On
Myanmar, ICP
Asks UN's Ging
of Landgrabs
in Kachin,
Shan, Nambiar
Is On It
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
2 -- When UN
aid official
John Ging held
a press
conference
about Myanmar
on March 1,
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
fighting in
Shan State,
and land grabs
in Kachin. Video here.
On both
issues, Ging
said that
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Special
Adviser on
Myanmar, Vijay
Nambiar, is on
the case.
Inner City
Press has
covered Vijay
Nambiar's role
in the UN's
response, such
as it was, to
the killing in
Sri Lanka in
2009; more
recently, his
attendance,
along with
others (very)
close to Ban,
at the
founding of
the Global
Sustainability
Foundation of
now-indicted
Sheri Yan.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on
October 29,
2015, human
rights and
freedom of
expression in
Myanmar were
the topics of
UN Special
Rapporteur
Yanghee Lee's
UN press
conference.
Inner City
Press asked
her of reports
of possible
genocide
against
Rohingya, of
Aung San Suu
Kyi's relative
silence on the
issue, and if
she works with
UN “Good
Office” envoy
Vijay Nambiar,
also
relatively
quiet about
rights.
Yanghee Lee
answers were
highly
diplomatic --
too much so,
some might
say, if it is
a genocide
that's coming.
She said that
word is too
strong; she
praised Aung
San Suu Kyi's
statements
about the rule
of law. She
said she works
closely with
Nambiar. Video
here.
Her approach
can be
contrasted
with that of
Marzuki
Darusman, for
example, on
North Korea.
Does the
difference
spring from
different
personalities,
or from the
positions of
major member
states, many
of whom have
been claiming
a human rights
win in Myanmar
as in Sri
Lanka,
what ever the
facts on the
ground? We'll
have more on
this.
On October 22
when UN
Rapporteur of
Freedom of
Expression
David Kaye
held a press
conference
before his
appearance
before the
UN's Third
Committee, his
topic was
whistleblower
protection, on
which the UN
itself is
particularly
weak.
When
called on,
Inner City
Press asked
Kaye about
retaliation
against UN
official
Anders Kompass
for blowing
the whistle on
alleged child
rapes by
French troops
in the Central
African
Republic. Video here and embedded below.
Free
speech ironies
at the UN were
on display
right in
Kaye's press
conference.
The
representative
of the UN
Correspondents
Association,
which among
other things
took funds
from
now-indicted
David Ng's
South South
News and then
give it an
award, and gave
Ng a photo op
with Ban
Ki-moon at
Cipriani,
demanded to
ask the first
question, even
claiming that
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
has granted
this “right”
in writing.
Where?
, 
