Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 -- Kevin Rudd was given a UN position when he was down in 2010, on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's “High Level Panel on Global Sustainability” -- so Inner City Press on Friday asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky to comment on Rudd's new policy that that no asylum seekers arriving by boats will be resettled in Australia.

  Nesirky replied that Rudd had called Ban Ki-moon Thursday night, New York time, about this policy; Nesirky added that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres is studying the policy.

  It seems Rudd's policy violates the 1951 convention on refugees' article 31, which states: “The contracting states shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.”

  But did Rudd call Ban Ki-moon not only to provide notice -- it is embarrassing that a person Ban gave a UN post to would violate a convention like this -- but to call on Ban to push for a change in the convention? Watch this site.