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On
Khobragade,
UN Still Won't
Say If Told US
Of Her
Accreditation
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 2 --
While the UN
refuses to
answer if it
notified the
US as host country
of the
accreditation
it granted
Indian
diplomat
Devyani
Khobragade for
the most
recent General
Assembly, the
US State Department,
through
spokesperson
Marie Harf on
January 2,
just wants to
move forward.
But
will this be
possible, without
the public
answer to
basic questions?
Back on
December 26
Inner City
Press asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's two
top
spokespeople
to
"please
confirm
that Indian
diplomat
Devyani
Khobragade was
accredited to
this session
of the UN
General
Assembly, that
the UN
accreditation
runs through
December 31,
and state if
such
accreditation
confers full
diplomatic
immunity."
But
for five days,
the UN
spokespeople
provided no
answer at all.
So at the last
UN noon
briefing of
the year on
December 31,
Inner City
Press asked
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
in person
about the
immunity, and
also if the UN
had informed
the US, as
"host
country," of
Khobragade's
accreditation
to the General
Assembly. From
the UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: there’s
a statement
today by the
Indian
Ministry of
External
Affairs [video
here from
Minute 13:10]
that they
believed that
the UN
informed the
US that the
diplomat was
accredited to
the General
Assembly up
until today,
and they also
separately
believe that
that
accreditation
to attend the
General
Assembly
involves full
diplomatic
immunity. I
wanted, I
don’t… the
second one is
a legal
question that
the UN may
have an answer
to. But the
other one,
does the UN
routinely
inform the
host country
of all
individuals
who are
accredited to
the GA? And
separately,
does that mean
that she had
full
diplomatic
immunity?
Spokesperson:
I would need
to check with
the Office of
Legal Affairs
on this. This
is primarily,
as you know,
almost
exclusively a
matter between
the Indian
authorities
and the host
Government. If
there is a UN
angle related
to a GA pass,
then of
course, I
would come
back to you.
But I need to
check again
with Legal
Affairs on
that.
Although
he
had the
question in
writing for
five days,
Nesirky said
he'd have to
check with the
UN Office of
Legal Affairs;
he insisted
the question
is mostly or
almost
entirely
between the
Indian
authorities
and the US as
host country.
Video
here and
embedded
below.
Well,
no - the
question of
whether the UN
informed the
US of of Ms.
Khobragade's
accreditation
is for the UN
to answer. And
the UN should
answer on that
type of
immunity being
accredited to
the UNGA
provides.
But on January
2, Nesirky's
acting deputy
Farhan Haq
offered no
answer to the
previously
asked
question, nor
did he answer
Inner City
Press' January
2 questions
about India's
critique of UN
Peacekeeping
in South Sudan
(and
implicitly in
the DRC, with
the UN's Force
Battalion).
This
dodging is
more and more
the rule: also
at the
December 31
noon briefing,
when Inner
City Press
asked about a
ruling by the
UN's own
Dispute
Tribunal that
its acting
head of
investigations
Michael
Dudley
"altered and
withheld"
evidence about
scandal
in the UN
Medical
Service
(which Inner
City Press exclusively
uncovered),
Nesirky
said he
doesn't speak
for the unit
Dudley works
in, the Office
of Internal
Oversight
Management,
but that he'd
ask them for
an answer. OK
- but when?
Next year?
Footnote:
The
UN Dispute
Tribunal
ruling on
Dudley cites
Inner City
Press'
reporting, and
calls Inner
City Press "a
daily online
media outlet
that
specializes in
reporting on
the United
Nations."
Inner City
Press on
December 31
also asked
about another
case it first
exposed, that
of David Bax
of the UN Mine
Action Service
in Mogadishu
sharing
genetic
information
with US
intelligence
and other
abuses.
From
the UN
transcript:
Inner
City
Press: I just
wanted to be
sure I ask
again about
this David Bax
in Somalia.
There was a
UNOPS [United
Nations Office
for Project
Services]
investigation,
it was about
the middle of
the year that
it was said
that it had
begun. I
wanted to
know, you
know, if it’s
finished or
when the idea
for finishing
it is? And the
second one,
there was a
decision in
the last week
by the Dispute
Tribunal on
the Head…
Acting Head of
Investigations
for OIOS
[Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services],
Michael
Dudley, and it
seemed to… it
was pretty
damning and it
said that
evidence was
altered and
withheld in an
investigation
of the UN
Medical
Service. So, I
wanted to
know, now that
that
investigation,
or the Dispute
Tribunal
process is
finished, what
is the
thinking of
OIOS in terms
of a Head of
Investigations
that was found
by a UN body
to have
altered it or
withheld
evidence?
Spokesperson:
I do not speak
on behalf of
the Office of
Internal
Oversight. As
you know, it
reports
separately, so
therefore, I
will check to
see if they
have anything
to say. But I
do not speak
on their
behalf. And
with regard to
the
investigation
you were
referring to
out of
Mogadishu, I
don’t believe
we have any
update on that
at this point.
The UN
alongside
trying to
rehabilitate
Bax tried to
put the clamp
on any follow
up by saying
the Office of
Project
Support is
investigating.
But it's been
six months
now. We'll
have more on
the UNOPS, and
who will head
it, soon.
Watch this
site.
* * *
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