On Palestine's Flag at UN, Holy See Issues Press Release, Here, Still No UN Answer to Inner City Press Questions about Pole, Location

On Palestine's Flag at UN, Holy See Press Release, No UN Answer

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 -- Of the UN draft resolution to fly the State of Palestine's flag in front of the UN, talks were held at the last meeting of the UN's Arab Group. (As Inner City Press has noted, the sponsors also include Senegal and Venezuela.)

 Now on August 28, the Holy See / Vatican has issued this:

“In accordance with the rules governing the General Assembly no Member or Observer State is entitled to oppose the tabling of a draft resolution by a Member State. In light of this, the Holy See does not object to the tabling of a draft resolution concerning the raising of the flags of Observer States at the UN Headquarters and offices.

“The Holy See, however, notes the long established praxis and tradition of the UN, sing 1945, whereby only flags of member States are displayed at the UN Headquarters and offices and will accept whatever  decision the UN may wish to take in this regard in the future.”

  Got it?

  Staking out the August 27 Arab Group meeting, Inner City Press was told by two major Arab states that the flag will "definitely" go up, and was reliably informed that the flag for Palestine would go after those of ("full") member states, that is near 42nd Street in front of the UN Library building.

  Inner City Press asked an involved delegation if the UN was ready with the flag pole and was told yes, a letter has been sent to that effect.

  Much earlier, anti-flag delegations were pitching the story, which was eventually picked up.

 On both August 27 and again on August 28, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's office of the spokesperson:

"Yesterday, Inner City Press was told in but not by the UN that if the draft resolution on raising the State of Palestine's flag at the UN passes, (1) it would go at the end of Member States, that is, nearest 42nd street and (2) that 'the UN' has written a letter concerning its readiness to install the needed flagpole.

 "I understand you will not comment on what may happen in the GA but I am requesting UN Secretariat (Protocol, OLA and/or DM/FMS) confirmation of where a non-member State's flag WOULD go, and on readiness to install the flagpole including that a letter to that effect has been written and sent."

 The UN has refused to answer that question, for more than 24 hours.

 On August 27, a meeting on the Diplomacy of Pope Francis, scheduled at 4 pm in Conference Room 3, waslisted as "Closed." (There was another 4 pm event upstairs at the UN.)

Back on June 18 after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided not to list Israel or Hamas in the annex of his Children and Armed Conflict report -- nor the French troops alleged to have raped children in the Central African Republic -- Ban came to the UN Security Council media stakeout, accompanied by CAAC expert Leila Zerrougui. But he answered no questions.

  On June 24, the UN's Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman addressed the Security Council, saying:

“The Secretary General took note of the release on Monday of the Human Rights Council's independent Commission of Inquiry's report on Gaza. While we do not comment on the substance of such reports, it is our hope that it will contribute to bringing justice to victims of last year's war and encourage the parties to engage in serious and credible examinations of their own behavior." 

  But is that credible? Down in UN Conference Room 3, US, joined only by Canada, voted with Israel against a UN Budget resolution on Lebanon and the attack on Qana; upstairs, the US' representative left the Council with Feltman and got on the same elevator with him. Periscope video here available for 24 hours, after 470 live views. Geneva may well tilt one way, but the Secretariat tilts the other. Watch this site.

  Back on June 18 after Ban read a statement about climate change and then the "controversy" about his report, he said he had to leave. There were some grumbles; Inner City Press asked, about the Central African Republic rapes and cover up, what about the Panel? Ban did not answer. Periscope video for now here.

  Zerrougui stayed, gamely; she declined to answer about the non-inclusion of Israel. Inner City Press asked her about the CAR rapes and cover up. She said while she didn't find out all in time, once she did, she spoke with the government concerned.

  Inner City Press reported exclusively that Zerrougui met French Ambassador Francois Delattre -- his Mission declined to confirm or deny, when asked in writing by Inner City Press - but what has come of it? 

  And what of the CAR rapes by the French troops? They are mentioned in the text of the report, but not in the Annex. Ban said a Panel would be set up- but hasn't yet done it.

 Inner City Press is exclusively informed that concerned member states will meet not with Ban but his Deputy Jan Eliasson on June 19. Some are concerned Ban might even try to put Eliasson on the "independent" panel, despite controversy about an August 8, 2014 email saying Eliasson would be briefed that afternoon about the CAR rapes. (The UN now says Eliasson didn't learn of them until April 2015.)  We'll see.

   

Palestine's Flag at UN Would Go at End of Member States, Pole Readied, Inner City Press Is Told

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 27 -- Of the UN draft resolution to fly the State of Palestine's flag in front of the UN, talks were held at the last meeting of the UN's Arab Group. (As Inner City Press has noted, the sponsors also include Senegal and Venezuela.)

  Staking out the August 27 Arab Group meeting, Inner City Press was told by two major Arab states that the flag will "definitely" go up, and was reliably informed that the flag for Palestine would go after those of ("full") member states, that is near 42nd Street in front of the UN Library building.

  Inner City Press asked an involved delegation if the UN was ready with the flag pole and was told yes, a letter has been sent to that effect.

  Much earlier, anti-flag delegations were pitching the story, which was eventually picked up.

  The Holy See is not joining in the flag campaign; on August 27, a meeting on the Diplomacy of Pope Francis, scheduled at 4 pm in Conference Room 3, was listed as "Closed." (There was another 4 pm event upstairs at the UN.)

Back on June 18 after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided not to list Israel or Hamas in the annex of his Children and Armed Conflict report -- nor the French troops alleged to have raped children in the Central African Republic -- Ban came to the UN Security Council media stakeout, accompanied by CAAC expert Leila Zerrougui. But he answered no questions.

  On June 24, the UN's Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman addressed the Security Council, saying:

“The Secretary General took note of the release on Monday of the Human Rights Council's independent Commission of Inquiry's report on Gaza. While we do not comment on the substance of such reports, it is our hope that it will contribute to bringing justice to victims of last year's war and encourage the parties to engage in serious and credible examinations of their own behavior." 

  But is that credible? Down in UN Conference Room 3, US, joined only by Canada, voted with Israel against a UN Budget resolution on Lebanon and the attack on Qana; upstairs, the US' representative left the Council with Feltman and got on the same elevator with him. Periscope video here available for 24 hours, after 470 live views. Geneva may well tilt one way, but the Secretariat tilts the other. Watch this site.

  Back on June 18 after Ban read a statement about climate change and then the "controversy" about his report, he said he had to leave. There were some grumbles; Inner City Press asked, about the Central African Republic rapes and cover up, what about the Panel? Ban did not answer. Periscope video for now here.

  Zerrougui stayed, gamely; she declined to answer about the non-inclusion of Israel. Inner City Press asked her about the CAR rapes and cover up. She said while she didn't find out all in time, once she did, she spoke with the government concerned.

  Inner City Press reported exclusively that Zerrougui met French Ambassador Francois Delattre -- his Mission declined to confirm or deny, when asked in writing by Inner City Press - but what has come of it? 

  And what of the CAR rapes by the French troops? They are mentioned in the text of the report, but not in the Annex. Ban said a Panel would be set up- but hasn't yet done it.

 Inner City Press is exclusively informed that concerned member states will meet not with Ban but his Deputy Jan Eliasson on June 19. Some are concerned Ban might even try to put Eliasson on the "independent" panel, despite controversy about an August 8, 2014 email saying Eliasson would be briefed that afternoon about the CAR rapes. (The UN now says Eliasson didn't learn of them until April 2015.)  We'll see.

   

As UNICEF Details Child Mortality, Questions of Western Sahara Data, Peacekeeping Role

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- When UNICEF released new child mortality figures, it held an embargoed press conference at the UN on September 15. Inner City Press asked about the data itself -- why for example were there 195 countries listed, when there are only 193 UN member states?

   The answer was in the tables themselves: the State of Palestine was listed, as was the Holy See (which, of course, has no child data, as least not officially).  But was Western Sahara's data reported along with Morocco? Was Greenland included with Denmark? These questions should be answered.

  Since many of the countries with highest child mortality also have UN Peacekeeping missions there -- Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea Bissau for example -- Inner City Press asked the UNICEF panel -- Mickey Chopra and Dr Tessa Wardlaw with WHO's Flavia Bustreo by phone -- what the UN could actually do about these problems? Reduce conflict, build up the health infrastructure. Here's hoping. 

  Back on September 4, the prevalence worldwide of violence against children was detailed by UNICEF, with charts, statistics and polling. The report is online here.

   Inner City Press asked the three-person UNICEF panel what the UN system itself should be doing about the issue, for example through its peacekeeping missions and the office of the Special Representative on Violence Against Children, Marta Santos Pais.

   The website of that office hasn't been updated since July 22. No tweets since July 25. The response from the UNICEF panel was that both “SRSGs” - that is, including Children and Armed Conflict - get only voluntary funding. That may be part of the problem. But even at the current budget, more might be expected of this office since July 22.

  And in terms of UN Peacekeeping, as Inner City Press asked the UN's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq minutes later, no child support is yet being paid for children left behind in Haiti by the “peacekeepers.” We'll have more on that.

  Back on August 21 when the Gaza field director of UNICEF PernilleaeIronside took questions at the UN on August 21, Inner City Press asked her when a Board of Inquiry into the destruction of UN premises like the UNRWA schools will begin. Video here.

Ironside said that will be up to the Secretariat of Ban Ki-moon and UNRWA. Earlier this week Robert Serry told Inner City Press the same thing. But where is the Board of Inquiry? On the one conducted in 2009, Inner City Press reported on how Ban Ki-moon allowed himself to be lobbied and blunted in his cover letter recommendations in the report, later shown in detail by a cable published by Wikileaks.

Does that explain the delay?

Inner City Press also asked Ironside about her statement in her recent Reddit Ask Me Anything that “Gaza's economy has been severely depressed, particularly since the closure of the informal tunnel system with Egypt in July 2013.” Ironside said Gazans are well educated and eager to work, but precluded from doing so; she said the negotiators should take this into account.

Ironside said she previously served the UN in Goma in Eastern Congo, and more recently in Yemen. With the Houthis now in and around Sana'a, that's something we'd like to hear more about.

   

At UN, Saturday 7 AM Speeches After Sexual and Reproductive Rights Fights, CPD47 Turns 48 at Dawn

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 12, updated -- It was just another Friday night into Saturday morning at the UN, this time a fight over the Commission on Population and Development. Again, the culture wars: a dispute over "sexual and reproductive health" and rights. It culminated in speeches between 6 and 7 am.

  We open past 11 pm. The Permanent Representative of Kenya, this month's chair of the African Group, said there would be no sleight of hand solution. He went into Conference Room A with other Permanent Representatives, including those of Norway and then of Cameroon, who told Inner City Press that "in African we don't do Programs of Action, we do Declarations." It would be another long night.

  In Egypt's delegation again was Mervat Tallaway, of which Inner City Press previously reported when she headed ESCWA in Beirut.

  Others noted the irony that the UN Population Fund, UNFPA, is headed by Babatunde Osotimehin of Nigeria but his country is taking a different view. This split was contrasted, for example, with elsewhere in the UN system Frenchman Herve Ladsous using his post atop UN Peacekeeping to serve France. "That's not the UN," a Permanent Representative said. But for now it is.

  Meanwhile when UNFPA's Representative in Sudan was thrown out on April 7, the UN tried to say nothing. Inner City Press wrote about it, went to the noon briefing and asked, and only after that got a (non) statement from UNFPA. What's next?

  While as increasingly often in the UN there was little media coverage, Inner City Press and another reporter were told they could not enter Conference Room 1 through its front door. The Free UN Coalition for Access objected; access was gained.

During the lull several Ambassadors came to speaking about"the Burundi cable," here. Some predicted that the SRSG might be tossed out even before the UN's mandate expires at the end of the year.

  Down on the floor of Conference Room 1, a delegate noted that now CPD47 had surpassed "last year when we ended at 13 minutes after midnight." 

   And after a long and murky night in the basement of the UN, a text was in fact adopted followed by a slew of mostly angry speeches from 6 to 7 am. 

Argentina's Permanent Representative regretted that language about unilateral sanctions, debt was not retained. She was followed by speakers from Jordan and Australia, all Security Council members this year. There are not a lot of 6 am Security Council meetings. But this is another part of the UN.

   Iran, set for a big role in CPD 48, joined with Egypt and Oman in slamming the deletion of language about "foreign occupation." South Africa pointed out paragraphs on which it negotiated in it national capacity, NOT as part of the African Group.

  The US speech was surprisingly upbeat, glad for citations to sexual and reproductive health, eager for the ICPD session in General Assembly. Hungary said it does not take "reproductive rights" to include abortion. The Holy See took this further. The European Union's deputy said that principles agreed to in Cairo 20 years ago are being re-litigated now. Yes, it's Culture Wars.  

   Then UNFPA head Babatunde Osotimehin gave a wrap-up speech with empty bottle of big-name soda in front of him. Caffeine, okay. But ads?  Then the UN Population Division. But as Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access have asked before, what of Myanmar's anti-Royhinga census and reproduction policies? Speaking of reproductive issues?

   There were fast announcement of the next session, CPD 48, with Belgium chairing and some other news soon to follow. Watch this site.

   

UN Budget Session Ends With Whimper, No Ban Ki-moon Answers, No Mobility, Little Oversight

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 27, updated three times -- As the UN Budget session came to a close on December 27, after failing to reach the ritual late night agreement just before Christmas, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's proposal for "mobility" in working for the UN was still not approved.

  South Korea took the floor to bemoan the failure to enact Ban's plan. But others noted that since Ban has kept a number of his closest advisers with him in New York well past the promised five year maximum, why should mobility be enforced on other, lower-ranking staff?

  Click here and here for Inner City Press coverage of the UN budget this week, here for the circus of the UN Staff Union election.

  Often the final votes of the Fifth (Budget) Committee take place at dawn directly after a full night of negotiating. This time is was more hum-drum, a normal 10 am meeting with the normal speeches. Syria trashed the UN's envoy on Lebanon, calling him pro-Israel. (The name "Terje Roed-Larsen" was not said, but it was there.)

  Canada and Israel made a point of saying they do not recognize "the State of Palestine," on a resolution allowing Palestine to contribute to the UN budget as does the Vatican or Holy See.

  Cuba called for a vote on an amendment to note that for Responsibility to Protect, as Nicaragua put it, there is no "inter-governmental mandate." Thirteen other countries voted this way, including Sudan; fully 51 abstained, including South Africa, Thailand and Mali. Sri Lanka did not vote at all on this.

  Sri Lanka did, however, lead negotiations on the budget of the UN mission in Mali. Given the country's attempt to use its chairmanship of the UN's Sixth (Legal) Committee to cast the 2009 Bloodbath on the Beach as counter-terrorism, this was perhaps the connection. Or not.

  Qatar, speaking on a Center for Training and Documentation in Southwest Asia, bragged how much it supports human rights. But what about those recent reports on the deaths of migrant worlds building for the World Cup? What about LGBT? About about the poet jailed for his subversive poem?

  Nor does the UN care much for freedom of speech or of the press. Yesterday Inner City Press covered the silence of the UN Mission in South Sudan while Salva Kiir's information minister cracked down on the media, here. 

  This morning, Inner City Press exposed the misuse of the US Millennium Digital Copyright Act to "disappear" from Google a copy of Reuters' bureau chief's complaint to the UN trying to get Inner City Press thrown out. Copyright, indeed.

The session ended with the chairman, Finnish Deputy Permanent Representative Janne Taalas, saying he's ready in a few months to return to his regular seat next to Fiji. 

  The outgoing chair of the Group of 77, Fiji, said using rugby analogies that at first it tried to just not drop the ball, but ended up score a few tries. Bolivia is the next G77 chair -- ready to score the golden goal? After Spy-gate and the take-down of President Evo Morales' plane, thing should heat up.

  While Ban Ki-moon's office of the Spokesperson has not only refused the requests of the Free UN Coalition for Access that it hold a noon briefing this week, but also refused for as long as 144 hours to respond to Inner City Press' questions on South Sudan, Central African Republic and the budget, earlier today Inner City Press asked:

"Please state where the Secretary General *is,* much as other figures such as President Obama and NYC's incoming mayor do, in light of online notice that "26-27 December 2013, Secretary-General is away from Headquarters," or please explain why that is not the SG's / UN's practice. Similarly, where is Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous?"

  The Peacekeeping question is in light not only of Ladsous under-stating the death toll in South Sudan, but of this new question about Central African Republic, then about the loss of neutrality:

On Central African Republic, please state the UN's knowledge of bombing near l'Hotel Ledger Plaza, and confirm or deny grenade and/or bullet exchange between Chadian and Burundian peaacekeepers.

What is the UN's response to the statement by India's PR Mukerji that in UN Peacekeeping, "new brigades could jeopardize the safety of traditional peacekeepers since rebels won’t distinguish between the two when they retaliate and that risks to peacekeepers should be reduced by physically differentiating them from the intervention brigade, through different uniforms." Are there any such plans in DPKO / DFS?

  In light of Ban's response at his last stakeout, on South Sudan, Inner City Press has asked his Spokesperson Martin Nesirky to please provide his / the UN's response to the subsequent report that

"The Korean side is now accusing the Japanese of politically using the emergency faced by Korean troops in South Sudan, with one unnamed official telling the Chosun Ilbo that the Abe government’s linking of the ammo supply to its “active pacifism” initiative was a “clear political provocation.” Another unnamed official said Korea had told the Japanese to handle this quietly out of fear that the locals would turn hostile and attack Korean troops if word got out that they’d received ammo, but the Japanese were instead turning this into a big story. Korean government officials are also saying that they intend to return all the ammo to Japan once Korean ammo arrives from Korea, despite the fact that the Japanese said they could keep it."

  Also posed is another corruption question, and this: "In Bentiu, what medical assistance staff are available now that MSF says it has pulled out?"

  That is the UN's work and responsibility. One thing to be said for the Fifth Committee - it works hard. It may not always function, but the members work. Happy (end of) holidays. Watch this site.

Update: the voting in the full UN General Assembly later on December 27 was largely a rubber stamp, with statements repeated from the morning. Cuba spoke in favor of UN Publishing Section staff, and "hoped" that Ban Ki-moon finds them other posts. 

  But where was Ban Ki-moon, away from Headquarters? Inner City Press, and the Free UN Coalition for Access as a matter of policy, asked but without answer. This is what outgoing NYC Mayor Bloomberg did on the weekends: leave and not say to where. Is that what Ban's UN has come to? 

 And while US Ambassador Joe Torsella in his swansong speech spoke about reforms, where does he stand on that one? (Inner City Press review here). And on, for example, the UN finally having content neutral accreditation rules, freedom of speech and of the press? 

Update II: Diplomats thought that President of the General Assembly John Ashe was the last speaker. But then the State of Palestine had the floor. Afterward, Inner City Press asked departing diplomats about the fate in March 2014 of Ban Ki-moon's mobility and corporate partnerships proposals. "Only with oversight," one said. At the UN? 

Update III: Wire service stories purporting to cover the UN budget session relied on boasting about the cutting of posts, and made no mention of Ban Ki-moon's losses on mobility and corporate partnerships, which not only South Korea but Ban's chief of staff bemoaned in the session. Such is "oversight." Watch this site.

   

At UN on Child & Human Rights, Culture Wars Flare After Kenya ICC Abstentions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- It was the night before Thanksgiving and in the UN's Human Right Committee the culture wars flared up. On a resolution called "Rights of the Child," Trinidad and Tobago took a reservation from provisions on sexual and reproductive health and adolescents.

  The Holy See echoed this. Then Sudan said that it accepts the word "gender" only if it means "male or female." Sudan also objected to a reference to the International Criminal Court.

  And the ICC, sources told Inner City Press, specifically the Security Council's refusal to grant the request by the African Union to a one year deferral of the ICC's Kenya proceedings, fueled an African Group revolt.

  The issue became technical: the African Group called for a deferral of consideration of a "focal point" to the next session of the General Assembly; the United States and some others opposed "cherry picking" parts of the report of the Human Rights Council which did not explicitly ask for GA action.

  Sources on both of those sides told Inner City Press that the incoming, just elected Human Rights Council will be less "pro-West" than the current one, "resolutions that used to pass, won't," as one put it. And so the culture wars threaten to grow, inflamed by eight Security Council members' refusal to grant any part of the African Union's request. 

 This position was criticized, diplomatically, by the outgoing president of the Security Council, Liu Jieyi, whose End of Presidency reception began even as the Third Committee fight picked up. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Palestine Still Left Out of 194 Participants on Geographic Names, Lost Among Holy See & Sea of Japan

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, August 9 -- More than a week afterPalestine took its seat as a full participant in the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names, as first reported by Inner City Press, some snafus still remained late Thursday.
 
   In the morning, Palestine's Riyad Mansour -- not referred to here as the Permanent Observer -- pointed out to Inner City Press an error and correction by the UN Journal.

  The Journal had referred to Palestine as Observer -- but since it joined UNESCO, in meetings held under the so-called Vienna format, Palestine is a full participant. And so the Journal was fixed.

   But late Thursday, along with issues of the Sea of Japan versus the (Korean) East Sea, and on the Romanization of names, Palestine had been excluded from the list of 194 participants in Paragraph 121.

   Another participant -- not Palestine -- told Inner City Press, "the editor in chief is the USA, what do you expect?"

  Who is the 194th, you ask?  The Holy See, of course.

  In early July Palestine asserted the same right regarding the Arms Trade Treaty talks, as first reported by Inner City Press. But after much back and forth, under the resultingcompromise Palestine sat in the front row beside the Holy See.

Following Palestine's joining UNESCO as a full member, it followed suit as Inner City Press reported at the Law of the Sea, to which the US is not a party.

  At Thursday's Geographic Names session the Palestinian representative -- against, not an Observer -- told Inner City Press this would be worked out, "they are just not used to us yet, but they will be."  

  The seriousness of the Sea of Japan issue to that country's mission was represented by who they sent to the meeting: Jun Yamazaki, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Controller. 

  Ban Ki-moon may have named former Japanese Permanent Representative Yukio Takasu to the Department of Management post he first offered to South Africa if they would sell out Navi Pillay -- click here for that exclusive story from Inner City Press -- but this Sea issue is one on which Japan and South Korea are in direct conflict.  

 And Ban is headed to South Korea tomorrow. Watch this site.

Palestine in Front Row at ATT, in Corner, No Status Upgrade, Only at UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 3 -- It was six o'clock when the "question of Palestine" was resolved, in its fashion, in the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty. Palestine's Riyad Mansour told Inner City Press and come and see.

There in Conference Room 1, Palestine took its seat in the front row, between the Holy See and Afghanistan. 

 

  Click here for re-tweeted Inner City Press photograph.

But it got no upgrade in status, and as opponents of any upgrade told Inner City Press, "the credentials committee would have to operate by consensus." So no hope there either.

Two days of wrangling resulted in a seat in the front row, but way off in the corner by the wall. They were not, as requested, between Palau and Panama, as a party to the ATT.

The Holy See spoke out, saying its rights were violated, it was to have been the "all states" format. Afterward Mansour embraced the representative of the Holy See, and there was applause in the Conference Room.

Palestine also has maintained, as they did yesterday, this the ATT is an "all states" conference in which they can participate. They say "even the US knows this," but is using its muscle to scare other conferees. "They threaten to pull out, and even our supporters get scared."

Responding to the theory that Egypt "used" them, Palestine says that Egypt has suggested a number of compromises to get the conference started.

The US has dangled an openness to language on ammunition. On this, rather than trying to bring the UN "up" to the US standard, the US is opposing such a rising. Why?

A key language point in the ATT involves how to view the human rights records and dangers of arms purchasers -- merely to "take into account," or ignore it? Or to "shall not" sell to them? The solution, if there is one, will be in the middle. And if it is too weak, countries like Mexico will leave. Watch this site.