Rights
in
Contradiction
as HRW &
Partner Let
France Off
Hook, Vienna +20
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 17
-- At the UN
there's a lot
of talk about
human
rights, but
sometimes it's
in conflict.
Double
standards we
cover
daily, but
this is about
double
booking.
On
September 18
not only UN
official Ivan
Simonovic but
also Gerhard
Doujak, Head
of the Human
Rights
Department in
the Austrian
Ministry
of European
and
International
Affairs, are
set to speak
at 11:15 am
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room on the
topic of
"Vienna +20
Human
Rights
achievements,
shortcomings
and the way
forward."
But
a mere 15
minutes prior,
UN perennial
Human Rights
Watch is
holding a
press
conference on
a topic on
which the
Security
Council took
no
action in
August nor so
far in
September: the
Central
African
Republic.
Why
didn't
the Security
Council pass
the expected
resolution in
August?
Because the
pen holder
France had its
diplomats on
vacations,
as
Inner City
Press
reported. But
you won't hear
that from HRW.
Nor
did
HRW say
anything when
Herve Ladsous
of UN
Peacekeeping
met in
July with Omar
al Bashir, who
is indicted
for genocide
by the
International
Criminal Court.
HRW's
statements
are, shall we
say, highly
selective.
Who
is hosting
this HRW
event? The UN
Correspondents
Association,
which
also in July
hosted what it
called a "UN
briefing" by
Saudi-sponsored
Syria rebel
boss Ahmad al
Jarba.
On July 26,
and
again earlier
today, Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson
if they was
really a "UN
briefing."
From
the July
26 UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
currently,
there is a
meeting in the
North Lawn
Building
of the Syrian
coalition with
members of the
Security
Council. They
may be doing a
stakeout now.
But I wanted
to ask you
this. I’ve
seen, although
it wasn’t sent
to me, a
notice of a
press
conference
in the UN
building by
the Syrian
Coalition in
room 310 of
the United
Nations, and I
wanted you to
describe what
this press
conference is.
Is it a UN
press
conference? Is
it only open
to individuals
who have
paid money in
order to
attend it? And
I saw one of
the speakers
described as
the Special
Representative
of the Syrian
Coalition to
the United
Nations, and I
wanted to
know, is there
such a thing?
Is
there official
representation
to the United
Nations by the
Syrian
opposition and
on what basis
does the UN
give a large
room to the UN
Correspondents
Association
for meetings
of this type,
which they
only
promote to
members that
pay them
money?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I’ll
have to check
on that,
Matthew. I
don’t
have the
information
with me, but
we’ll check on
that and get
back
to you.
But
no one ever
did get back
to Inner City
Press with an
answer to this
question,
including the
Department of
Public
Information
which
partners with
UNCA and gives
it this
special but
unexplained
status.
DPI has been
informed of
anonymous
social media
trolling
linked with
UNCA Executive
Committee
members (two
of whom, Louis
"The
UN Spy" Charbonneau
of
Reuters
and Tim
Witcher of AFP,
have been
exposed in
MediaBistro:
these are
HRW's partners.)
But even on
September 17,
the
UNCA-linked
trolling
continued. And
so,
on Wednesday,
the correct
place is in
neither. Watch
this site.
, 
