As NPT PrepCom Fizzles Out, Glass Half Full, Mexico on Nuclear Double Standards, Access to Info Controlled

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 -- The closing session of the Preparatory Commission for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference was mostly a session of self-affirmation: nothing was agreed to, but just talking was a success.

  This was the position taken by the chair Enrique Roman-Morey. The UN described him as “Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations,” but at the press conference afterward he said he represents Peru in Portugal; in the wrap up session he said he was heading to lovely Lisbon.

  Inner City Press asked Roman-Morey about the closing statement of Mexico, which cited double standards. Roman-Morey jumped in to say that he has short circuited the critique because the final document, not by consensus, was his and his alone. Inner City Press jokes about the water glass in front of him being more than half full -- whereupon he took a long drink for it.

  Of the signing ceremony for a protocol for a nuclear weapons free zone in Central Asia that Inner City Presscovered mid-week, Roman-Morey said he was involved in that from the first meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

   Inner City Press asked if reservations such as that expressed by the UK are positive or the norm. Roman-Morey said in the Latin America and Caribbean treaty there are comments from the 1960s, for example from a Central American country saying it might use “peaceful” nuclear weapons to build a canal like the Panama canal.

  Roman-Morey has a wealth of experience; he answered a rising Egyptian TV journalist in Arabic. But what was accomplished in New York these past two weeks. The US has publicly said some upbeat things, mostly about the Central Asian signing which even Roman-Morey admitted was really a side event with little relation to the NPT PrepCom. Hope springs eternal. Watch this site.

Footnote: Even though the first question was, correctly, not automatically handed to the UN Correspondents Assocation, the day's UNCA representative insisted on it. Becauseexecutive committee members of UNCA not only tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for its coverage of Sri Lanka, UN official Herve Ladsous and French Ambassador Gerard Araud, but have since engaged inoutright censorship with Google (here) and UNTV (here), Inner City Press on behalf of the new Free UN Coalition for Access counter-thanked Roman-Morey. 

 These events shouldn't be branded, particularly by censors; there should be no automatically given first questions, particularly to censors. Watch this site.

   

At UN For Nuclear Free Central Asia, P5 Pose & Sign, UK Takes Reservation

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- As rhetoric on Ukraine and Syria heats up, recently at the US State Department's daily press briefing reporters have increasingly asked if the US and Russia, or the wider "P5" with China, can work together on anything.

  Often the answer given is Syria chemical weapon, drawing scorn from reporters. On May 6 in a windowless UN conference room, representatives of each of the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council posed for photographs then sat in a row signing a protocol for a nuclear free zone in Central Asia.

Each representative gave a speech in his native language -- it was all men -- and Russia and the UK back to back cited the Treaties of Tlatelolco, Rarotonga and Pelindaba. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said "China supports the efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to establish a nuclear free zone."

Russia's Vitaly Churkin said, "It remains only to ratify the document. We look forward to doing it as swiftly as possible."

Tom Countryman of the US said he was pleased to be able to sign here in New York during the Preparatory Committee meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The UK added that it "has issued a declaration that sets out our legal interpretation of certain elements within the Protocol and Treaty.... in order that there is no doubt about the conditions under which the UK would not consider itself bound by Article I of this Protocol: notably, if any of the Parties to that Treaty allowed nuclear weapons to be stationed in their territory."

Some might find an echo into protests raised in South America to UK vessels with nuclear weapons visiting the Falkland / Malvinas Islands.

The last speaker was Ambassador Muzaffar Madrakhimov of Uzbekistan, who said "the initiatve to create the Central Asian Nuclear Free Weapons Zone was first announced by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov at the 48th session of the General Assembly in 1993."

Now if only the region's water wars could be solved... Watch this site.

   

Amid UN Political Gaffes, UNICEF on Big Data Quality, Draws Line in Central Asia, Queen Rania to Stay

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 28 -- UN gaffes like Secretary General Ban Ki-moon inviting and then disinviting Iran to thetalks in Switzerland on Syria undermine the UN's credibility. Meanwhile other parts of the UN system, like its Children's Fund UNICEF, labor along trying to make their institutions and their data more credible.

  On January 28, two days before UNICEF's State of the World's Children report is to be released, four data experts or self-described geeks used slides and regression to prepare the press to cover the report. 

  The report is still under embargo but it is no secret that like many other UN reports it contains lines of dashes, data not available, for countries which either do not report or won't let the UN in.

  Inner City Press asked the UNICEF quartet about these dashes, and also how they take into account that data which countries self-report might be cooked to make the country's governance look better.

  UNICEF senior adviser Attila Hancioglu, to his credit, acknowledged that there are countries which are resisted transparency and in which UNICEF has stopped doing Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys or MICS. Inner City Press asked how many countries these might be. Hancioglu wouldn't put a number on it, but did mention one Central Asian country as particularly problematic.

The Statistics chief of UNICEF, Tessa Wardlay, also acknowledged that government's statistics "may be subject to political bias," and said that's why UNICEF does "data quality checks."

So the focus was on how credible the data are, or are made by UNICEF. Holly Newby said of 75 data points on stunting, for example, UNICEF deemed only 70% of them acceptable. The rest may have been good enough for use in-country, but not for UNICEF.

The data can be mapped using Google Earth; it is compiled under "DevInfo," a platform that UNICEF proposed to the rest of the UN system ten years ago, Claes Johannson said. Even when it is proposed, such as on the banning of royals or those holding or seeking office from being goodwill ambassadors, UN agencies are not consistent.

UNICEF for example seeks to retain a royal, Queen Rania, as in essence a goodwill ambassador even if the draft proposal on which Inner City Press exclusively reported is adopted by the UN system. The proposal is that "the designation of immediate family members of individuals holding or running for political office, as well as members of Royal Households, is discouraged to avoid the appearance of vested interest."

  UNICEF's Kate Donovan told Inner City Press:

"Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan was appointed in a unique role as the first ever UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children in January, 2007.  She is a passionate and outspoken advocate for the world’s children. UNICEF is grateful for the support, especially Her Majesty’s tireless efforts to promote girls’ education and empowerment. The updated guidelines, upon approval, will apply to future appointments, and UNICEF will adhere to them....She will remain, and we will respect the new guidelines."

  So, each part of the UN can go its own way: sauve qui peut, some might call it.

   The UNICEF "State of the World's Children" report will be released on January 30. Watch this site.

   

In UN Council, Bosnia's January Light Except Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire a Footnote

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 22 -- The UN Security Council in January, when Southern Sudan's secession referendum is scheduled, will be chaired by Bosnia - Herzegovina.

A confidential copy of the Program of Work, obtained by Inner City Press, shows a month with at least three briefings on Sudan including Darfur (on the 6th, 17th and 26th), one on Central Asia (on the 13th), an open meeting on post conflict institution building (on the 21st) and explosive Cote d'Ivoire in a footnote, to be brought up if necessary.

Many close observers of the Security Council deem it a surprisingly light schedule. Also, in the assignment of chairman positions for the Council's subsidiary bodies in 2011, Bosnia has been given only one working group, that on Working Methods.

Cynics said the Permanent Five members had chosen Bosnia over Portugal for this potentially reforming post precisely because they do not want reform.

Bosnia's Permanent Representative Ivan Barbalic has to date always been genial, though most in the UN press corps haven't yet heard much from him or his Deputy. That should chance this month.

In wider Balkan - Security Council news, the youth video from Serbia initially selected for one of the final four by the US Mission was vetoed as not being sufficiently tied to the Security Council's agenda, as it was about natural resources.

A diplomat remarked that the Serbian youth who made the vetoed video was particularly well spoken: a new Vuk Jeremic, it was said.

Footnote: in yet more Bosnia video news, concerning the protests to UNHCR by Bosnian rape victims of Angelina Jolie and her new movie, Inner City Press this month asked the UN's expert of Sexual Violence and Conflict Margot Wallstrom for any guidance on the controversy. Though Wallstrom had just been in Bosnia, she said she didn't understand the protests. We'll see.

In Central Asia, UN Ban Blind to Corruption, Skips Prisoners Rights and Water Wars

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/ban1centas040310.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- As the UN's Ban Ki-moon traipses Central Asia, what of political prisoners, UN hiring scandals and simmering cross border conflicts? Apparently for the UN Secretary General, these don't exist. Before Ban started his trip, Inner City Press asked why the UN was not even to solve the dam-based conflict between Tajkistan and Uzbekisan. Don't call it a conflict, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said. What what should it be called?

As Inner City Press has reported, Uzbekistan opposes the Tajik dam so much it shut the country's border. Why isn't the vaunted Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia involved?

A UN source alleging corruption in the UNRCCA notes

On the website of the Center, there is not a single word about the Dam. but there is a tender announcement for the fitness equipment for the gymnasium at the UNRCCA building - the former elite Demiryolchy Hotel. The question is whether the procurement of the fitness equipment is reconciled with the UN budget rules and regulations, or whether it is a good UN background for the unsolved Dam conflict.

http://unrcca.unmissions.org/ the left click Tenders http://unrcca.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4319

At Tnders page you could see translation: The Regional UN Center (UNRCCA) announces the tender: Fitness equipment for the gymnesium)

http://unrcca.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4319&ctl=Details&mid=4408&ItemID=8098

http://unrcca.unmissions.org/portals/unrcca/gym.pdf is set of pictures.

Meanwhile

Miloslav Jenca (Slovakia), SRSG and head of UNRCCA, has published an article “Developments in Central Asia and the role of the UNRCCA” in International Issues & Slovak Foreign Policy AffairsIssue no.02 /2009, Publisher: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)

The curiosity is that it can be read only if the reader would pay 25 Euro (€) in advance (from each the price of Jenca’s article would be taken). Click here. the UN staff in general and of Jenca’s status in particular are not supposed to publish the UN related staff for money (not saying about other connotations).

Turkmenistan would be the first country in the SG tour – 2 April (would SRSG Jenca inform the SG of the fitness equipment tendered – especially of the ball to play at the beach?

In the Fall of 2009, Inner City Press asked and was given the run-around about a hiring scandal in this Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia. Inner City Press posed this question in writing:

In a message dated 8/27/2009 3:50:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, montas [at] un.org writes:
Please refer your DPA questions to Jared Kotler

I've been referred to you for a response to the allegations below concerning hiring in the Regional Center in Turkmenistan (the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia).Also, please tell me when Jan Egeland's job with DPA ended, what he did during his tenure and how much he was paid.

on the RCPDCA, while here is more to this story, but let's start on deadline with confirmation or denial of the below:

During 2005-2007 Mr. Miloslav Jenca, Slovakia , worked in Tashkent as the OSCE Head of Office/OSCE Project Co-coordinator in Uzbekistan together with Ms. Polina Pomogalova , Uzbekistan , as his local general support staff:

http://www.osce.org/uzbekistan/photos.html?lsi=true&src=22&limit=6&pos=36

Mr.Jenca at OSCE, Uzbekistan

http://www.osce.org/documents/eea/2007/10/27048_en.pdf

Ms. Polina Pomogalova at OSCE, Uzbekisan, page 3

In December 2007 the UNRCCA ( United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia) was inaugurated by Lynn Pascoe, DPA in Ashgabat.

In April 2008 Mr. Miloslav Jenca was appointed UNRCCA Head and SRSG, (“…Mr.. Jenca, currently the Director of the Office of Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, recently served as head of mission for the OSCE centre in Tashkent , Uzbekistan …”)

Soon after this Ms. Polina Pomogalova was appointed the Personal Assistant to the SRSG Jenca at UNRCCA: see the UNRCCA web site:

http://unrcca.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1995

“…Ms. Polina Pomogalova, Personal Assistant to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Ambassador Jenca…”

Question: How could it be that Polina Pomogalova without a single day of the UN experience was shortlisted for an interview by PMSS while other candidates with the extensive UN experience in Central Asia and technically cleared to the positions of this category were not included? How could it be that the UNRCCA interview board recommended exactly Polina Pomogalova? The answer seems clear: she was the protégé of SRSG Jenca and it was he who had arranged everything.

Again, there is more to this story, but let's start on deadline with what is the UN's / DPA's . the Center's response?

The majority of the above was simply never responded to, just as the UN's Department of Political Affairs refused to respond to or address nepotism and hiring scandals in its Africa II unit and the Central African Republic. This lack of accountability extends to the UN's approach to human rights.

As Ban left on April 1, Inner City Press asked his Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq if Ban would visit political prisoners:

Inner City Press: In terms of the Secretary-General’s trip through Central Asia, I’m wondering, various groups, including Human Rights Watch, have said this is an opportunity for him to address issues such as, in Uzbekistan, the failure to prosecute anyone for the Andijon massacre, as well as the abuse of political prisoners, religious minorities and others. What is the place of the issue of human rights in the Secretary-General’s trip, and specifically, is he going to raise Andijon while he is in Uzbekistan?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: I’m not going to get ahead of the Uzbekistan portion of the trip before it happens. What I will say is: it’s always clear whenever the Secretary-General visits countries that human rights, international humanitarian law and other norms are always part of what he discusses with his interlocutors. He certainly plans to do that over the course of his trip to Central Asia. And one of the things that he is going to do in the various countries that he visits is to reach out to civil society. As you know, civil society organizations have been developing in many of these countries. We will provide you with the details of those visits as they transpire. There is nothing really to say about them just yet.

Inner City Press: There are fairly high-profile, what are called political prisoners, although the Governments disagree in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and I am wondering, does he have, when he says he’s going to reach out to civil society, can you say whether he’s actually asked to meet any imprisoned political figure?

Associate Spokesperson: I wouldn’t give the itinerary, the precise itinerary, of his meetings just yet, but we’ll provide those details as they arise. But certainly, he will be meeting with civil society, and the sort of concerns he brings on all of his trips he will also bring on this one.

But what, for example, of the HIV activist imprisoned by Uzbekistan which called his UNICEF-funded pamphlet blasphemous? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1centas040310.html