From Children Charged with War Crimes to Whole Countries Left Out, UN's Coomaraswamy On Conflict

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 30 -- Does the UN condemn the secret trial for war crimes of a person arrested when they were only 15 years old? Yes and no, appears to be the answer. On January 24 at the UN, Inner City Press asked if the UN could confirm that its envoy on Children and Armed Conflict had been barred from a February 4 hearing in the case of Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay, and if so, if the UN had any comment. The question was based on a report in the Canadian press that that U.S.

"Pentagon has denied a request to send a United Nations observer to a hearing for Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr a month after a UN representative raised concerns about the Canadian's trial. Khadr's military lawyers had asked that a representative for Radhika Coomaraswamy, the United Nations' Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, be given access to the U.S. base in Cuba for Khadr's hearing next month. Coomaraswamy raised Khadr's case during a meeting last month with the U.S. Secretary of State's top legal advisor, John Bellinger."

            Based on that report, Inner City Press asked, "it's been reported in the Canadian press that her request to attend was denied.  Can that be confirmed?  Does the Secretariat have any comment on whether she should be able to attend and whether a Member State should try somebody arrested at 15?

            Spokeswoman Marie Okabe responded, "I don't have anything on that, but we can certainly look into it for you." To the transcript, the following was added:

"The Deputy Spokesperson later added that Ms. Coomaraswamy's office says it never requested authorization to interview Khadr; however, the defense lawyers in his trial had invited someone from her office to attend the hearings as an observer.  The Office is in a dialogue with the United States State Department on that issue."

            On January 30, Ms. Coomeraswamy came took questions from reporters about her Office's work, including what she called her intervention into the case of Omar Khadr. While emphasizing that as a non-lawyer she had not requested to attended, focusing her work instead on diplomats, she acknowledged that the Pentagon had ruled that she could not attend even if she wished.

   Ms. Coomaraswamy painted a picture of progress, even in countries like Myanmar, at least on methods of counting child soldiers. In Nepal, to which she is scheduled to travel next month, the counting is done. The focus, she said, is on getting the children out (of cantonment sites); accountability will come later. She said she'd been advised that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laurent Nkunda has not been granted immunity for child recruitment, and the country is being looked at closely by the International Criminal Court. She said that henceforth child protection teams will join peacekeeping units in Afghanistan, but that the Karzai government still insists that they not speak with the Taliban. Even in Sri Lanka, child protection workers speak with the rebel Tamil Tigers. But the Taliban appear to be a special case.

Ms. Coomaraswamy addresses the press at the UN, Jan. 30, 2008

            Ms. Coomarswamy said she has spoken with Sri Lanka's mission to the UN about the peacekeepers repatriated from Haiti to Sri Lanka on charges of sexual exploitation of minors. She said that trials are just starting, that more than that she doesn't know. We will continue to follow this.

            Inner City Press asked Ms. Coomaraswamy again how her Office selects which countries to study which are not on the agenda of the Security Council. She acknowledged that it is a process in evolution, at the cusp between warfare and criminal gangs. The humanitarians, she said, urge an expansive reading of the mandate, while lawyers are more cautious. Haiti is in her Office's report because it is on the Security Council agenda, even though most of the recruitment is by mere criminal gangs. 

    Brazil, with similar problems, is not on the agenda. UN insiders have told Inner City Press this is no coincidence, but rather reflects the relative power of Brazil as opposed to Haiti. But shouldn't child protection at least strive to be equally available? To be continued.

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These reports are also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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