By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
3 -- When the
UN Human
Rights Council
began its
speeches on
Monday
morning, Hugo
Swires of the
UK, Canada and
others cited
Sri Lanka and
the need for
accountability.
US Ambassador
Samantha
Power,
according to
the UN's list
of speakers,
was to appear
late Tuesday.
But at 4 pm on
Monday when
the marked up
Sri Lanka
resolution was
tabled, its
eighth
operative
paragraph
appeared to
simply kick
the can down
the road
again, asking
for another
update from
the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights -- who
soon won't be
Navi Pillay
anymore. Click
here for draft
as provided to
Inner City
Press.
Later on
Monday, the US
State
Department
announced that
the US' speech
would be given
by another
official,
Under
Secretary of
State for
Civilian
Security,
Democracy, and
Human Rights
Sarah Sewall:
not Power.
During the
speeches on
Monday, Syria
and North
Korea remained
in nearly
every speech
but Ukraine
and the
Central
African
Republic
worked their
way in, along
with a
smattering of
references to
Sri Lanka,
where the
killing of
tens of
thousands of
civilians
remains
unaddressed.
It was
noted that the
term of High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay is
almost up. But
it was
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon who
said she'd
only have one
half of a
second term.
Pillay
on January 20
said the
France put
Muslim
communities at
risk in CAR.
How will that
be acted on?
She's called
for a
international
accountability
mechanism for
Sri Lanka; Ban
says its
entirely up to
member states,
as he told
Inner City
Press regarding
having
controversial
military
figure
Shavendra
Silva as an
adviser to UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous.
Qatar,
which sent
only a
"Minister's
Assistant,"
predictable
denounced
Syria and also
spoke for
freedom of the
press if not
of speech.
#FreeAJstaff,
we and the Free UN Coalition for Access absolutely
agree with.
But what about
Qatar
having locked
up the poet
Ajami?
Greece
spoke on
Ukraine,
taking the EU
line, which
implies that
the
International
Monetary Fund
will save
Ukraine. Has
they happened
in Greece?
What about the
protesters in
Greece's
squares?
Ban
Ki-moon gave a
press
conference,
pitching for
relevance and
a role in
Ukraine, where
instead of
Robert Serry
he has now
sent his
deputy Jan
Eliasson. But
once it was
leaked that
former US now
UN official
Jeff Feltman
"got" Ban to
send Serry to
Ukraine, Ban's
UN being
viewed as
impartial is
more
difficult.
It was
World Wildlife
Day, so Ban
gave a speech
on that as
well. But
unaddressed
since Inner
City Press reported
and asked
about it on
February 28
are what UN
whistleblowers
say are more
than 50 rapes
in Eastern
Congo by
poacher Mai
Mai Morgan.
Ban will meet
his Special
Representatives
including
Martin Kobler
from the
Congo. What
will the UN's
answer be?
UK
Hugo Swire
took on the
Sri Lanka
issue; here's
his response
to Pillay's
report. He
said it's time
for
international
action.
US
Samantha Power
won't speak
until March 4,
in the
afternoon in
Geneva so work
hours in the
US. Sri
Lanka's G.L.
Peiris on the
other hand
appears March
5 but 3:40 am
Eastern Times.
Watch this
site.
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