On
R2P, UNSC's
Open Meeting
Is Closed As
Ban Dodges
Burundi Q, ACT
on Next SG
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 14 --
The UN
Security
Council's
“open” meeting
on the
Responsibility
to Protect on
December 14
was ironic,
and not only
because the sign
outside the
meeting said
“Closed."
Earlier in the
day Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon dodged
a loud Press
question about
killings in
Burundi,
two hours
after
Burundi's
Ambassador to
the UN, who
blocks the
Press from his
Twitter feed,
told the
Swiss-chaired
Peacebuilding
Configuration
that it is all
a member of
opposition
controlled
from outside
the country
trying to
create an
“Arab
Spring-like”
event. So much
for R2P.
Still,
to
Switzerland's
credit they
gave the press
a copy of what
Ambasssador
Jürg Lauber,
who chaired
the PBC
meeting at
which Albert
Shingiro
spoke, said to
the Security
Council on
behalf of ACT:
“Switzerland
is the
coordinator of
ACT,
Accountability,
Coherence and
Transparency,
a cross
regional group
comprised of
25 Member
States, and we
are honored to
speak on its
behalf. ACT
congratulates
Chile and
Spain for
holding this
meeting in an
open Arria
format and
welcomes the
opportunity to
exchange views
with the
Security
Council. The
Responsibility
to Protect
requires us to
take action
both to
prevent
atrocity
crimes and to
act to end
them when they
do occur...
“While States
play a central
role in
implementing
the principle
of the
Responsibility
to Protect,
the United
Nations
continue to
have a crucial
function. ACT
is actively
engaged in
order to reach
increased
transparency,
inclusiveness
and a more
rigorous
process in
selecting the
next chief of
the
Organization
to represent
all of us. The
identification
and
appointment of
the best
candidate for
the post of
the
Secretary-General—an
individual
committed to
be independent
and impartial
in
recommending
actions to the
Security
Council and
all other
stakeholders
involved in
the system,
for instance
through Human
Rights Up
Front, to stop
and prevent
conflict and
mass
atrocities –
would
contribute to
enhance the
credibility of
the whole UN
system. We
therefore
welcome the
fact that all
Security
Council
members and
the President
of the General
Assembly
agreed on a
joint letter
calling for
applications,
in order to
start the
process in a
timely manner
according to
General
Assembly
Resolution
69/321.
Members States
are looking
forward to
receiving this
letter.”
We'll
have more on
this.
Back on
September 8,
Responsibility
to Protect was
the topic of
an open UN
press
conference and
debate, or
series of
speeches, even
as the UN said
nothing about
the Saudi
coalition's
airstrikes on
Sana'a and
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon did
not mention
Burundi in his
prepared
speech, much
less Sri
Lanka.
Inner
City Press
asked UN
officials
Adama Dieng
and Jennifer
Welsh at their
joint press
conference
about both Sri
Lanka and
Burundi, as
well as South
Sudan and the
critique by
Venezuela and
others of R2P
in the UN.
Dieng called
for the
release of the
African
Union's report
on crimes in
South Sudan;
he called
Burundi a
political
problem and
Welsh spoke of
preventive
diplomacy. 12 minute video here.
Welsh
acknowledged
that the UN's
response to
crimes in Sri
Lanka has been
a failure; she
paid some
respect to
Venezuela's
and Cuba's
objections
(though back
in the
afternoon's
session, she
disagreed with
Venezuela's
argument that
R2P divides
states into
those who are
“responsible”
and those who
are not).
In the
final 24
minutes there
were 12
speakers;
Myanmar got
cut off (it
had not used
the work
Rohingya) for
the next
speaker, Iran;
Dieng uses his
prerogative to
give out some
more time.
Inner City
Press
believes, on
both Burundi
and South
Sudan, that
the UN when it
wants to uses
deference to
regional
organizations
to turn away
from its R2P
claims, while
it didn't
defer to the
African Union
on Libya. And
so it goes.
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