UN
GA Removes
Proposal
Telling Ban
Not to
Undermine ICC,
Sudan Still
Objects
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, May
31, 2012 --
Even modest
reforms die a
quiet death in
today's UN.
This week's
victim is a
paragraph in a
General
Assembly
resolution
adopted about
the
International
Criminal
Court.
The
UN in Sudan
has twice
flown International
Criminal Court
indictee Ahmed
Haroun into
Abyei, and envoy
Ibrahim
Gambari
earlier took
photos with
ICC indictee
Omar al Bashir
at a wedding
reception for Idriss Deby and the
daughter of
Janjaweed
leader Musa
Hilal. (Inner
City Press
published the
photos as
found without
notice of
copyright on
the Internet
but has
removed them
after a
complaint by a
wire service
that never
wrote of their
significance."
Back
on February
27, Inner
City Press wrote a
then-exclusive
story about
a paragraph in
the draft ICC
resolution
directing
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon to
"refrain
from...
undermin[ing]"
the ICC.
This
was in
Paragraph 5bis
of the draft
GA resolution
on the ICC
agreed by all
120 ICC state
parties and
obtained by
Inner City
Press. The
languages,
sources told
Inner City
Press, was put
forward by
Switzerland;
the draft
resolution was
being
facilitated by
Japan.
The
paragraph in
late February
read:
"5bis.
Requests the
Secretary-General
to ensure,
consistent
with the
existing UN
policies and
pursuant to
the
Relationship
Agreement,
that United
Nations field
presences and
representatives,
especially
peacekeeping
operations,
special
political
missions,
special
envoys,
special
representatives
and mediators,
refrain from
any action,
including the
use of
resources,
that could
undermine the
efforts of the
International
Criminal
Court, and
requests the
Secretary-General
to submit a
report on the
application of
such policies
for the
consideration
of the General
Assembly at
its
sixty-seventh
session;"
Then the
process went
underground.
There were
closed door
meetings in
the UN's North
Lawn building;
delegates told
Inner City
Pres of
pushback and
problems.
When finally
the resolution
was adopted on
May 29, the
paragraph was
done. On
his way up to
the General
Assembly Hall,
passing the
Security
Council,
Japanese
Permanent
Representative
Nishida told
Inner City
Press there
were still
"small steps'
forward in the
resolution.
Upstairs in
the GA,
Nishida
emphasized
instead
paragraphs 6
and 11, which
read in
relevant part
6.
Recalls
article 3 of
the
Relationship
Agreement
according to
which,
with a view to
facilitating
the effective
discharge of
their
respective
responsibilities,
the United
Nations and
the Court
shall
cooperate
closely,
whenever
appropriate,
with each
other and
consult
each other on
matters of
mutual
interest
pursuant to
the provisions
of the
Agreement and
in conformity
with the
respective
provisions of
the Charter of
the United
Nations and
the Rome
Statute as
well as the
need to
respect each
other’s status
and mandate,
and requests
the
Secretary-General
to include
information
relevant to
the
implementation
of article 3
of the
Relationship
Agreement in
his
report to be
submitted
pursuant to
paragraph 11
of the present
resolution...
11.
Emphasizes the
importance of
the full
implementation
of all aspects
of the
Relationship
Agreement,
which forms a
framework for
close
cooperation
between the
two
organizations
and for
consultation
on
matters of
mutual
interest
pursuant to
the provisions
of that
Agreement and
in conformity
with the
respective
provisions of
the
Charter of the
United Nations
and the Rome
Statute...
What a
representative
of a Permanent
member of the
Security
Council told
Inner City
Press on May
31 was the
"Gambari
paragraph" got
taken out.
Another said
that this
year's ICC
resolution,
despite what
Nishida said,
was hardly
different that
last year's.
Asked for
comment, a UK
Mission
spokesperson
told Inner
City Press
that "the UK
welcomes the
adoption of
today’s
resolution on
the Report of
the ICC by
consensus.
The UK was one
of a wide
range of
cosponsors
that included
both states
parties and
non-states
parties, and
the resolution
represents
strong
international
support for
international
justice."
And even so,
Sudanese
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman spoke in
the General
Assembly and
said Sudan
does not
consider the
resolution
binding on it,
becuase it is
not a member
of the ICC and
because the
ICC
Prosecutor,
Luis Moreno
Ocampo, "is
not neutral or
impartial" and
has
"politicized
justice."
So even in
watered down
form, the
resolution
still drew
this
statement. So
dies reform.
On the other
hand, as Inner
City Press
first
reported, now
well placed
African
Permanent
Representatives
are telling
Inner City
Press that
Gambari came
to New York
and said he
was quitting.
Inner City
Press has
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokespeople
when it is
that Gambari
(of the
$600,000 house
in Darfur)
will leave,
without
answer.
Earlier
this year when
Inner City
Press for a week
asked about Gambari's
photographs
with Bashir,
and Ban's
spokesman
belatedly said
that Gambari
had been told
to avoid such
contacts in the future, Gambari's
response was
that he would
do it again.
Inner
City Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
about that,
and was simply
told that the
message was
conveyed.
But it seems
Ban's message
was not heard,
or perhaps was
meant to be
misunderstood.
And now even
the paragraph
is done. So it
goes at the
UN.
Click here for
Sept
23, '11
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