UNITED
NATIONS, March
14 – At the UN
in Manhattan
the morning
after protests
in Brooklyn of
the police
shooting of 16
year old
Kimani Gray,
the mayors of
cities like
Beirut, Bogota
and even Los
Angeles met as
part of
UN-Habitat's
Global Network
on Safer
Cities.
Inner
City Press
asked the
panel about
police
brutality, and
about the
death of
Kimani Gray.
It was LA
Mayor
Villaraigosa
who answered,
speaking in
favor of
civilian
review and
control of the
police, and
noting that
the preamble
of the
Network's
“outcome
document”
refers to
civil and
human rights.
The
panel was
asked about
the use of
drones, which
witnesses in
East Flatbush
say the New
York Police
Department
deployed
Wednesday
night, along
with
spotlighted
helicopters.
Generally,
though,
it was a
typical UN
rah-rah
session, with
hat tips to
gender
violence,
tolerance and
urban
planning.
Habitat
director Joan
Clos cited
Jane Jacobs;
the mayor of
Bogota spoke
of harm
reduction,
even the
de-criminalization
of drugs. The
UN's Narcotics
Control
Board's
position is
rigidly
against this,
opposing the
program in for
example
Vancouver.
The
initiative was
extra-UN in
another way as
well: typical
in that the
participants
want money in
a trust fund,
untypical in
that the
disbursement,
not yet
agreed, would
avoid national
governments
and go
directly to
cities.
An
official from
Cote d'Ivoire
was asked how
a divided city
like Abidjan
can be kept
together. He
answered by
referring to
mayors in the
West of the
country,
reportedly
still
under-served
as a
retaliation
against those
who supported
former
president
Laurent
Gbagbo, who is
now waiting
trial on war
crimes charges
in The Hague.
Now
that's
a city....
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Inner
City Press
thanked the
mayors for the
briefing, but
didn't spell
out: for the Free UN Coalition for Access. That's
because there
was no mention
of UNCA, the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance.
There
is no need to
brand these
briefing. But
when it's
done, FUNCA
will respond,
to resist
favoritism for
UNCA,
an organization
which tried
and tries
to get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN.
Just like
cities and
police
departments,
the UN
too needs
rules.
, 
