At
UN, Climate
Change Debated
Behind Closed
Doors As
Islands
Disappear
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 15 –
With climate
change the
topic of a
meeting
at the UN on
Friday
morning, many
Ambassadors
were not even
sure
where the
meeting was
being held.
There was no
sign on the
door; it
was not in the
UN Journal.
Inner
City Press,
which wrote
about the
so-called
“Arria
formula”
meeting on
February 11,
set up in the
hall of the
UN's North
Lawn
building. The
Permanent
Representative
of a small
island state
came
over and
complained he
was not even
allowed to
speak in the
meeting.
“They are
trying to
minimize it as
much as
possible.”
After
the meeting,
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for
Access
asked Tony
deBrum,
Minister-in-Assistance
to the
President of
the Republic
of the
Marshall
Islands, about
the meeting
being closed,
and about
Palau's bid to
get an
advisory
opinion on the
issue from
the
International
Court of
Justice.
Tony
deBrum said
the ICJ case
was
interesting
but not going
anywhere fast.
He said he'd
asked without
success to get
the press into
the meeting,
Pakistan and
Permanent
Member the UK.
Inner
City Press
asked UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant about
that, and
about the
meeting. He
said it was a
“good
engagement by
PRs,” thought
some
“emphasized
their view
that the
Security
Council is not
the right
venue for
dealing with
climate
change.”
Tony
deBrum named
Guatemala as
among these.
He said that
the Marshall
Islands had to
go through the
Security
Council to
become a state
-
but now that
it is
threatened,
some say the
Security
Council should
not be
involved.
He described
islands and
causeways
disappearing
under water,
and ordnance
from World War
II becoming
uncovered.
Security
indeed. Watch
this site.
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