UN's
Nambiar Makes No Comment on Myanmar Crackdown on Free
Speech & AIDS Patients
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 27 -- Twenty four hours after UN
Headquarters in
New York refused to confirm that envoy Vijay Nambiar would be
visiting Myanmar, Nambiar had already posed for pictures with Aung
San Suu Kyi. He had not, however, issued any comment on a
new law
signed as he arrived by Than Shwe, which criminalizes any speech by
new parliamentarians that may “endanger national security, the
unity of the country or violate the constitution.”
Nor
had Nambiar
commented on reports
of a Yangon center for patients with HIV/AIDS
being harassed by the military government merely because Aung San Suu
Kyi had visited it.
On
November 26 in
lieu of the UN's usually noon briefing, which was canceled, Inner
City Press asked among other questions for Haq to “please confirm
or deny that Vijay Nambiar is going to Myanmar this weekend, and
unless deny, please state his program of work. Separately, please
respond to the criticism 'Win Tin expressed extreme disappointment
that Ban’s 2010 report to the UN General Assembly on Burma’s
human rights situation failed to seriously address violations against
ethnic minorities.'”
Haq
replied, “I
don't have a confirmation concerning Mr Nambiar. I can tell you that
we are still working out a program for the Special Adviser. I have no
comment on the SG's human rights report, which speaks for itself.”
While
never
updating this, report indicate that Nambiar would like to visit Than
Shwe in his jungle capital. There is no indication that he will meet
with the ethnic groups most targeted by the government.
UN Nambiar & ASSK, UN confirmation of visit still not shown
Al
Jazeera, to
which Nambiar
granted his one and so far only interview about his
role in the “white flag” killings in Sri Lanka had
this to say
about Nambiar: “He is a former Indian ambassador to China and is
believed to have a good relationship with Beijing, a key ally of the
Myanmar government.”
UN
Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's “human rights” report also did not even
mention the recommendation by the UN's Special Rapporteur that Ban
set up an international panel of inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
In
a November 22
speech at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Ban bragged that
“Two
years ago, when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the government was
initially reluctant to open its door to international relief. It was
impossible, for me, to stand by and see politics get in the way of
saving lives. We pressed the government quite hard. Eventually we got
a breakthrough. Aid began to flow. Many thousands of lives were
saved. We did the same in Darfur.”
There
are skeptics
as to both statements, on Myanmar and Darfur. Watch this site.
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