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France Wants In on Human Rights Council, But Rights Out of W. Sahara Resolution, Sri Lanka Question

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

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 -- For the UN Human Rights Council, three European countries are running for only two seats. Thursday the French mission to the UN made its "Ambassador for Human Rights" Francois Zimeray available to select media outlets, as part of its campaign. Reportedly Zimeray was not able to explain France's opposition, only the night before, to requests by South Africa, Costa Rica, Panama and others to include human rights in the Security Council resolution on Western Sahara.

   Nor did French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert address the issue: after Wednesday night's meeting, he ran past the stakeout microphone, even as Inner City Press asked, not without volume, about "les droits de l'homme." How this selective media strategy will play remains to be seen. The UK deployed Mark Malloch-Brown on the margins of the Security Council's Africa meetings two weeks ago.  Spain, as demonstrated in getting the UNIFEM top job after two large contributions, is willing to very concretely pursue posts. How this French campaign for the Human Rights Council relates to the jockeying about who will replace Jean-Marie Guehenno as head of UN Peacekeeping is not known.  And what is the relation  between Rama Yade, also cited on human rights, and M. Zimeray?

Sarkozy and Rama Yade, human rights in Western Sahara not shown

            Speaking of Amb. Ripert, earlier this week Inner City Press asked the Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, about Ripert's response to a question from Inner City Press at the stakeout, if the Working Group on the topic, which he chairs, is looking at Sri Lanka and might go there. Ripert said the Group is going a lot, and he spoke about a visit. But Ms. Coomaraswamy, after speaking movingly about the plight of children in Iraq, said that Sri Lanka is not in the plans, the next trip will probably be to Cote d'Ivoire to view success. While some question whether the problems of childred in Cote d'Ivoire have been solved or only swept under the rug, and UN reports never released, the answer puts the ball back in the court of Amb. Ripert. Or could this be another of the human rights issues for Ambassador Francois Zimeray?

Footnote -- BHL in NYC -- also on human rights and France, or at least one French intellectual, on New York's WNYC radio on April 29, Bernard Henri Levy spoke about Darfur. He did not mention his country's role in Chad, or Western Sahara.He said that only a few dozen people had been killed in Tibet, versus hundreds of thousands in Darfur. What of the war in Iraq; what of Guantanamo Bay? None of this was mentioned. He spoke about Darfur and about George Clooney, about a talk he'd give that night in midtown Manhattan with Mia Farrow. And where was Francois Zimeray?

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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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