Amid
UN
Peacekeeping
Rapes &
Failures,
Meeting Goes
Private, No
Ladsous
Q&A
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
20 -- How low
has the UN
fallen, in
terms of
corruption,
not stopping
rapes, and
retaliating
against the
Press that
asks the
questions? April 16 eviction here and here.
May
14 New York
Times here.
Now amid UN
Peacekeeping
scandals
ranging from
rapes and
sexual
exploitation
to the
“protection o
civilians”
crisis
exemplified by
the failure at
Malakal in
South Sudan,
the annual
meeting
between the UN
Security
Council and
DPKO Force
Commanders
which has
always before
been open -
has gone
behind closed
doors.
This is
particularly
inappropriate
given the
Force
Commanders
present:
rape-central
MINUSCA
commander
Lieutenant
General Balla
Keïta;
Lieutenant
General Derick
Mbuyiselo
Mgwebi (South
Africa) of the
UN
Organization
Stabilization
Mission in the
DRC (MONUSCO),
Lieutenant
General
Yohannes
Gebremeskel
Tesfamariam
(Ethiopia) of
the UN Mission
in South Sudan
(UNMISS), and
Major General
Michael
Lollesgaard
(Denmark) of
the UN
Multidimensional
Integrated
Stabilization
Mission in
Mali
(MINUSMA).
Why is this
meeting
closed? Why is
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who
linked rapes
to R&R,
not scheduled
for a Q&A
Press
conference?
Even to
stakeout the
closed
meeting, Inner
City Press is
this year
required by
DPI's Cristina
Gallach and
ultimately Ban
Ki-moon
required to
have a UN
“minder” as it
seeks to speak
on background
with sources.
This is
censorship and
UN decay.
Still,
it seems that
at least one
member state
not on the
UNSC this year
was asked to
leave; others
wondered why
the meeting was
closed, or at
least some
part of it not
left open.
Inner City
Press said to
French Permanent
Representative
Francois
Delattre, apparently
NOT on the
Security
Council's
mission to
Somalia, "ca
doit etre
ouvert." He replied,
politely, that
he wasn't
sure.
On May
17, Ban's
Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric
announced the
availability
of the UN's
own count of
sexual abuse
and
exploitation
allegations in
2016, 44. Of
this, 29
MINUSCA, 7
MONUSCO, 2
MINUSTAH, one
each in UNMISS,
UNOCI,
MINUSMA,
UNISFA, UNSCO
and UNSMIL
(Libya). Is it
credible? When
is the UN
Peacekeeping
Q&A?
After a bill
on UN
peacekeepers'
sexual abuse
and
exploitation
passed the US
Senate Foreign
Relations
Committee,
Inner City
Press on April
29 asked the
spokesman for
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon what
he thought of
the bill, video here, UN
transcript
here:
Inner
City
Press: I
want to ask
you about a
bill that was
passed out of
committee,
Senate Foreign
Relations
Committee,
regarding,
among other
things, sexual
abuse in UN
peacekeeping.
Senators [Bob]
Corker and
[Ben] Cardin
had said that
the bill
reminds that
prohibitions
on funding for
gross human
rights abuses
also applies
to UN
peacekeeping
operations.
I wanted to
know, given
that this may
have an impact
on UN funding
and given the
hearings that
were held and
the statement
that the
Secretary-General
was inept on
this issue,
what is your
response to
the bill
passing
committee?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Well, I think,
you know, many
bills go
through many
legal
procedures in
193 Member
States.
We're not
going to start
commenting on
each bill as
it passes
various
hurdles in
each country's
legislative
process.
I think the
Secretary-General
very much
shares the
concerns of
all Member
States on
issues of
sexual abuse
by UN
peacekeepers
and other
international
forces.
I think the
Secretary-General
has been very
much focused
on ensuring
that Member
States do
their part and
ensuring that
the UN system
does their
part and
ensuring that
we put the
victims at the
centre of
everything
that we do in
order to
combat this
issue.
Inner City
Press:
But I guess
what I wanted
to know is,
since the bill
does sort of
link or say
that it's
possible that
UN
peacekeeping
is involved
in, quote,
gross human
rights abuses,
I wanted to
know: do you
have a
response to
that?
And do you
have an answer
to yesterday
I'd asked you
about a
61-year-old
truck driver
in Bangui?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
No. I
was expecting
something.
I don't have
anything on
that.
Inner City
Press:
Do you have
any records of
who was
killed? [Inner
City Press
actually said,
does the UN
even keep
records on who
it kills?]
Spokesman:
Matthew, as I
said, I'm
trying to get
some
information on
it. I
will get it to
you as soon as
I can.
No one more
than the
Secretary-General
is concerned
anytime
anyone,
whether it's
an
international
peacekeeper or
UN peacekeeper
or UN
civilian,
violates human
rights or
commits
criminal
conduct.
And he's
extremely
focused on
ensuring that
there's
accountability
and that there
is no
impunity.
Extremely
focused.
That's why he
and his Under
Secretary
General for
"Public
Information"
Christina
Gallach threw
out the
critical Press
which is
asking about
these issues,
and Gallach's
"2016
Communications
Guidelines"
barely mention
sexual abuse,
and are silent
on the Ng Lap
Seng UN
bribery case
which broke in
2015 and in
which Gallach
is implicated,
see UN
OIOS audit at
Paragraphs
37-40 and
20(b).
On
April 20,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
rapes inside
the UN's
"protection"
camps, UN
transcript
here:
Inner
City Press:
There’s a
lengthy 18
April piece in
Time magazine
about rape as
a tool of
war. And
one of the
situations
that it
describes are
people who
sought shelter
in the UN…
UNMISS
Protection of
Civilians
Sites being,
they say,
repeatedly
raped inside
the
camps.
And so it…
it’s not
something that
I’d heard
of. And
I wonder, is
it something
that the UN
and UNMISS
keep track
of? It
sounds pretty
bad to be in
a… in a POC
(protection of
civilians)
site.
And so what is
the UN’s
position on
whether rapes
have occurred
in these
sites, as
described in
Time magazine?
Spokesman:
I don’t have
any reports to
that
end.
Obviously, the
situations
inside the
camps are
challenging
given that
these
protection of
civilians
sites were not
designed to
house the tens
and tens of
thousands of
people we are
housing.
We’ve seen
that sometimes
the security
situation
inside those
POCs has been
precarious.
We hope, if
there are any
reports, that
they are
reported to
the UN
authorities.
On
April 12 Inner
City Press
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about an April
13 hearing in
the US House
of
Representatives
about impunity
for UN rapes.
Just as the UN
skipped court
hearings on
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, Haq's
answer did not
say that the
UN would
attend the
hearing. Video
here.
Inner
City Press
live-tweeted
the House
hearing on
April 13, in
which Aicha
Elbasri
described
Herve Ladsous'
cover up in
Darfur, and
former OIOS
auditor Peter
Gallo
described how
top UN
officials just
USE the OIOS
(as they have
to de-link Ban
Ki-moon from
the Ng Lap
Seng scandal).
Brett Schaefer
said there is
a need for US
training of
other
countries'
peacekeepers.
There's truth
in that, but
one of the DRC
Army units
implicated in
the mass rapes
in Minova was
US trained.
Chairman
Chris Smith
cited the UN's
"zero
tolerance,
zero
compliance
culture;" in
the Senate
there were
strong
argument for
reducing the
UN's funding.
On
April 14,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, video here, UN
transcript
here:
, 
