By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 14 --
When Germany's
Permanent
Representative
to
the UN Peter
Wittig spoke
Friday on the
end of his two
year term on
the Security
Council, he
mentioned as
one of the
highlights
having
chaired the
Council's
Taliban and Al
Qaeda
sanctions
committees.
Inner
City Press
asked Wittig
if during
these two
years, he or
the
Committees
used
information
obtained by
torture. This
was recently
charged by UN
Special
Rapporteur Ban
Emmerson, at a
session held
at
the Germany
mission ten
days ago
(story here.)
Even
Ombudsperson
Kim Prost,
purporting to
rebut
Emmerson, said
that
torture was "plausibly
raised" in at
least two of
the 22
sanctions
cases she
reviewed.
So Inner City
Press asked
Wittig on
Friday, have
you or the
Committee
handled
information
plausibly
related to
torture? Video
here, from
Minute 25.
To
this, Wittig
said that the
proceedings of
the Committee
are
confidential,
so he "could
not speak
about the
contents." He
said that the
Committee
"itself has
not been
seized" of the
question of
torture. One
might ask, why
not?
(In fairness,
some argue the
no Security
Council
member, even a
Committee
chair, can
speak for
other members,
even to answer
a question
about using
information
obtained by
torture.
Whether this
reticence is
wise or an
excuse is
another
question.)
Inner
City Press
also thanked
Wittig and his
spokesman Alex
Eberl, on
behalf of the
beta Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
FUNCA, for the
time they
took, monthly
or more
frequently, to
explain
Germany's
views if only
on a
background or
off the record
basis. The
views,
especially
from the top
floors of the
German Mission
on 49th
Street,
were
illuminating.
Wittig's
deputy
Miguel Berger
continues past
January 1 as
chairperson of
the
UN's Fifth
(Budget)
Committee, now
facing issues
ranging from
re-costing of
the budget to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
mobility
plan, on which
questions
raised by the
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Affairs have
yet to be
answered.
Unlike
some at the
UN, Wittig on
Friday at
least
purported to
answer the
questions
raised. We
wish him well.
