On
Myanmar,
ICP Asks Guterres Spox If 1000
Killed, If Will Raise to UNSC,
Seems Not
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 8 – Not only have the
UN's “Good Offices” on Myanmar
been ended - now the former
office holder Vijay Nambiar is
engaged in genocide denial
after leaving the UN, still in
New York, in his personal
capacity. He did much the same
previously on Sri Lanka. See
below.
On February
8, Inner City Press asked the
UN's holdover spokesman
Stephane Dujarric about
Myanmar. UN
Transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I want to ask you about
Myanmar again. Two UN
officials, not giving their
names, have said that up to
1,000 people have been killed,
Rohingya. These are
described as working for two
separate UN agencies in
Bangladesh. So I wanted
to know, does the UN actually
have a figure? And if
that is the figure, why
doesn't the UN come forward in
a more formal way with
it? And, again, what
does the Secretary-General,
given that the Council has yet
to take it up, does he think…
what number would trigger
Article 99 and some kind of
action?
Spokesman: You know, I
don't want to get into how
many people need to be
killed. I think the UN
has been extremely forthright
in reporting what we
know. You saw the
reports with the horrific
information contained in the
report put out by the High
Commissioner for Human Rights
interviewing people who had…
who were in, I think, Cox's
Bazar, who had fled
Myanmar. I think anyone
who reads it and the detail
that are contained in it can
only be horrified by the
situation. You know, I
can't comment on blind
quotes. People
speak. I think whenever
we have information, we've
shared it, whether it was on
what the UN saw when the
humanitarian coordinator went
to Rakhine State, and we're as
transparent as we possibly can
be.
Inner City Press: Is
this an attempt by the UN to
sort of off-the-record chide
the Government with this 1,000
figure? Is this an
unauthorized...
Spokesman: I don't…
again, I don't know who spoke,
why they spoke, and so
on. I think the UN has
been very clear and
transparent in putting forward
information that we have on
the state of affairs in that
area.
On
February 7, Inner City Press
also asked Dujarric about
Myanmar. UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you about
Myanmar. There was that
statement yesterday by Adama
Dieng saying that the existing
commission there is not
sufficient to do the
investigation, and that
commission has since rejected
both reports. So I guess
I wanted to know, one, if
there's a response. But,
two, this morning, one
Security Council member said
this Rohingya issue should be
taken up by the Council.
Another said he wasn't
sure. And I'm wondering
whether the Secretary-General
himself… this would seem to be
a kind of an Article 99.
Does he believe that, given
the split in the Council —
there's at least one member
that doesn't want any outcome
on anything to do with Myanmar
— that he should raise it to
the Council?
Spokesman: We would very
much hope that the Council
agrees on its agenda.
They have heard briefings on
Myanmar in the past from the
Special Envoy, and we
obviously stand ready to brief
them should they request so.
Inner City Press: I
guess what I'm say… the last
time that a briefing was held,
there was an agreement in
advance that there would be no
outcome. I think… and so
I'm just… I'm wondering…
Spokesman: If they
request such a briefing, we
would be happy to supply one.
On February
3, Inner City Press asked
Dujarric about reports of
further abuse of the Rohingya,
video
here, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask you about this
very detailed report about
abuses of the Rohingya in
Myanmar, I know that the
mandate of the Good Offices
expired, but I'm wondering,
what is the
Secretary-General's
thought? I asked the UK
ambassador. He said
there different ways being
considered for the UN to deal
with this problem. Is
there any proposal by the
Secretary-General either to
revive that office or a
different office or have some
increased focus…?
Spokesman: I don't think
there will be a revision of
that office, but that is not
to say that there will be…
there continues to be keen
interest in the situation in
Myanmar, obviously, on the
human rights issue but also
what the UN can assist and can
do on the development issue
through the coordinated work
of the UN development agencies
in Myanmar and, obviously, on
the political front, in which
DPA will be in the lead.
But, it will be a coordinated
outlook on behalf of the UN
system.
Inner City Press: Right,
but when you say the
political, do you mean in
terms of… does the
Secretary-General believe, for
example, that the Rohingya are
and should be acknowledged as
citizens of Myanmar?
Spokesman: I think we
have… this is an ongoing
discussion. I think the
Secretary-General, the UN has
been very clear on the need to
address the needs of the
Rohingyas in a way that
respects their rights and that
is good for country as a
whole.
On January
31, Inner City Press asked the
UN's holdover spokesman
Dujarric,
From
the UN transcript, Periscope
here:
Inner City Press:
I wanted to ask, again, it has
to do with the Rohingya, in
this case, in
Bangladesh. Maybe you've
seen reports that the
Government of Bangladesh is
considering moving the people
that were able to cross the
border in camps near the
border to an island that's
described as being often
underwater. Does the UN
or, in particular, António
Guterres have any…?
Spokesman: I haven't
seen those reports…
Inner City Press: It's
in the New York Times.
Spokesman: I'll see what
I can find.
Six hours
later and counting, nothing.
On January 17,
Inner City Press asked the
UN's deputy spokesman Farhan
Haq about disappearances in
Shan State, where just-left
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's brother Ban Ki Ho
has been mining. UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press:
it's a case that involves two
individuals, which has become
pretty high profile, in
Myanmar. There are these
two Baptist leaders, one of
whom used to show journalists
the effects of airstrikes by
the Government in Shan State,
and Fortify Rights has called
for the Government to… to say
where they are. They've
been disappeared. Is the
UN aware of it? And
who's been sort of monitoring
the human rights aspects of
Myanmar, not just the Special
Rapporteur, but is there still
a Secretariat function, as
used to be carried out by Mr.
[Vijay] Nambiar?
Deputy Spokesman: There
still is a Secretariat
function that's being carried
out now by the Department of
Political Affairs, and I'll
check with them whether
there's anything to say about
this particular case.
From the January
12 UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
you'd said that Vijay Nambiar
had stepped down at the end of
December, the office was not
funded. But, I've seen
he did an interview on 8
January with a Bangladesh
publication, Prothom Alo,
where he said he denied that
there's genocide of Rohingya
and Myanmar or he said that
UNHCR had said that and then
taken it back. I wanted
to, I guess, ask you, in what
capacity… is he speaking for
the UN in any way in saying
that there's no genocide in
the area?
Spokesman:
No, Mr. Nambiar is speaking in
his personal capacity.
Myanmar
was the quiet
topic of the UN
Security Council
on the evening of
November 17,
between meetings
on South Sudan and
Syria chemical
weapons.
Inner
City Press was informed that
while the US requested the
closed door briefing, the US
agreed as a condition that there
would be no outcome to the
meeting. And now, Myanmar
is not listed in any way, even
in the footnotes, of the January
Program of Work of the UN
Security Council, click here for
that.
On
November 17 the briefer was
Vijay Nambiar, Ban Ki-moon's
envoy on Myanmar as he was,
disasterously, on Sri Lanka. And
sources tell Inner City Press
that amid the burning of
Rohingyas' homes and rapes and
killings in Rakhine State,
Nambiar advised the Council to
go easy on Myanmar and give them
time. This is is disgusting, all
around. The UN has refused
to provide a summary of what
Nambiar said.
On
January 5, Inner City Press
asked holdover UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, video
here.
Ban
Ki-moon's brother Ban
Ki-ho did
mining and other
business in Myanmar, after
being on a “UN delegation.”
***
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