As
UN
Refugee &
Crime Agencies
Sign Deal, No
Safeguards, No
Protection
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 31 --
After the UN's
refugee agency
UNHCR signed a
Memorandum of
Understanding
on Monday with
the UN Office
on Drugs and
Crime, UNODC
chief Yuri
Fedotov told
the press,
"where there
are
refugees,
there are
always crime."
Video here,
from Minute 2.
Inner
City Press
asked Fedotov
to explain:
was this only
about crimes
committed
against
refugees, or
would it
include
checking
refugees, and
even by
implication
sharing
information
with
governments?
Video here,
from
Minute 6:36.
The
question
seemed
obvious, for
example
considering
the
controversy in
the United
States when
Immigration
and Customs
Enforcement
(ICE) says it
will
work with any
criminal
justice
agency:
protests
ensue, and
suspension
or safeguards
are demanded.
Wouldn't the
UN have some
safeguards?
Inner
City Press
requested, and
ultimately
obtained and
is putting
online here,
the
Memorandum of
Understanding,
which does not
appear to have
any such
safeguards.
Fedotov's
answer was
that "refugees
appear not in
peaceful
countries."
UNHCR's
Antonio
Guterres added
that
conflicts
today are
rarely between
two states.
Take
for example
the recent
entry into
Somalia by the
Kenyen Army,
reportedly
with
supportive
bombardments
by France
(from the sea)
and, it seems,
from
the US. This
is not a
conflict
between two
states but a
self-described
"hot pursuit"
operation by a
state on a
non-state
actor, Al
Shabab.
But
over the
weekend, an
aerial
bombardment of
a camp inside
Somalia killed
five,
according to
Medicins Sans
Frontieres.
Guterres
insisted it
isn't
clear what
happened, and
that UNHCR has
no mandate
inside
Somalia.
(c) UN Photo
Fedotov &
Guterres shake
on MOU,
safeguards not
shown
Likewise
when
Inner City
Press asked
Guterres about
the plight of
Kachin people
displaced by
Myanmar's Army
offensive, he
replied that
UNHCR is only
in other parts
of Myanmar and
wants to keep
open the
"asylum
space" in
Thailand. But
Malaysia is
moving to
return people
to
Myanmar.
Given
all this, the
lack of
safeguards in
UNHCR's
agreement with
the UN's crime
agency is
of concern. We
hope to have
more on this.
Footnote:
both
Fedotov and
Guterres were
in New York
meeting with
Ban Ki-moon
and the Chief
Executives
Board. On
Friday outside
the CEB
meeting,
Inner City
Press poses
another
protection
question to
World Food
Program chief
Josette
Sheeran, so
far without
answer.
Christine
Lagarde
of the IMF was
there too --
to what end,
nobody knows.
Now Ban,
Lagarde,
Barack Obama
and others are
headed to the
G20 meeting in
Cannes, the UN
briefing
regarding
which was
closed to the
press and
public. And so
it goes at the
UN.
, 
