By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
With the UN
now akin to a
scofflaw, its
spokesperson
on Thursday
refused to
confirm or
explain
refusing even
service of the
court papers.
When the
lawyers in the
class
action suit
for victims
of the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti tried
to serve the
complaint,
they told
Inner City
Press on
Wednesday, the
UN "refused to
physically
receive
process."
Inner
City Press
asked UN
spokesperson
Farhan Haq on
Thursday to
confirm and
explain -- but
he said there
was nothing
more to say,
that previous
statements
explain it.
Video here and
embedded
below.
So did then UN
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien ruling
the
adminstrative
claims were
"not
receivable"
mean her
successor
Miguel de
Serpa Soares
wouldn't even
"receive" the
court case
papers?
The
lawyers tell
Inner City
Press they aim
to ask for
permission for
an alternate
mode: service
by
publication.
Those are the
legal notices
published in
newspapers,
often putting
deadbeat
parents on
notice their
wages will be
garnished. How
has the UN
fallen this
low?
The
victims'
lawyers
anticipate the
UN, once it is
served if only
by newspaper
publication,
making a
motion to
dismiss on the
grounds that
it is immune.
But, they say,
no remedy has
been provided,
nor any
alternative
mechanism.
Just
as Sri Lanka
military
figure, now
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Shavendra
Silva
successfully
did, the US
State
Department
will be asked
to make a
court filing
supporting
immunity.
This time, the
lawyers say,
there will be
a campaign to
ask the State
Department not
to support
impunity, with
letters to
Secretary of
State John
Kerry
including from
members of
Congress.
Would newly
appointed US
Mission reform
ambassador
Leslie Berger
Kiernan play a
role in this?
On
Tuesday
evening, Inner
City Press filmed as
State
Department
official
Victoria Holt
heard the UN's
Edmond Mulet essentially
blame the
cholera deaths
on Haitian
under-development;
when given the
floor, Holt
said nothing
about this. Video here; longer
form analysis
by this author
here, on
Beacon Reader.
In the
UN Press
Briefing Room,
for seven days
now Inner City
Press has
waited for a
UN answer to a
yes or no
question: has
UN
Peacekeeping
established
any of the
Standing
Claims
Commissions
provided for
its its Status
of Forces
Agreements.
On
November 14,
UN acting
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
said that
actually
setting these
up depends on
the request of
the mission's
host
government.
But that not
only ignores
the power
relations, it
does not
answer the yes
or no
question: has
any Standing
Claims
Commissions
been set up?
Haq
referred to
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations.
But its chief
Herve Ladsous
has refused to
answer basic
questions,
such as about
the 135 rapes
at Minova by
UN
Peacekeeping's
partners in
the Congolese
Army. Video
here, UK
coverage here.
So would will
this simple
question be
answered?
Not on
November 18.
Asked again,
Haq said the
question had
been put to UN
Peacekeeping,
but it's "not
a yes or no
question." Video here. If the answer's yes,
can't it be
said in four
days? And if
no - what's
the
explanation?
Or does the UN
Peacekeeping
under Ladsous
think they can
just not
answer?
Waiting
two
days, and
after filming
UN
Peacekeeping
deputy Edmond
Mulet Tuesday
night, here,
Inner City
Press, on
November 20
asked Haq
again, saying
it had been
six days. Haq
replied that
counting days
is not
helpful. But
how can UN
Peacekeeping
not answer a
basic question
in seven days?
We will keep
asking. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
also on
Thursday,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN's Haq
for an update
on previous
answers that
the UN Mission
in the Congo
MONUSCO was
"verifying"
reprisal
attacks in
Bunagana and
Kiwanja. These
was no update.
So is the UN
checking or
not?
, 
