| After
UN Staffer
Deletes Call
for
Repression in
Cameroon,
Inconsistencies
UNanswered
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
September 9 – How does the UN
respond when its staff call
for "harder repression" of
their opponents, linking
themselves with the UN? How
should the UN respond? At a
minimum, shouldn't it be
consistent across the UN
system, and with regard to
which group is targeted? It
seems it is not consistent. In
the case of a Francophone
Cameroonian UNHCR staffer who
called for more of the
crackdown already underway
from the Paul Biya government
in Anglophone Cameroon,
deriding the Southern
Cameroons movement as not a
popular movement, the UN three
times refused to answer Press
questions. Then, as outrage
grew, UNHCR told Inner City
Press that the staff had deleted
the Facebook post, having
herself faced still unspecified
death threats. UNHRC - and
ex-chief now UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres and
his spokesman Stephane
Dujarric appear to believe
that initially refusing to
answer, then merely deleting
the post while essentially justifying
it is enough. Would this be
the approach at UNRWA? Even at
UNHCR, would it be the
approach if the group targeted
by the staff member was, say,
the Rohingyas in Myanmar, with
the staffer making a broad-brush
characterization as "terrorist"
and not a popular movement and
calling for harder repression?
It seems not. So why does the
UN system, including it seems
UNHCR, treat this struggle
differently? We'll have more
on this. Inner City Press has
asked five UNHCR spokespeople:
"I'm still left wondering what
UNHCR's (and, if different,
the UN's) policy is, when
staff members link themselves
on social media with the UN.
Is it still a 'personal' page
if as here it lists the UN,
four times ? Even if they are
angry at a flier - which Inner
City Press would like to see,
if you can forward it - should
a person self-identifying as
with the UN call for harder
repression? Is UNHRC's
response here consistent with
what's done at other
UN-affiliated organization,
and if not how are staff
members to know what to do?"
We are awaiting
response. In New York at
the September 6 UN noon
briefing Inner City Press
asked Secretary General
Antonio Guterres' lead
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
about something it first tried
to ask UNHCR in writing: a
self-described UNHCR
"Community Protection Officer"
Nadine Njoya born in Yaounde
calling Anglophone protesters
and urging a "harder
repression." Inner City Press
then tweeted the photos, here.
Dujarric said he would look
into it. But when Inner City
Press asked again on September
7, he passed the buck to UNHCR
- and the UN transcript edited
out Inner City Press saying it
HAD asked, or tried to ask,
UNHCR (by emailing the photos
to Antonio Guterres former
spokesperson and adviser
Melissa Fleming). So Inner
City Press emailed not only
Ms. Fleming, the long time
spokesperson for now-Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, but
also three other UNHCR
spokespeople, and has just
received the response below:
"Dear Matthew, The
comments posted were not a
UNHCR position and were done
in staff member’s personal
capacity. Please note that the
staff member has since deleted
the post, after realizing it
was inappropriate and also
receiving death threats. We
are sharing with you below her
response on the issue. “…..I
do confirm that I did a
comment on Tuesday 05/09 on my
personal Facebook account.
That comment was to give my
opinion on the content of some
flyers carrying threatening
messages that are currently
dispatched by unknown people
in my country (Cameroon). I
have attached the flyers here
to and as you will notice,
parents are warned not to send
their children to school and
the unknown persons behind the
flyers, clearly promise to
kill the children that would
be sent to school or anyone
who will not comply with their
“ghost town” instruction.
Therefore, my comment was to
condemn the authors of those 2
flyers, as I felt that the
rights of the Cameroonian
children to safety, life and
education were violated and
fear/terror among the
population was disseminated!
It’s unfortunate that my words
were taken out of their
context. I do take note of
your advice and please be
informed that I had to delete
my Facebook account
yesterday……” On the
Burundian refugee returns from
Tanzania: UNHCR stands ready
to assist any refugee who
expresses the desire to return
to Burundi – as long as the
decision is voluntary. In a
recent meeting with UNHCR on
August 1, Burundi and Tanzania
reaffirmed their commitment to
the principle of voluntary
repatriation of refugees. The
two countries also
acknowledged that while some
refugees may opt to return,
others may still have
well-founded reasons for not
returning." We'll let it speak
for itself, except for asking,
When did UNHCR know about
this? Why was the question
never answered until Inner
City Press asked four UNHCR
spokespeople? Is this how, for
example, UNRWA or even other
UN agencies operate? Finally,
for our readers to comment on
online on Twitter and
elsewhere, is UNHRC's and UN's
response appropriate? Watch
this site.
***
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