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In
Swine Flu's Shadow, Mexican
Ministers Head to UN, Urgency Questioned, Football
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Muse
UNITED NATIONS, April 27
-- As the United Nations, U.S. and World Health
Organization raised threat levels about swine flu, particularly in
Mexico, a
delegation from that country is scheduled to arrive at the UN in New
York on
April 29 for a session of the Security Council. Mexico holds the
Council's
presidency this month, and its Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa is
slated to
preside over an "open debate" about Children and Armed Conflict.
Undersecretary
for Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs Juan
Manuel Gomez Robledo, reported
on most recently by Inner City Press in connection with Sri Lanka,
will also
attend, along with other Mexican officials and staff.
The question is, how will the screening of those
coming from Mexico
impact the delegation and meeting? Another question, raised in light of
the UN
Medical Service scandals exposed here last week, is whether the UN
would feel
any duty to report to outside authorities if it discovered swine flu on
its
premises, technically international territory.
WHO's Deputy Director General Keiji Fukuda was asked
why WHO is not
recommending any travel ban. Meanwhile, European Union Health
Commissioner
Andorra Vassiliou urged Europeans to postpone non-essential travel to
the
United States and Mexico “unless it is very urgent for them.” While the
issue
of "Children and Armed Conflict" is pressing, is Wednesday's Security
Council session urgent? It is noted that the Council, among its other
urgent work, considers and imposes its own travel Bans.
Mexico's Juan
Manuel Gomez Robledo, at UN, EU and WHO warnings not shown
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday made a rare
appearance at the UN
noon briefing, to read out a statement about swine flu. Then he said he
could
not take any questions, because he had an appointment at 12:10 with
Norway's
Minister of Environment and International development Eric Solheim. The
time
for that appointment had been changed. Perhaps Ban would ask Solheim
about his
Somalia envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah's acceptance of Norwegian support
to
prepare Somalia's Law of the Sea filing about its underwater
drilling rights, a
question
the spokespeople for Ban and Ould Abdallah have so far refused to
answer.
Footnote: just as Mexico
stadia saw football games played without any crowds due to quarantine,
Ban Ki-moon was a veritable picture of
good health on April 25 playing football or soccer with UN diplomats at
Chelsea Piers. It was for the cause of children's right to play, and
presided over by Children and Armed Conflict envoy Radhika
Coomaraswamy. The Ambassador
of Paraguay was most forceful, spectators say, while his counterpart
from
Liechtenstein tangled with Ban's senior advisor Kim Won-soo. How this
play will
play out is not yet known.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
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
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