Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

China Asks UN to "Desist from Harboring" North Koreas, Mbeki "Colors" Programs for Zim Refugees, Official Says

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

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- China has asked "that we desist from harboring North Koreans," the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone told Inner City Press on Tuesday.  "I would expect that the Chinese are ruing the day they ever went along with the Olympics. It's more of a political issue than they would have anticipated."

            Asked whether politics, specifically that of South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki, has influenced UNHCR's ruling that those fleeing Zimbabwe are not refugees, Johnstone said no. He said that UNHCR's programs are "colored" by the attitude to the problem by host governments like South Africa.

            Inner City Press asked about UNHCR's current involvement in refugee protection controversies in Greece and Liberia. Johnstone reiterated that Greece has many improvements to make in how it handles asylum seekers, and that he does not see merit in their arguments. On Liberia, he said that most of those resisting to the country do so to boost their chances of resettlement in the United States. But only last week, the UN's envoy to Liberia spoke of systematic rape of under-aged girls. Would fleeing from that make one a refugee?

            "If the situation in any country, if the internal violence, crosses the threshold, then we assume prima facie that those fleeing are refugees," Johnstone said. He gave Iraq as an example of a country with this status. Inner City Press asked him if the U.S. is doing enough to take in refugees from Iraq. No, he said. He praised the relatively meager goal of 12,000, but said that even that may not be reached, the U.S. is lagged behind the target. Inner City Press ask if UNHCR acknoweldges those fleeing Somalia, often in dangerous and deadly boats to Yemen, are refugees.  "That would be a safe assumption," Johnstone answered. He declined the list the countries with this status. "Then you affect things," he said.

Asylum seekers, UNHCR's decision-making process not shown

            Johnstone noted that the UN Department of Safety and Security is "discrete" in its changes to threat levels for a country. This may explain the discrepancy between Yemeni press reports that the UN Development Program has closed or suspended some operations in Sana'a due to threats, and UNDP's denials. Inner City Press earlier on Tuesday asked UN Spokesperson Michele Montas, "can you confirm that in Yemen some change is taking place in UN operations?"

            Ms. Montas responded, "I contacted UNDP about this and they said that, contrary to press reports, the UNDP office in Sana'a has not been closed and UNDP staff continue to go about their work. A security assessment is now under way and all UNDP programs in the country continue to operate and all UNDP project offices outside of Sana'a remain open."

            Inner City Press asked, "Is the UNDP compound there MOSS compliant?" This is a required safety status, including such things as sufficient set-back from streets where car bombing is possible.

            Ms Montas said, "I don't have that information. We would have to get the information from DSS who, as you know, will not really give specifics on security issues."

            On the insurance inquiries that started the process leading to the interview, Johnstone said it would be fair to assume that the money paid out by UNHCR came from its operating budget. He promised to provide further information about the status and reasoning of UNHCR's non-participation in the rest of the UN system's Malicious Acts Insurance Policy. Click here for the more UNHCR-specific part of Tuesday's Johnstone interview, and watch this site.

* * *

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

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

Search innercitypress.com  Search WWW (censored?)

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

            Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -