On
Eritrea, ICP
Asks Venezuela
PR of Basis
For Sanctions,
Feb 11 Debate
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 2 --
In the UN
Security
Council on
February 11
there will be
a debate about
sanctions
including
sanctioned
countries. On
February 1,
Inner City
Press asked
Venezuela's
Ambassador
Rafael
Ramirez, who
will preside
on February
11, about
Eritrea. Video
here. As
transcribed by
InnerCityPro.com:
Matthew Lee,
Inner City
Press. On
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access, we are
hoping you
will do
question and
answer
stakeouts
after Security
Council
consultations.
On the methods
of work on the
debate on the
11th – on
Eritrea –
you’re the
chair of that
committee.
They say they
should not be
under
sanctions
because
they’re not
doing what
they’re
accused of
doing. Now, in
your national
capacity, or
as chair, what
do you think
of their
argument?
Amb Ramirez:
Thank you.
Before
anything else,
I hope as
president of
the Security
Council to
interact with
the press,
because each
time we come
out of a
meeting of the
Security
Council ,
there’s a
healthy
practice,
we’ve always
done it that
way so we’ll
do what’s
possible
without taking
too much time.
With regard to
Eritrea, I
can’t put
forward any
national
position on
this, but it
is
specifically
one of the
points we wish
to introduce
on the debate
on how we
work.
The sanctions
debates and
committees, we
as chair of
the Somalia
Eritrea
committee and
also the
Darfur
committee,
we’ve promoted
the idea that
the countries
under
sanctions
should speak
to the
Security
Council
members and be
heard, and
that including
the countries
of the region,
they should
have an
opportunity to
say how the
sanctions are
affecting
individual
countries and
the region as
a whole.
Eritrea is one
of the most
relevant
examples in
terms of these
sanctions. We
raised in the
Security
Council the
idea that
there should
be a political
goal, the
sanctions
committee
should have a
political
goal, and they
should move
and evolve as
the situation
changes. In
the horn of
Africa the
situation is
changing on an
accelerating
basis.
Somalia,
Eritrea, they
are affected
by the advance
of terrorist
groups, al
Shabaab and
the war in
Yemen, al
Qaeda, which
are
destabilizing
factors
throughout the
region. So
they cannot,
the sanctions
committees
cannot remain
on the same
track. They
must evolve in
line with the
changing
political
situation in
the region. Of
course, we,
and I believe
nobody would
like to see
their own
country under
sanctions, or
see any
country under
sanctions.
The sanctions
committees are
more
definitive in
nature than
any tribunal
on the planet.
There are
sanctions
imposed and
nobody can do
anything about
it. But we
need to
discuss this.
We need to see
if there’s any
meaning to it,
how we can
help to ensure
the peaceful
solution of
conflicts.
Thank you for
your
question."
We'll be
there, on
February 11,
to cover it.
Will it be
more
participatory
than usual?
We'll see.
Back on
October 29,
2015 when the
UN Special
Rapporteur on
Eritrea Sheila
B. Keetharut
and the
Chairperson of
the Commission
of Inquiry on
Eritrea Mike
Smith held a
press
conference at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked them
about the
human rights
impacts of
sanctions on
Eritrea, and
about human
trafficking. Video here.
Keetharut said
the sanctions
are “specific”
and do not
have an
impact. The
basis of the
statement was
unclear. Smith
said they were
good questions
but that he
could not
speak to
sanctions. Who
does?
Well,
the UN's
Rapporteur on
Iran Ahmed
Shaheed does,
this week
telling Inner
City Press how
exclusion from
SWIFT makes it
impossible for
Iranian's to
buy cancer
medicine.
On October 26
when Idriss
Jazairy,
Special
Rapporteur on
the negative
impact of
unilateral
coercive
measures on
the enjoyment
of human
rights held a
UN press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
sanctions on
Sudan and
Eritrea, his
proposal for a
registry, and
about the use
of SWIFT to in
essence impose
sanctions. Tweeted
photo here.
Idriss
Jazairy
declined to
comment on
Eritrea,
saying
Security
Council
sanctions are
being his
jurisdiction.
He was
critical of
unilateral
measures on
Sudan, which
he said he
will visit in
November. He
likened his
registry
proposal to
that in place
for
conventional
arms.
On
SWIFT, he said
he its use
makes it
impossible,
for example,
for cancer
patients in
Iran to get
medicine.
Earlier on
October 26,
the past
president of
UNCA, now the
UN Censorship
Alliance,
bragged about
UN Rapporteur
Ahdmed
Shaheed's
"preview" of
his
presentation
on Iran, which
Reuters later
channeled
without saying
where Shaheed
spoke. Inner
City Press for
the Free UN
Coalition for
Access asked
the OHCHR
spokesperson,
who said he
didn't know.
We'll have
more on this.
On October 20
when the UN
Special
Rapporteur on
torture Juan
E. Méndez held
a press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
him for his
view of the
only partial
release of the
US Senate's
report on CIA
torture, about
Guantanamo Bay
and whether he
thought
President
Barack Obama's
visit to a
prison might
make his
long-pending
request to
visit US
prisons move
faster. Video
here.
Mendez said
there should
be more
release(s),
and
accountability.
He said he had
had to request
the US'
conditional
offers to
visit
Guantanamo Bay
and US
prisons, as he
would not be
allowed to
speak with all
prisoners. He
praise Obama's
visit, but
still - Mendez
can't get in.
On October 16
when the Chair
of the UN
Committee on
the Rights of
the Child
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur held a
press
conference at
the UN, Inner
City Press
asked him
about US
President
Barack Obama's
decision to
continue to
provide
military aid
to the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo,
Nigeria,
Somalia, and
South Sudan,
despite all
four being on
the UN's (and
US') lists on
children and
armed
conflict. Video here.
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur said
that while the
US is the lone
holdout on the
Convention on
the Rights of
the Child, the
issue can
still be
gotten-at
under the
Optional
Protocol.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
sexual abuse
of children in
the Central
African
Republic by
French and UN
peacekeepers.
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur replied
that the
Committee is
asking France
about the
alleged sexual
abuse of
children, and
will conduct a
review in
January. We
aim to have
more on this.
At the
press
conference,
there were
only two
correspondents,
as there was
an emergency
UN Security
Council
meeting on
Palestine at
the same time.
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access thanked
Benyam Dawit
Mezmur for the
briefing but
suggested that
in the future
postponement
of briefings,
so that more
journalists
could attend,
be considered.
UNCA wasn't
present at
all; nor has
it disclosed
the extend of
funding and
connection by
indicted David
Ng and Frank
Lorenzo and
their
affiliates.
Also on
the UN, when
the UN find a
staff member
using the UN's
email system
to trafficking
in sexual
images of
minors, a
crime, what
does it do? On
October 16,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about this
paragraph from
a UN
report it had
dug up:
“49. A staff
member sent,
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
pornographic
material,
including
pornographic
material
involving a
minor, and
failed to
report that
another staff
member had
sent the staff
member
inappropriate
material
though the
Organization’s
e-mail system.
Disposition:
dismissal.”
Inner
City Press
asked, was
that all that
happened,
dismissal?
Such that the
person could,
for example,
work in a day
care center?
Haq said in
instances the
UN waives
immunity.
Inner
City Press
asked, how
would law
enforcement
know that the
person had
used the UN's
email system
for child
porn? Haq said
there have
been cases in
which the UN
told local
authorities.
Inner City
Press asked,
did it do so
in this case?
Apparently,
the UN will
not answer
this. For now.
Here are other
paragraphs:
46. A staff
member stored
pornographic
material,
including
pornography
involving a
minor, on the
staff member’s
United Nations
computer,
distributed
other
pornographic
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system
and failed to
report that
another staff
member had
sent the staff
member
inappropriate
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system.
Disposition:
dismissal.
47. A staff
member sent,
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
and stored on
the staff
member’s
United Nations
computer,
pornographic
material
involving a
minor and, on
other
occasions,
distributed,
through the
Organization’s
e -mail
system, other
pornographic
material.
Disposition:
dismissal.
48. A
staff member
sent, through
the
Organization’s
e-mail system,
pornographic
material
involving a
minor and, on
three other
occasions,
distributed
other
pornographic
material
through the
Organization’s
e-mail system
and stored
pornographic
material on
the staff
member’s
United Nations
computer.
Disposition:
dismissal.
The
report is
entitled
"Practice of
the
Secretary-General
in
disciplinary
matters and
cases of
criminal
behaviour, 1
July 2014 to
30 June 2015."
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