reconciliation,”
what seems
most
Pressing is
the total lack
of
accountability
of officials
of Ban
Ki-moon's
Secretariat.
Jeremic
recounted
asking Ban's
top lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien to
speak on a
panel, on this
legal topic
directly
within her
responsibilities.
According to
Jeremic,
O'Brien
refused,
saying that
she had other
unspecified
more important
things to do
that day.
The
General
Assembly is
supposed to
oversee the
UN. How can a
Secretariat
official just
refuse to
appear before
it, citing
other
more important
things to do
without saying
what they are?
Imagine,
in
the US,
Attorney
General Eric
Holder trying
to tell
Congress that
he wouldn't
come, he had
something else
to do. He
would soon be
having nothing
ELSE but
something else
to do.
But
in this UN
system there
is no
oversight;
there is no
accountability.
Given
this, the role
of the media
in trying to
watchdog and
question UN
official is
all the more
important.
This too often
breaks down.
The
lapdog
relationship
between Agence
France
Presse's Tim
Witcher as
well as Reuters
and Herve
Ladsous, the
fourth
Frenchman in a
row to
head UN
Peacekeeping,
has already
been detailed.
But
it is
pervasive. Louis
Charbonneau
of Reuters,
who demanded
the first
question in
the Jeremic
press
conference in
the name of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
has written to
the UN
claiming that
Inner
City Press'
question have
harassed
certain
diplomats and
UN
officials,
making them
reluctant to
give press
conferences.
So
asking hard
questions is a
bad thing for
a journalist
to do? What
kind of
association IS
this UNCA?
It's now
called the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
Inner
City Press on
behalf of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked
Jeremic about
criticism it
has received
from some
African
Permanent
Representatives,
that his
upcoming
debate on
Africa seems
focused on
“conflict
rather than
renaissance.”
Jeremic
pointed
out that the
sub-title
involves the
nexus of
development
and
conflict, and
that the
panels will go
(assuming, of
course, no
cancellations).
Inner
City Press
asked about
the draft Syria
resolution, on
which it first
reported
and put online
two
drafts.
Jeremic said
he has been
traveling -
China,
Istanbul - and
will now
become more
engaged. He
said switching
Syria seat to
the opposition
raises
concerns for
many,
as a
precedent.
Following
up
on the “Role
of
International
Criminal
Justice in
Reconciliation”
cancellation,
Inner City
Press first
tweeted the
question to
Human Rights
Watch's Ken
Roth, then
sent him and
Jeremic's
office this:
This
is a Press
request for
all
correspondence
concerned the
PGA's
February 13
invitation,
the stated
February 18
confirmation
and March
13, 2013
cancellation
regarding the
April 10
debate on the
“Role of
International
Criminal
Justice in
Reconciliation.”
A request was
an
explanation of
the reversal
was sent via
Twitter during
the PGA's
press
conference:
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/324208864616652801
While
no explanation
has been
received, we
are following
up on the
PGA's
direction to
e-mail a
request for
all
correspondent,
with a cc to
the
interlocutor
Ken Roth. Here
it is.
Watch
this site.
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