By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 10, more
here --
Four weeks
after New
Zealand
released its
UN Handbook
and talked up
its race
against Spain
and Turkey for
two seats on
the UN
Security
Council, Inner
City Press ran
into a familiar
face in the UN
pressing the
Kiwis' cause:
Jose
Ramos-Horta.
After winning
the Nobel
Peace Prize -
today given to
Malala
Yousafzai and
Kailash
Satyarthi -
Ramos Horta
served the UN
most recently
as envoy to
Guinea Bissau.
Ramos Horta
greeted Inner
City Press on
October 10 on
the second
floor of the
UN Conference
Building,
outside the
General
Assembly's
meeting on
Ebola. After
some
pleasantries,
Inner City
Press asked,
What brings
you through
the UN?
Ramos Horta
replied that
he is lobbying
for New Zealand
to win a
Security Council
seat. Asked
about Turkey,
he rolled his
eyes, citing
Erdogan. Others
have wondered
how the (in)
action in
Kobane may
impact
Turkey's chances.
Anyway the
area outside
the Security
Council has
already been
cleared of
journalists
and called the
"Turkish
Lounge."
In
the October 16
election, which
of the three
will be left
out?
Two
years ago
it was
Finland, whose
Permanent
Representative
gave Inner
City Press an
inflated
vote count of
165 on the eve
of the
election.
This has
become urban
legend and now
no one makes
predictions.
But there is
spin.
New
Zealand is a
small country,
but one which
can relate to
outsiders like
Eritrea. The
last time they
were on the
Council, they
spoke up for
Rwanda. They
fought a war
with Turkey,
which has led
to a bond.
Still, the
Kiwis were
surprised when
Turkey jumped
into what
would have
been a “clean
slate” with
Spain.
There
should have
been no
surprise:
Turkey feels
itself a
rising power,
they paid for
and branded
the area
outside the
Security
Council,
previously
open to the
press, into a
“Turkish
Lounge.”
But how will
their crackdowns
inside Turkey,
and now
reticence to
join up with
Obama's
coalition
against ISIS
play?
For
the European
Union, could
the live with
both Western
European and
Other Group
seats going to
non-EU
members? Then
again, it is
pointed out,
the EU spans
three UN
regional
groups: WEOG,
Eastern Europe
and even the
Asia Pacific
Group, through
Cyprus. So how
could the UN
tell its
members how to
vote? The
election's set
for October
16.
In the
next contested
WEOG race in
2016 it's
slated to be
Sweden, the
Netherlands
and Italy; in
2018 it'll be
Belgium,
Israel and
Germany. Inner
City Press --
and as regards
press freedom
issues, the Free UN Coalition for Access -- will be
covering these
and other
races: Fiji
and Malaysia
this time; in
2016, Kenya
versus
Seychelles,
Thailand
versus
Kazakhstan. In
2017, Kuwait
and Yemen face
off; in 2018,
Maldives and
Indonesia.
Watch this
site, and this one.
Footnote:
At
least since
1961, New
Zealand has
produced a UN
Handbook. Its
new one was
unveiled on
September 12
at the
country's UN
mission on
Third Avenue,
in hardcopy
and a smart
phone app.
There was
Chardonnay and
schmoozing, a
handbook-themed
chocolate bar
(hopefully not
bad karma,
after
Finland's
Martti bar);
and previously
copies of the
handbook. The
1961 edition
listed the UN
General
Assembly's
“Committee for
the
Unification
and
Rehabilitation
of Korea,
UNCURK.” Plus
ca
change.
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