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Jordan's
Prince Zeid To
Replace Navi
Pillay, ICP
Raised Qs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Third in a
series
UNITED
NATIONS, June
6 -- Two days
ago, Inner
City Press reported
that Prince
Zeid of Jordan
was vetted to
replace Navi
Pillay as
UN High
Commissioner
on Human
Rights.
Today the UN
confirmed it -
three hours
after refusing
to answer
Inner City
Press'
questions
about having
dangled a job
in front of a
sitting
Ambassador who
voted on
Secretariat
requests. Video here of June 5 and June 6
questions;
embedded
below.
Here is the
UN's
announcement:
“The
Secretary-General,
following
consultations
with the
Chairmen of
the regional
groups of
Member States,
today informed
the General
Assembly of
his intention
to appoint
H.R.H. Prince
Zeid Ra’ad
Zeid
Al-Hussein of
Jordan as the
new United
Nations High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights.
“Prince
Zeid Ra’ad
Zeid
Al-Hussein is
currently
Jordan's
Permanent
Representative
to the United
Nations, a
post he held
previously for
six and a half
years, from
2000 to 2007.
From 2007 to
2010 he served
as Jordan's
Ambassador to
the United
States and
non-resident
Ambassador to
Mexico. He
also served as
Jordan’s
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
at the United
Nations, with
the rank of
Ambassador,
from 1996 to
2000.”
Inner City
Press has
previously
praised Zeid's
work on sexual
abuse by UN
peacekeepers,
and in
questioning
controversial
Sri Lankan
military
figure
Shavendra
Silva being on
Ban Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
There
were also as
candidates two
women from
Pakistan, Asma
Jahangir and
Hina Jilani,
who was also a
candidate
against Pillay
in 2008. Also
in the running
was Nobel
prize winner
Jose
Ramos-Horta.
Inner City
Press on
May 9 asked
the UN about
Jose
Ramos-Horta,
moonlighting
for UBrain.tv
while serving
as UN enovy in
Guinea
Bissau.
The UN has yet
to answer.
Other names in
circulation
included Indonesia's
Marzuki
Darusman, who
has worked on
Sri Lanka
and more
recently North
Korea.
Current UN
Human Rights
official in
New York Ivan
Simonovic,
now working
on a new
report on
Ukraine
including the
Odessa
killings
by June 17,
was
star-crossed
by geography:
it's Asia's
turn -- though
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
denied that on
June 6, video
soon.
But it's
supposed to be
Eastern
Europe's turn
for the next
Secretary
General, and
that is not
stopping Helen
Clark and
others for
campaigning
for it...
Back
on May 9,
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City Press:
I'd like to
ask about
Guinea-Bissau
and then some
press freedom
questions...
can you
confirm that
Jose Ramos
Horta is
leaving? It's
said that he’s
leaving to go
work at
UBrainTV based
in Tokyo and
quote, “he has
been an
adviser for
UbrainTV for
more than a
year.” I
wanted to
know, is it
permissible to
be a full-time
SRSG and also
be an adviser
to a
for-profit
company? Was
this cleared
by the ethics
office?
Deputy
Spokesman
Farhan Haq: I
don’t have any
information
about any
other business
that Mr. Ramos
Horta may or
may not have,
so I don’t
have any
comment on
that.
Certainly, he
continues with
his work right
now though.
Since that May
9 exchange
there has been
no information
from the UN
Spokesperson's
office. Inner
City Press
held off on
this report,
out of respect
for
Ramos-Horta.
But doesn't
the UN have to
answer? Watch
this site.
* * *
These
reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
Click
for
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN
Corruption
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