Australia's
SC Month Has 7
Stakeouts,
Darfur to
December With
Afghans, Syria
Aid
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
When
Australian
Ambassador
Gary Quinlan
began
his second and
last
Presidency of
the UN
Security
Council, he said he
it was his
plan to
hold question
and answer
media
stakeouts
after
Council
closed-door
consultation.
November
began
with a flurry
of such
stakeouts:
November 4, 12
minutes; two
on
November 5, of
nine and 11
minutes;
November 10, a
full twenty
minutes; and November
12, four
minutes.
Then
things fell
off a bit,
with nothing
between a
three minute
“quickie”
on November 18
and an
appreciated 19
session,
ranging from
Syria to
Darfur, on
November 25,
the evening of
Australia's
End of
Presidency
reception.
Quinlan's
total
of seven
stakeouts,
according to
the UN
Television
website,
equals that of
Argentina,
tops South
Korea's three,
but is dwarfed
for example by
fellow
Commonwealth
member United
Kingdom's
month of
17 stakeouts.
It
has been
pointed out to
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
that the
number of
stakeouts it
not entirely
up to the
Presidency,
but rather
depends on the
news of the
month.
While
true, each
Press
Statement
offers the
chance to read
the statement
out on camera
-- in which
medium it is
presumably
more
effective,
unlike a Press
Statement on
Darfur rapes
which the UN
Spokesperson's
office never
emailed out --
to take
questions.
In
terms of
substance,
several issues
seemed to slip
past November
into
December --
the program of
work of which,
as Inner City
Press
reported
with
redactions to
protect
privacy,
the Australian
mission
mistakenly
emailed to
other Council
members with
an
ill-conceived
comment about
the Chadians,
president for
December,
(not)
understanding
Christmas.
We all make
mistakes, and
the Australian
mission and
Quinlan
himself
quickly owned
up to it,
setting them
apart from
some other
Council
powers.
Two
Darfur issues,
for example,
bounced around
but are
ultimately
slipping over
into Chad's
month:
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
report into
allegation of
cover-up in
the UNAMID
mission, and
UNAMID's
related
November 9
whitewash of
rapes, and
community-military
relations, in
Tabit.
Quinlan to his
credit
circulated to
all other
Council
members a
petition from
Darfur groups
on this topic
(click
here for that),
and twice said
that on the
cover-up
report, the
question is
finding the
right
briefer(s).
We'll
see.
Quinlan
presided, not
without humor,
over the head-banging
exercise of
repeated votes
with the same
results on candidates
for judgeship
at the International
Court of
Justice;
he covered Ebola in
public, and Burkina
Faso
behind closed
doors.
Australia
is
interested,
along with
Luxembourg
which like
Australia
leaves the
Council on
December 31,
and Jordan
which does
not, in
getting a new
resolution on
humanitarian
access in
Syria.
Australia as
pen-holder
on Afghanistan
also wants a
resolution on
new security
arrangements,
which we hear
might be more
problematic
than
anticipated.
But we'll
leave such
clashes for
another day,
or article.
At
Australia's
End of
Presidency
reception on
November 25, a
classical
guitarist
played, UN
officials,
journalists
and diplomats
mingled,
including a
recently
re-appeared
correspondent
and the
diplomat he
rented out of
his apartments
to. This is
mentioned,
like the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
push for
stakeouts,
including by reclusive Under Secretaries
General, as a
matter of
press access
and against
censorship.
That too is a
fight for
another
day, or hour.
Watch this
site.
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