At
UN,
"Responsibility
While
Protecting" Is
So Hot That No
Press Allowed,
of
Rwanda, Iraq
& Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 21,
updated -- The
"Responsibility
While
Protecting,"
proposed by
Brazil in
connection
with NATO's
bombing of and
some
countries'
arming of
rebels in
Libya, is a
hot topic at
the UN -- so
hot that the
"debate" on it
Tuesday
afternoon was
largely
closed to the
Press.
On
his
way in,
Pakistan's
Permanent
Representative
Abdullah
Hussain
Haroon told
Inner City
Press he would
delive a
"seven page
speech." In
the General
Assembly last
week, he
cautioned that
some of the
talk about
Syria is seen
as the fifth
targeting in a
row
of a Muslim
country.
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari was
in Tuesday
afternoon's
meeting,
the beginning
of which was
open to the
Press as a
photo
opportunity
until Brazil's
Minister of
External
Relations of
Brazil,
Antonio de
Aguiar
Patriota
gaveled the
meeting to
order.
Rwanda's
genial
Permanent
Representative
said his
speech would
be hard
hitting, and
invited Inner
City Press to
stay and hear
it. But it was
said that
the meeting
was closed to
the media,
even as other
scribes
remained
in the room
(Inner City
Press declined
to identify
them when
asked --
while there
should be no
double
standards, at
least some
information
coming out is
better than
none.)
As
so
for now
regarding
Rwanda we can
quote only
from Brazil's
concept
paper, on
"the
international
community’s
failure to act
in a timely
manner to
prevent
violence on
the scale of
that observed
in Rwanda.
Syria's
Ja'afari with
Brazil's
Viotti & Patriota
(c) MRLee Feb
21, 2012
There
may
be situations
in which the
international
community
might
contemplate
military
action to
prevent
humanitarian
catastrophes.
Yet attention
must also be
paid to the
fact that the
world today
suffers the
painful
consequences
of
interventions
that have
aggravated
existing
conflicts,
allowed
terrorism to
penetrate into
places where
it
previously did
not exist,
given rise to
new cycles of
violence and
increased the
vulnerability
of civilian
populations."
The
latter
reference
would seem to
be to Iraq.
Why not make
these
critiques
public? Watch
this site.
Update:
Twenty
minutes after
the above
article was
published,
Brazil's
mission issued
the opening
statement of
Antonio de
Aguiar
Patriota,
concluding
"We
have
invited all
Member States
as well as
NGOs and
specialists
who
have worked on
this subject.
We have
received
requests for
the floor
from (...). I
would ask
other
participants
to signal
their wish to
speak so that
we can close
the list of
speakers. I
would like to
encourage
speakers to be
as concise as
possible and
limit their
statements to
three minutes,
so that we can
benefit from
the widest
possible
participation.
We will
conclude
today's
discussion
with
remarks by the
co-chairs. I
now give the
floor to
Professor
Edward
Luck.”
Meanwhile
back at
the Security
Council, one
Political
Coordinator
wag joked he
would
organize an
event called
"Responsibility
While Being
Protected."
Update
of 7:45 pm --
The session in
Conference
Room 3 from
which the
Press was
excluded ended
at 6:30 pm;
six or seven
of the
countries
which had
signed up to
speak were not
able to.
Over at
Brazil's
mission to the
UN, a press
conference
ensued with Antonio
de
Aguiar
Patriota.
Inner City
Press asked
him about his
concept
paper's
reference to
the Security
Council
ensuring "the
accountability
of those to
whom
authorities is
granted to
resort to
force" -- did
this mean
stripping
immunity from
peacekeepers
like those
serving and
abusing in
Haiti? Or
stripping
immunity for
example from
NATO, when
anyone not a
member of the
ICC was
exempted from
referral to
the ICC by
resolution
1970, which
Brazil voted
for?
Antonio
de
Aguiar
Patriota
replied "that
is something
for member
states to
decide," then
spoke about
how to end a
mandate, in a
"Group of
Friends" or
other ad hoc
group, or
about
modifying a
resolution in
one side
started
getting armed
"by outside
forces." But
what about
accountability?
, 
