UNITED NATIONS, May 12, updated -- With Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington to meet with Barack Obama today, it's not only the US that's making nice: the UN is following suit, abdicating even on human rights to both the US military and Karzai government.
In most countries where the UN has a presence, particularly a Mission like it has in Afghanistan, it claims to monitor human rights violations. So for example, if only to burnish its credibility, the UN Mission under both Kai Eide and now Staffan de Mistura has issued press releases criticizing killings of civilians by the US and ISAF, when the numbers are too high.
But when Inner City Press asked the UN on May 11, with Karzai in the US, about reports of a "black prison" on the Bagram base, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky replied "this is a United States base; it’s for the United States to comment on."
Inner City Press asked, "Does UNAMA have any human rights component? Doesn’t the UN have some role, where it has a peacekeeping mission, to investigate claims like this?"
Nesirky said, "The UN’s mandate there is very clear and this particular story... this is something that you can clearly ask the US."
But it's not about asking, it's a question of what the UN is going to do. Does it just sit in a country, see reports of human rights violations, and do nothing? In Sudan, for example, while the UN actually does very little to stop the killing, it does speak about it a lot. But the UN dares not criticize the US -- or for that matter China or other Permanent Five members of the Security Council who could veto a second Ban Ki-moon term.
Nor is the UN clear about money it's said to offer. A week after the UN flip flopped on whether it would offer aid to the interim government in Kyrgyzstan -- at first no, then ostensibly yes, which upon inquiry was simply a quantification of aid already being given -- Inner City Press asked how much the UN will devote to the upcoming Afghan parliamentary election. Karzai's fraud addled election cost the UN quite a bit.
From the May 11 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: it’s reported that the upcoming parliamentary elections there; this IEC [Independent Election Commission] official, Zakaria Barakzai, has said that the UN will make up a funding shortfall of some $40 million. Is that the case? What is going to be the UN’s financial contribution or activity in connection with that election?
Spokesperson Nesirky: We need to find out the exact numbers for you, if you’re giving me numbers like this. I am not familiar with those. I would need to find out.
Inner City Press: Also it’s reported, including by the UN’s own ReliefWeb, that the Afghan Government has cancelled the licences of 172 non-governmental organizations, including 20 international NGOs. I’m wondering if the UN, as it did in Sudan, for example, has any comment on this cancelling of licences of NGOs.
Spokesperson: This is something that our colleagues in Kabul are probably very familiar with. I have not heard; my colleagues here in New York have not heard any particular word from the Mission there. If we have something, then we will obviously let you know.
Inner City Press: There is also a report today that, both by the BBC and the Red Cross, of the discovery of a black jail; i.e., an unreported interrogation centre on the Bagram Air Force Base that the United States runs in Afghanistan. I wonder if it’s, if that is anything that the UNAMA [United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan] or its human rights component has ever heard of? Do they intend to investigate it? Do they have any comment on it?
Spokesperson: That’s something for the United States. This is a United States base; it’s for the United States to comment on. We’ve seen the reports.
Question: Does UNAMA have any human rights component? Doesn’t the UN have some role, where it has a peacekeeping mission, to investigate claims like this?
Spokesperson: The UN’s mandate there is very clear and this particular story — obviously we’ve seen that story on the BBC. This is something that you can clearly ask the US.
But the US Misison to the UN hasn't even answer a question posed on the morning of May 11, 24 hours later. Watch this site.
Update: over 24 hours later, this came in:
Subject: Your questions on Afghanistan
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply
Date: Wed, May 12, 2010 at 3:40 PM
To: matthew.lee [at] innercitypress.com
We have some answers from UNAMA concerning your recent questions at the noon briefing about Afghanistan.
Concerning the financing of the Afghan elections: It is not correct that the UN funds elections in Afghanistan. Rather, Staffan de Mistura has asked donors to release funds to support Afghanistan's electoral bodies for the upcoming elections. The UN will work on mobilizing funds to fill the gap.
Concerning the licensing of NGOs: The UN Mission (UNAMA) and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) are looking into it further but have no comment at this time. It does not seem to affect any NGOs working with UN.
Concerning reports about a secret prison facility at Bagram, UNAMA has no independent information on this report.
