By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- Following the UN's "failure" in Sri Lanka in 2009, this year Secretary General Ban Ki-moon worked on a plan called "Rights Up Front" to try to avoid failing in the future. Now the UN stands accused of inaction in the Central African Republic, by Doctors Without Borders and others.
Inner City Press asked Ban about both of these on Monday, during his end of the year press conference. Ban said the Rights Up Front "action plan" has been sent to the General Assembly, or to President of the General Assembly John Ashe for distribution to all member states. (Inner City Press obtained and published the plan on October 1, here.)
Ban insisted the Rights Up Front plan is not country-specific. This came after Inner City Press asked him why his deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson was meeting, right at that moment, with Sri Lankan defense minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is depicted in connection with war crimes and threats.
This question, Ban did not answer. His spokesperson's office indicates that it does not normally provide read-outs of meetings of the Deputy Secretary General. Inner City Press has asked again, given the context.
On MSF's critique of UN inaction in the Central African Republic, which Inner City Press asked Ban about, the answer was more detailed. Ban said the security situation has been a problem, but now with the deployment of MISCA forces, the UN should become more mobile.
Ban said he spoke with UN Humanitarian chief Valerie Amos about it on Sunday, and with others Monday morning. We'll see.
Of the ten questions Ban took, three and a half were on Syria. None was on bringing cholera to Haiti (Inner City Press had this one in mind) or on Mali, where two peacekeepers were killed Saturday by car bomb while protecting a bank, regarding which questions remain outstanding. Ban addressed in his opening remarks, and took a question about, the execution in North Korea.
On UN reform -- Inner City Press had expected to hear of Rights Up Front in there -- Ban cited UMOJA, mobility and (corporate) partnerships, an office he seeks to set up. We will report on each of these, and on another event Ban alluded to at the end of his press conference. Watch this site.
Footnote: The alluded to event involves the UN Correspondents Association, which beyond being willing to censor and to try to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN is now in line for donated Samsung television equipment it falsely claims no mission is involved in. At least these three aspects need to be addressed. Inner City Press on behalf of the new, censorship-free Free UN Coalition for Access offered thanks and a hope for more Secretary General Q&A briefings in 2014. We'll be here.
