At
UN,
De Schutter
Explains Gaza
Flotilla
Fiasco,
Madagascar
Sanctions Bite
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 24 --
With the UN's
report on the
Gaza flotilla
pending in
early July, Agence
France Presse
(AFP) reported
that "the
United
Nations
Special
Rapporteur on
the Right to
Food, Prof.
Olivier
De Schutter,
has received a
draft of this
report and he
firmly
opposes its
conclusions,"
citing an
e-mail from
"De
Schutter's
office."
Inner City
Press asked De
Schutter on
Monday about
the e-mail,
of which the
Office of the
Spokesperson
for Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
July 7
emphasized
"that Mr. de
Schutter’s
office
had clarified
that, contrary
to an
erroneous
report by one
media
outlet, he has
not made any
public
statement on a
draft of a
report
under
preparation by
the United
Nations Panel
of Inquiry on
the
flotilla
incident of 31
May 2010. Mr.
de Schutter
will make his
views
known in due
course."
De Schutter
said that he
had been on
mission in
South Africa,
and told his
communications
assistant that
he was
concerned the
Palmer report
would misstate
international
law. De
Schutter,
along
with rellow
Special
Rapporter
Richard Falk
and others,
state that the
blockade of
Gaza is
illegal.
De Schutter
said his
communication
assistant sent
out an e-mail,
not on the
record,
previewing his
views, and
that "one
media
organization"
simply
published the
e-mail as if
it was on the
record,
forcing him to
issue a
clarification.
When the
Palmer report
came out, he
formally
criticized it
on the same
terms.
Regarding
Richard Falk,
Inner City
Press at
Monday's noon
briefing asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to respond to
Falk's
statement on
October 20
that after
Ban's chief of
staff Vijay
Nambiar
wrote a letter
criticizing
Falk's 9/11
blog, Nambiar
acknowledged
that neither
he nor Ban had
even read the
blog.
Falk,
whose blog Ban
did not read,
and de
Schutter,
whose warming
Ban did not
heed
Nesirky said
he wouldn't
provide a
response to
Inner City
Press
"in between"
Falk and the
S-G's office.
But Falk said
it
on UN
Television,
Inner City
Press pointed
out, on the
record. Still
no comment
from Nesirky.
If and when
there is one,
we will
publish
it.
De Schutter,
when asked by
Inner City
Press about
the impact on
small farmers
of the
blockade on
Waziristan,
and previously
of the
sanctions on
Cote d'Ivoire,
said he could
only comment
if he knew
things first
hand. (He said
the same, but
a bit more,
about Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile in
Sudan.)
He replied
with a story
from
Madagascar,
that the
post-coup
sanctions were
turning
Madagascar
into
a failed
state. No
worries - now
Ban Ki-moon
meets with the
coup
leader! And so
it goes at the
UN.
, 
