By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 27 -- Accused of covering up the harvest and sale of organs of prisoners of war in Kosovo, the UN has had nothing to say for the past 11 days. Nor has it commented on reports of the beating of a journalist directly in front of its UNMIK headquarters in Pristina for the past five days.
On December 27, the UN simply ignored the organ question altogether. Back on December 16, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq:
Inner City Press: I wanted to know if the UN system or UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] has any response to this Council of Europe report saying that Kosovo’s Prime Minister [Hashim] Thaci was involved in an organ-trading ring — and that the UN knew that, that’s one of the allegations.
Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: We are aware of the report; we’ve seen the reports coming out from the Council of Europe and are studying what they have to say. At this stage, there is nothing further to say by way of response, but obviously we’ll continue to study it and may have a response down the line.
Ten days later, with the UN not having said anything even as the charges grew more specific, Inner City Press asked Haq and Ban's main spokesman Martin Nesirky, who unilaterally canceled all noon press briefings for this week, the following question in writing:
Please comment on reports of Serbia's request for an ICTY investigation of Soren Jessen Petersen for contempt of court during his time with UNMIK, see http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/un-covered-organ-trafficking-report-says-serbia
The question was submitted on December 26, with a deadline of 12:30 pm on December 27. But an hour before that deadline, Haq responded only that "UNHQ is closed on Monday."
At 11:30 am on December 27, Ban's Haq sent this:
From: Farhan Haq [at] un.org
To: Inner City Press, Martin Nesirky [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Re: Press Qs on Cote d'Ivoire, Darfur, Sri Lanka and Kosovo (and old questions... reiterated re [26] days ago
UNHQ is closed on Monday. Thanks.
But has UNMIK in Kosovo been closed for the past ten or five days? Given the ten days of non response to the December 16 question, and the five days of non response to the December 23 question about the beaten reporter, the snow (job) is the issue. On December 23, Inner City Press had asked Haq:
Inner City Press: there is a case in Kosovo of a journalist that was beaten right in front of the UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] headquarters. A regional press group has put out call saying that, you know, this is a… that attacks on journalists must cease in Kosovo. But I am wondering, particularly given [that] it happened in front of UNMIK, whether UNMIK has had anything to say about that?
Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: I am not aware of any recent communications by UNMIK, but we can check with them.
Apparently, in the five days after, Haq never did check with UNMIK. Watch this site.
