As
Ireland Moves
UN Lawyer
O'Brien, Who
Refused Press
Qs, Successor
More Open?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 16 --
During
Patricia
O'Brien's
tenure as the
UN's
chief lawyer,
she has
repeatedly
refused to
answer
questions
ranging
from the UN's
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti
through the detention
of UN staff by
Sri Lanka
to the right
of the
Palestinians
to accede to
the Rome
Statute of the
International
Criminal
Court.
The
most recent
times Inner
City Press has
asked that Ms.
O'Brien even
take
if not answer
questions, it
has been told
"that will not
happen." Her
silence has
been complete,
unlike her
predecessor
as UN chief
counsel,
Nicolas
Michel.
Michel
used to hold
sit down press
conferences,
for example
about the
Hariri
Tribunal in
Lebanon; he
granted
interviews
even on the
topic of his
receipt of a
housing
subsidy from
the Swiss
government.
O'Brien
by
contrast
refused to
explain her
ruling
effectively
killing off
the
Security
Council
reforms
proposed by
the so-called
Small Five.
After a formal
claim was
filed about
the UN's
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti, UN
officials
started
refusing to
answer even
about
safeguards for
the future,
referring all
questions to
O'Brien's
Office of
Legal Affairs.
But O'Brien
never
answered.
In
2009, when she
came for a
press
conference
about
treaties,
Inner City
Press asked
her about the
legal
dimension of two
UN system
staff members
who remained
incarcerated
in Sri Lanka
after what
they say was
government
torture.
Video here, from Minute 42:01.
The
Treaty Event
booklet
distributed at
the event
listed the
Convention on
the Privileges
and Immunities
of the UN and
the Convention
on the Safety
of UN and
Associated
Personnel. Sri
Lanka has
acceded to
both of them,
during the
General
Assembly
meetings in
2003. But are
they being
complied with
and enforced?
"I
am not here to
speak about
enforcement"
of the
Conventions,
Ms. O'Brien
said. She
referred to
the UN's
ironically
titled
"depository"
role, and that
she also
advised the
Secretary
General on the
"application
of treaties."
But
where do these
interpretations
go? In Sri
Lanka, the
country head
for the UN
made belated
statements
about the
disappeared
staff that
many thought
ignored the
government's
responsibility
under the
Conventions.
Amin Awad did
not assert
that the
staffers were
immune, at
least within
the scope of
their work for
the UN, but
only that the
government
should inform
the UN of the
detention.
"We
are not going
to get into
interpreting
specific
provisions,"
Ms. O'Brien
said.
There
were and are
also questions
about the UN's
involvement in
the Cambodia
genocide
tribunal,
Somalia piracy
enforcement,
policing the
(further)
abuse of the
UN's name,
including for
commercial
gain, and of
the UN's and
OLA's
commitment to
freedom of
speech and of
the press.
But Patricia
O'Brien
refused to
answer any of
them.
And
so it is good
news for the
UN, at least
for its
transparency,
that on
January 16 it
was announced
that "Patricia
O’Brien, who
now
serves as
legal counsel
and
under-secretary
general at the
United
Nations
secretariat in
New York, has
been nominated
as Ireland’s
permanent
representative
to the UN in
Geneva."
(Inner City
Press tries to
be charitable
as officials
leave the UN.
But it
difficult,
from a media
perspective,
for a
stonewalling
official.)
Now
if only this
type of
removal from
the UN by
re-assignment
by home
country would
occur from
another UN
Under
Secretary
General who
refuses to
answer
questions,
Herve Ladsous
of France.
While
censoring
and decaying
UNCA never
did anything
about the
refusal of
O'Brien to
hold a press
conference, or
Ladsous to
take questions
without
discrimination,
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
is
focused on
these and
related
issues.
Incoming
USGs,
for Legal
Affairs and
any other
post, should
be required to
commit to hold
press
conferences
and answer
questions,
FUNCA
proposes. They
are paid
with public
money. Watch
this site.
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