Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1lradrcpak022008.html
UNITED NATIONS, February 20 -- The UN Secretariat's relations with and commitment to the International Criminal Court are increasingly in question. Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson praised without equivocation an agreement in Uganda which appears to several human rights groups to sidestep the ICC's indictments of the leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army. When Inner City Press asked, twice, whether the Secretariat stood behind the primacy of the ICC's indictments, it was told first that a statement was coming, then that that statement could not be further explained. Video here, from Minute 11:08.
Similarly, while the UN announced findings that Congolese rebel Laurent Nkunda's forces killed dozens of civilians in the run-up to the peace deal recently reached in Goma, it remains unclear if this evidence gets forwarded to the ICC. Inner City Press on Wednesday asked just that, and was told that in the nature of a dodge that the UN mission has expressed concern. But is the evidence given to the ICC for prosecution? Apparently not.
In fact, Nkunda is already speaking dismissively of the ICC. In a recent interview, he outright denies recruiting child soldiers, of which the UN or parts of it maintains there is ample evidence. In this context, the question of whether the UN forwards the evidence it has and says it has to the competent international court is a key question, that which has yet to be answered.
Finally, on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked whether in light of the outcome of Pakistan's elections, a request by the new government for UN involvement in investigating the death of Benazir Bhutto would be favorably viewed. "The government is not constituted yet," the spokesperson said. "Our guidance on that has not changed." Great....
