UN
Says
Only "Elites
& Media"
Want It to
Leave Haiti,
Unaware of
Obama
Deportees
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 29 --
Asked about
widening calls
in Haiti for
the
UN to leave
the country,
Deputy Special
Representative
Nigel Fisher
on Tuesday
said these are
"within
Haitian media
and certain
political and
economic
elites." Video
here, from
Minute 23:28.
Fisher
said that
only 30% of
Port au Prince
residents want
the UN to
leave --
that's a
pretty big
"elite" or at
least a large
press corps --
while
70% don't want
the UN to
leave right
away.
Inner
City Press
asked about
accountability
for sexual
abuse. Fisher
said for
peacekeepers,
that is up to
the Troop
Contributing
Countries. Video
here, from
Minute 17:00.
But
Sri Lanka, for
example,
repatriated
many of its
soldiers from
Haiti after
charges of
sexual abuse
or
exploitation,
without even
reporting any
prosecution
back in Sri
Lanka. As
Inner City
Press noted,
the Urugayans
have done
more. But even
so, what about
reparations?
Fisher
refused to
address the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, saying
that "claim
has
been
transferred to
New York."
Ironically,
the filing of
a claim
is now the
UN's pretext
rebuff any
questions
about its own
behavior.
Inner
City Press
asked Fisher,
as it
previously
asked the
Office of the
Spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, about
investigative
reports
that
of the 250
people
repatriated to
Hiati by the
US Obama
Administration
this year,
half are in
jail without
charge, and
exposed to
cholera.
Video
here, from
Minute 24:07.
"I
personally
am not aware,"
Fisher said.
When Inner
City Press
asked the
question at a
UN noon
briefing, it
was said an
answer would
be sought
from the
MINUSTAH
mission. But
MINUSTAH seems
not to know of
the
question, or
even of the
underlying
issue.
(Meanwhile,
there is a
pending
Inter-American
Commission on
Human Rights case
on the issue
-- perhaps
another excuse
for the UN not
to
respond.)
Niger
Fisher Nov 29:
Haitian media
& elites
want UN out.
(c) MRLee
Overall
Fisher was
defensive on
Tuesday,
taking issue
with negative
reporting.
Strangely, his
purported
defense of
Haitians was
that they
cleaned
the rubble
from the
earthquake
faster than
the rubble
from the World
Trade Center
in lower
Manhattan was
cleaned up. Video
here.
For
the UN to
position
itself as
Haitians'
defender
doesn't wash,
for many,
especially
while the UN
is refusing to
answer about
its own action
and behavior.
Watch this
site.