UNITED NATIONS, June 22 -- The UN invited Martti Ahtisaari to speak in its new building on June 22. Inner City Press asked him for his views on the implementation of his plan for Kosovo, the legality of which is now being weighed in the International Court of Justice. Video here, from Minute 10:56.
Ahtisaari expressed satisfaction that Kosovo has joined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, saying that their funding will be necessary to mine "energy resources" and tackle unemployment.
But in conclusion, Ahtisaari said it is important that "everyone understand that whatever happens in the international court, Kosovo is an independent state and will remain an independent state."
What then is the purpose of the ICJ, its its possible ruling are dismissed in advance by one such as Martti Ahtisaari? One wonders what Serbia and Russia will think of this. After Ahtisaari's comments, the stakeout was declared over.
Also lawless, the UN earlier this year sent two top envoys, Ibrahim Gambari and Haile Menkerios, to the inauguration celebration of Omar Al-Bashir, subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile the Secretary General appeals virtually every ruling against him in the UN's internal justice system. On June 17, Inner City Press asked:
Inner City Press: the Shabaan Shabaan USG case...how long do these appeals take? What’s the status of that appeal? It was ordered that he pay $20,000 to this allegedly wronged… Has that money been put in escrow? How long, when does the UN anticipate a ruling on that appeal?
Spokesperson: We don’t comment on individual cases. If you want to know precisely what the schedule is, you can ask the Registrar.
Inner City Press: And I wanted to know, because there is sort of growing, I guess, misunderstanding from your point of view, of the Secretary-General’s approach to the rule of law within the UN, this seems like a topic on which Patricia O’Brien might want to give a briefing, just to explain not individual cases, but what the thinking is. See, normally when judges have said, “Please bring documents,” I guess these articles are saying it’s kind of contemptuous not to provide the documents at all, and then to wait for a ruling, and then appeal it. Like it seems, and especially when there has been no decision on any of the appeals yet. So I am just wondering, this is a request that OLA, or Mr. Ban tomorrow, but that OLA explain how this is consistent with the rule of law to simply ignore judges’ orders to produce evidence.
Spokesperson: There is one fundamental point here, that this was an initiative of the previous Secretary-General, and then it was further pushed by this Secretary-General. So to suggest that somehow the Secretary-General is ducking his responsibility is rather odd. As I have said, he is fully committed to upholding the system of administration of justice that is prescribed by the General Assembly.
