On
Rapes, ICP
Asks UN Why
Pushed Back
Report Due
January into
March
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 11 --
Amid a litany
of rape
charges
against UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous, Inner
City Press on
January 27 asked UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's
Spokesman to
confirm new
allegations
in the Central
African
Republic by
Republic of
Congo and DR
Congo troops..
The spokesman,
Stephane
Dujarric,
declined. But
on February 4,
it was
confirmed.
On
February 11,
Inner City
Press
exclusively
reported and
then asked the
UN about,
member states
went to the
UN's 38th
floor to ask
where Ban's
response to
the issues and
Deschamps
report is. It
was due by the
end of
January, as
Inner City
Press has
asked.
Now,
the sources
told Inner
City Press,
Ban is trying
to delay it
until March.
Ban in fact
wasn't there
to meet the
member states
on February 11
- he is in
Canada -- and
neither was
his Deputy Jan
Eliasson. The
task fell to
Chief of Staff
Edmond Mulet,
who replaced
Susana
Malcorra
before she
issued the
promised
response. So
it goes at the
UN.
At the
February 11
noon briefing
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: on the
sexual abuse
allegations,
I want to ask
you to confirm
that a number
of Member
States met
this morning
on the 38th
Floor with Mr.
Mulet about
the
still-not-released
or completed
response to
the Deschamps
Report.
And I wanted
to know, is it
true that this
is, in fact,
now being
delayed until
March?
And if so, why
is that?
A number of
them said it's
kind of a
legacy issue
for Ban
Ki-moon, and
so what can
you say to
those who
would say it
was supposed
to be the end
of January and
now it's going
into
March?
Why is that?
Spokesman:
It's
obviously,
it's not that
it's a legacy
issue for the
Secretary-General.
It's an issue
that is very
close to the
Secretary-General's
heart, and he
wants to be
very firm in
dealing with
the issues
raised by the
Deschamps
Report.
I think an
important
step… a number
of steps
already have
been put into
place, whether
it's quicker
reporting on
the ground,
whether it's
putting the
right
procedure, you
know, improved
procedures in
the Office of
Legal Affairs
on how to deal
with issues
that may arise
to make sure
that their
cases are
treated
promptly.
As you will
have seen, the
Secretary-General
has appointed
Jane Holl Lute
to be his sort
of coordinator
and point
person on the
issue of
sexual abuse
within the UN
system.
All of that
flows from the
Deschamps
Report.
Obviously,
when we are
ready to
announce
things more
officially, we
will do so,
but I think it
is something
we are working
on as quickly
as possible
and as
thoroughly as
possible.
Inner City
Press: is
there some
reason for the
delay?
Because a
number of the
people there…
Spokesman:
There are, you
know, we've
announced a
number of
steps since
the Deschamps
Report has
come out.
The head of UN
Peacekeeping
who has on
video linked
the rapes to
R&R, Herve
Ladsous,
remains in
place. The UN
has done
nothing. Will
new French
foreign
minister
Jean-Marc
Ayrault
belatedly take
action on
Ladsous, put
in place by
France as the
fourth French
head of DPKO
in a row?
Watch this
site.
More
than a week
after Inner
City Press'
January 27
question, and
nearly two
weeks after
the UN learned
of the rape
charges, the
UN announced
them on
February 4.
Dujarric's
Deputy Farhan
Haq read them
out, and Inner
City Press
asked
questions, transcript here.
On January 29,
first High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Zeid
then this same
UN spokesman
issues
statement
about (what
else), new
rape charges
in CAR. But
even these
lists do not
appear to be
complete,
omitting
alleged rapes
that UN
officials have
spoken about
involving UN
peacekeepers
from Burundi,
the Republic
of Congo and
Gabon.
Inner
City Press
asked now
departing
Assistant
Secretary
General
Anthony
Banbury about
these still
unreported
cases, and why
it was him and
not the head
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Ladsous,
who was
answering for
the charges at
the UN's
January 29
briefing.
Banbury said
reporting is
getting fast;
he also said
he “doesn't
buy” that
anyone fears
retaliation if
they report
sexual abuse
charges. Video
here.
Given
that even an
official at
the rank of
Ander Kompass
was pursued in
the UN “legal”
system for
reporting, the
claim seemed
strange.
Another
reporter said
it was not
credible; the
spokeman said
that's not a
question and
the briefing
was over.
Banbury,
visibly upset,
shed tears
during the
briefing. But
again, why
isn't Ladsous
as the person
responsible,
named in the
Deschamps
report as
having failed
to vet
contingents
subsequently
charged with
rapes, the one
answering
questions?
In the
briefing, the
UN set aside
the first
question for a
representative
of the UN
Correspondents
Association,
and then two
UNCA board
members: none
of these
questions
involved the
head of
peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous.
We'll have
more on this.
Having been
told by
sources of
more rapes by
peacekeepers
in the Central
African
Republic,
Inner City
Press on
January 26 reported
them and on
January 27
asked the UN's
spokesperson
Stephane
Dujarric to
confirm them -
but wouldn't.
UN
transcript
here. Video here.
So what
is the
protocol of UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous, who
linked the
rapes to
"R&R," here? How many more do
they know
about?
The UN report
on rapes
in the Central
African
Republic,
released on
December 17,
found that UN
Peacekeeping's
Under
Secretary
General Herve
Ladsous
“illustrate[s]
the UN's
failure to
respond to
allegations of
serious human
rights
violations in
the meaningful
way.”
Ladsous
has yet to
take any
questions
about the
report -- this
as Inner City
Press
exclusively
hears from
sources of yet
more sexual
abuse cases in
CAR, involving
DR Congo AND
Republic of
Congo, and
changes of
abuses will in
detention.
On
January 27,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
these new
charges, transcript
here.
On January 5,
Ladsous
mission in CAR
issued a press
release about
yet more
allegation of
sexual abuse
of minors by
its
peacekeepers,
below.
On
January 18,
Inner City
Press managed
to ask UN
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson about
the report --
the UN Deputy
Spokesperson
appeared
intent on not
allowing the
question, but
Eliasson to
his credit
took it. Video
here. ,
UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: The UK
Ambassador
mentioned
sexual abuse.
DSG: Yes.
Inner City
Press: He did.
And so I
wanted to
know…
DSG: I did
also.
Inner City
Press: So,
since that
report came
out about the
Central
African
Republic, what
has the
Secretariat or
the 38th floor
done to ensure
that in the
future if a UN
staffer
becomes aware
of child rape,
that it goes
to the right
people?
DSG Eliasson:
This is very
serious. As
you know, the
Special
Representative
in Central
African
Republic
resigned, was
asked to
resign. One of
the others who
were named by
the Deschamps
group, panel,
was considered
to have abused
authority has
left the
United
Nations,
retired.
And we have a
group set up
right now, led
by the Chef de
Cabinet -
Edmond Mulet -
that is going
to work very,
very quickly
on following
up the
recommendations
of the panel.
Mr. Mulet and
his group will
report to the
Secretary-General
by the end of
this month.
We will look
into both
issues of
individual
responsibility,
but also
primarily on
the systemic
problems. This
reminded me of
my reaction to
the Sri Lanka
tragedy back
in 2009. The
panel came to
the conclusion
that it was
systemic
failure, so we
drew the
[conclusion]
to that – we
need to have a
systemic
response. That
was the origin
of Human
Rights Up
Front.
This time also
the Deschamps
report talks
about, almost
in the same
language –
systemic
reactions. I
also expect,
or we also
expect, Member
States again
to draw the
conclusions
from
this. In
so many cases
we have passed
on to the
Member States
very damning
reports, but
very little
sometimes has
been done by
Troop
Contributing
or Police
Contributing
countries. So
we need to
have nation
states
following up
these
[inaudible].
We will
have more,
too, on DSG
Eliasson's
reference to
the UN's
failure in Sri
Lanka. At the
January 19 UN
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq if
Mulet's report
at the end of
January will
be made
public. Video
here.
We'll see.
Earlier in the
month,
Inner City
Press asked
the Permanent
Representative
of New Zealand
and of
Uruguay,
President of
the Security
Council for
January, about
the report(s).
Video
here.
Back in
December, once
the report
came out from
under embargo
at the noon
briefing Inner
City Press
asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric what
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon will
do about the
findings
against
Ladsous, and
that he
escaped the
“abuse of
authority”
moniker only
because “the
mandate of the
Panel is to
assess whether
an abuse of
authority has
occurred in
connection
with the
Allegations.”
Since
the abusers
Ladsous let
into MINUSCA
were not the
French troops
who are
accused of
rape -- these
troops are not
in MINUSCA --
Ladsous'
malfeasance is
not “in
connection”
with the
Allegations.
But is it
acceptable?
Dujarric seems
unfamiliar
with the
report; he
implied that
the third
person found
to have abused
authority was
the Ethics
Officer, when
it was a lower
level official
in CAR. Inner
City Press
asked what
this all says
about Ban
Ki-moon's
management,
along with the
John Ashe / Ng
Lap Seng and
Bernardino
Leon scandal,
a question
Dujarric did
not allow
Inner City
Press to asked
Ban himself on
December 16.
“Those are
your words,”
Dujarric
replied. Yes,
they are.
When
the Panel's
three members
held their
press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
about Ladsous'
failure to vet
and his
linking of
rapes to
“R&R.” Video here. Marie
Deschamps said
pointedly she
wouldn't
comment on
Ladsous'
remarks;
Yasmin Sooka
said these are
crimes for
punishment,
not
recreation.
As the
last question,
Inner City
Press asked
what it had
wanted to ask
Ban, and tried
to ask
Dujarric: what
does this say
about Ban's
management? Video of Q&A here. Didn't
Ban's chief of
staff
Malcorra,
criticized in
the report, do
it for Ban?
Didn't the
“senior
official” who
ostensibly let
the rape
information
die on the
vine in the
38th floor
work in an
atmosphere
created by
Ban's nine
years? We will
pursue this.
And this: if
OIOS' Lapointe
was wrong,
isn't James
Finness, who
continues the
OIOS campaign?
While the UK
has spoken,
where is
France, given
Sangaris and
Ladsous?
As to
Ladsous, the
finding was
made even
though the
three authors
of the report
do not
mention, and
apparently
have not yet
seen, the
notes from
Ladsous'
October 1,
2015 meeting
about the CAR
mission with Burundi's
Vice President,
in which
Ladsous said
he is
“pragmatic” on
human rights,
in Burundi and
by extension
elsewhere, nor
Ladsous'
September 11,
2015 on-camera
comments
linking the
rapes to
“R&R,” video here.
But
Ladsous still
as of December
17 holds the
senior UN
position into
which France,
which has
chosen the
last four
heads of UN
Peacekeeping,
put him in
September
2011. How much
longer?
By contrast,
the former
head of OIOS
Carman
Lapointe, of
whom the panel
finds an abuse
of authority,
is
conveniently
gone, as is
Babacar Gaye,
who worked for
Ladsous at the
CAR mission.
Perhaps
it was easier
for the panel
to make the
formal finding
against people
who had
already left
the UN by the
time the
report was
released.
One
wonders: if
responses like
Ladsous'
legalistic
(and largely
false)
November 2
letter were
received so
long ago
by the panel,
why did they
withhold the
report all the
way until
December 17,
the day AFTER
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's rare
(and last of
the year) press
conference?
High
Commission
Zeid, of whom
it is said he
was slammed in
the report, in
fact gets the
same treatment
-- critical,
but no formal
abuse of
authority --
as Ladsous,
who is
airbrushed out
and conditions
access to
information
and answers
about
Peacekeeping
on positive /
false
coverage.
The same
finding is
made with
regard to
former Chief
of Staff
Susana
Malcorra. Will
the critical
language hurt
what chance
she has, as a
non Eastern
European, to
try to follow
Ban Ki-moon as
Secretary
General?
More
generally, how
does all this
criticism
reflect on the
tenure of Ban
Ki-moon? The
report does
not mention
the concurrent
scandals
regarding UN
Secretariat
documents
purchased by
now indicted
Ng Lap Seng
through former
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe, nor Ban
Libya envoy
taking
instruction
and a cushy
job with the
UAE while
representing
Ban on and in
Libya.
In
December 2015,
Ban allowed
those who
cover him, at
least the UN
Correspondents
Association,
to sell
seats with him
for $6,000.
And it is
these same who
have
airbrushed out
Ladsous and
others.
The
Panelists --
Marie
Deschamps,
Hassan Jallow
and Yasmin
Sooka -- leave
unnamed a
senior officer
in Ban
Ki-moon's
office
(finding that
he misspoke
when he said
he had
informed
Deputy Jan
Eliasson),
without saying
if the officer
remains in the
same position.
We'll have
more on this. Follow @innercitypressFollow @FUNCA_info
, 
