At
UN,
Peacekeeping
Plan for
"Drones for
Surveillance"
Now
Confirmed,
Criticized
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 27 --
Four days
after Inner
City Press first
exclusively
reported
push-back UN
from member
states at a
proposal by
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous to
move toward
using drones
or
"unmanned
aerial
vehicles," and
after Inner
City Press
asked Ladsous
and then a
spokesman
about it, the
UN on Tuesday
issued
this
confirmation:
Subject:
Question
at the
briefing
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Tue, Mar
27, 2012 at
3:25 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Your
question
today on DPKO:
Under-Secretary-General
Ladsous
mentioned
DPKO's
feasibility
assessment of
the use of
unarmed drones
for
surveillance
and
information
gathering in
his address to
the General
Assembly's
Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations in
February.
The Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
the Department
of Field
Services are
in the early
stages of
exploring the
potential use
of
this
technology,
including by
discussing the
required
support from
Member States
if their use
is
recommended.
There are no
conclusive
findings or
recommendations
at this stage.
When
this Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations of
C-34 failed to
reach
agreement at
11 pm on
Friday ten
days ago,
several member
states told
Inner City
Press the
concerns
included not
only troops
costs and some
"political
questions" but
also Ladsous'
"drone and
spying"
proposal.
They
questioned
who would get
and use the
information
collected,
beyond the
UN's
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations or
DPKO. Ladsous
is the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to be put
atop DPKO;
some felt
France used
DPKO to
accomplish its
own foreign
policy in Cote
d'Ivoire last
year.
Now
there are
questions of
who would
safeguard the
intelligence
information
Ladsous
proposes to
use UN
resources to
collect. Other
member states
spoke of
"communications
interception"
by Ladsous'
DPKO and
raised
the same
concerns.
On
March 26
outside the
Security
Council Inner
City Press
asked Ladsous
to
explain his
drone
proposal. He
did not
answer, he
refused to
even
acknowledge
the question,
by contrast to
his two most
recent
predecessors.
Inside the
Security
Council he was
trying to glad
hand
Council member
diplomats, but
at C-34 a
range of
member states
called
him
"uninspired"
and
"incompetent."
Is
this the man
you or the UN
would or
should let run
a drone
program? Watch
this
site.
, 
