ICP
Asks UK
Rycroft About
Burundi
Threats, CAR
Rapes Report,
FOIA
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 3 --
When UK
Ambassador
Matthew
Rycroft held
his Program of
Work press
conference
about his
upcoming month
atop the
Security
Council on
November 3,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
further
threats in
Burundi and if
he expects the
Council to
take up the
already-delayed
UN panel of
inquiry report
into alleged
peacekeeper
rapes in the
Central
African
Republic. Video here.
Rycroft, who
previously
told Inner
City Press of
concerns about
the threat of
genocide in
Burundi, said
he paying
close
attention to
developments
in Burundi and
that the
Security
Councill will
take it up
under Any
Other Business
or AOB.
On the
Central
African
Republic rapes
and report,
Rycroft said
generally that
those response
should be held
accountable.
But will the
Security
Council get a
copy of, and
review and act
on, the report
Ban Ki-moon
has
commissioned?
Back on
October 30,
Rycroft took
and even
answered
Twitter
questions for
an hour, as
the Council
adopted a
resolution
about its
Working
Methods.
Questions
ranged from
Yemen and the
DR Congo to
peacekeepers'
sexual abuse,
NGO
involvement
and
transparency
to the public
of the
Council's
closed-door
proceedings.
Inner City
Press asked
Rycroft what
he would do to
make the
Council more
accessible to
those impacted
by it, for
example in
Burundi,
Yemen, Libya
and Haiti, and
if
he or his
Deputy Peter
Wilson
will hold
question and
answer
stakeouts
after closed
consultations.
The
latter,
Rycroft answered
in the
affirmative,
adding that
the UK mission
will be using
Periscope as
well.
On November 3,
Inner City
Press for the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access said
that since
Rycroft had
already
committed to
this (and
thanked him),
the FUNCA
request is for
the UK
Presidency to
experiment
with a
Security
Council
(Presidency)
Freedom of
Information
Act or
procedure.
We'll have
more on this.
How to
supplement
stakeout over
coverage by
UNTV is a
question Inner
City Press has
been working
and 'Scoping
on; the UK
take will be
interesting to
see.
Asking about
the MONUSCO
mission in the
DR Congo, and
by Inner City
Press about
the mission's
failure to try
to
“neutralize”
the FDLR
militia,
Rycroft
replied with
worry for
civilians and
the hope that
the government
will work with
MONUSCO.
Rycroft
was urged to
engage with
the Saudi
mission about
airstrikes in
Yemen - one
wonders,
aren't weapons
being sold? -
and to open up
to NGOs. To
this, he
agreed; it was
pointed out
not only that
the usefulness
of NGO
submissions is
uneven, but
that the UN
has allowed in
the NGOs of
the
now-indicted
Ng Lap Seng,
Frank Lorenzo
and Sheri Yan.
We'll have
more on this.
Back on
September 23,
Inner City
Press asked
Rycroft
similar
questions not
in the UN but
a dozen blocks
away at a
Digital
Diplomacy /
“Soft Power”
event by
Facebook and
Portland
Communications.
#Periscope
video [was]
here.
Rycroft told
Inner City
Press that the
best Security
Council
meetings he's
been in have
allowed in
outside
voices; he
noted it is
still not the
custom to
tweet from
inside
consultations,
though perhaps
it should be.
Inner
City Press
asked the US
State
Department's
Moira Whelan
about US
Ambassador to
Libya Deborah
Jones quitting
Twitter back
in March,
after one of
her tweets
about bombing
of the Tawerga
was attacked.
Whelan said
the State
Department
wants to
support its
diplomats when
they come
under fire;
Rycroft said
if a
diplomat's
intentions
were good and
well-considered,
they should be
supported even
if things go
wrong.
Facebook's
Katie Harbath
mentioned that
India Prime
Minister Modi
would be
meeting with
Mark
Zuckerberg; an
hour later at
the Indian
delegation's
press
conference in
the Waldorf
Astoria's huge
Empire room,
there was
confirmation
of this and
other tech
meetings for
Modi. (Inner
City Press
asked about UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief Herve Ladsous recently linked UN
rapes to
“R&R” on
video, here.)
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