On
W. Sahara,
OHCHR Cites
OIOS Probe of
Cables, Of
Censorship,
Reuters,
Ladsous
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 12 --
With Morocco
still blocking
the UN's Kim
Bolduc from
heading the
MINURSO
peacekeeping
mission in
Western Sahara
amid
controversy
about the
performance of
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, Inner
City Press
back on
November 21
asked the New
York spokesman
for High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Prince
Zeid for
"an
update on
action on the
leaked cables,
related to
Western
Sahara,
involving
current OHCHR
official
Anders Kompass
and one,
previously
head of
OHCHR's office
in NY, who's
just left.
What steps has
OHCHR taken on
the cables /
issues?"
Now three
weeks later
there has been
no answer.
from the OHCHR
spokesperson
in New York.
But we now
publish this
response from
OHCHR Geneva
spokesperson
Rupert Colville
to similar
questions:
From:
Rupert
Colville [at]
ohchr.org
Date: Friday
12 December
2014
Subj:
Investigation
leaked cables
Western Sahara
and OHCHR
The
investigation
is being
carried out,
at our
request, by
the Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
(OIOS) in New
York, which is
an
operationally
independent
office that
assists the
Secretary-General
in fulfilling
his internal
oversight
responsibilities.
While the
investigation
is under way,
there is
nothing else I
can say on the
matter.
Colville
was
asked, among
other things,
“Is Anders
Kompass still
in active
duty during
this
investigation?
Who is leading
this
investigation?”
The
UN system
often uses the
pendency of an
investigation
as a way to
wait for the
“problem” to
go away. As
the
publication Tel
Quel,
here, has
noted, many in
the media are
not covering
the leaks.
Relatedly,
the
leaks are now
being covered
up or
censored. Two
recent
uploads,
about Morocco
and the
African Group
at the UN,
were put on “
filefactory.com”
-- then
taken down
after, the
site says, a
complaint
under the US
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act.
This
is a new trend
-- attempt to
use copyright
law to take
down leaked
documents.
Reuters, for
example, filed
a “for the
record”
complaint with
the UN trying
to get Inner
City Press
thrown out -
then, when the
“for the
record”
complaint was
leaked and
published, conned
Google into
blocking it
from Search,
calling it
copyrighted.
Click here for
that.
So
that media
uses or abuses
copyright to
censor its own
“for the
record”
complaint
filed with the
UN, and does
not cover
these new
leaks about
Western
Sahara,
Morocco, and
the UN. This
is a new
trend.
Watch this
site.
In the above,
the referenced
former head of
OHCHR's New
York office is
Senegal's
Bacre Waly
Ndiaye, noted
Tijania Sufi.
The cables
reveal a deep
scandal in the
UN system. Now
OHCHR in
Geneva is
saying it will
not comment
until an
investigation,
Inner City
Press
understands by
the UN Office
of Internal
Oversight
Services, is
complete. But
there is no
indication
that will be
publish. This
is one of the
ways the UN
covers up.
There
other ways,
beyond Western
Sahara. On
rapes in DR
Congo by Army
units the UN
support,
Ladsous
refused to
answer Press
questions for
months.
Video
here of then
and now
spokesman
pulling
microphone
away from
Inner City
Press. These
practices are
being opposed
by the new Free UN Coalition for Access.
Now
on UN
Peacekeeping's
November 9
press release
covering up
mass rape in
Thabit in
Darfur,
Ladsous has
not answered
any questions;
UN spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
November 21
told Inner
City Press the
UN won't
comment on
leaks. The
Western Sahara
leaks are so
extensive that
despite a
seeming media
blackout by Western
wire services,
they will not
go away.
While
Ladsous is not
the only UN
official
exposed by the
cables, his
extraordinary
campaign of
refusing Press
questions, to
the point of
physically
blocking Press
filming (Vine
here), as
well as a DPKO
to OHCHR
connection,
make him key
to the case.
As to MINURSO,
Ladsous is
blamed for the
non-deployment
of Bolduc.
Back on
November 14
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about Bolduc
and an
investigation
of leaks in
Geneva of
which sources
tell it. Video
here.
On November 5,
Inner City
Press reported
on leaked
cables showing
among other
things the
UN's Ladsous
undermining
MINURSO on the
issue of human
rights, and
improper
service of
Morocco by
Office of the
High
Commissioner
of Human
Rights
staffers
Anders Kompass
and Bacre Waly
Ndiaye.
Since
then, along
with anonymous
death threats,
Inner City
Press has
received
additional
information
including of a
UN Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services
investigation
of Anders
Kompers and
Bacre Waly
Ndiaye.
On November
14, Inner City
Press asked
the UN's Haq,
per UN
transcript:
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: You
had a question
on Western
Sahara?
Inner City
Press: It's a
two-pronged
question.
What Stéphane
[Dujarric]
said earlier
in the week
about Kim
Bolduc, the
new SRSG
[Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General].
I wanted to
just kind of
confirm
it. In
reading it,
does that mean
that she has
never has been
allowed
in? And,
if so, where
has she been
since
August?
What is the
plan to
resolve
that?
And I also
wanted to ask
you about
regarding the
cables that I
base the
initial
question
on. Can
you confirm
that OIOS
[Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services] is
conducting an
investigation
at the Office
of the High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights on at
least two
staff members
who apparently
leaked this
information to
the Moroccan
Government?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: On
that, I cannot
confirm
that. As
you know, the
OIOS conducts
its work
independently.
At some point,
once they have
completed
their work,
they apprise
us
[inaudible].
But I wouldn't
be aware of
any work that
is
ongoing.
Beyond that,
regarding Kim
Bolduc, as you
know, both
Christopher
Ross and Kim
Bolduc briefed
the Security
Council on 27
October.
And at that
point, the
Security
Council
reiterated its
desire, first
of all, to see
Ambassador
Ross's
facilitation
resume and
reiterated its
desire to see
Kim Bolduc be
able to take
up her duties
at the helm of
MINURSO
[United
Nations
Mission for
the Referendum
in Western
Sahara] as
soon as
possible.
And we look
forward to the
resumption of
Mr. Ross's
visit to the
region and
also to the
deployment of
Kim Bolduc.
Inner City
Press:
But is she
currently, I
mean, she is
the SRSG?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq: She
is the SRSG,
but she has
not been able
to function
with her
MINURSO duties
in-country.
In-country,
eh? We'll have
more on this.
And on this:
Inner City
Press is
informed that
while Ladsous
claims to have
performed as
required in
connection
with the
appointment of
Bolduc, even
on this he is
accused of
failing to do
his duty, as
on many other
parts of his
job. Video
compilation
here;
recent Vine
here.
Document leaks
from inside
the UN have
identified
improper
service of
Morocco, on
the question
of Western
Sahara, by a
staffer at the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, Anders
Kompass.
Inner
City Press has
waited to
report on
them; the
spokesperson
for the High
Commissioner
has today said
his office is
aware the
leaked cables,
which contain
the
perspective of
certain
diplomats, and
that the
situation is
being
investigated
to clarify the
facts.”
Whatever
the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, now
under Jordan's
Prince Zeid,
does about the
content of the
leaks, more
will be
required in
the UN
Secretariat in
New York --
particularly
at the top of
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
which runs the
MINURSO
mission in
Western
Sahara.
The
cables show
that Herve
Ladsous, a long-time
French
diplomat now
the boss of
DPKO and
thus of
MINURSO, was
flacking for
Morocco on the
supposed
quality of its
human rights
mechanisms. This
directly
undercuts the
MINURSO
mission, for
which Ladsous
is supposed to
be working.
African
Union
members of the
Security
Council, from
Uganda to
South Africa
to Nigeria,
have demanded
that MINURSO
have the same
type of human
rights
monitoring
mechanism as
the UN
Peacekeeping
missions in
the DR Congo,
Mali
and Central
African
Republic.
Now Ladsous is
exposed
undermining
extending this
to Western
Sahara -- the
policy of his
country,
France, but
undercutting
DPKO.
During General
Assembly
debate week in
September
2014, Ladsous
refused to
answer Press
questions and
ended up
blocking the
Press' camera,
Vine
here.
This
is a scandal.
And since
Ladsous had refused to answer Press questions,
about rapes by
his mission's
partners in
the DRC,
about DPKO
bringing
cholera to Haiti,
about under-reporting
attacks on
civilians and
even
peacekeepers
in Darfur
and now Central
African
Republic,
it is time for
the question
to be asked.
Update:
on November 6,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
this, video
here.
Immediately
after the
briefing,
Inner City
Press emailed
Dujarric the
cable it had
asked about.
Watch this
site.
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