Amid
Protest to
Abuse in
Haiti, UN
Won't Retract
Denial,
Ladsous
Absent
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 --
Amid growing
protests over
the abuse
of an 18
year old
Haitian by UN
peacekeepers
from Uruguay,
the UN on
Tuesday
refused to
retract its
previous
statement
August 18
response to
Inner
City Press
that the "allegations
could not be
substantiated"
and "were
unfounded."
In
mid August,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's now
departed
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about cell
phone video of
sexual abuse
in
Port Salut,
Haiti. Haq
denied it,
saying that
that the "investigation
was
finalized...
these
allegations
were
unfounded."
Now
that the
video has
emerged on the
Internet and
the UN is
being sued,
new
deputy
spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey on
September 6
told Inner
City
Press "that is
not being
retracted...
That video is
now part of
the court case
that the
family is
bringing
against — that
the
Haitian
prosecutor and
the family are
bringing
against the
five
perpetrators.
So, in that
sense, the
video is
something that
we
would not like
to comment on
because it is
evidence in an
ongoing
investigation."
But
the UN's
Haq
on August 18
said the
"investigation
was
finalized."
Inner
City Press
also asked del
Buey on
September 6
about photos
of garbage and
sewage
dumping by UN
peacekeepers
in Port Salut,
particularly
troubling in
light of the
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti
last year.
Del
Buey
said "you
might want to
check with our
colleagues in
DPKO
(Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations) on
it; they will
probably
have more
information."
After
a month with
no chief of
DPKO, last
week France's
Herve Ladsous
was named as
the
replacement of
fellow
Frenchman
Alain Le Roy,
beating out
also French
Jerome
Bonnafont who
bragged to
diplomats that
he had the
job.
Inner
City Press
asked del Buey
on Tuesday,
"When does Mr.
Ladsous,
the new head
of DPKO,
begin, and can
we get a kind
of a briefing
from, and does
he, has any
views on this?
The
UN's del Buey
answered, "I
don’t have any
dates yet for
his
commencement,
but we’ll try
and find out."
No answer has
yet been
given,
but one has to
wonder about a
late-named new
head of
Peacekeeping
not
showing up to
work, and
having nothing
to say on this
scandal.
In
fact, Ladsous
has had much
to say on
Haiti, as the
French Deputy
Permanent
Representative
to the UN in
the 1990s,
then as a
public face
supporting the
ouster of
elected
president
Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in
2004.
Now
with what's
called an Abu
Ghraib-like
scandal for UN
DPKO in Haiti,
DPKO chief
Ladsous is
nowhere to be
found; the
French Mission
to the UN
where he
used to be
Deputy
Ambassador is
left trying to
squelch
coverage of
his absence
and their lack
of knowledge.
Ladsous,
Bonnafont and
selection
process not
shown
From
the UN's
September
6, 2011
transcript of
its noon
briefing:
Inner
City
Press: Sitting
right where
are you on 18
August, Farhan
Haq said
that the
allegations
were
unfounded,
that they had
been
investigated
by the UN, the
allegation of,
of sexual
abuse captured
on, on a cell
phone. So I am
wondering,
one, is that
being
retracted? And
two,
when did the
UN become
aware or
actually view
the video?
Deputy
Spokesperson
del Buey: It’s
not being
retracted.
What it is, we
did not
comment on the
video because
we didn’t know
the provenance
of the video.
We didn’t know
where the
video came
from or who
took
it. We didn’t
have a, sort
of a chain of
evidence to be
able to
show that the
video was bona
fide. That
video is now
part of the
court case
that the
family is
bringing
against — that
the Haitian
prosecutor and
the family are
bringing
against the
five
perpetrators.
So, in that
sense, the
video is
something that
we would not
like to
comment on
because it is
evidence in an
ongoing
investigation.
Inner
City
Press: But I
mean, at that
time — and I
am looking at
the
transcript —
Farhan Haq
said local
authorities
confirm that
these
allegations
were
unfounded. And
that was said
from right
here. So I
am wondering,
is that now,
there seems to
now be the
acknowledgement
by the
Uruguayans
that at least
abuse if not
full rape
took,
occurred. So…?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, the
information we
have is that
something
occurred, and
is being
investigated,
and we are
looking
forward to
seeing what
the
conclusions of
the
investigation
are. And as
I’ve
said, if the
allegations
are proven,
then we expect
full legal
treatment.
Inner
City
Press: And one
related
question; a
journalist
there has
taken
photographs of
what,
something that
took place
before with
the
Nepalese
battalion
which is the
dumping of
garbage and
the seeping of
sewage from
that same
Uruguayan Navy
post. Has the
UN, is it
aware
of that?
What’s the,
what’s its
response?
These, you
know,
these photos
are on the
Internet and
they, they,
including
interviews
with people
saying that
MINUSTAH
(United
Nations
Stabilization
Mission in
Haiti) comes
and drives,
and dumps this
garbage which
includes like
frosted flakes
boxes in, you
know, sort of
global
non-Haitian
products?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, you
might want to
check with our
colleagues in
DPKO
(Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations) on
it; they will
probably have
more
information.
Inner
City
Press: When
does Mr.
[Hervé]
Ladsous begin,
and can we get
a…?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Sorry?
Inner
City
Press:When
does Mr.
Ladsous, the
new head of
DPKO, begin,
and
can we get a
kind of a
briefing from,
and does he,
has any views
on
this?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I don’t have
any dates yet
for his
commencement,
but
we’ll try and
find out.
Watch
this site.
, 
in