As R2P
Report
Launched, UN
Killings in
Mali &
Failings In
Sri Lanka
UNanswered
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
8 -- The
Responsibility
to Protect,
described on
April 8 as the
fastest
developing
global norm in
history, is
understandably
debated in and
around the
United
Nations, given
its membership
of 193 states.
But does this
mean that the
UN is doing a
good or even
credible job
at protecting
civilians?
At Germany's
mission to the
UN on April 8
a report was
presented, and
the UN's lead
R2P official
Jennifer Welsh
lavished
praise on her
boss, Ban
Ki-moon. But
what happened
to R2P in, for
example, Sri
Lanka? What is
the UN's
record in
Darfur, where
UN
Peacekeeping
for example
covered up
over 200 rapes
in Tabit last
November?
The report is
entitled
“Effective and
Responsible
Protection
from Atrocity
Crimes,” and
it has many
authors:
Thorsten
Benner, Sarah
Brockmeier,
Erna Burai,
C.S.R. Murthy,
Christopher
Daase, J.
Madhan Mohan,
Julian Junk,
Xymena
Kurowska,
Gerrit Kurtz,
Liu Tiewa,
Wolfgang
Reinicke,
Philipp
Rotmann,
Ricardo Soares
de Oliveira,
Matias
Spektor,
Oliver
Stuenkel,
Marcos
Tourinho,
Harry
Verhoeven, and
Zhang Haibin.
The report
mentions Sri
Lanka ten
times, but
there is no
substantive
analysis of
the UN's
(under)
performance,
including that
the Western
Permanent
Three members
of the
Security
Council never
even tried to
get it on the
Council's
agenda.
Two of the
authors,
Philipp
Rotmann and
Marcos
Tourinho,
presented the
report on
April 8;
Tourinho said
among other
things that UN
Peacekeeping
is uniquely
credible.
The basis of
the statement
is unclear,
coming as it
did less than
a week after
the UN
belatedly
admitted UN
Peacekeepers
killed three
unarmed
civilians in
Mali in
January, then
DPKO chief
Herve Ladsous
refused to
answer Press
questions
about this and
another
shooting of
protesters in
Haiti. Video
here, Vine here.
Peace and
security
intellectuals
are drawn to
the UN and are
loath to
criticize it
too much. The
reflex of
blaming
Security
Council
vetoes, even
for the
failures of UN
Peacekeeping
and the UN
Secretariat,
make it easy
to get along.
Even so, good
points were
made. Simon
Adams of GCPR
pointed out
that it was
the “Global
South” which
led the fight
against
apartheid.
Brazil's
Ambassador
Patriota
pointed out
that
questioning
the United
States' stated
sovereignty
over Puerto
Rico is also a
form of
interference
in ostensibly
internal
matters, as
was the fight
against
colonialism
more
generally.
This
last was said
in response to
an
intervention
-- one of only
three allowed
-- by
Venezuela. The
moderator, the
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
of Germany to
the UN Heiko
Thoms, told
the Venezuelan
representative
to be brief.
The latter
complained of
never having
more than two
minutes to
speak on R2P
at the UN. He
noted that the
current review
of UN peace
operations is
considering
the need for
host county
consent for
peacekeeping.
One hopes that
panel is also
considering UN
Peacekeeping's
shooting at
unarmed
civilians in
Mali and
Haiti,
Ladsous'
refusal to
answer for
this or the
cover-up in
Darfur, and
the selling
of UN
Peacekeeping
position in
Haiti and the
DRC
exposed by
Inner City
Press, here.
These are
things the UN
would have to
clean up
before it
could be
credible on
protecting
civilians, or
anything else.
Watch this
site.
, 
