Syria
Banned from
Speaking as
Chair of Asia
Group by
Japan, Cyprus
+ 3
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 10 --
Syria is the
chair of the
Asia Pacific
Group
at the UN for
this month.
But while
every other
regional group
spoke
Tuesday at a
Human Rights
Day ceremony
at the UN,
when the turn
of
the Asia
Pacific Group
came, the
speech took
only one
minute.
Syria
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari said
that there was
no
consensus for
Syria to speak
as the group's
chair.
Afterward he
told
Inner City
Press
exclusively
that five
countries
blocked it --
Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Turkey,
Cyprus and
Japan -- and
that they
"didn't want
me
to speak as
chair. But I
did."
Some
wonder where
this will lead
-- will other
countries in
other groups,
when their
month to chair
the group
comes up, be
similarly
blocked?
Other
precedents
that have been
allowed to
happen include
France holding
an
event inside
the UN and
declaring
Saudi-sponsored
rebel Ahmad al
Jarba the sole
legitimate
representative
of the Syrian
people. Ban
Ki-moon hosted
Jarba at his
UN-provided
residence.
The
United Nations
Correspondents
Association hosted
Jarba for a
faux "UN"
briefing
in the
clubhouse Ban
gives them,
now to be tricked
out --
literally --
with Samsung
equipment
given through
the South
Korean
mission and
the UN.
It's
worth noting
that it was
the Asia
Pacific Group
which, tricked
or
not, sent Sri
Lanka military
figure
Shavendra
Silva to serve
on
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
When
Inner City
Press reported
on this,
several
Permanent
Representatives
of Asia
Pacific Group
countries said
they were
opposed and
would get
it reversed.
But Sri Lanka
and allies
fought back;
Ban told Inner
City Press, it
is a decision
of member
states, and UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous,
typically,
refused to
answer any
Press
questions.
Now
this same Asia
Pacific Group
has allowed a
split where
its chair for
December was
banned from
speaking for
the Group on
the awards
given
to
Biram
Dah Abeid of
Mauritania, a
son of freed
slaves who
works to
eradicate
the practice;
Hiljmnijeta
Apuk of
Kosovo, a
campaigner for
the rights
of people with
disproportional
restricted
growth (short
stature);
Liisa
Kauppinen of
Finland,
President
emeritus of
the World
Federation of
the Deaf;
Khadija Ryadi,
Former
President of
the
Morocco
Association
for Human
Rights;
Mexico’s
Supreme Court
of
Justice (the
Constitutional
Court); and
Malala
Yousafzai, a
Pakistani
schoolgirl
shot by the
Taliban who
advocates for
education.
And
so it goes at
the UN. Watch
this site.
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