On
Myanmar, ICP
Asks UN of
Ban's
Lok-Dessalien,
Retaliation,
Rohingya,
Nambiar
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, May
25 -- The
recurrent
complicity
through
silence and
inaction of
the UN under
Ban Ki-moon
with the
plight of the
Rohingya in
Myanmar has
echoed what
Ban's UN did
and didn't do
in Sri Lanka
in 2008 and
2009. But
through Ban's
representative
in Myanmar,
Renata
Lok-Dessalien,
it has other
antecedents,
including in
Bangladesh.
On May 23,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
Lok-Desslien
and documents
leaked to VICE
News, video
here, UN transcript
below.
On May 25,
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric's
deputy Farhan
Haq again,
this time
about
retaliation, video here, transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: You'd
said there's
some contacts
between the
Executive
Office of the
Secretary-General
and Myanmar,
and I'm
assuming
that's in
response to
the recent
VICE story
about
seemingly the
resident
representative
working around
human rights
concerns.
Some people
there are
saying that
there's a
danger of
retaliation of
staff that
cooperated
with the
story. I
just wanted to
ask more since
you said that
these people
here from
headquarters
are in touch
with them in
Myanmar.
Is it about
finding out if
the story has
truth to it,
or is it
looking into
protecting
those who
spoke to VICE?
Deputy
Spokesman:
No, I would
just
characterize
the work that
we do on this
as making sure
that the UN
system as a
whole is
supportive of
high human
rights
standards in
Myanmar.
And it's
really about
the substance
of the issue.
Question:
And is Mr.
[Vijay]
Nambiar at all
involved in
this
process?
He still has
the position,
right, of good
offices on
Myanmar?
Deputy
Spokesman:
Of course he
does. He
continues to
do that work.
In fact,
Nambiar was in
Myanmar,
pursuant to a
photograph
from
Switzerland's
affable former
Ambassador to
the UN Peter
Seger.
From May 23:
Inner City
Press: I
thought you'd
be asked about
this VICE
News exposé about
the UN's
reaction to
the killing of
the Rohingya
in
Myanmar.
There are a
number of
leaked
documents
they've
obtained
showing some
of the...
proceedings of
this senior
action group
of the Rights
Up Front,
including Mr.
[Jan]
Eliasson, and
basically they
conclude that
the UN has
learned and
improved
little since
the Sri Lanka
incidents that
gave rise to
that.
They're taking
about the SRSG
[Special
Representative
of the
Secretary-General]
Renata
Lok-Dessallien
basically
having
meetings when
the human
rights staff
couldn't
attend so she
wouldn't have
to hear their
views. Have
you seen all
this?
And what's
your response
to
basically...
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think... as
you know we
don't...
Inner City
Press:
...what's gone
wrong?
Spokesman:
...really
comment on
leaked
documents.
I think the
UN, for quite
some time now,
has made...
done its best
to shine a
light on the
human rights
issues we have
seen in
Rakhine
State.
There are
also... there
are also
development...
development
needs, but
this is an
issue that the
Human Rights
Office has
been focused
on. This
is an issue
that the
office as a
whole has been
focused on and
one that we've
talked about
quite a bit
from here.
Inner City
Press:
Right, but
totally
outside the
leaked
documents, do
you deny the
resident
representative,
Renata
Lok-Dessallien,
essentially
tried to work
around the
human rights
warnings.
You're saying
that the Human
Rights Office
is giving
warnings. This
says that she
tried to
specifically
set up
meetings...
Spokesman:
That I've no
way of knowing
what her
personal time
agenda
is. I'm
talking about
what the views
of the UN are
from here.
Well,
here's a
sample article
from
Bangladesh in
2010 about
Lok-Dessalien
there:
"News
analysis: UN
Coordinator
creates new
questions
rather than
answering old
ones
UN Resident
Coordinator
Renata
Lok-Dessallien,
who created
debates for
her reported
role in the
1/11 episode
in 2007, said
in a belated
statement on
Sunday that
the UN did not
send to then
Bangladesh
government any
"special
letter" that
led to the
postponement
of the
elections and
declaration of
the state of
emergency. She
claimed that
the
international
community
including the
UN did not
interfere in
any way. "Our
only concern
was to create
conditions
conducive to
holding free
and fair
elections,"
she has been
quoted to have
told the UNB
news agency.
Her disclosure
has created
more questions
than answering
the ones that
were already
in the minds
of the people
of Bangladesh
about the UN's
role."
On May
23, Inner City
Press
continued it
questioning,
cut off by the
UN:
Inner City
Press:
Is the UN
comfortable
with its
response?
Spokesman:
I'm telling
what you the
views are from
here.
Back on
March 1 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?
, 
