UN
Uses
Mercenaries,
UN Expert
Says, Citing
"French
Person" in
Libya
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 2 --
"The UN does
use private
military
companies,"
the
Chairperson of
the Working
Group on
Mercenaries
Faiza Patel
told Inner
City Press on
Tuesday. Video
here,
from Minute
11:32.
At
her press
conference,
Inner City
Press asked
about Somalia,
where the
mercenary
firm Saracen
which is
partially
owned by a
relative of
Ugandan
president
Yoweri
Museveni was
found to be
violating
sanctions,
Afghanistan
and Iraq.
Of
some in the UN
system's
defense of
using Saracen
to combat
piracy, Patel
told Inner
City Press
that "the UN
system is a
large beast."
Earlier
she had said
that the UN is
"very aware"
of the
mercenary
issue, and has
a program to
coordinate its
use of private
military
companies to
ensure that
those charged
with human
rights
violations
are not used.
When
Inner City
Press just
after the
press
conference
asked for
details of
this UN
program and
whether it is
in the
Department of
Safety and
Security,
Patel said she
wasn't sure.
She said that
while the UN
and its
agencies use
private
military
companies in
many
countries,
Iraq is
not one of
them.
But she did
not know that
there is in
that country,
from which the
US and its
protection are
slated to
leave, a new
Special
Representative
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. We
hope to
have more on
this.
Patel
said she
will soon
visit and
report on Cote
d'Ivoire and
Libya. Inner
City
Press asked if
the focus in
Libya will
only by on
Gaddafi's use
of
mercenaries,
or would
include
trainers
provided by
such countries
as
Qatar and
France. Video
here,
from Minute
21:33.
Patel
said, you
must be aware
of "a French
person killed,
setting up a
private
security
company" in
Benghazi. Yes
-- but will
that be
investigated
for her
report? Watch
this site.
Ms.
Patel under
NYU banner,
referring to
UN as "our"
not shown
Ms.
Patel is
employed at
the Brennan
Center at NYU,
and was
described at
the
beginning of
the press
conference as
"independent
of all
governments."
She did
criticize
Equatorial
Guinea, which
she
visited. But
some might say
she is not
independent of
the UN, saying
for example
that
peacekeeping
missions are
"our"
interaction
with the
world.
Beyond
this
symptomatic
pronoun
problem, she
was also very
quick to try
to say
the UN's use
of private
military
companies is
per se better
than
governments,
without being
able to
provide
specifics. She
tried to
say that
securing a
convoy would
bring about
"engagement
with
civilians" and
a "human
rights
incident" more
than
providing
"static
security or
close
protection."
Why?
And
what of UN
Peacekeepers
themselves,
and the human
rights
incidents
created in
places like
Haiti, and
inaction in
places like
South
Kordofan? A
person in Ms.
Patel's
position
should be or
try to be
scrupulously
independent of
the UN as
well, as least
its
Secretariat.
We'll see.
, 
