In
Liberia, From Nightmare to Challenge; Lack of Generosity to Egeland's CERF,
Which China's Asked About by Inner City Press
BYLINE:
Matthew Russell Lee, at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, April
20 -- In Liberia, on the same day that the United Nations
celebrated the
end of programs for internally displaced people by its Mission to Liberia (UNMIL),
the refugee agency UNHCR
declared that
"we are not here to transport refugees back to their countries" and that
"because of the increase of number of Liberian refugees all over that are
requesting our assistance to return back home, now we are in logistics
nightmare."
At the
noon briefing at UN headquarters, Inner City Press inquired into the specifics
of this "nightmare," and immediately followed up with written questions to the
spokesman at UNHCR's New York office:
"is UNHCR asking for additional resource
for the return to Liberia of the 2000 refugees in Sierra Leone and Guinea that
Representative Mengesha Kebede projects will seek this week to return? Is any
other UN agency involved or being asked to become involved? Long shot: were any
of the corporate CEOs on UNHCR's 'Council of Business Leaders' being asked to be
of assistance?"
Four hours later,
UNHCR's New York spokesman sent a copy of
this press release. From Annette Rehrl of UNMIL, these details:
"My assistant... who went with the Rep
yesterday to another opening ceremony just confirmed that he made that
statement, but the sentence is out of context... What Mr. Mengesha Kebede
referred is firstly extremely poor road conditions in Lofa county, where most of
the returnees from Guinea and Sierra Leone go to... UNHCR has had to engage
itself in road and bridges repair... UNHCR is appealing to donor countries to
continue supporting its efforts to bring Liberian refugees back home."
The UN as
many others view the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf led government installed in Liberia
on January 16, 2006, as a a dream and not a nightmare. Ms. Rehrl suggests that
rather than Mengesha Kebede's "nightmare," the situation in Liberia is more akin
to a logistical "challenge." At least that's an answer. As to Uzbekistan, from
which UNHCR has been expelled, the surreal of the day was the movement not of
people but of spent nuclear fuel described as enough for two and a half bombs.
While UNDP states that it will now deal with refugees in Uzbekistan, it also
emphasizes that most of these are Afghans. But was of those deported to
Uzbekistan, for example the eleven sent from Ukraine? Who is following up on
that, or rather, on them? We'll see.
Liberia: Nightmare?
Update
of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund
April 20, UN -- After
Jan Egeland briefed the Security Council about humanitarian issues in Africa, he
took questions from reporters. He spoke passionately about Darfur; asked by
Inner City Press if Joseph Kony is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr.
Egeland said he'd heard Kony is in Southern Sudan, and that he hopes Kony will
soon be in The Hague.
On March
9, 2006, Mr. Egeland announced there had been $256 million in contributions to
the
UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
The web site, as of April 20 (stating that it was updated on April 6), listed
the same amount. Asked by Inner City Press for an update, Mr. Egeland said the
number is now $260 million; he added that it is being well spent, in the Horn of
Africa, Chad and Western Cote D'Ivoire.
China's
Ambassador Wang Guangya, asked "with all due respect" (by Inner City Press) why
China has contributed only $1 million to the CERF, stated that this is the
limits of China's capability, and that while below some countries, it compares
favorably with other developing countries. As of press time, the
CERF Donor List web site
shows the China's contribution is doubled by India, and that the Republic of
Korea's is fully five times higher.
Footnote: It was
hurriedly announced on Thursday that the CEOs of ten companies have been named
to the Global Compact's Board. Inner City Press asked if these CEOs will take
questions from the media, on their human rights performance. Again it was stated
that this would be a good idea. We'll see if it gets implemented. The Global
Compact Board is slated to meet in New York this summer.
Basement footnote: a
meeting in Conference Room 1, entitled "ICT as a Tool for Development," feature
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) and a microphone with feedback. The
speakers' bios had been garbled through late-night transmission, according to
one of them. AOL's titan who owns every sports franchise in DC bragged that each
day features two billion instant messages on AOL. Not for long, one wag was
heard to say...
Inner City Press: Tale of Two
Citi's: Sandy Lives Richly While UN Begs for Refugees and Darfur is Redacted
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
NEW YORK, April 18 -- In this capital city
for finance and diplomacy (in that order), twenty block and twenty minutes can
separate the self-celebration of a $1.5 trillion dollar bank and an
international organization that's forced to beg to feed the starving and for
permission to serve refugees. On Tuesday at Carnegie Hall a modern-day Pierpont
Morgan, Sandy Weill, presided over his last annual shareholders meeting at
Citigroup, handing the reigns to his understudy Chuck Prince. As reported by
AP,
questions were raised about
predatory lending,
money laundering
and tax evasion. But the ritual rolled on,
replete with videos of tributes to Sandy, from a craven Dan Rather to a gushing
Robert Rubin, who called Sandy the "most knowledgeable" business leader he'd
ever "engaged with." $45 million a year will buy these kind of plugs.
Citigroup's directors, some on the board for more than twenty years, were each
re-elected by Saddam-like margins of 98 percent. Chuck Prince intoned that
Citigroup will open over a thousand branches or consumer finance outlets in the
coming year -- "three a day," he bragged.
Darfur
Further east at the UN, the noon briefing
was a tale of more marginal woe. There was talk of Chad and of Sudan's Darfur
region. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees formalized its
"regret" on being thrown out of Uzbekistan, to which people who demonstrated at
Andijan are being deported, to face uncertain futures. Inner City Press asked
for comment on the Uzbekistan regime of Islam Karimov now publicly supporting
the South Korean bid to succeed Kofi Annan. There was no comment. Perhaps none
was needed, since South Korea simultaneously announced an energy deal with
Uzbekistan. Most would call that buying votes. In Turtle Bay it is unremarkable,
or at least, unremarked on. And while UNHCR decried Australia's new outsourcing
of refugees from Papua, it stopped short of opting out. In a carefully worded
statement, from Geneva it was said: "UNHCR would not normally substitute for a
well-established national procedure such as Australia's." But these are not
normal times, nor is this a normal Citi.
At press time the stake-out was like the
bleacher for batting practice at Yankee Stadium: John Bolton's spokesman came
out and whisper, and a dozen chased the ball. "People want to get out of here,"
he said. "So this will be fast."
"And they'll do Chad after Sudan?"
"I'll let you know."
City of hurry up and wait,
interchangeable crises on the Upper East Side's gold coast. Kofi strode in at
four minutes to six, to personally brief on Chad. Like a ship in the night, Mr.
Salim Salim came out, to take questions at the stake-out. He expressed optimism;
he initially declined to say anything about Sudan's support of the rebels in
Chad. Then he relented, acknowledging that the situations are intimately
related, and that he'd spoken to the Security Council about this relation. And
then he was gone. Subsequently John Bolton took questions on why four names have
been redacted from the public version of the draft Sudan resolution. As he
answered, Kofi Annan sped from the chamber and then he was gone. The French
Ambassador was the last talking head standing, answering Inner City Press that
"things in Africa are not as they were, fifteen years ago, where you could just
seize power by force." He pointed out that naming just three individuals in
Ivory Coast had "been enough" to calm things down; he made it clear, by
implication, that France will not meet with the Chadian rebels. And in Darfur
the tide of death continues, at a faster pace than the offices of Citigroup.
The
Chadian Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the
Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee at the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, April
13 -- As Chadian rebels seeking to oust President Idriss Deby reached the
capital N'Djamena, and published reports quoted a French Ministry of Defense
spokesman that a French Mirage fighter dropped a bomb "near" a column of the
insurgents, France's Ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, told
reporters that French soldiers in Chad are only there to protect French
citizens.
When
Inner City Press asked Amb. de La Sabliere what the French troops' rules of
engagement are, Mr. de La Sabliere referred only to an earlier statement by the
Minister of Defense, made before the Mirage and bomb reports emerged. After
explaining why France intends to demand that whoever succeeds Kofi Annan must
speak French, Amb. de La Sabliere left the stake-out. An hour later Inner City
Press posed written questions to the media attaché of the French mission:
-could you confirm that there at now 1350
French troops in Chad (1200 plus the new 150), and that that the statement on
your
web site
that "the French community in that country which numbers about 1,500 people"
means 1500 non-military French citizens and also, how many of those more or less
remain in Chad right now?
Two hours later, the French
mission responded that the Ministry of Defense communiqué, twice referenced as
an answer by Amb. de La Sabliere, is not in fact online; an AFP report, in
French, was provided, in which Defense Minister Jean-Francois Bureau confirmed
the bomb-drop from the Mirage but said it had no military target. Rather, he
said, it represented a signal addressed to the belligerents, of a psychological
or political character translating France's preoccupation with the situation.
[Translation by Inner City Press; the original direct quote was "un signal
adressé aux belligérants", de "caractère psychologique ou politique traduisant
notre preoccupation"]. The response also stated that it "can confirm the
figures of the French troops in Chad."
Kofi Annan visits Chad, 7/2/04- before 4/13/06
bomb
As UN Headquarters emptied out for
a three day weekend, there was a OSSG written statement on Chad, that Kofi Annan
"strongly condemns once again any attempts to seize power by force or other
unconstitutional means and appeals to the protagonists to resolve their
political differences through peaceful negotiations."
But how wide is
the cast of protagonists? Does the roster include France, with its fifteen
hundred citizens and troops, and now a bombing interest? Does it include Exxon
Mobil and Chevron, which own 40% and 35% respectively of the Chad - Cameroon
pipeline? Developing...
Footnote (then foreshadowing) -- on April 11, Inner City Press
asked if the UN resident coordinator in Tashkent, Fikret Akcura, check in with
UN HQ before that day praising the Karimov regime's progress on the Millennium
Development Goals. The question was in light of Karimov ordering the exit of
UNHCR by April 17, while continuing to demand the return of those who protested
in Andijan. We now have a not-kurt response directly for Fikret Akcura:
From: Fikret Akcura
To: Matthew.Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Sent: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:00:44 +0500 (Ekaterinburg Standard Time)
Subject: Re: Question re your 4/11 statement re Uzbek progress toward MDGs,
relation to expulsion of UNHCR, etc.
Dear Mr. Lee,
Yes, strictly speaking, the MDGs do not
include the good governance dimension. I guess this was by design in order to
reach consensus and be able to hold the Millennium Summit in September 2000.
Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult to agree to a set of goals so
clearly described. For many of the MDGs, Uzbekistan is indeed in a good position
if one considers that this is a country with no more than $500 per capita. For
an as-if least developed country, the absence of hunger, the equal access to
schooling for boys and girls, a literacy rate around 97%, the relatively wide
availability of electricity & gas & water, wide availability of primary health
care are all very impressive indeed. If we compared the MDG indicators of
Uzbekistan with those of many African and Asian countries of similar GDP per
capita, the favorable situation in this country becomes most evident. Much of
this owes to the Soviet infrastructure inherited by the CIS countries. However,
the dislocations of transition has made it very difficult for them to maintain
let alone build on that inheritance. In the case of environmental indicators, we
should mention the terrible legacy that was also inherited - such as the Aral
Sea disaster that affects both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan deeply. Another
disadvantage for these countries is the base year of MDGs (1990) which coincides
with the breakup of the USSR and their involuntary birth. As a result, they
faced many problems that detracted from moving steadily up to better indicators
by the MDG target year of 2015. A byproduct of the slower transition path taken
by Uzbekistan is reflected in the better MDG performance compared to some of the
faster reformers. However, MDGs have to be fed by sustained high economic growth
and the faster reformers may start showing higher MDG returns soon. The
international community is formulating a PRSP process with the Government in
order to ensure steady reforms, sustained economic growth and the meeting of the
MDGs by 2015. I hope the above is somewhat helpful to your article. I am sorry I
could not respond more broadly or earlier - I was busy with arranging for UNDP's
take over of UNHCR's work with the almost 1,800 refugees who will be looked
after by UNDP once UNHCR closes on 17 April.
But it was that incongruity
-- UNDP praise while UNHCR is being thrown out of the country that led to the
initial inquiry. There will be further questions, and answers.
Foreshadowing: in the wake of Australia further tightening its policy on
asylum seekers, to now exclude and "out-source" even those who reach the
Australian coast by boat to Nauru and two other islands, UNHCR has been asked
for its position, and about what role, if any, it would play in assess these
asylum claims, particularly of Papuans. A response has been promised, though
perhaps only next week. Watch this site.
Through the UN's One-Way Mirror, Sustainable
Development To Be Discussed by Corporations, Even Nuclear Areva
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee at the UN
UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- Sustainable development,
a talismanic buzzword in both the corporate and the UN worlds, was the focus of
a report released Tuesday as a glossy pamphlet with accompanying Power-Point(TM)
on CD-ROM. It's in preparation for 12 days of meetings on the topic at the
beginning of May. JoAnne DiSano, director of the UN Division of Sustainable
Development, stated that the CEOs for various companies will be attending.
When asked by Inner City Press to name the companies
and how they were chosen, Ms. DiSano named three: Shell US, Alcan and Eskom.
Subsequently a staffer named more: Electricity de France along with an "Italian
utility," presumably Ente Nazionale per l'Elergia Eletrica
and, subject to
confirmation, the producer of nuclear reactors and fuels Areva <CEPFi.PA>. Areva,
it should be noted, is bidding on a contract to supply four nuclear reactors to
China, while fending off questions about its domination of legislative and other
processes, and its disposal of spent uranium and plutonium. Click
here
for Areva NC's recent 400-page disclosure on these
issues -- released in response to a ruling by the
Cherbourg county court to provide proof of
its claim that it is not illegally storing foreign waste at its La Hague
reprocessing complex.
At the UN briefing on Tuesday Inner City
Press asked: "Are all of the invited companies members of the UN Global
Compact?"
Some are and some aren't, Ms. DiSano in
essence answered. When asked if the CEOs will brief the press and take
questions, both Ms. DiSano and her staff said it would be a good idea. That's
what the head of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell, told Inner City Press in an
impromptu interview before his pep talk at a Fashion and Development event in
the UN basement last week [see April 3 Report, below.]
UN
Under-Secretary Jose Antonio Ocampo responded that the Global Compact is about
more than the environment. The report that was the subject of the briefing,
"Trends in Sustainable Development," references the Global Compact and voluntary
"corporate social responsibility," another swirling buzzword. Whether the
Sustainable Development conference, slated for May 1-12, will including a
corporate stake-out remains to be seen.
After the quake in
Muzaffarabad
In other UN corporate news, an
inquiry to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, about what they
called a financial "scheme" with
Société Générale and derilab s.a., resulted in the following answer:
From: Olivier
Pierre Delarue
To: Matthew.Lee
[at] innercitypress.com
Sent: Thu, 6
Apr 2006 14:18:54 +0200
Subject: Re:
Fwd: Press inquiry concerning how Societe Generale Corporate & Investment
Banking, and derilab s.a were selected for participation with UNHCR
I work in
UNHCR's Private Sector Fund Raising Service as Senior Corporate Relations
Officer and your query about this fund raising initiative was forwarded to me...
Based on the previous exchange of email you sent, your focus seems to be on the
procurement and bidding process done by the UN. This particular initiative,
however, is a fund raising project first proposed by corporate entities and
aimed at raising funds for UNHCR's humanitarian program. Therefore, as with any
fund raising project, we are not talking about the usual procurement procedure.
In my capacity
as Senior Corporate Relations Officer, my role is to work on creating new
partnerships with the corporate world in order to increase our donor base and
receive greater financial and expertise from the private sector. In this
particular case, Derilab s.a. approached us in the aftermath of the earthquake
in South Asia and proposed to assist us pro bono in finding new ways of raising
donations from the financial market for this emergency. As this was never done
in the past, a financial product which incorporated a charity/donation component
was not easy to build. Derilab presented the project to all the major banks
involved in structured and derivative products. Only Societe Generale showed a
serious interest in working on this new concept.
As matter of
principle, UNHCR screens all new partnerships with the private sector. Societe
Generale, the only bank to show an interest for this project, was screened. As a
result of our careful review, Societe Generale was screened positively for
various reasons, including their participation in the UN Global Compact. Please
note that in the case of this initiative, UNHCR is only a receiver of donations
through this financial product -- but is not endorsing the product itself.
Inner City Press responded with follow-up
questions, including regarding Societe General's long embroilment in a money
laundering scandal, and asked:
-is membership in the Global Compact the main
screen UNHCR applies to its corporate engagements, whether philanthropic or in
procurement? What are the other "various reasons"? Did your careful review of
Soc Gen -- just as an example -- include the issues raised by the money
laundering allegations sketched below, including those in Nigeria (we're aware
that Soc Gen has not been convicted of anything, but that wouldn't seem to be
the standards for a careful review).Again, these questions don't go to the
merits of how the funds are used by UNHCR -- as an aside, hats off for your work
in the Balkans and with Return, Afghanistan, etc.
- is derilab s.a a signatory to the Global
Compact? (I'm aware I could look it up, but the question also includes -- if a
company is not a signatory to the Compact, what else do you look at?)
Neither question
has yet been answered. A Web search for derilab reflects that nearly all of the
"hits" are about its recent "scheme" with UNHCR. It's own
web site says
only
"derilab(R) was recently founded by
experts in the field of financial derivative and structured products. derilab's
focus is to provide it's [sic] customers with key information on derivative and
structured products. derilab also advises on the structuring of financial
products."
It might well be on the level. But it's
not yet clear that if it weren't, the scheme would not proceed. It would help if
the follow-up questions were answered. Or, for purposes of the corporate
stake-out (idea) Soc Gen's CEO is Daniel Bouton.
Elsewhere at UN headquarters on Tuesday,
the main press interest was the freeze-out of Hamas. Political contacts, said
Kofi Annan's spokesman, will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Is this a
new policy? The policy is in evolution, it is fluid. It is, in a word,
developing. Sustainably or not, only time will tell.
One of the
(James)
bones of contention at the noon briefing
was how much UN special coordinator Alvaro de Soto confers with UN headquarters,
before engaging in "political contacts." Often, appeared to be the answer.
Which led into the following colloquy:
Did the UN resident
coordinator in Tashkent, Fikret Akcura, check in with UN HQ before on Tuesday
praising the Karimov regime's progress on the Millennium Development Goals? I
haven't seen his statement, the spokesman replied. (Fikret Akcura's statement,
put out on the IRIN service of the UN, was then and is as of this writing
online, click
here.)
The praise can be contrasted with Karimov ordering the exit of UNHCR by April
17, while continuing to demand the return of those who protested in Andijan.
(Click
here
for more. Another lesser contrast is that
the Uzbekistan Q&A did not make the cut for the briefing's online
highlights, what standard was applied is unclear.) Mid-afternoon, the OSSG
proffered an answer, that both agencies are part of a UN country team and as
such share information, including with Headquarters. Despite the prompt
response, we're still left with a question: at the UN, at least in Uzbekistan,
does the left hand know what the right hand is shaking?
Mine Your Own Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the
Paparazzi
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee, at the United Nations
UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- On a day when
UN envoy Jan Egeland was barred from entering Sudan, Mine Action and Awareness
Day events were held in that country, with the involvement of the UN Mine Action
Service. The UN Mission in Sudan put out a statement that "Egeland’s flight into
Sudan was not given authorization to land yesterday" and "the Wali (governor) of
South Darfur stated that he strictly opposes Mr. Egeland’s visit. The Sudanese
Permanent Representation to the United Nations in New York further stated that
Mr. Egeland would be welcome neither in Darfur nor in Khartoum." Simultaneously,
the UN Mine Action Office in Sudan put out a press release entitled "The UN in
Sudan Celebrates the First International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance
in Mine Action on 4 April 2006." The celebration apparently took place without
Mr. Egeland, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator.
A week
earlier, UNMAS led a trip to Damazin, Sudan, to which refugees currently in
Ethiopia are slated to return. The trip was led by Richard Kollodge, who in an
April 3 interview with Inner City Press stated that the government in Khartoum
has not blocked the work, at least in South Sudan, of the UN Mine Action
Service.
Back in
New York, a Mine Action fact sheet was distributed stating that in 2005, three
governments used landmines. The fact sheet didn't name them, but a question
during the press briefing yielded two of the names: Nepal and Myanmar. In the
hallway after the briefing, once the cameras were off, the third name emerged:
Russia. In fact, the 2005 report of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
states unequivocally:
"Russia has used
mines on a regular basis since 1999, primarily in Chechnya, but also at times in
Dagestan, Tajikistan, and on the border with Georgia. Russia has generally
argued that its mine usage has been necessary to stop the flow of terrorists,
weapons and drugs... Russian forces have used mines extensively in Chechnya
since the renewal of armed conflict in September 1999. Federal troops have laid
mines around and leading up to bases, checkpoints, commanders’ offices,
government buildings, factories and power plants; on roads and mountain paths in
the rebel-dominated south; in fields running from Grozny to Alkhan-Kalu; in the
estuary of the River Sunzha; along various borders. Russian officials have
repeatedly claimed that all minefields are mapped, marked, and removed when
troops relocate. [Source: report of Deputy Chief of the Military Engineering
University, Maj. Gen. A. Nizhalovskii, during a virtual roundtable discussion of
engineer equipment in military operations in Chechnya. Armeyskiy sbornik (Army
collection), No. 6, June 2000, pp. 35-40.] These assertions have been
contradicted by statements from both civilians and military officers. In
addition to Chechnya, there appears to have been a considerable increase in
rebel mine attacks in Dagestan, especially in May-June 2005. According to the
Minister of Interior of Dagestan, Lieutenant-General Adilgerei Magomedtagirov,
58 terrorist acts (bombings) have been committed in Dagestan since the beginning
of 2005, 40 of them committed in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. [Russian
source]
Some in the press
corps wondered not if naming Russia during the on-the-record press conference
was a coincidence, given that two smaller (and less powerful) state-users of
mines were named. During the briefing, Inner City Press inquired whether the
type of cluster munitions most recently in the news from use by the United
States in Afghanistan qualify as "mines." No, was the answer given at the
briefing by Max Gaylard, the director of the UN Mine Action Service, who added
that such cluster munitions are "just as dangerous" and constitute a "next
important issue." One wag noted how members of the Permanent Five can contort a
debate, leading to fact sheets missing basic facts, and definitions with glaring
loopholes.
[See 9 p.m. update
below: a cluster bomb answer came after deadline from UNDP: "Cluster munitions
are addressed by mine action when they are dropped and become unexploded." Hmm.]
Ela Bhatt speak on
micro-credit at the UN, 4/3/06
At an
earlier press briefing, Ela Bhatt of SEWA Bank in India spoke about microcredit,
in the run-up to a (late-starting) Fashion for Development event. Inner City
Press asked whether Ms. Bhatt would agree with Citigroup's characterization of
its own consumer finance lending in India as "micro-finance." In response, Ms.
Bhatt emphasized that it is the organizing of the poor that is important, and
not merely the provision of credit for interest. Those at the briefing nodded,
though much of the interest in the briefing had been the flier saying that the
Colombian-born singer Shakira would be there. Once it was clear that she would
not, the paparazzi left, and Ms. Bhatt spoke eloquently of the marginalization
of street vendors. This was slated to continue at 5 p.m. in Conference Room 3,
but as of press time at 5:25 p.m., the event had yet to start. Not appearing to
collect their awards were Hillary Clinton, Kerry Kennedy,
Nélida Piñón, and Angelina Jolie. The m.c. joked that
all present knew the reason for this last. Such is the news... Various
fashionistas were, however, assembled (as elsewhere in the basement preparations
to greet a cosmonaut were underway). And at 5:35 p.m., as Global Compact
executive head praised the fashion industry, Shakira swept into the room, and
the flashbulbs were blinding. Upon receiving her award, she spoke briefly.
Whether a question about the UN's ILO should open an office in Colombia in light
of the murders of trade union organizers there remained to be seen.
[9 p.m. 4/3/06
update: the answer is no, no questions were possible. At the Fashion for
Development shindig in the Delegate's Lounge, slinky dresses were paraded (one
falling one, by accident or design) to pumping Brazilian and flamenco music.
Outside a hard rain fell on Long Island City. The quasi-cosmonaut event had red
sturgeon eggs on pastry. And after deadline the Afghan cluster bomb answer
rolled in, from UNDP: "Cluster munitions are addressed by mine action when they
are dropped and become unexploded." It was too late to follow up, for now -- the
cleaning crew was closing the UN down.]
Footnote: earlier in
Conference Room 2, Nicaraguan Ambassador Eduardo J. Sevilla Somoza, nephew of
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the country's president until 1979, was rubberstamped
to head a committee considering the UN Charter...
Human Rights Are Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the
Letter, But the Process is Still Murky
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press UN
Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, March 31 -- The "a dog ate my
homework" defense proffered to the UN Human Rights Committee by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo was discredited on Friday, in questions and follow-up at
the UN Headquarters in New York. At a March 16 open meeting, the Congolese
representative claimed that the question-letter of the Human Rights Committee
had never been received. But on March 31, UN associate spokesman Robert Sullivan
confirmed that the question-letter had been given directly to the DRC's
permanent representative in Geneva. If the homework was eaten, it was not by
the dog.
Human
Rights Committee Chairperson at 3/31/06
briefing
(stream)
At a March 31 press briefing,
the chairperson of the
Human Rights Committee Christine
Chanet was asked by Inner City Press how the Committee sends its
question-letters to state parties. "We use notes verbales," she said. "We
can send mail and email." Asked to assess the DRC's statement that it did not
receive the question-letter, she said, "We have to suppose that it is true." The
other two Committee members conducting the press briefing both weighed in.
Sweden's Elizabeth Palm opined that the issue arose in connection with an
"individual communication" -- that is, a complaint -- to which DRC never
responded, leaving the Commission to consider only one side of the complaint,
and in closed session at that.
Among the questions asked in the purloined letter was this overarching one,
still unanswered:
"Please comment on the growing number of reports of enforced disappearances and
summary executions throughout the territory of the State party, apparently
committed by all the parties to the armed conflict. What has the State party
done to stop these violations and afford remedies to the victims and their
families?"
The letter also referred
to these sample complaints:
Isidore Kanana Tshiongo a Miranga v. Zaire; No. 542/1993 (Agnès N’Goya v.
Zaire); No. 641/1995 (Nyekuma Kopita Toro Gedumbe v. Democratic Republic of the
Congo); No. 933/2000 (Adrien Mundyo Busyo, Thomas Osthudi Wongodi, René Sibu
Matubuka et al. v. Democratic Republic of the Congo); No. 962/2001 (Marcel
Mulezi v. Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Ivan Shearer of Australia
ascribed DRC's lack of response to "administrative disorganization" that he said
he hoped would soon end. Elections are scheduled for the DRC in June; as Ms.
Chanet noted, issues have arisen about the release prior to the election of
voter information.
Access or no-access to information also
came up at the briefing. The Committee panelists alluded to an unnamed country
which, since it declined to submit a report, was reviewed only in confidential
session -- presumably what this still-unnamed country wanted in the first place.
As previously reported on this site, at least one of the Human Rights
Committee's meeting that was listed as "open" was abruptly closed, by
means of a piece of paper taped to the door of Conference Room 2. Asked about
this, Ms. Chanet said that often the non-governmental organizations that make
presentations to the Committee need to be protected by keeping the meetings
closed. But the Committee earlier this month solicited and heard testimony from
NGOs about the United States' compliance with the International Convention on
Civil and Political Rights -- did the testifying NGOs ask to be confined to
closed sessions? They didn't ask that it be open session, Ms. Chanet replied.
Perhaps in the future this will change.
Friday footnote: following the UN Security Council's
vote, without hearing from the Republic of Georgia, to extend the UN
Peacekeeping mission there for six months, Inner City Press asked outgoing
Council president Cesar Mayoral why Georgia had not been permitted to speak (as
Georgian permanent representative Revaz Adamia has been complaining for
months). "One member blocked it," Amb. Mayoral said.
"That would be Russia?" asked Inner City Press.
"You're the one saying that," the
Argentine Ambassador
replied. With a smile.
An earlier Inner
City Press report, on Iraq, footnote on DR Congo
As Operation Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's
Civil War and Has No Answers if Iraq's Oil is Being Metered
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press UN
Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, March 16 -- Kofi Annan's
representative to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, on Thursday described to the UN press corps
a country on the upswing, where people view each other in secular terms and
there is little to no danger of violence spreading over any of the country's
borders. Ashraf Qazi said, "I don't personally believe they are anywhere close to a
civil war" and "the situation has so far been under control." Ashraf
in Wonderland, said one wag at the briefing. Out in real world, 1500 troops and
50 helicopters were conducting assaults near Samarra, part of "Operation Swarmer."
In New York, Mr. Qazi arrived
more than half an hour late for the scheduled press briefing. He was
accompanied by a staffer from the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary
General, who made a list of the reporters who raised their hands
to asked questions, but then went out of order for the final two allowed questions.
Inner City Press, which has sought since December to get an answer regarding oil
metering in Iraq, was passed over, for a question that elicited from Ashraf Qazi
statements that "on the streets, Iraqis don't deal with each other as Shia and
Sunni," but such fissures in governance "haven't allowed ministries to become
professional and competent." As the briefing ended and Mr. Qazi and his
entourage made for the side door, Inner City Press' reporter shouted out, "Is
oil in Iraq being metered?"
"I don’t know."
"That's too technical." 
Ashraf Qazi on 3/16/06
"We'll try to get Mr. Halbwachs to
answer." This last was from the Spokesman's Office staffer, who acknowledged having gone out of the
order on his list. "I thought you were going to ask that question," he
said.
This was not mind-reading:
Inner City Press began asking this question about oil metering in December 2005. There's a new
context, including
reports
that Iraq's Oil Ministry is warning Western Oilsands of Canada against bypassing
the Ministry and seeking oil directly in the Kurd-dominated north of the
country, presumably unmetered.
At the December 2005
press briefing at the United Nations,
regarding oil metering, the UN's
Jean-Pierre Halbwachs
stated
that we “understand that a recent agreement has been reached between the
Government of Iraq and a U.S. company to undertake the task.” See,
http://www.iamb.info/trans/tr122805.htm
The minutes of the
Jan. 23 meeting (also online at www.iamb.info) vaguely state that “the IAMB was
informed that no progress had been made with regards to the metering contract.”
Midday on March 16, Inner City
Press sent an email to Mr. Halbwachs at the address he gave at the December press
briefing, and raised the matter -- and others -- at the regular noon press
briefing, including the
report
about Western Oilsands of Canada and oil in the Kurdish north. The spokesman had
no response about oil metering, stating that the oil belongs to the people of
Iraq. That's the point -- if the oil is continuing to flow unmetered, it makes
the use of the revenue to benefit Iraq's people ever less likely.
Finding no answers from the United
Nations, which chairs the International Advisory & Monitoring Board on the Development Fund
for Iraq, Inner City Press will also be pursuing these issues elsewhere,
including in Washington with the International Monetary Fund, whose Bert Keuppens sits on the Advisory & Monitoring Board. Watch this space.
IAMB, including Messrs. Halbwachs & Keuppens, 12/05
Elsewhere at the UN on March 16, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo was critiqued at length before the human rights
panel in Conference Room 2. DR Congo's representative claimed that some of the
question-letters had gotten lost. One wag thought, even on human rights, it's
like the dog-ate-my-homework defense...
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
Cash Crop: In
Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in
their Camps
The Shorted and
Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't
Add Up
UN Reform:
Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance
Contract
In Congolese
Chaos, Shots Fired at U.N. Helicopter Gunship
In the Sudanese
Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says
Empty Words on
Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia
What is the Sound
of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War
at UN
Kosovo: Of
Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of
Ferronikeli Mines
Abkhazia:
Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia, Even Terror’s Haven
Post-Tsunami
Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives
Halliburton
Repays $9 Million, While Iraq’s Oil Remains Unmetered
Darfur on the
Margins: Slovenia’s President Drnovsek’s Quixotic Call for Action
Ignored
Who Pays for the
Global Bird Flu Fight? Not the Corporations, So Far - UN
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
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City Press's
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