Pinheiro
Won't Compare
Syria to
Myanmar, Annan
Might
Not Include
Rights?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 23 --
Amid talk that
the situation
is Syria is
the
most deadly or
brutal, Inner
City Press on
Friday asked
the head of
the Commission
of Inquiry on
Syria Paulo
Pinheiro to
compare it to
Myanmar, on
which he
previously
reported.
Pinheiro
refused,
saying
comparison is
"not useful."
Why not?
Inner
City Press
earlier on
Friday asked
Joint Special
Envoy (JSE)
Kofi Annan's
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi a
series of
questions,
including
"yesterday
outside
the Security
Council's
Arria formula
meeting with
the
International
Commission of
Inquiry on
Syria, a
number of
Permanent
Representatives
told me of
calls that the
JSE should
both insist
that
any monitoring
mechanism
include human
rights
monitoring and
reporting AND
that the JSE
should be
pushing the
Assad
government to
allow entry
into Syria by
the
International
Commission of
Inquiry.
Please
respond."
Spokesman
Fawzi
told Inner
City Press,
"the JSE is
considering
all options
for
the monitoring
mechanism."
Unclear
if that
meant Annan
would insist
on a human
rights
component,
which is for
example
missing in the
recent UN
mission to
Abyei UNISFA,
and in
MINURSO in
Western
Saharan, Inner
City Press
asked all
three
Commission of
Inquiry
members if
they think
human rights
must be
included.
Pinheiro
said he
wouldn't tell
Annan what to
do. Yakin
Erturk
disagreed,
saying the
human rights
must be a part
of every
mission in
Syria.
Inner
City Press
asked asked
Annan's
spokesman
Fawzi:
is
there
any answer yet
to the
question of
whether the
Kofi Annan
Foundation has
solicited (and
if so, if it
has received)
funds in the
past three
years from
Qatar, Saudi
Arabia or the
UAE or
government
aligned
business
interests or
businesspeople
in these three
countries?
Can
you disclose
any more of
the
individuals in
the JSE's box
of
consultants,
even if not
yet deployed
or paid, but
certainly if
deployed or
paid? What is
Mr. Nicolas
Michel's
status?
Fawzi
replied
"I
do
not have
access to any
information
about the KA
Foundation.
Please
contact Ms.
McCoy for any
questions
about the KA
Foundation.
Let me
stress that
Mr. Annan has
nothing to do
with the KAF
in his role as
JSE. They are
completely
separate. No
consultants at
the moment.
Nicholas
Michel is not
with the
Mission at the
moment."
But
when Inner
City
Press asked
Ms. McCoy, she
referred the
question to
the UN, which
has
in turn
referred it to
Fawzi. This is
getting
circular.
Watch this
site.
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