UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
With foreign
ministers
flying in and
out of Vienna
for the Iran
P5+1 talks
ahead of the
November 24
deadline, one
has to wonder:
even if an
agreement is
reached, would
US Congress
action on
sanctions undermine
or unravel it?
To Inner City
Press, which
also covers
the
International
Monetary Fund,
it is analogous
to "IMF quota
reform,"
something that
the Obama
administration
agreed to but
which has yet
to be implemented
due to lack of
US Senate
approval.
Back
in March
the Obama
administration
tried to use
the situation
in Ukraine and
Crimea to
strong-arm the
Senate into
approving IMF
reform. That
didn't work,
and it's dubious
that things
would be
easier in the
case of Iran.
While the type
of up-front UN
Senate approval
needed for IMF
quota reform
may not be
required in
the case of
the Iran
nuclear talks,
there are
several things
Congress could
do,
particularly
with the
changes coming
in on January
1. We'll have
more on this.
For now, the
US State
Department on
November 21
says:
"Secretary
of State John
Kerry will
travel from
Vienna,
Austria, to
Paris, France,
this evening
for
consultations
with his
European
counterparts
about the
ongoing
Iranian
nuclear
negotiations.
He will also
stay in close
touch with his
inter-agency
colleagues in
Washington.
His future
travel
schedule is
still being
finalized, and
we have not
yet determined
when he will
return to
Vienna."
Back
on October 27
when the UN's
special
rapporteur on
human rights
in Iran Ahmed
Shaheed held a
press
conference at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked him for
an update on
what he had
said about the
effect of
sanctions and
banning of
Iran from the
SWIFT payments
system which
Inner City
Press asked
him about one
year and three
days earlier,
2013 here
from
Minute 12:29.
On
October 24,
2013, Shaheed
had
acknowledged
that the
banning of
Iran from the
SWIFT payments
system had had
an impact. On
October 27,
2014, Shaheed
said he
believes Iran
is still
banned from
SWIFT, but he
had no update.
Instead he
said that
humanitarian
exemptions to
sanctions are
having
successes. 2014 video here.
But
banning from
SWIFT or
"de-SWIFT-ing"
is not a
targeted
sanction at
all, and he
did not
mention any
exemptions to
it.
Overall, Inner
City Press
asked Shaheed
what impact he
thought "the
nuclear issue"
and the P5 + 1
talks have on
human rights
in Iran.
Shaheed said
he doesn't
like linkage,
but added that
when there's
focus on the
nuclear issue,
it takes away
from the focus
on human
rights.
Last
year Inner
City Press
obtained and
exclusively
published an
internal OHCHR
plan to take
over the "rule
of law"
functions of
the rest of
the UN system,
and the
staffing of
the Special
Representatives
on Children
and Armed
Conflict,
Sexual
Violence and
Conflict, R2P
and the
Prevention of
Genocide.What
has happened
on that? Are
rapporteurs,
like sanctions
monitors,
still not
given any
training or
orientation by
the UN?
Footnote:
on October 27,
the UN
Correspondents
Association
which so often
demands the
first question
be set-aside
for it didn't
even send
anyone to
Shaheed's
press
conference.
One attendee
said, it's
defUNCA-ed, as
in defunct, or
de-UNCA-ed,
like
de-SWIFT-ed.
The new Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
present, did
not try to
brand the
press
conference,
because there
was no need.
Watch this
site.
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