UN
Silent on
Rohingya,
Dismissive on
Haiti Cholera,
Defers to Tony
Blair
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
14 -- To this
have things
sunk in the
UN: you ask
for
seven
questions,
they tell you
to ask four,
and answer
hardly any.
One answer is
that Tony
Blair,
reportedly now
taking $11
million a
year from a
member states,
is not really
a UN staff
member: so ask
HIM about any
conflicts of
interest.
On
the UN's
dismissal of
Haiti cholera
claims being
called
“disgusting”
by Jamaica's
former prime
minister? The
UN doesn't
comment on
media
reports.
Nothing on the
shooting to
death of
Rohingyas
fleeing from
Myanmar. And
that's just
the questions
that were
allowed to be
asked:
forget Somalia
and western
Cote d'Ivoire
-- apparently,
the UN has
already.
Here's
from the UN's
transcript of
the back and
forth at its
March 14 noon
briefing:
Inner
City Press:
Hi, Eduardo. I
have several
questions, I
want to make
sure, can I
ask them?
Yesterday,
things ended
kind of
abruptly, so I
have some from
yesterday and
some from…
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I am a
very abrupt
person.
Inner
City Press:
Okay. So, I
have actually
seven
questions,
I’ll put
you on notice,
okay?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
No, give me
four.
Inner
City Press:
Give you four?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Give me four.
Inner
City Press:
All right, how
many answers?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
As many as I
can give you.
Inner
City Press:
Okay, all
right. So, the
first one:
you’ve
probably
heard of this
incident in
which Thailand
apparently
shot Rohingya
migrants from
Myanmar. There
is a lot of
controversy
about it,
there
was an
incident at
sea, I wanted
to know if the
UN has any
view of
this,
particularly
given its role
in Myanmar.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I’ll
have to get
back to you a
bit later on,
I
don’t have
anything with
me right now,
but I’ll check
and see if
we have
something for
you.
But
eighteen hours
after
Thursday's
noon briefing,
there was
nothing.
Nothing at
all.
Inner
City Press:
Okay, I also
wanted to ask,
there is a
report saying
that
Tony Blair,
who I
understand has
a role in the
Quartet and
for the UN
in the
occupied
territories,
is receiving a
salary of
$11.7 million
a
year from
Kazakhstan.
And I wanted
to know
whether this
could be
viewed as any
kind of a
conflict of
interest,
whether
apparently he
doesn’t file,
at least a
public,
financial
disclosure, I
wanted to
know -- maybe
you can get
this answer,
whether he
does, given
his UN
role, do a
financial
disclosure to
the UN and
whether direct
payment
by a
Government
could be
viewed as a
conflict of
interest given
his
role, his UN
service.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
We’ll have to
check on that,
Matthew, I
don’t have
anything on
that.
[The
Deputy
Spokesperson
later said
that Mr. Blair
is not a staff
member
of the United
Nations, and
that any
questions on
this issue
should be
referred to
his office.]
So
the UN of Ban
Ki-moon allows
Tony Blair to
police his own
conflicts
of interest?
Inner
City Press:
Okay. Reload
[inaudible]...
Inner
City Press:
Sure, about
UNDOF [United
Nations
Disengagement
Observer
Force]. I know
that earlier I
had asked you
about Croatia
saying it
was going to
withdraw. Now
the Parliament
there has
voted to
withdraw
100
peacekeepers,
there are
other reports
that other
countries have
pulled out,
what’s the
status of
troop-contributing
countries to
UNDOF and how
does it impact
the work
that’s able to
be done on the
ground?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Okay, right
now we have
three
countries that
are
current troop
contributors —
the
Philippines,
India and
Austria.
Croatia has
also been
contributing
troops, but on
20 February,
the
Permanent
Mission
informed the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
the Government
had decided to
withdraw all
Croatian
military
personnel from
UNDOF due to
the
deteriorating
security
situation.
From 27
February, all
operations of
the Croatian
contingent
within
UNDOF were
restricted to
static
activities and
the timeline
for their
withdrawal has
not yet been
set.
Inner
City Press:
What per cent
of capacity
could we say
that UNDOF is?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I don’t
have that. I
can tell you
that UNDOF
currently has
1,008 troops
as of 12
March. So, I
imagine that
is the
Philippines,
India and
Austria.
Inner
City Press:
Okay.
On
this one,
we'll have
more.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
One more
question,
Matthew?
Inner
City Press:
Okay, I am
wasting this
one, I feel
that you are
not
going to
answer it, but
I feel
compelled to
ask it.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Good.
Inner
City Press:
The former
Prime Minister
of Jamaica,
Mr. Patterson
has
spoken on the
UN’s finding
that the Haiti
cholera claims
were not
receivable,
and he called
it disgusting,
and he used
some very
strong
language and
he’s not an
NGO
[non-governmental
organization],
he is not one
of the
victims, he is
a former Head
of
State, and I
really wonder
whether the UN
with real
passage of
time
doesn’t think
that for its
own ongoing
credibility
that offering
some of its
legal
reasoning for
finding
non-receivability
of claims
of the death
of 5,000, at
least, people
is is
acceptable.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Matthew, first
of all, we
don’t comment
on comments
by people in
the media, and
secondly,
whatever we
have said in
the
past on the
situation in
Haiti, on
cholera in
Haiti, stands.
The
committee that
was struck by
the
Secretary-General
said that it
was
due to a
confluence of
events, that
no one person
or group could
be
blamed. From
the beginning,
the
Secretary-General
has taken
actions
with the UN
family of
organizations
to address the
situation of
cholera in
Haiti and they
have come a
long way; we
are looking at
the
plan for the
next 10 years
to eradicate
cholera from
Haiti, and
that’s where
we stand.
Thank you very
much, have a
good
afternoon.
Not
that good an
afternoon.
Particularly
not for those
in, or who
used to
be alive in,
Haiti. Watch
this site.
, 
