At UN,
Protest of Ban's Naming Ed Luck as "Anti-Genocide Trust Fund Baby"
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- The
UN's appointment of Edward Luck as an Assistant Secretary General for
the responsibility to protect fell under fire in the General Assembly's
Fifth Committee (Administrative and
Budgetary)
on March 3. Eight countries
protested that the ASG post was never approved. At the UN's noon
briefing on March 4,
Inner City Press asked the
UN's spokesperson Michele Montas to respond. She said
that Luck's appointment "was discussed with several representative
ambassadors of the Non-Aligned Movement and other representatives of
Member States, by senior officials of the Executive Office of the
Secretary-General during recent weeks."
But in the Fifth Committee on March 4, numerous Ambassadors pointed out
that there is a formal process to be followed, not by meeting with
hand-selected representatives. They pointed out that only the General
Assembly may create posts. Nevertheless, Ms. Montas
went on to say that
"it was agreed that the appointment of Mr. Luck as Special Adviser would
be a temporary appointment covering an interim arrangement and the
expenditure involved during this period would be incurred from voluntary
resources."
But left unanswered is what voluntary means: from governments? From
corporations? It is said that a trust fund will be set up, leading one
wag to call Luck the "anti-genocide trust fund baby." There are some at
and covering the UN who are so close with Mr. Luck that they oppose
covering these questions. But these are questions raised by member
states. Fifth Committee footnote: outside the closed-door briefing by
Alicia Barcena on Accountability on Tuesday, no copy of Barcena's
proposal could be found. A staffer promised it would be available on
Friday. It is said to involve the creation of ten new posts. "Wait and
see the report," Inner City Press was advised. Okay.
* * *
These reports are
usually 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
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