At
UN,
Suspension by
US for
Children &
Armed Conflict
Before Thai
"Trojan Horse"
Resolution
Adopted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
After Thailand
put forward a
resolution on
Child
Protection in
the UN General
Assembly's
Third
Committee,
many
non-governmental
organization
complained to
Inner City
Press that the
purpose of the
resolution was
to "tie the
hands" of the
UN's expert on
Children and
Armed
Conflict,
Radhika
Coomaraswamy,
for
having put
Thailand on
her list of
countries in
which child
soldiers
are recruited.
There
was talk of
Western
countries,
including the
United States,
"fighting
back"
against what
some NGOs
called
Thailand's
"Trojan horse"
resolution.
In the days
before this
came up for
decision in
the
committee on
Monday, it was
said that the
US was
opposing the
use of
the word
"collaboration"
-- that is,
that
Coomaraswamy
would have to
"collaborate"
with other "UN
actors"
and therefor
not be
independent.
But
when decision
time came on
Monday, all
the US did was
ask for a
brief
suspension.
The US
representative
in the
Committee,
John F.
Sammis, ran to
the
back of the
room and
relatively
loudly
conferred with
others. (It is
not clear if
the UN
Television
camera brought
to the
committee for
the afternoon,
largely for
the
introduction
of a
resolution on
Syria,
caught any of
Sammis'
conferring.)
After
the
suspension,
the US joined
the consensus
-- that is,
didn't call
for a
recorded vote
-- but Sammis
gave a speech.
He focused on
the call
that all UN
actors
"continue to
exercise their
functions in a
fully
independent
manner and to
act in full
observation of
their
respective
mandates. He
said that the
US understands
"continue"
to apply also
to "acting in
full
observation" -
in essence,
that
Coomaraswamy
HAD been
acting
appropriately.
Sammis
behind mic,
previously,
suspension
&
Coomaraswamy
not shown
This
was echoed,
with a direct
reference to
Coomaraswamy
or at least
her title, by
Norway on
behalf of
Liechtenstein,
Switzerland
and itself.
Still,
none of these
countries
called for a
vote, and the
resolution
says
what it says,
as Pakistan
made sure to
point out
before the
Committee
moved on.
There's
been
little media
coverage of
this
controversy;
the UNTV
cameras were
in
the committee
Monday for the
introduction
by Germany of
a draft
resolution on
human rights
in Syria.
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari
replied that
Germany and
France have
mistreated the
Roma or
Gypsies in
their
countries. But
that's another
story. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
on the Thai
resolution,
when South
Sudan's
representative
Choat raised
his country's
name plate to
become a
co-sponsor,
from the
podium it was
misperceived.
"South Africa"
is a
co-sponsor,
they said.
Choat waved
more
vigorously and
it was
corrected.
South Sudan,
of course, may
have other
Third
Committee
issues...
, 
